I reckon it might have one of those 386/486 boards, with VLB, soldered down AMD DX40, empty 486 socket.

Ooh, awesome. I have a 286 in that exact case.

I would guess you're going to end up with a 386SX-16, but I suppose it could be a DX, or even a later 486 era cheap 386, like a DX40.

Those ports on the back: the left one is a multi I/O card, with integrated gameport and parallel port, and the two male D-subs are not a card, but breakouts for the two serial connectors on that card.

It's obviously an AT motherboard, given the keyboard connector.

The 3.5 inch floppy drive in the 5.25 inch bay instead of its dedicated 3.5 inch bay that's right there for the taking could indicate that there is a 3.5 inch hard drive taking up the floppy bay, and there is thus an IDE card in the system, or perhaps it is indeed a later 386 or 486 motherboard with integrated IDE - but in that case it wouldn't make sense to have the multi-IO card, as the IO would also probably be integrated into such a motherboard.

And now that I look at it, there are no portless ISA cards in the system. Every other slot is taken up with an indented bracket that could not be a card.

Based on that I think the multi-IO card has IDE on it as well, and there is probably an IDE HDD in the 3.5 inch bay.

In fact, I think you will find a chip labeled "M5105" on that board!

The VGA card lacks DIP switches, so it's probably a later one. Oak or something. That might lend weight to either the 386SX or the cheap 486 era board theories, as this could have been a 386SX system that originally had an EGA card and was upgraded to VGA.

I should complete my guess I guess.. so 120MB Seagate ATA, 4x1MB SIMMs, Trident 9440 VLB VGA with 1MB.

My guess is it’s a 386SX-16 with 2MB, a 256k VGA (maybe a TVGA9000c) and a 40-ish MB IDE like a CP3000 or a ST157A. Battery leaked.

Seems very office and budget level. I'd say it's a late 386 era system (can be IBM/Cyrix 486 or just "386"). Around this time, most likely 386DX-ish. It could have an unusually low amount RAM (under 4MB) if it really was never opened to put to use and not going to be more than 4MB. As a 386 class, it likely doesn't have VLB. The only hope is that the VGA card being placed far down the slots where VLB is might mean it does have VLB, but it also could just be where there is enough room for a longer ISA card. 512KB Trident SVGA is my guess being a later era. 120MB IDE HD is a good guess too. Hopefully it still boots...

The fact that other people reported having a 286 system in the same case and that the model name might be "386slp" including the letter "S" as in "SX" and no clock speed indication makes me join the 386SX-16 camp. Further guessed specs: 2MB RAM, 40MB hard drive, low-end VGA, possibly Paradise PVGA1 or OAK 037C. Might be 512K, but might also be just 256K. I guess the system is too old for a Trident 9000, so a cheap Trident would be the ancient Trident 8800 (that's not a typo for 8900, but the previous generation).

The mainboard is likely going to have a 286/386sx chipset like the C&T SCAT ("single-chip AT") or the VLSI TOPCAT chipset.

Nice box 😀

The VGA card is the best hint. If this had been an early 386, it would have had a 9p digital output as well. No sign of that, which suggests this is a late 386 from the time when they were low-end. The 3x 5.25" and vertical 3.5" also points in that direction. So I'd say Am386DX-40. Pair that with a low-cost small baby-AT motherboard with single-chip chipset. 16b ISA multi-I/O card (with the extension bracket for 2x serial from a different card...) and VGA... something low-end. Oak or Trident probably, although C&T or UMC might also be options. 4x 1MB 30p SIMMs.

Great Find !

This case actually already featured in an earlier thread about the "quintessential AT case":

Newly made Retro styled AT/Baby AT Case

Incidentally, I recently found a machine in exactly the same case. However, unlike your find my one was a maxed out and someone took it to the very end of the AT era with a Pentium MMX / DVD drive etc.
My guess is "AMD 386 DX40"

Aui wrote on Yesterday, 00:04:

However, unlike your find my one was a maxed out and someone took it to the very end of the AT era with a Pentium MMX / DVD drive etc.
My guess is "AMD 386 DX40"

The very very end is more like PIII-S 1.4 ghz in an AT BX board.

The very very end is more like PIII-S 1.4 ghz in an AT BX board.

Interesting, I never came across such a fast PIII (or any Socket 370) on an AT board.

I've seen a similar case, it had an i486DX/33 in it with I think 8MB RAM, but it was custom built.

Fastest machines currently in that form factor/footprint as they arrived to me, are a Pentium 60 and a M919 with POD 83... but I think they both started as low end 486 and were upgraded. Got a 286/16 from Packard Bell before they were cost optimised full custom (circa 1989 that one ) that's probably a commodity case, which is the slowest. In general the other ones around seem to have been 386 originally. But case styles persisted quite a few years in some instances. I think there would be a handful of ground breakers, then a mass following, then clones getting built cheaply with them as the tooling was paid off and they became the cheap option, then late in the day, homebrewers picking them up surplus and clearout from overstock and maybe mom and pop shops ditto. So they can span a decade.

I've got minitowers a 286 was in, through to Pentium 133, and the stampings are about the same, some details in facia refreshed through the years. (i.e. you can swap the cover, and drivebay faceplates from one to another) Then also I have early 486 in an IBM AT style clone case, that's a bit more like XT width, which seems a few years late, but it was built like that by a regional system builder, it do give the "much business, very stout" vibe for a high end spec though. Deskpro was late getting away from that look I think.

It is fun reading all of your thoughts and reasoning where you base your guesses 😁

I still haven't opened the damn thing, but I might as well throw in some of my thoughts.

On the contrary to some here, I don't think that this system is from the actual 386 budget era, but more like the middle, that is around -90/91 or -92 at most. This means that IMO it is unlikely that we'll find a hybrid MB or even AM386DX40 inside. This is only based on the years when I think that this case was mostly sold or popular.

My bet is that this is a low end 386, perhaps 20MHz. It may be even 386SX-20, if this is indeed just SX. I also think that this is very basic "low price" model, so it has probably only 2MB RAM. HDD is also from the smaller side, I throw in 52MB Quantum Pro Drive just because I had one in my 386SX back in the day.

Graphics card is also something very basic. Someone here already suggested some Paradise based card and I might as well go with that.

Plot twist: the system inside was upgraded and it's actually a Pentium MMX

Though I suppose the lack of a cd drive might suggest otherwise...

Shponglefan wrote on Yesterday, 10:47:

Plot twist: the system inside was upgraded and it's actually a Pentium MMX

Though I suppose the lack of a cd drive might suggest otherwise...

This would be indeed a plot twist, but as I wrote, it is pretty much certain that this is NOS system. It is for all practical purposes unused if not untouched, so I don’t think that there realistically can be one single upgrade in this. Of course, if I’m wrong about this, then everything is possible I guess.

CharlieFoxtrot wrote on Yesterday, 10:56:

Shponglefan wrote on Yesterday, 10:47:

Plot twist: the system inside was upgraded and it's actually a Pentium MMX

Though I suppose the lack of a cd drive might suggest otherwise...

This would be indeed a plot twist, but as I wrote, it is pretty much certain that this is NOS system. It is for all practical purposes unused if not untouched, so I don’t think that there realistically can be one single upgrade in this. Of course, if I’m wrong about this, then everything is possible I guess.

The only thing that doesn't fit with the 'untouched' story is the way the serial bracket doesn't match with the I/O card (blue vs black connectors), but I agree there's no signs of the wear&tear that you'd expect with an upgraded system.

dionb wrote on Yesterday, 11:54:

The only thing that doesn't fit with the 'untouched' story is the way the serial bracket doesn't match with the I/O card (blue vs black connectors), but I agree there's no signs of the wear&tear that you'd expect with an upgraded system.

I don’t find this conflicting at all. This is a clone build using components from who knows how many different manufacturers. Something like having completely different colors for connectors is more than expected if the cards are from different manufacturers.

I am relying on that "as built" to date it, UK/Europe in 90s were clinging to 5.25 drives in 1990, they persisted to 1991 in budget, because you wanted to run the discount previous version software which was on 5.25. By 1992 3.5 was becoming standard and spendier systems still had both. Likewise, VGA monitors needing to be built for other than 115V were highly priced in 1990, so budget systems had a mono card, maybe EGA, but it was 9 pin, by 1992 VGA becoming standard even at budget.

Now VGA and 1.44 could be true of a higher end unit a couple of years earlier, but I would think it would have a bit more pizazz to winkle that few thousand out of some eager pocket, like a shiny aluminum "executive" "performance pro" or something type badging.

Even in the states, 5.25" HD floppy drive system could be bought as the primary drive all the way up to somewhere about the time DOS 6 was out. So if this is a base clone model, and it came with 3.5", we are looking pretty late for 386. And many people were looking for both 3.5" and 5.25" for upgrading, so it is a base model from the time. For an _early_ base clone model, I would more expect 5.25", because new media for HD 5.25" was dirt cheap in '90-93, so it makes sense for someone buying an economical DOS or basic Windows machine like they had been familiar with in those days. Since this doesn't have 5.25" we are past that point. As it is hinting it is a 386, it probably puts it before '94 too, so a late 386 or a 486 in 386 platform, and not really getting into the pentium era.