The "best" 486 motherboard, or "best" any motherboard depends on what you want to do with it.

Yes, PCI 486 motherboards are desirable, but for instance I have one that has PCI slots, but also only delivers 5V to the CPU with no option to run later CPUs that require 3.3-3.45V, thus limiting quite severely what I can do with it.

Model??

The model I'm having this problem with? It's here: A PCI 486 motherboard: Protech PM486PU-S4

A 486 CPU is Best for DOS and Win3x
Its NOT very good for running Win95
For Win95 you should use a Pentium 75 thru 233mhz CPU

The 486 CPU can play most DOS games okay but for the Best DOS Game play performance a 1st gen Pentium is best.
With DOS 6.22
16 to 32mb RAM
S3 Trio64 DX ( PCI ) Video card.
Sound Blaster 16

If your looking to build a DOS gaming computer I would go for the 1st Gen Pentium build.

Pentium?? I used a 386SX 25 Mhz in Win95 xD
I'm looking for a 486 motherboard and I don't know what to buy. I need help of experts.
Thx

It really depends on what you want to build. It would be cheper and easier to just get a Pentium system than a fast 486 like DX4 or AMD's models. Also, PCI implementation on 486 mobos is usually not all that great, and when it is decent then ISA performance usually suffers due to being behind a bus-mastering bridge rather than bolted to CPU bus almost directly.

I think I can recommend Aopen AP43 motherboard: https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/A/A … C-486-AP43.html
Has PCI, voltage regulator, PCB connectors for CPU fan, removable battery that usually doesn't cause damage, built-in IDE, floppy and serial/parallel ports, plenty of cache for a 486. Can't remember now if BIOS is PnP or not. The PCI did work with all my graphics cards, only thing that wasn't great was ISA performance. But with PCI you'd only be running sound cards in ISA slots so no big deal.

Only reason to build a 486's is for nostalgia, It's already too fast for earlier dos games and later games really want a Pentium.
Not saying don't build it (I myself own 3) but just depends what you are looking to recreate.

For many people a 486 MUST have a VLB graphics, much cooler but way more expensive
PCI is much cheaper if a bit boring (if your going PCI then why not just get a Pentium) Anser of course is something like a S3 Trio is dirt cheap and equals in performance to the best VLB has to offer.

Another deal breaker is mouse port. PS2 is desirable but mostly limited to OEM systems. alot of people have an optical mouse for majority of their PC's and just accept using a old serial mouse just for the 486, just something to be aware of.

Battery style is another point. Barrel, Dallas RTC and coin been all common. Barrel usually provide a header for external battery, Dallas may be socketed if your lucky or requires soldering if not, coin is of course best just not garenteed.

earlier motherboards only support 5v which may limit CPU upgrade options, depending on what CPU you want?

all these points is what makes this era so interesting though, so many choices 😀

Best? Absolute best?

Okay... Those are the requirements:
Expansion slots: ISA, PCI, VLB
Memory: Both 72pin and 30pin
On-board cache: at least 1MB; Must be write-back capable
CPU-related: Must have voltage regulator for 3V CPUs

What more? I mean, if we are talking about the best...

GigAHerZ wrote on 2022-02-11, 14:22:

Best? Absolute best? […]
Show full quote

Best? Absolute best?

Okay... Those are the requirements:
Expansion slots: ISA, PCI, VLB
Memory: Both 72pin and 30pin
On-board cache: at least 1MB; Must be write-back capable
CPU-related: Must have voltage regulator for 3V CPUs

What more? I mean, if we are talking about the best...

Asus PVI-486SP3 satisfies all these reqs, except 30-pin memory. It also has a ps/2 port.

One thing to add is memory type, EDO and FPM. Late 486 boards has support for EDO which makes things more simple if max cacheable ram is one of the goals.

Here you look for boards that fit your criteria 😀

https://www.ultimateretro.net/en/motherboards/search/

For instance here's a list of 486 boards with dx4 support and 4 PCI slots https://www.ultimateretro.net/en/motherboards … 5D%5Bcount%5D=4

Once you've found a board you like, you can start hunting for it 😀

Having both 30-pin and 72-pin memory slots is far from "best". I have a mobo with both and it requires parity SIMMs. Took me quite a while to hunt down a reasonably priced 36bit SIMM that both worked and wasn't just 4MiB in size. And same goes for having both VLB and PCI, in my experience only one of those is going to work properly.

Other factors to consider:

• are you looking to just play retro games, own a "collectable" period-correct old PC, or just tinker around with antique hardware?
• Do you have a good source for acquiring whatever models are suggested?
• Is money a concern or are you willing to pay several hundreds (or more than 1000) of dollars to an eBay opportunist that is the only seller with the exact model you want?
• If you have a limited budget and want to get the cheapest possible, do you know how to troubleshoot and/or fix problems like corrosion, broken components, etc.?

As you can see, in addition to the suggestions above there are many factors to consider, so you need to be more specific other than asking for "the best motherboard".

As a general rule, I'd say that a VLB or PCI board will handle well pretty much every game up until 1995 (or maybe a bit later than that, depending on the type of games you want to play). VLB cards are more rare and expensive, other than that they offer similar performance than PCI. With an ISA-only board you will be more limited in terms of performance, in particular when it comes to later action games such as Doom.

With that in mind, get what your budget allows, but make sure the board has not been destroyed by corrosion. Not long ago it wasn't a bad deal to get a board with battery damage for pennies and then trying to fix it, but with the current insanity I usually see people asking over 100 dollars for "untested" run of the mill boards that are completely corroded. Avoid those and let them rot in the sellers basement.

Zerthimon wrote on 2022-02-11, 15:10:

GigAHerZ wrote on 2022-02-11, 14:22:

Best? Absolute best? […]
Show full quote

Best? Absolute best?

Okay... Those are the requirements:
Expansion slots: ISA, PCI, VLB
Memory: Both 72pin and 30pin
On-board cache: at least 1MB; Must be write-back capable
CPU-related: Must have voltage regulator for 3V CPUs

What more? I mean, if we are talking about the best...

Asus PVI-486SP3 satisfies all these reqs, except 30-pin memory. It also has a ps/2 port.

Doesn't seem to support 1MB cache, but i think we have a very good candidate here! Kudos!

There was a point having 30 pin SIMM slots when you were trying to upgrade and had 30 pin RAM (And RAM was relatively expensive) but even then, buying all new, a board with 4 72 Pin SIMM sockets would have been better to buy, as it is now. Earlier boards with only 30 pin are more likely to only support DX2 maximum, yet some may support DX4 and some will lie and say Pentium Overdrive will work, but intel screwed up the spec and many boards never had the support fixed (by issue of an interposer or something)

If I was buying 486 I would go for any motherboard that has PCI and supports AMD 5x86 133Mhz CPU. This CPU can run Windows 95. I would equip it with 32 or 64MB RAM depending on max cacheable area.

I would consider 486 DX2 66-80 with VLBus only if I could get it very cheap, but I doubt it is possible to build such a rig for less than 440BX.

Keep in mind that a 486 cannot run many late DOS games in SVGA mode. To run DOS games with high details in SVGA you need at least Pentium II. There is even one DOS game my Pentium III 750 can't run well in SVGA and that is Screamer 2. It is playable but not the best experience. I think it needs at least 1Ghz CPU.

If you're happy with VGA graphics then go for 486.

AlexZ wrote on 2022-02-11, 22:06:

Keep in mind that a 486 cannot run many late DOS games in SVGA mode.

While true, back in the day I've played Transport Tycoon on 386 with 4MiB of RAM and slow SVGA, for which I had to write my own VESA TSR first. That was barely playable but I've recently build a system like that again, for the fun of it. So perhaps OP wants to build a 486 he never had? In that case he will not be interested in anything faster just because it's faster.