First post, by alex_ncfc
- Rank
- Newbie
Hi all,
Been on here reading all your stories about souped-up 486 machines etc etc. I love all the retro stuff and the reason I'm here is because I have just stumbled across this box:
And inside it I find....
How cool is that? Caked in dust, God knows if it still works, still has memory and CPU mounted, wonder if the CMOS battery still works? 😉
Even got the manual with the driver CD inside it:
This was my last AT based machine, and I forgot I still had this. I now recall though (and this has made me angry with myself as you will find out later) that I stripped this out of an old AT case (which I bought brand new around the same time as this board, circa 2000) when I was cleaning out my old bedroom at my parents, and I binned the case! It had gone all yellow and manky, and I thought it was no longer of any use.
The board is a JetWay 542C and I have no idea if it still works (did last time I used it in 2005 as a backup machine when my brand new build decided to give up), but notice how it's got an ATX and AT port. Wonder how much I'd get for this?! I am half tempted to test it out using my current ATX PSU, but I have no video card, nor do I have an AT keyboard 🙁 Brings me onto how I want to get into some retro builds -
Thing is, I've been looking at 486 boards on ebay - and I am shocked at how much they are going for now! I started getting into PCs when my dad got an old banged up 486DX2/50 in 1998 - so it was already pretty obsolete then! It had 8MB RAM, and was an IBM Consultant PS/1 - because I knew nothing about PCs at this time, I thought it was a 486 SX-25 as that's what it said on the case sticker, but it must have been upgraded. It had a 120MB hard disk, and was the PC that got me hooked, as when my dad put a sound card in it, it was the first time I'd seen inside a PC and I started to get interested in learning more about them, so I began looking for an old 486 I could have myself, in my room. I was only about 13 at the time, and I remember we found this local shop selling tonnes and tonnes (and I am not joking!) of old Olivetti 486 PCs - they looked ancient, the case was very dated, and they were model M300-30, 486-SX-25, 12MB RAM, 300MB hard disk, and some Western Digital graphics card. And guess what? They were £10 each...yes, ten of your English pounds for a complete system (£15 with a monitor!!)
Anyway over the year or so after that, I upgraded again and again, first to a DX2/66 on some no name motherboard, and then I was at a computer fair and managed to grab a 486-DX4 120 board with CPU for £8! That was my last 486 machine. I remember I had a bag full of 486 boards in static wrapping bags when I lived at my parents. I have no idea what came of them. I am wondering if my dad has binned them. I also had a load of old VLB video cards, can't recall what they were, but I used to goto computer fairs almost monthly in those 2000-2002 days, and they used to have boxes full to the brim of old ISA and VLB cards - usually with a sign saying "50p each", sometimes even "free to a good home!"
Gone off on a tangent a bit there but basically, 486s now look like gold dust on eBay, why is this? A little over 10 years ago they were practically given away, but now they are suddenly collectors items? I've been looking for a board on eBay, trying to find a 486 board with PCI slots as I'd love to make a 486 build - this brings me back to the AT case I put in the garbage - it had a perfectly working AT PSU but I regret disposing of it now because I can't find AT cases and/or AT PSUs anywhere - but I will keep a look out. I envy your stories on your 486 builds and wish a) I still had access to all those 486 motherboards, compatible RAM, CPUs, VLB video and controller cards etc that I had in a big bag all those years ago and b) I still had my AT-case to put them in!!
I will keep checking to see if they pop up on ebay. With the money these things are going for now, I wish I'd bought loads of those old 486s from that shop all those years ago!! It seems they are now again in big demand.
Does anybody have any recommendations where I'd be able to find an AT-case/PSU, keyboard etc which doesn't cost a bomb?
Thanks
Alex
CURRENT BUILD
Still using my 'retro'
AMD 64 X2 4200
3GB DDR400 RAM
400GB HARD DRIVE
WINDOWS 7
PNY GEFORCE 8800GT
ASUS A8N-SLI-DELUXE