VOGONS


First post, by SnipeUout

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I have decided to build a 486 and I am having a hard time finding the kinda parts I want. I find my self having to constantly change my plans as a good Socket 3 (VLB or PCI, with coin battery and PS/2), cashe and cards are hard to find. The few available are prohibitedly expensive.

eBay seems to have dried up... where do I look?

Retro Rig: PIII 1Ghz (SL4KL), P3B-F 1.04, Crucial 512Mb, Geforce4 TI4600, SATAII Raptor, AWE64 GOLD, STB Voodoo 2… TBC

Reply 1 of 14, by dionb

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Depends mainly on where you are located.

Wherever you are, 486 is getting rare, but can certainly still be found, both targeted (people knowing what they have and priced accordingly) and untargeted ("come pick up this old trash for free/small amount"). Without knowing where you are, amibay.com is globally probably the best place to look. There are some 486 boards currently for sale there. Locally there may be other options.

And there's always "the community". I knew someone was looking for a very specific case. The case itself is nothing special, but he wanted to recreate the exact system he had in the late 1990s. I happened to see the case in a big junk lot nearby. So picked up the lot, confirmed it was exactly the case required, then got in touch. At the time I had no idea what if anything he had in exchange, but he immediately offered me a 486 board he wasn't using in exchange. But obviously, you need to be aware of people nearby looking for stuff, you need to keep your eyes open and you need a good dose of luck for this kind of thinng.

But failing the latter (which takes more time than you probably have at the moment), go to Amibay and look there, and tell us where you are located for additional options from locals.

Reply 3 of 14, by dionb

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SnipeUout wrote:

I am in the the states.

Then Amibay is still an option; although US listings are a minority, it's a big, active minority, so worth a look.

But in the US you also have Vcfed's marketplace: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?7-Marketplace
Also of course Craigslist for the 'come pick up random junk' stuff.

There may also be more local options, but generally these should give you enough choice.

Reply 4 of 14, by SnipeUout

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dionb wrote:
Then Amibay is still an option; although US listings are a minority, it's a big, active minority, so worth a look. […]
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SnipeUout wrote:

I am in the the states.

Then Amibay is still an option; although US listings are a minority, it's a big, active minority, so worth a look.

But in the US you also have Vcfed's marketplace: http://www.vcfed.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?7-Marketplace
Also of course Craigslist for the 'come pick up random junk' stuff.

There may also be more local options, but generally these should give you enough choice.

Thanks for the direction, I will start hunting. Unfortunately local options are not great as I live in a small town hours away from large city's.

Retro Rig: PIII 1Ghz (SL4KL), P3B-F 1.04, Crucial 512Mb, Geforce4 TI4600, SATAII Raptor, AWE64 GOLD, STB Voodoo 2… TBC

Reply 5 of 14, by cyclone3d

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Here is a 486 VLB board, CPU, RAM, I/O card and modem for $25 + shipping.

Listing description is pretty bad, but they say the pictures are correct.

I've been contemplating getting this myself, but I really don't need another 486 board.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-Motherboard-PCI5 … 93/283168883536

It doesn't have PS/2, but still a good board.

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 6 of 14, by skitters

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cyclone3d wrote:
Here is a 486 VLB board, CPU, RAM, I/O card and modem for $25 + shipping. […]
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Here is a 486 VLB board, CPU, RAM, I/O card and modem for $25 + shipping.

Listing description is pretty bad, but they say the pictures are correct.

I've been contemplating getting this myself, but I really don't need another 486 board.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-Motherboard-PCI5 … 93/283168883536

Be careful of that one.
It's got an ODIN RTC battery.
If it's not socketed and you're not handy with a soldering iron, that will be a challenge to replace.

Reply 7 of 14, by dionb

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skitters wrote:

Be careful of that one.
It's got an ODIN RTC battery.
If it's not socketed and you're not handy with a soldering iron, that will be a challenge to replace.

Also, sticker over chipset suggests PC Chips-style 'fake' stuff. Given the other chip is a regular UMC one, it probably really is UMC under the sticker (and the cache looks real as far as one can tell), but a board manufacturer up to that sort of tricks is no to be trusted - and that's not even considering the OPTi description and P54C title...

Reply 8 of 14, by SnipeUout

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How realistic will it be to find these parts.

A socket 3 with a CR2032 battery and 3 volt support... as far as VLB or PCI that doesn't much matter, however, I know PCI stuff is far easier to find. I want a board with a functional turbo feature, mhz clock and lock feature. Advice?

As you saw In my post I really want a Cyrix 5x86-133GP but as its a unicorn, id settle for a 5x86-100GP (IBM) but is that even realistic to find? Otherwise, I'll get an Intel DX4 as they are easy to find. Advice?

Retro Rig: PIII 1Ghz (SL4KL), P3B-F 1.04, Crucial 512Mb, Geforce4 TI4600, SATAII Raptor, AWE64 GOLD, STB Voodoo 2… TBC

Reply 9 of 14, by cyclone3d

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SnipeUout wrote:

How realistic will it be to find these parts.

A socket 3 with a CR2032 battery and 3 volt support... as far as VLB or PCI that doesn't much matter, however, I know PCI stuff is far easier to find. I want a board with a functional turbo feature, mhz clock and lock feature. Advice?

As you saw In my post I really want a Cyrix 5x86-133GP but as its a unicorn, id settle for a 5x86-100GP (IBM) but is that even realistic to find? Otherwise, I'll get an Intel DX4 as they are easy to find. Advice?

Here is a Cyrix 5x86-100GP
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1995-Cyrix-5x86-100G … ld/173548532135

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 10 of 14, by SnipeUout

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cyclone3d wrote:
SnipeUout wrote:

How realistic will it be to find these parts.

A socket 3 with a CR2032 battery and 3 volt support... as far as VLB or PCI that doesn't much matter, however, I know PCI stuff is far easier to find. I want a board with a functional turbo feature, mhz clock and lock feature. Advice?

As you saw In my post I really want a Cyrix 5x86-133GP but as its a unicorn, id settle for a 5x86-100GP (IBM) but is that even realistic to find? Otherwise, I'll get an Intel DX4 as they are easy to find. Advice?

Here is a Cyrix 5x86-100GP
https://www.ebay.com/itm/1995-Cyrix-5x86-100G … ld/173548532135

I almost bought it except it may not work as its sold for the gold and the pins are bent. 😠

Retro Rig: PIII 1Ghz (SL4KL), P3B-F 1.04, Crucial 512Mb, Geforce4 TI4600, SATAII Raptor, AWE64 GOLD, STB Voodoo 2… TBC

Reply 11 of 14, by Merovign

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SnipeUout wrote:

I almost bought it except it may not work as its sold for the gold and the pins are bent. 😠

And it's described as being in "excellent condition" and is being sold for gold scrap at $38.50 for what is described as $9 in gold.

Seriously, we need to mine the asteroid belt so gold will be so cheap people don't melt down all the old computers only to discover it cost them more to melt it than they sold it for.

*Too* *many* *things*!

Reply 12 of 14, by cyclone3d

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Bent pins are really nothing to be worried about. Pretty easy to straighten. Most of the pinned CPUs I have gotten have had bent pins. Kinda hard to avoid on older CPUs that weren't kept in pristine condition on purpose.

Yamaha modified setupds and drivers
Yamaha XG repository
YMF7x4 Guide
Aopen AW744L II SB-LINK

Reply 14 of 14, by derSammler

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cyclone3d wrote:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vtg-Motherboard-PCI5 … 93/283168883536

It doesn't have PS/2, but still a good board.

That board is missing the keyboard controller and possibly another chip.