VOGONS


First post, by Baoran

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I found untested 486 motherboard for sale. Do you recognize what model motherboard this is?
Also I would appreciate if you would give me some advice how much it would be worth paying for.

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Reply 1 of 16, by Skyscraper

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Perhpas CHAINTECH 486SLB ?

New PC: i9 12900K @5GHz all cores @1.2v. MSI PRO Z690-A. 32GB DDR4 3600 CL14. 3070Ti.
Old PC: Dual Xeon X5690@4.6GHz, EVGA SR-2, 48GB DDR3R@2000MHz, Intel X25-M. GTX 980ti.
Older PC: K6-3+ 400@600MHz, PC-Chips M577, 256MB SDRAM, AWE64, Voodoo Banshee.

Reply 3 of 16, by jheronimus

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It's a Chaintech 486SLB, but their part numbers don't seem to mean a whole lot. I've written about a 486SLP, a slightly more advanced model here. Yours is based on the same chipset and socket, doesn't support 3.45v CPUs (no VRM installed), only has two 72-pin RAM slots and can likely use a lot of cache RAM. It is probably identical to 4SLB, so you take a look at settings here .

Long story short: if this board is anything like mine, it should probably be OK for those who have at least some experience with 486 boards, but it's definitely not a great choice for beginners. It really gave me a lot of issues. Personally, I would look for something easily identifiable and with better documentation.

MR BIOS catalog
Unicore catalog

Reply 4 of 16, by Baoran

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It is being sold for $24 and $8 for shipping, but I can try to offer less for it also. I'm just worried about it being sold as untested.

Reply 5 of 16, by Predator99

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...

Last edited by Predator99 on 2024-05-01, 19:43. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 6 of 16, by h-a-l-9000

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The corrosion is a major risk... when the stuff made it to the keyboard connector it has also spread over other areas.

1+1=10

Reply 7 of 16, by Baoran

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It probably has not been stored in a very good place considering how corroded that one screw is that is still in one of the holes of the motherboard.
I suppose the main question is if it is still worth trying to rescue. I don't know if it is considered a good 486 motherboard or if it just a motherboard which are common and easy to find in better condition.

Reply 8 of 16, by Predator99

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...

Last edited by Predator99 on 2024-05-01, 19:43. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 9 of 16, by Baoran

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I offered him $12 + $8 while expecting him not to accept and it was a big surprise that the seller accepted the offer. I hope it isn't a bad sign that the motherboard is even worse than it looks.
Edit: I have to admit that cpu looks strange.

Reply 10 of 16, by Predator99

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Thats a good deal even in case in doesnt work - keep us updated 😉

Reply 11 of 16, by kixs

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I don't find the CPU anything special. It's renamed Cyrix 486, runs at 5V and is about 5% slower then AMD or Intel on the same clock. Although it is a bit rare one.

Too bad the underside of the board isn't shown. But usually these work in about 85% of the time. Just make sure the memory is correct type (FPM) and in correct slot if it won't boot.

Requests are also possible... /msg kixs

Reply 12 of 16, by Baoran

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Can you use different 486 cpu on this motherboard that uses different FSB speed? I would actually want to replace the cpu with 33Mhz intel one if the motherboard works.

Reply 14 of 16, by Baoran

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c0keb0ttle wrote:

I think it looks like a Mylix MGI486.

http://th99.classic-computing.de/src/m/M-O/32502.htm

It is close except that boards seems bit bigger and some of the jumpers are missing from my pictures.

Reply 15 of 16, by Baoran

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I just received the motherboard and took another picture of it.

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It has some bent pins, but I have not found any that seem broken yet. The keyboard connector is bit corroded and I think the memory module is 4Mb. Battery is dead but doesn't seem like it has leaked much. The motherboard has alot of jumpers. I wonder if there is some kind of manual for those online somewhere.