WELCOME!

1: The Pentium overdrive is probably the fastest thing you can put into a 486 class machine. Provided the board can accept it at all. I would do a search for your motherboard model and include overdrive in the search to see if anyone has had issues.
2: It is very common to use compact flash drives in lieu of actual hard drives in these machines. I'm not a fan but they work great, are cheap and make it easy to transfer files to a modern machine if you also get a usb to cf adapter.
3: the cd drive sounds like one of those 2x drives that use a cable the same width as a floppy drive cable. You should replace it with a standard IDE drive.
4: Unless you actually plan on using a modem toss it.
5: can't help you here
6: I always download "pirate" versions and make cd isos. No muss, no fuss.
7: The dvd drives i have never worked on pre-Pentium systems. And even on Pentiums they were wonky. your mileage may vary.
8: win 3.11 doesnt take up that much room and it always has skifree.

Howdy.

You need to ID your motherboard model before looking at upgrade CPUs.
PB used several motherboards for 486.

Some PBs need the interposer plate for 486 upgrades.

Min CPU for DVD playback is 300MHz Pentium class and many playback softwares need more.
You can get by with less CPU if you have a ~hardware~ DVD decoder but I still don't think a 486 will cut it.
(I had a laptop with a P233MMX and a hardware DVD decoder and that worked fine - most of the time.)

Some of these had the modems as a plug in module so even if the port is there you may not have a modem inside.
They were usually god-awful slow (14.4 or 28.😎 so I would find something better.
Personally if you have one I would remove it to save resources.
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Min CPU for DVD playback is 300MHz Pentium class

Thats pretty impressive honestly! Anyway- Intention wasn't for DVD playback, but for data storage to bring in many games and software and such... 4-8GB can bring a whole world of things on this machine...

Some of these had the modems as a plug in module so even if the port is there you may not have a modem inside.

Looked Pretty packed in there - but yeah, it'd be awfully slow if it worked - like i said, i think when i looked it up was rated around 9600-2400bps ...

Some PBs need the interposer plate for 486 upgrades.

Well i have a Gateway, not a PB - I'll identify the Mobo, but since it's a Socket 2, i'm thinking it'd be a plug and play (i'd assume - or very little parts to go in it)

win 3.11 doesnt take up that much room and it always has skifree.

You know i was so disappointed - like i had Win 3.1 originally on here (it was factory installed but i removed it for win95 cause it's just easier for file browsing\moving) but it didn't have this infamous Ski free game 😐

2: It is very common to use compact flash drives in lieu of actual hard drives in these machines. I'm not a fan but they work great, are cheap and make it easy to transfer files to a modern machine if you also get a usb to cf adapter.

How will this work when you have to manually input C\H\S\LZ in BIOS? I Still don't know how to get around that like 900M\1G Limits

3: the cd drive sounds like one of those 2x drives that use a cable the same width as a floppy drive cable. You should replace it with a standard IDE drive.

So what would you recommend buying first, i'm leaning towards CPU, but i'm just looking for suggestions. A Soundcard with IDE support or the Pentium Overdrive 85?

Also how much do you guys invest in your machines? I Spent $10 for it, $15 for the Ram upgrade so far... The CPU and Soundcard total would be another $75 (Give or take) Is that too much you think?

speewave wrote:

Also how much do you guys invest in your machines?

Mostly. I spend the time in getting stuff. Sometime's you get lucky with cheap stuff, and sometimes you are less lucky and need to pay up.
Sometimes you find a "lot" with something you need, and something you save for other build's.

Basically speaking. Keep mind open for possible build's. As setting you'r mind on a single specific part (wanting it now), are allmost certain to be the most expensive approach to all this retro stuff.

As an example...
I asked someone to sell me a P2B-DS, and he mentioned that he had something else. It turned out that this was indeed i great big lot of hardware.
So it turned out that I got a defect P2B-DS (semi defect on arrival, dead after testing), a working P2B-S a working Intel-SE440BX-2 and a working Asus-A7V266-E.
Plus a lot of other stuff, like a complete P166 machine with an Shuttle-HOT-555a Board. I traded some stuff, recently gave something away from
that lot and kept some of it in order to build up my collection.

A different story on how you get less lucky. I traded an AWE64-Gold for an V2-12mb. The V2 just shuts down after max 5 minutes of gaming.
So yeah... That went less good.

The thing is.... You spend some, you loose some. You get lucky and you get less lucky. Unless you have the big money or make this a kind
of hobby to trade and earn money from this retro scene all in all.

Getting back to what you want to know about how much I spend on this? Well... I have no exact number on how much.
It's all fluid, baby... All Fluid...

Welcome to Vogons!

First of all you must take pics, especially of the insides! 😁
Not only is hardwarepr0n a pleasure to look at, but it may also help you in return as our eagle eyes will be likely to spot anything out of the ordinary 😜
Could you take a pic of the CPU socket also?
And could you take a pic or 2 of your 3.5in floppy drive? Preferably the front bezel and possibly the part of the floppy drive where it's model number is located.

Second of all is that you need to figure out the model number of your mainboard before we can tell which options your board has.

And don't forget to unplug the system from the wall before doing any messing around inside (most know this already, but it would be a shame to not mention this as it wouldn't be the first time such an oversight killed hardware).

speewave wrote:

Also how much do you guys invest in your machines? I Spent $10 for it, $15 for the Ram upgrade so far... The CPU and Soundcard total would be another $75 (Give or take) Is that too much you think?

It's only too much if you think it's not worth it 😀

And about how much I myself have invested? No way to tell, I've been at it for over 10 years now so it's almost impossible for me to backtrack my expenditures. To me, it's also how much I worked for it as I started out picking up dumped computerstuff from the streets, so basically I got it for no money but by cycling lots of km's 🤣

Many eons ago my family briefly had a desktop Gateway 4DX2-66V, and I recall it having a separate Pentium Overdrive upgrade socket, or at least some sort of CPU upgrade socket, right next to the main CPU socket (It was a larger blue socket IIRC). However, just because mine had this upgrade socket doesn't necessarily guarantee that every 4DX2-66V had them, and I can't speak for the "4DX2-66" no-"V" model.

That said...as mentioned, pictures of the inside and/or model & revision numbers of the motherboard would definitely help us determine what upgrades this system can take.

Tetrium wrote:

And don't forget to unplug the system from the wall before doing any messing around inside (most know this already, but it would be a shame to not mention this as it wouldn't be the first time such an oversight killed hardware).

Not just that, but these older machines tend to feed the mains from power socket right up to the switch on the front of the case in most - but not all - systems. Some cheaper PSUs and cases had the four terminals exposed or badly insulated meaning you could potentially kill yourself if you acted irresponsibly. Not likely, but mains power sure as hell twinges a bit if you get bitten by it. Of course, I'm an idiot because I still poke around with things whilst such machines are actually running and would probably blame everybody but myself if I caught the underside of the switch with my hand.

Speewave; If you decide to get rid of that LMSI CD-ROM drive, let me know as I'd be interested in taking it off your hands.

HighTreason wrote:

Speewave; If you decide to get rid of that LMSI CD-ROM drive, let me know as I'd be interested in taking it off your hands.

i got 2 of them, and at least 1 isa interface card if he doesnt want to get rid of his. shipping tends to suck, but thats life.

speewave wrote:

Well i have a Gateway, not a PB.

Sorry. I was just helping someone with a PB.
It does not change any of the concerns or questions though.
.

Folks lets not forget that you are not allowed to buy, sell, or trade on VOGONS.
VOGONS is no marketplace!

Sorry for the late reply - i had an extremely busy couple days... Anyway, Thanks for all your advice!

I just opened this up, started taking pics - You can find them here : http://imgur.com/a/ZSAT4
Kinda sad the image i took of the Soundcard didn't get in there, oh well... Hope this can help enough!

Details i was able to gather

Mobo: 612194-004 Pheonix Bios
(Not pictured : In a section of the mobo is the ROM chips for the Video BIOS written as Video BOIS -just thought that was funny to share)

Floppy Model: Epson SMD-300
PSU: Can't Determine wattage, PowerTronic SK-4145DE (Switching Power Supply)
CD: CM206 [LMSI]
HDD: WD Caviar 2430

Socketwise and according to the "On-Line" Manual, i should be able to upgrade this CPU - Model I'm looking at is the PODP5V83 Ready for Socket 2\3!

Not pictured:
2 more ISA Slots on the other side of the board (long ones)

Rear ports:
Mobo: PS/2 Kbd and Mouse ports, Two Serial ports - the last one has COM2 written under it (Accessing COM1 or 3 Hangs the system iirc) , LPT, VGA
Modem: Two Phone jacks, Line and Phone
Sound: Game Port, Out, Vol Control,Mic, In (maybe line in?)

Hope this helps

possibly the part of the floppy drive where it's model number is located.

The model number is on a sticker on the top of the drive - so you take off the systems chassis and it's right there...

I recall it having a separate Pentium Overdrive upgrade socket, or at least some sort of CPU upgrade socket

From what i recall, that is correct - This one has Just the blue socket... I'm curious about this one - How come they had a seperate socket if this blue socket supported the DX2 anyway?

LMSI CD-ROM drive, let me know as I'd be interested in taking it off your hands.

May need some fixing up - if you're willing to to that w/e - I'm still not 100% on it so whatever... however - i don't want to get in trouble as i see one of the mods posted that as a rule that we can't so... idk i'll have to read that when i'm done with this post

I'll get some set up shots and better inside shots a bit later Its hard to do internal shots i gotta say - what other pictures would you like\need -

I'd like to put some stuff up for archival purposes honestly - i don't think what i have is super rare, but i don't see it on line much.

thanks again all

blue socket = overdrive! Looks like you are set for at least a 486 overdrive, if not pod.