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I have ordered 64mb of Texas Instruments FPM ram.( Made in USA ) Which should max out this computer although there are 32mb SIMMs available now too so maybe it will support 128mb max ? I am not sure ?

Also I have an original IBM hard-drive coming.
And some Cache ram. 265kb.
And an Intel 486dx4-100 overdrive CPU.

PS/1 are okay, but I wouldn't say they're the 'Cadillac'. The PS/2 line was the high-end line.
But by then, IBM wasn't exactly your best option anymore.
PS/1 only had ISA slots, and PS/2 had MCA, which was faster than ISA, but no match for VLB or PCI.
I'd say that around 1993-1994, the Dell machines would have been the 'Cadillac', like their OptiPlex series, with VESA and fast integrated video.

Scali wrote:

PS/1 are okay, but I wouldn't say they're the 'Cadillac'. The PS/2 line was the high-end line. But by then, IBM wasn't exactly y […]
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PS/1 are okay, but I wouldn't say they're the 'Cadillac'. The PS/2 line was the high-end line.
But by then, IBM wasn't exactly your best option anymore.
PS/1 only had ISA slots, and PS/2 had MCA, which was faster than ISA, but no match for VLB or PCI.
I'd say that around 1993-1994, the Dell machines would have been the 'Cadillac', like their OptiPlex series, with VESA and fast integrated video.

Yes, I think people get the PS/1 and PS/2 confused as I did. Yes, the PS/1 had ISA slots and later a VLB slot with the Multimedia edition. Which is why I purchased this PS/1 Multimedia edition. I thought it had a VLB slot but it does not. But it does have an onboard Cirrus logic 5428 graphics chip which very good. Second best available for it’s time behind the 5429.

Yes, The PS/2 has MCA slots and is actually cheaper quality compared to this PS/1
The PS/2 has a plastic case and MCA cards are hard to find and the MCA sound card if you can find one sells for
A ridicules amount of money. I have a PS/2 also but the battery burst and leaked all over the motherboard so it needs repair now. But I don’t want to put any time or money into it because the cards are just too expensive.
And it’s a really cheap plastic computer case.

These PS/1 are more for the home consumer market. They came preloaded with DOS / 3.11 and a really user friendly user interface DOS menu for beginners. They are quiet and NOT proprietary hardware unlike the PS/2 which is all proprietary hardware. The PS/1 is easy to fix and repair and upgrade.
The PS/1 is actually a series line of computers that IBM continued to build from 1990 thru 1994.
For the home computer market. The PS/1 has an all metal case and has better build quality and durability than the PS/2.

It is because of there ease of use / repair / upgrade and nice clean design that I consider it the Cadillac of the 486 computers for there time. These where just really easy to use and user friendly IBM DOS menu.

This Multimedia edition PS/1 came with a combo floppy drive 1.44 and 5.25 and a CDROM and Sound Blaster 16 with Yamaha OPL3.
A really good multimedia computer for 1994. I think this was the first multimedia computer build by IBM for the home consumer market.

Need jumper setting for this motherboard ?
IBM PS/1 value with 486dx2-50
Machine type 2155
Model # 87c ( SL-B)

Okay, I have installed the Intel 486dx4-100 Overdrive CPU and IBM 730mb hard-drive.
And all is working fine.
I am still waiting for the RAM to arrive.
I could NOT get the cache to work because I do not know the jumper settings to this motherboard.
Does anyone know the jumper settings to this motherboard ?

Update:
I just received the 64mb of ram and it works fine just like the IBM hardware label reads

Here is a download for the hardware manual.

Pages 4-18 and 4-19 show/tell how to install and setup the cache:
http://ps-2.kev009.com/pccbbs/aptiva/63g2028.pdf

Yes, I saw that already but this motherboard is different.
here are the part numbers and bar codes.

IBM motherboard Part number # 74G0569
IBM PS/1 Model 2155-24M

Can anyone help me find this motherboard manual ?
I need the jumper settings.

See posts above for info.

http://www.uncreativelabs.de/th99/m/I-L/34756.htm

Does the DX4 Overdrive run at 100MHz? When this pc was designed, that CPU was not released yet.

By the way; upgrading the RAM to 64MB is useless unless you are going to use Windows 95 with a memory hungry database or CAD program 😉

PC Hoarder Patrol wrote:

https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/I/I … -2168-TYPE.html

That’s what I have been searching for. I don’t have the VLB riser but the motherboard jumpers are the same.

Thanks.

SpectriaForce wrote:

Does the DX4 Overdrive run at 100MHz? When this pc was designed, that CPU was not released yet.

By the way; upgrading the RAM to 64MB is useless unless you are going to use Windows 95 with a memory hungry database or CAD program 😉

I can only get this CPU to run at 75mhz. Is that going to be okay ?
Or should I put the original 486dx2-50 back in ?

How much ram do I need for good Win 3.11 performance ?

Intel486dx33 wrote:

I can only get this CPU to run at 75mhz. Is that going to be okay ? Or should I put the original 486dx2-50 back in ? […]
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SpectriaForce wrote:

Does the DX4 Overdrive run at 100MHz? When this pc was designed, that CPU was not released yet.

By the way; upgrading the RAM to 64MB is useless unless you are going to use Windows 95 with a memory hungry database or CAD program 😉

I can only get this CPU to run at 75mhz. Is that going to be okay ?
Or should I put the original 486dx2-50 back in ?

How much ram do I need for good Win 3.11 performance ?

Just 8MB for most games and other apps. DOS games for a 486 usually require anywhere from 4-16MB. 16MB makes it run Windows 95 already quite smoothly.

Now that I have confirmed everything works and have everything working.
I am going to clean this up and put it back together.

What is the best solution to clean this yellowed plastics with ?
It’s just the CDROM that has yellowed.

Intel486dx33 wrote:

Now that I have confirmed everything works and have everything working. I am going to clean this up and put it back together. […]
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Now that I have confirmed everything works and have everything working.
I am going to clean this up and put it back together.

What is the best solution to clean this yellowed plastics with ?
It’s just the CDROM that has yellowed.

Check eBay to see if they don't sell front-ends for your model. Retrobrighting is the only other solution but it's very tricky to get the right shade - I've done a few retrobrights and some parts went "too far" making them paler than the original colour used to be.

ALSO: I don't quite get where you're going with your build. I'm very much someone who likes period-correct PCs in the sense that they offer the highest compatibility. That's why I have half a dozen retro PCs, each aimed at a specific moment in time offering certain combinations of graphics, sound, OS and memory that runs 95% of games released within that era.

I have an IBM PS/1 as well as its successor (the Aptiva Multi Media) and I actually turned back some upgrades because I felt they weren't needed. 16MB is more than you'd need with a DX2/50 or DX4/100 and some games won't properly work if you have more (heck some don't even work if you have 16MB) so unless you want to run Windows 95/98 I'd just stick with 16MB. DOS isn't a modern Windows: more memory won't do squat except drop compatibility. The few games that can use more than 16MB need Pentiums anyway (I believe Queen The Eye is one such game - ran like crap even on my Pentium 166)

As for hard drive: if I were you, I'd to a CF-to-IDE card (slotted at the back) which is really really handy to quickly move data back and forward. A DX4/100 Overdrive isn't a bad upgrade though - the speed benefit isn't as clean as with a proper DX4/100 but it's still a nice boost.

Well, these IBM PS/1’s multimedia editions where the first of there kind when PC manufactures where migrating to Multimedia computers. I just want to restore this one to get the optimal performance out of it.
With period correct components except for the Overdrive CPU of course.

I think you are right. These came late to the show because by late 1994 Pentium and 4x CDROM drives where available. But these are very nice 486 computers. And I really like the IBM simplicity that they but into there
Operating system menu.
That’s why I think these are the Cadillac’s of the 486 computers.
They where very simple to operate almost like a Mac.

I have three IBM's with that menu and I do love it - I tried to emulate it in DOSBOX because I love the idea of having a main menu to fall back to. When I first used my friend's clone 486, it felt so weird being "stuck" in DOS. IBM also made it very easy to use DOSSHELL - my friend didn't even know DOSSHELL existed until I told him about it since on a clone PC, you just booted to DOS prompt by default.

But yeah, I wouldn't overdo it - just get the high end of what "normal" specs were like back then and you'll have a very smooth and compatible experience. Mine is set up like this:

486SX 33
8MB memory (this is twice what it came with - I upgraded the memory back in 1994 by selling off nearly all my Gameboy games
SB16 with OPL3 - the default one was a rather crappy Value card which I replaced with a much better CT2230
4x Mitsumi drive (the original was a dual speed which was a bit too slow causing hiccups in games playing FMV)
2GB Compact Flash drive

It's an excellent PC for games from 198X until 1994. For games from 1994-1995 I have a HP Pentium 70 (the 486 is not much used because of that since it will play practically all games the 486 plays and more) and for (early Windows 9X) games from 1995-1997 I have an IBM PC 330 Pentium 233 MMX.

It's rather ridiculous to see how each system only "survived" for two years but those were the crazy 90's, where anything you bought was obsolete by the time you got home!

Actually, The label on this IBM PS/1 reads that the ram is upgradable to 64mb and the CPU is upgradable to 486dx2-50 overdrive CPU. I could not find an Intel 486dx2-50 overdrive CPU but it did have an Intel 486dx2-50 CPU installed. I don’t know if they ever made a 486dx-50 overdrive CPU?