VOGONS


First post, by Qbccd

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Hello,

This is probably quite an unusual request, but I am trying to rebuild my childhood PC, and trying to figure out the exact motherboard we had based on faded memory. It was a horizontal case (which I've already found the exact same one), and I looked inside often as a child, so there are some things I remember very well and some things I am not totally sure about. So this is what I remember. I will be referencing some locations of things on the board, assuming it's laid with the slots toward the left.

- Early 486, the CPU was DX 33 MHz. No lever/ZIF, you had to pry the CPU out.
- AMI BIOS, on boot you got the "WAIT...." message during memory check.
- The background in the BIOS settings was all blue. The year shown was 1990 or 1991.
- Eight RAM slots, located in the bottom right - behind the expansion slots.
- SiS chipset. One SiS chip was located near the right edge above the RAM slots. And the CPU socket was located there too. One was above the other, but I'm not sure which.
- Definitely no PCI. I don't think it had VLB, but I'm not sure.
- 70% sure the PCB was yellow-ish, but I also remember some green. I remember the aforementioned SiS chip being surrounded by yellow. Could be wrong about this.

The graphics card installed was Cirrus Logic, SVGA with 1MB of VRAM, if that helps provide some context. The system had 256k L2 cache, 8MB of RAM, and a 200MB HDD. But it wasn't super expensive, so I'm thinking it was bought in 1991 or 1992. I have no memories from before 1994, so I just don't remember exactly when my dad bought it.

It's a long shot to identify it based on these clues, but if you can help me narrow it down I'll be very grateful. If you have questions, please ask and I'll try to remember.

Hopefully this will be a fun game for someone.

Reply 1 of 4, by DaveDDS

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It is a "long shot"... I suggest googling for as many term as you can remember - probably start with something like "mainboard SIS 486 DX 33" , add year around the time (but be aware that BIOS date might only be "close")- then pick "Images" -- lots will come up, maybe some you can recognize? -playing around with even subtle change in search term scan have quite an effect on what Google "finds".

"Images" should give a much more recognizable result that text descriptions. Hopefully you'll get lucky - good luck!

- Dave ; https://dunfield.themindfactory.com ; "Daves Old Computers" ; SW dev addict best known:
ImageDisk: rd/wr ANY floppy PChardware can ; Micro-C: compiler for DOS+ManySmallCPU ; DDLINK: simple/small FileTrans(w/o netSW)via Lan/Lpt/Serial

Reply 2 of 4, by sunkindly

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theretroweb.com is also pretty helpful because there's a good amount of entries and photos, you can also search by chipset / socket / etc.

SUN85: NEC PC-8801mkIIMR
SUN92: Northgate Elegance | 386DX-25 | Orchid Fahrenheit 1280 | SB 1.0
SUN97: QDI Titanium IE | Pentium MMX 200MHz | Tseng ET6000 | SB 16
SUN00: ABIT BF6 | Pentium III 1.1GHz | 3dfx Voodoo3 3000 | AU8830

Reply 3 of 4, by Qbccd

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sunkindly wrote on 2026-04-11, 02:30:

theretroweb.com is also pretty helpful because there's a good amount of entries and photos, you can also search by chipset / socket / etc.

Holy crap, I think I found it. I searched for Socket 1 + SiS chipset and it only returned 39 boards. Only one had the RAM slots in the lower right - the Asus ISA-486. And the rest of it matches what I remember. Amazing. Even if it's not this exact one, it's definitely close enough.

Now I just have to find one at a reasonable price. There is one listed on Ebay, but it's $270...

Reply 4 of 4, by butjer1010

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Qbccd wrote on 2026-04-12, 00:25:
sunkindly wrote on 2026-04-11, 02:30:

theretroweb.com is also pretty helpful because there's a good amount of entries and photos, you can also search by chipset / socket / etc.

Holy crap, I think I found it. I searched for Socket 1 + SiS chipset and it only returned 39 boards. Only one had the RAM slots in the lower right - the Asus ISA-486. And the rest of it matches what I remember. Amazing. Even if it's not this exact one, it's definitely close enough.

Now I just have to find one at a reasonable price. There is one listed on Ebay, but it's $270...

Search elsewhere, Ebay is "notorious" for pricing. You can click "advanced" to the right of search bar in ebay, and in sub menu, click on sold items. There You'll get which price is "normal" for that kind of board. Try on Amibay, in wanted hardware, maybe someone has one, and there You go... make a deal...