Here’s my first 386 desktop setup! I’ve been building PCs since the late ’90s every now and then, but this is something I hadn’t done before. I did own a Toshiba T3200SX portable back in the mid-’90s as my second PC, so I’m not new to 386 systems. I used it mainly to test doors for my BBS and to play games like Wing Commander and the Sierra adventures. Rockstar! from 1989 was also one of my favorites. After spending the past year and a half collecting parts, it’s finally time to get this system up and running!

As you can guess from the topic, this build was intended to be ready around Halloween. I had a few days off work and was confident I could finish it in no time. However, things didn’t go as planned! I hit a roadblock right at the beginning: the I/O card. I had two cards in my collection (Goldstar Prime 2C and UMC SST-3301), but neither worked as expected. I was worried there might be something wrong with the motherboard—or with my knowledge and skills—but fortunately, that wasn’t the case. I had to wait for a third I/O card to arrive, and I was immensely relieved when it worked right off the bat without any issues.

SPECS:
Motherboard: Biostar MB-1333UCG (128KB cache)
CPU: AMD 386DX-40
FPU: IIT 3C87-40
Memory: 16MB (60ns)
I/O: DTK PTI-227W
Graphics: Tseng Labs ET4000AX
Sound: BlasterBoard, PCMIDI & Roland MT-32 (old)
Storage: Delock CF-to-IDE adapter with 4GB CF card
Gotek FlashFloppy drive
ISA-to-USB Industrial Card

The motherboard is in beautiful condition with no visible signs of corrosion. It’s one of the very late 386DX motherboards, with the year 1993 silkscreened on the PCB. I couldn’t leave the FPU socket empty, so I added an IIT 3C87-40 math co-processor. The memory modules are brand new 60ns SIMMs.

For the graphics card, I had two options: the Tseng Labs ET4000AX and the Cirrus Logic CL-GD5422. I’ll post some benchmarks later.

The sound setup is the most exciting part. The BlasterBoard was the first component I acquired (back in April 2023). It’s a great modern SB2.0-compatible ISA card. I also scored a Roland MT-32 at a local online auction. The PCMIDI MPU card is the modern reproduction. A PicoGUS could have been a good alternative for this build, too.

For storage, I went with relatively modern solutions: a Gotek FlashFloppy drive for the floppy disk drive and a 4GB Compact Flash card for the hard drive. I used EZ-Drive to utilize the full 4GB capacity by splitting it into two 2GB partitions. The downside is that I can’t read the card on my Windows 10 laptop, as reported in this topic. This is where the ISA-to-USB Industrial Card comes to the rescue. It works flawlessly with just one line added to the config.sys file, making file transfers easy! The card doesn't come with a bracket, but there's a 3D model available at Thingverse that I printed at our local library.

The case is slightly newer than the motherboard. A sticker on the back indicates it was made in 1994 and originally used for a 486SX. Still, it’s close enough to the period, and I love the yellowed, rugged look. The LED display works, too!

Hardware