Ta-da! Comes today 3Dfx Diamond Monster Voodoo2 8mb SLI . Have to fix VGA port in the top one and make own SLI link from floppy cable. Still looking for Matrox Millenium II 8MB as primary graphics 😀

I had this card couple of months ago and sold it for my sake (thought not needed) but now WANTED:

No, its not a 286 Chipset. It can't be one because 286 CPUs have a 16-Bit external bus and the 386DX CPUs are 32-Bit external. However, C&Ts last 286 chipset, the famous NEAT chipset was also used in the 386SX line, called "NEATSX". The Chipset used here was the CS8230, a fine early chipset for the 386DX platform, it also came in variations with cache. It's not a stunning performer but it does its job good. Another interesting point (for some at least): The chipset works very well with the Ti486SXL2 CPUs (that's an 486 Overdrive CPU for the 386DX socket) so one can do some really cool upgrade.

Look at this board from my collection - Its a fullsize AT board with cache, driven by a very similar chipset, the CS8231 (the 302 memory controller has been replaced with the 307 combined cache&memory controller):

moretec_sxl2.jpg

Just because a 286 chipset is 16-bit doesn't mean you can't hack a 386DX onto it. I'm pretty sure there were a few shady people who tried this. But you are correct about the CS8230 being a proper 386 chipset.
Nice photo of the full sized board with the 16 SIMM slots and cache memory. Does this board really support the SXL2 properly with cache enabled? If so it must support hidden refresh, otherwise there would be no way to maintain cache coherency.

I got a 200mhz mmx pent and 64mb pc100 ram for my socket 7 setup.

I finally managed to snag a Diamond Speedstar 64 ISA (CL GD5434) at an acceptable price.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Computer-Accessory-VG … =item1c4e12bc6b

kanecvr wrote:

....The case I mentioned above is a simple beige case with a two digit MHz display, big clunky swivel like power switch and over-all 80's looks. It currently hosts a 486SX ISA board, unknown scsi controller and ISA video card, plus a 5,25" floppy drive. A shame I don't have any 5" floppys 🙁

5.25" floppy drives are in abundance on ebay. They are not the cheapest things on earth, though: 20-30 USD + shipment, generally.

The minitower case you show the picture of is a very classic one (it's actually the exact one what I have as my first ever PC in 1992). But if I'm recalling correctly, minitowers are the more early 90's look, than 80's. 80's means more like desktop (horizontal) cases, not tower (vertical) cases.

I think 1994 was really the year of the mini tower.

Anonymous Coward wrote:

I think 1994 was really the year of the mini tower.

Yeah, '94 up to about '97 or '98, when ATX took over.

Anonymous Coward wrote:

I think 1994 was really the year of the mini tower.

I don't know the brand names and big OEMs (Compaq, HP, IBM, etc. - never cared about them during the times) but small non-brand manufacturers was churning out 386 PC's in 1992-1993 with minitowers, and nothing else. It was just like that till late 96 - early 97, when ATX managed to become main stream, and minitowers became midi towers. 🤣

frisky dingo wrote:

I got a 200mhz mmx pent and 64mb pc100 ram for my socket 7 setup.

64mb pc100 in one module or 2 x 32mb pc100 ?

Godlike wrote:

frisky dingo wrote:

I got a 200mhz mmx pent and 64mb pc100 ram for my socket 7 setup.

64mb pc100 in one module or 2 x 32mb pc100 ?

Two 32mb sticks.

Found this nifty NIB Cherry keyboard in a thrift shop today:

http://imgur.com/a/JkxdD

jwt27 wrote:

Found this nifty NIB Cherry keyboard in a thrift shop today:

http://imgur.com/a/JkxdD

Nice!
I got a Teac 3.5" 1.44 Floppy Drive with a fdd cable and screws and a Asus CRw drive for my socket 7 system.

jwt27 wrote:

Found this nifty NIB Cherry keyboard in a thrift shop today:

http://imgur.com/a/JkxdD

Goddammit! I just turned my Highscreen branded Cherry keyboard around and... there it is! A PC/AT switch!

I've had this thing for over 22 years and never knew about that switch! Thank you!

frisky dingo wrote:

Godlike wrote:

frisky dingo wrote:

I got a 200mhz mmx pent and 64mb pc100 ram for my socket 7 setup.

64mb pc100 in one module or 2 x 32mb pc100 ?

Two 32mb sticks.

That's what I'm looking for. Have some for sale or eventually point me where to get them?

jwt27 wrote:

Found this nifty NIB Cherry keyboard in a thrift shop today:

http://imgur.com/a/JkxdD

Ooh la la, I like that!

And regarding the desktop / tower discussion - it depends on your region I suspect. Desktops were still common place here in '93, with towers becoming more common late '94-ish.

More or less the same regarding cases in Denmark around that time.
Actually. You had a choice regarding cases back then.
Stores that had their own line, would build different versions of a name (example: Eagle 1000 or space exploration or any other funky name) and do a specific case for low, medium and high-end editions.

Desktop for low/office/school
Midi/mini tower for allround models.
And Hightower for the absolute extreme edition.

In my corner of Canada there was a brief fashion for full-size towers in the 386 era. "Expandability" was the newly hype concept, so you got beautiful but silly boxes like this one. The twin mid-towers were 486 with 8MB and 1992 Caviar 2200 212MB drives. Part of a contract for the local university. The mini housed a 1996 Pentium Pro P6NP5. That's kind of late for a box with a turbo button, so I suspect that one had been a custom-build from an idie shop.

EDIT

Stojke wrote:

FGB wrote:

moretec_sxl2.jpg

ITS SO PRETTY!

Sure is. What a beautiful wallpaper-ready shot too. I just keep staring at it.

Hey, my first PC was a Celeron 333 MHz, and that was in a case with a turbo button. That was definitely late for such a case!

Wait...what? Turbo on an ATX? Or was this Celeron an AT?

pewpewpew wrote:

In my corner of Canada there was a brief fashion for full-size towers in the 386 era. "Expandability" was the newly hype concept […]
Show full quote

In my corner of Canada there was a brief fashion for full-size towers in the 386 era. "Expandability" was the newly hype concept, so you got beautiful but silly boxes like this one. The twin mid-towers were 486 with 8MB and 1992 Caviar 2200 212MB drives. Part of a contract for the local university. The mini housed a 1996 Pentium Pro P6NP5. That's kind of late for a box with a turbo button, so I suspect that one had been a custom-build from an idie shop.

trippytowers.jpg

full_height_tower.jpg

EDIT

Stojke wrote:

FGB wrote:

moretec_sxl2.jpg

ITS SO PRETTY!

Sure is. What a beautiful wallpaper-ready shot too. I just keep staring at it.

THEY. ARE. GORGEOUS!!!

The one I got seems to be from canada as well! Small world huh!

I wonder how it got all the way to Romania half way across the world 😁

On a sadder note, the Diamond Voodoo 2 I got yesterday came damaged... four SMD capacitors were knocked off, but I did manage to get it going. I replaced the SMDs with parts from a donor card (a fried X1150) and the card works great. The fix isn't pretty since I'm out of SMD paste and had to use solder, but it works. It's an 8MB part BTW...

The 386 is also missing parts. A tiny round crystal (probably an 8MHz part) a small tantalum capacitor and a resistor. The resistor is broken in two so it's easy to identify, source and replace. The crystal is completly missing but I bet it's the 8MHz crystal for the on board timer (since the 14MHz part is in place) but I can't figure out the value of the small tantalum cap... will open up a thread with pictures...

The Pentium PRO CPUs are both 200MHz 256KB parts - no missing pins and overall great looking. Now I just have to find a mainboard...