tehsiggi wrote on 2025-09-12, 18:01:

Well, what you see on that picture is the back, here's the front:

The attachment apm_front.jpg is no longer available

You can read more about it here: AGP Power monitor - diagnostic hardware tool

Ok that looks more like 👍 It’s an overkill for what I want to do. I just need to power the card on and then poke around with a multimeter to see where voltages are missing / wrong. Anyway, what a great project you have 😁

This is the most recent Windows 3.1 + Word 6.0 I have ever seen - used in 2005/06. It's a computer from 1995 running Cyrix 486@100Mhz, Trident VLB, 4MB memory and 540MB HDD. BIOS was set to AUTO - coin battery still good and holds settings fine.

I've put 16MB stick inside and optimized BIOS settings. The system is now noticeable more snappy 😉

This is a fairly pointless retro activity, but I could use some help if anyone has any ideas.

For some reason, the image of a motherboard I remember from "back in the day" came to mind, and I have to find a picture of it.

Some of this could be totally wrong, but I remember seeing it frequently listed online on a site like Newegg or similar. This is because it was one of the cheapest motherboards listed, so I always saw it when sorting by price. It stood out because it was really gaudy looking, with a dark colored PCB and lots of neon colored features, bright colored no-name brand capacitors, etc... like it was supposed to be eye-catching even though the brand was known for being cheap and it was obviously a cheap board.

I keep thinking it was from the Socket A\462 era, and I think that's what socket it used, but I can't be sure. It could have been a few generations newer than that, but I'm almost positive that it's from long before the time when solid capacitors were common.

I really think it was made by Biostar, and I feel like the capacitors were neon yellow\green.

Were there any other bottom of the barrel brands back in those days? I don't think it was ECS, and I can't find any PC Chips boards with these colors.

I've done lots of google image searches and it isn't any of the boards with red PCBs or any of the newer ones I've seen with PCI-E. Neon yellow\green caps would probably be the main feature I'm thinking of, and possibly a black PCB.

Anyone have any ideas?

DFI lanparty uv?

So is the AMD AM5x86 processor a supercharged 486 or a slow Pentium class processor?

I've been reading up on this chip (I just acquired an AST Advantage Adventure 575 with one in it) and its still unclear to me. Seems faster than the Gateway 486DX2-66 I had but slower than a Pentium 90 (the slowest Pentium I've ever had) in DOOM.

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2025-09-13, 16:32:

So is the AMD AM5x86 processor a supercharged 486 or a slow Pentium class processor?

I've been reading up on this chip (I just acquired an AST Advantage Adventure 575 with one in it) and its still unclear to me. Seems faster than the Gateway 486DX2-66 I had but slower than a Pentium 90 (the slowest Pentium I've ever had) in DOOM.

I've always thought of those as supercharged 486 processors, they are slower than a Pentium clock for clock.

Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-09-13, 01:04:

Anyone have any ideas?

Chaintech or Soyo? DFI sure wasn't cheap. At least not here.

A few boards I can find that fit the "black PCB" checkmark are:

- ECS: K7S5A, K7VZA
- ABIT: AT7-MAX2
- Biostar: M7VIP

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2025-09-13, 16:32:

So is the AMD AM5x86 processor a supercharged 486 or a slow Pentium class processor?

A supercharged 486 since they're based on the 486 architecture.

IDK about supercharged in that implies more power for the same cycles, it's more like it's just overclocked, revs higher. Clocked at regular 486 speeds they get same scores as equivalent 486es... like 16kb WB vs 16kb WB.

Shponglefan wrote on 2025-09-13, 18:59:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2025-09-13, 16:32:

So is the AMD AM5x86 processor a supercharged 486 or a slow Pentium class processor?

A supercharged 486 since they're based on the 486 architecture.

So AMD calling it a 586 was just straight up deceptive marketing then?

Running into a problem with my Wavetable Pi/PicoGUS (MPU-401 mode) combo, with my AWE-64 only used for sound effects, but only in the game X-Wing...

When it's enabled, the game is basically a slideshow, and no sound plays. During setup, it works perfectly. When music is disabled, the game plays fine. I know it works as it's the most common example given in videos of how the WPi/MT-32 Pi sound. So far, it's the only game giving me trouble, all others work fine ... maybe it's my copy?

Any ideas?

Well, seems like I am getting myself into trouble again 😁

I am currently sorting out my current 486 dos gaming rig with the last part which is a working joystick setup.

First snag I ran into was that the case is built in a way that you cannot fit the DB15 connector from the joystick in the DB15 female connector on my Sound Blaster 16 sound card .. I had to loosen the sound card and bit, plug in the joystick connector and then gently screw back the sound card bracket into the case. Solved!

Next issue I ran into was that the joystick isn't recognized by any games 😜
I started troubleshooting and realized I had this issue back in 2008 and posted about it here .. it's about the Gravis Ultrasound Ace not deactivating it's gameport resources.
The fix is to use ultrinit.exe version 2.26a. Switched to that but the joystick was still not recognized in games ... wtf!?
Further troubleshooting commenced..... found out I had an 8-bit I/O card for hooking up my mouse and it has a gameport header which you can't disable 🙁
Now off to my storage/stash and look for gameport header w cable or a different I/O card!

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2025-09-13, 22:57:

Shponglefan wrote on 2025-09-13, 18:59:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2025-09-13, 16:32:

So is the AMD AM5x86 processor a supercharged 486 or a slow Pentium class processor?

A supercharged 486 since they're based on the 486 architecture.

So AMD calling it a 586 was just straight up deceptive marketing then?

586 as such just doesn't exist. Therefore everybody can use it as they wish. AMD chose to call 486 with larger cache and higher multiplier as "586".

GigAHerZ wrote on Yesterday, 12:09:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2025-09-13, 22:57:

Shponglefan wrote on 2025-09-13, 18:59:

A supercharged 486 since they're based on the 486 architecture.

So AMD calling it a 586 was just straight up deceptive marketing then?

586 as such just doesn't exist. Therefore everybody can use it as they wish. AMD chose to call 486 with larger cache and higher multiplier as "586".

Isn't there a 586 instruction set?

TechieDude wrote on Yesterday, 15:08:

GigAHerZ wrote on Yesterday, 12:09:

TheAbandonwareGuy wrote on 2025-09-13, 22:57:

So AMD calling it a 586 was just straight up deceptive marketing then?

586 as such just doesn't exist. Therefore everybody can use it as they wish. AMD chose to call 486 with larger cache and higher multiplier as "586".

Isn't there a 586 instruction set?

None in AMD5x86. It's Cyrix5x86 has.

In the past, I just used GOG's offline installers for playing my games from that store. But recently, I started using GOG Galaxy, and I was pleasantly surprised that many of my games from the early 2010s have achievements even on that platform.

Might need to replay Risen, Dishonored, Tomb Raider and BioShock Infinite at some point, to get some of those sweet cheevos. 😁

A little more work on the Wavetable Pi. Setup FTP so I don't have to keep pulling the SD card. Works good.

Wired up a simple rotary encoder for basic volume control. Now that I know it works, I'll print a new proper bay adapter. For now, the "insert" works, it's just ugly. 🤣

Still trying to fix Star Wars: X-Wing not working with it.... 😜

Installed my 3DFX Voodoo 3 2000 PCI in Socket 7 with SiS processor - Packard Bell Club 30!!

I'm assembling a case with different parts and the panel I choose doesn't come with a base for the power button, so I made one 😁.