My maxed-out IBM PC/AT 5170 with EGA \ VOGONS

My maxed-out IBM PC/AT 5170 with EGA

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First post, by keenmaster486

Posted on 2021-09-16, 02:52

keenmaster486 Offline

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Okay, so it's not "maxed out" as in it has the best specced parts you could possibly cram in there, but it's fairly well maxed out for its particular class of machine, i.e. 286 with EGA in the 1980's.

System Specs:
Intel 286 6MHz (seems to have been overclocked to 8 MHz at some point)
EGA graphics
IBM 5153 Personal Computer Color Display
IBM Model F keyboard
640K base RAM + 2 MB XMS/EMS
5 1/4 inch floppy drive
3 1/2 inch floppy drive
30 MB hard disk drive
Yamaha YMF-719 sound card
3Com 3C509 ethernet card

It appears to have the original hard drive controller. Not sure if the drive itself is original.

I really lucked out on this one. I found the machine itself, along with the keyboard, at a recycle center for $10. The monitor was the one thing I could not find, but finally got one for $200 at an antique store. That's fine, I guess. It works great. I wanted a 5154 but those are even more hard to come by, and by all accounts seem to be less reliable. I don't really use the high resolution EGA modes anyway.

The output of CHKDSK is pasted below.

1Volume DOSDISK     created 01-04-2020 6:09p
2Volume Serial Number is 19E4-1727
3Errors found, F parameter not specified
4Corrections will not be written to disk
5
6
7   2 lost allocation units found in 2 chains.
8      4096 bytes disk space would be freed
9
10  31768576 bytes total disk space
11     73728 bytes in 2 hidden files
12    131072 bytes in 59 directories
13  24600576 bytes in 1014 user files
14   6959104 bytes available on disk
15
16      2048 bytes in each allocation unit
17     15512 total allocation units on disk
18      3398 available allocation units on disk
19
20    655360 total bytes memory
21    626000 bytes free

YouTube video of the machine: https://youtu.be/5HceSLLqG6A

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Last edited by keenmaster486 on 2021-09-16, 02:58. Edited 1 time in total.

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 1 of 10, by keenmaster486

Posted on 2021-09-16, 02:53

keenmaster486 Offline

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World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 2 of 10, by keenmaster486

Posted on 2021-09-16, 02:54

keenmaster486 Offline

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World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 3 of 10, by Hezus

Posted on 2021-09-16, 05:34

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That's a lovely machine, especially with the original hdd still running. You've got really lucky there for 10 USD. 200 for the monitor seems quite steep, though.

Visit my YT Channel!

Reply 4 of 10, by Caluser2000

Posted on 2021-09-16, 05:37

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Awesome!

There's a glitch in the matrix.
A founding member of the 286 appreciation society.
Apparently 32-bit is dead and nobody likes P4s.
Of course, as always, I'm open to correction...😉

Reply 5 of 10, by keenmaster486

Posted on 2021-09-16, 13:14

keenmaster486 Offline

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I was willing to pay $200 for the monitor simply because they cannot be found around here. The guy wanted $400 for it, lol. I would have paid more on eBay even without shipping!

World's foremost 486 enjoyer.

Reply 6 of 10, by Jo22

Posted on 2021-09-16, 14:00

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keenmaster486 wrote on 2021-09-16, 02:52:

Okay, so it's not "maxed out" as in it has the best specced parts you could possibly cram in there, but it's fairly well maxed out for its particular class of machine, i.e. 286 with EGA in the 1980's.
[..]

Lovely! Extra points for the hidden Gravis pad, too! 😉

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 7 of 10, by Jo22

Posted on 2021-09-19, 11:15

Jo22 Offline

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If you need a matching CD-ROM drive in the future, to complete your setup,
I can recommend the Philips CDD 461 (or similar model from the same series).

Pictures/Informationen :

https://www.radio-bastler.de/forum/showthread.php?tid=27

I had this drive myself many years ago.
It was slow (1x, 150KB/s), but very silent and smooth, too.
Also makes a great Audio CD Player if you haven't the interface card/cable.

"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel

//My video channel//

Reply 8 of 10, by Intel486dx33

Posted on 2021-09-20, 04:36

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I had several opportunities to buy an IBM AT computer but the idea was just not practical for what I was trying to do.
I wanted it to run programs and play games.
The limitations of the computer and scarcity of hardware and expense just wasn’t practical for me.
I built a nice 386 mini tower computer instead.
With 8mb ram, CDROM, Floppy drives and network card , ET4000 video card, and Sound Blaster 16.
It was allot less expensive and performs great and quiet. Its easy to fix and repair.
I don’t have the memory limitations and problems finding hardware.
The ISA cards are inexpensive and easy to find.
And I can down clock it to a 286@20mhz by disabling cache in bios.

Last edited by Intel486dx33 on 2021-09-20, 14:53. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 9 of 10, by chinny22

Posted on 2021-09-20, 11:13

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I have no use whatsoever for anything below a 486 yet I often think about getting one and maxing it out with sound, network, etc.
So for me this is a thing of beauty, really nicely done 😀

Reply 10 of 10, by DaveJustDave

Posted on 2021-09-20, 16:43

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Very nice setup! $200 for a 5154 is an absolute steal. I believe one just closed on ebay for600-700 USD + shipping. after tax, that's a cool grand for a monitor you really can't find anymore.

I decommissioned the MFM hard drive on mine almost immediately. I wanted to cut my losses before the drive developed bad sectors! Right now I'm running SCSI and PC DOS 5.0 on mine, with a SB 2.0, IBM EGA adapter, hardMPU, and a 3com 3c509. The machine is absolutely perfect now and I can't imagine changing another thing on it.

I have no clue what I'm doing! If you want to watch me fumble through all my retro projects, you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/user/MrDavejustdave

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