First post, by Shishkebarbarian
- Rank
- Newbie
Hello All,
First, a little background,
I discovered this forum a few months ago when I decided to build a 90s gaming PC to relive my youth.
Since then I lurked and read a whole ton of articles and discussions and learned A LOT.
I completed my late 90s build (PIII 1Ghz, Voodoo3000, TNT2, etc). The late 90s I am far more familiar with hardware/software wise as I was older and had a better grasp on what was going on.
The early 90s is what I need a little bit of assistance with.
I got lucky with a "local" find a couple months ago and picked up a complete Compaq ProLinea 4/33 set up (including all original Compaq-branded peripherals!).
Over these few months I have been gathering information from around the web on this machine. It seems to have been quite popular but at the same time a bit obscure (the later Prolinea models are much easier to find information on). I will link the info I found at the end of this post to help anyone in the future coming upon this topic.
What I would like someone to help clear up for me is what is the best CPU I can put into it. I know there are really rare and expensive 486 CPUs out there but I was hoping for something more common and cheaper, like an Intel 486 DX4. I know user @ultimate386 has a system like this but I guess my account is too new to message him directly (and really this is probably a better way to go about it to leave a trail for other members to follow)
I have found a lot of mixed information on whether or not these motherboards can support a 3.3v CPU including the DX4.
I purchased the following Intel DX4 but wanted to double check it will work before i plug it in and fry everything:
iCOMP index=435
A80486DX4100
L8197A14
&EW 3VOLT SK101
INTEL(M)(C)'89'94
MALAY
I read it runs quite a bit warmer than than the 486DX/33 in my system so I preemptively picked up a fan/heatsink
My concern is the conflicting information about the 5/3/3.3v CPUs and compatibility of the motherboard. Even some official documentations has conflicting or incomplete info.
Other than that, the system had a dead hard drive in it so I plan to replace it with a CF card and adapter. If anyone has any good guides or advice on this, I would be thrilled to read it. These are the parts I purchased to get that going:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026OYEEQ/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009967Y/
Resources
HP Support Compaq ProLinea x86 Desktop PC Product Specifications - This link worked a few days ago but now dead, luckily webcache has it intact.
https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search … n&ct=clnk&gl=us
Early Prolinea Desktop Family Spec sheet
https://www.arvutimuuseum.ee/computers/downlo … paqProlinea.pdf
Jumper and RAM motherboard schematic:
https://stason.org/TULARC/pc/motherboards/C/C … Linea-4-33.html
Service Manual for the Prolinea family, although it is missing the 4/33:
http://www.minuszerodegrees.net/manuals ... FEB95).pdf
Thank you all in advance, I'm excited to read some tips and guides from you fellow enthusiasts.