Artex's Build of the Week: Intel 486 DX2/66 WB (Write Back Enhanced) + Roland! \ VOGONS

Artex's Build of the Week: Intel 486 DX2/66 WB (Write Back Enhanced) + Roland!

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First post, by Artex

Posted on 2015-01-04, 23:19

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I thought I'd dive into some of my Socket 3-based systems for these next few "Artex's Build of the Week" iterations. A few of these have been documented in what turned out to be a massive thread, but I know everyone loves pix so here goes!

Round three of my Socket 3 round of builds...

Memory throughput seems really low to me... not sure what's up with that. Perhaps I need to try some different memory.

Specs:

Case: Desktop AT Case with HI/LO LED Display
Power Supply: Enlight EN-825710 250W
Motherboard: Asus PVI-486SP3 (SiS 496-497) Rev. 1.2 (A4)
Cache Info:
8KB L1 Cache (In Write-back mode)
256KB L2 Cache
Processor: Intel 486 DX2-66 (80486DX266) (SX955) (Write Back Cache) (1992)
Cooling: Socket 3 Cooler

Network: 3Com 3C905B TX (PCI)

Storage:
8GB CF Card (CF->IDE Adapter) on VLB Promise Controller
GOTEK USB Floppy Emulator
Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-M1502 (48X)

Memory:
16MB RAM (2 x 8MB FPM 60ns SIMMS)

Audio:
Creative CT1690 (Sound Blaster Pro 2) (SBP2SONY) (054271) ISA (1992)
Roland MPU-IPC-T Midi Interface Card ISA & Breakout Box

Video:
Cirrus Logic CL-GD5428 CL-9028Z P104 2MB VLB

Benchmark Results:
SpeedSys Overall Score: 25.09
DOOM: 2134 gametics in 6389 realtics
Superscape: 25.5 fps
PC Player Bench: 6.0
Quake: N/A

Cache Performance:

CacheChk -d -t6
L1 (16KB) - 65.4 MB/s
L2 (256KB) - 16.6 MB/s
Main Memory Speed - 11.7 MB/s
Effective RAM Access Time (read) - 360 ns
Effective RAM Access Time (write) - 188 ns

CacheChk -d -w -t6
Main Memory Speed - 22.3 MB/s 47.0 ns/byte
Effective RAM Access Time (write) - 188ns

Onto the hardware Pr0n!

AT Case: Before and After

ROLAND!

Last edited by Artex on 2015-01-08, 13:40. Edited 2 times in total.

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Reply 1 of 22, by nforce4max

Posted on 2015-01-04, 23:25

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Nice work as always.

On a far away planet reading your posts in the year 10,191.

Reply 2 of 22, by PhilsComputerLab

Posted on 2015-01-04, 23:46

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That's a very fine machine! Well done 😀

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Reply 3 of 22, by Robin4

Posted on 2015-01-04, 23:54

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The DVD drive and the floppy emulator ruins the look on this case. Never ever seen a DVD drive from years later in a 486 machine..
But the case it self looks very clean..

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 4 of 22, by Artex

Posted on 2015-01-05, 00:14

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Robin4 wrote:
The DVD drive and the floppy emulator ruins the look on this case. Never ever seen a DVD drive from years later in a 486 machine..
But the case it self looks very clean..

It's more about convenience than cosmetics. 3.5" and 5.25" floppies suck. It's just easier using these drives... but I hear ya and appreciate the constructive criticism. To each his own....

Yes! The case is clean after a few hours of scrubbing! You may also ask why I'm using a VLB card in a motherboard that has PCI. To that I say..."why the hell not?!" 😀

I have several of these cards lying around. Why not use them? They aren't getting any cheaper to aquire like the masses of PCI cards out there.

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Reply 5 of 22, by chinny22

Posted on 2015-01-05, 01:48

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Very nice, I like the Floppy emulator & DVD. Classic 486 hardware with currant useful hardware balance just right

Reply 6 of 22, by Robin4

Posted on 2015-01-05, 02:35

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Artex wrote:
It's more about convenience than cosmetics. 3.5" and 5.25" floppies suck. It's just easier using these drives... but I hear ya […]
Show full quote
Robin4 wrote:
The DVD drive and the floppy emulator ruins the look on this case. Never ever seen a DVD drive from years later in a 486 machine..
But the case it self looks very clean..

It's more about convenience than cosmetics. 3.5" and 5.25" floppies suck. It's just easier using these drives... but I hear ya and appreciate the constructive criticism. To each his own....

Yes! The case is clean after a few hours of scrubbing! You may also ask why I'm using a VLB card in a motherboard that has PCI. To that I say..."why the hell not?!" 😀

I have several of these cards lying around. Why not use them? They aren't getting any cheaper to aquire like the masses of PCI cards out there.

It wasnt really criticism, only a opinion from my own. But i do agree with you that its more convenience.. Only it doesnt look really matching together (strange combination).
I hope i didnt hurt your feelings.

Last edited by Robin4 on 2015-01-05, 02:40. Edited 1 time in total.

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 7 of 22, by Artex

Posted on 2015-01-05, 02:38

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Robin4 wrote:

It wasnt really criticism, only a opinion from my own. But do agree with you thats more convenience.. Only is doesnt look really right.

No harm done! I really do appreciate ALL feedback with these builds! Everyone has different tastes and I think it's fun to put my own personal 'twist' on these weekly builds. I really do enjoy it (as I'm sure everyone else does too!) 😀

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Reply 8 of 22, by Robin4

Posted on 2015-01-05, 02:42

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Can you explain why you did choose a DVD ROM player on a 486 system? I dont think using dvds on a 486 wouldnt really make sense.. Because of the speed its running..and the technology wise.
Or was it more, because you didnt had an other one available?

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 9 of 22, by PhilsComputerLab

Posted on 2015-01-05, 02:44

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One reason might be better compatibility with CD-R and CD-RW discs? I also use DVD drives in all my systems.

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Reply 10 of 22, by Robin4

Posted on 2015-01-05, 02:46

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Ok, thanks for the explanation.

~ At least it can do black and white~

Reply 11 of 22, by Artex

Posted on 2015-01-05, 03:14

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philscomputerlab wrote:
One reason might be better compatibility with CD-R and CD-RW discs? I also use DVD drives in all my systems.

Phil's got it. Compatibility is #1. I burn a lot of re-writeable discs and these drives make it a lot easier. Otherwise it's the 1.44MB-at-a-time virtual floppies or running an ftp server after firing up mTCP. Sometimes it's quicker to burn a DVD-RW....

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Reply 12 of 22, by keropi

Posted on 2015-01-05, 09:41

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another great build! this time it has enough Roland 🤣 🤣 🤣

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Reply 13 of 22, by sunaiac

Posted on 2015-01-05, 11:01

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That's 8kb lvl1, not 16, on DX2s 😀

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Reply 14 of 22, by Artex

Posted on 2015-01-05, 14:04

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sunaiac wrote:
That's 8kb lvl1, not 16, on DX2s 😀

Doh... Copy/Paste fail. Thanks!

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Reply 15 of 22, by PeterLI

Posted on 2015-01-05, 14:25

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Cool. You should hook up a Sony CDU-31/33A to the CT1690 to really make it shine! 😀 Nice MOBO BTW.

Reply 16 of 22, by darksheer

Posted on 2015-01-05, 22:16

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Nice Looking build and killer Roland MPU that complete audio possibilities with the SB Pro 2 😀 , but it seems that it's running a bit slow for its specs 😕 .
Could PCI be the culprit by introducing default WS to keep system stability for RAM/CPU/VLB operations or something like that ? 😒
DooM and DooM II should be playable on a DX2 66 WB or WT with an S3 VLB card (> 25 FPS), DUKE3D should start to be playable (not really enjoyable or you have to o/c it at 80 Mhz with a 40 Mhz BUS for something smooth) by reducing screen size and audio settings.

Reply 17 of 22, by Artex

Posted on 2015-01-05, 22:39

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darksheer wrote:
Nice Looking build and killer Roland MPU that complete audio possibilities with the SB Pro 2 😀 , but it seems that it's running a bit slow for its specs 😕 .
Could PCI be the culprit by introducing default WS to keep system stability for RAM/CPU/VLB operations or something like that ? 😒
DooM and DooM II should be playable on a DX2 66 WB or WT with an S3 VLB card (> 25 FPS), DUKE3D should start to be playable (not really enjoyable or you have to o/c it at 80 Mhz with a 40 Mhz BUS for something smooth) by reducing screen size and audio settings.

Yeah, somethings definitely off. DOOM is really choppy at full screen. Timings are tight as a drum in the BIOS. I'm going to swap memory tomorrow, and maybe try a single 60ns 16MB stick. May swap the VLB card as I'm seeing some anomalies on-screen during gaming {vertical banding}.

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Reply 18 of 22, by feipoa

Posted on 2015-01-05, 23:07

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Robin4 wrote:
Can you explain why you did choose a DVD ROM player on a 486 system? I dont think using dvds on a 486 wouldnt really make sense.. Because of the speed its running..and the technology wise.
Or was it more, because you didnt had an other one available?

A 486 can burn DVD's with the appropriate hardware and software. 486 DVD burner
A 486 can playback DVD movies with the appropriate hardware and software. MPEG 1/2(DVD) hardware decoder cards
A DVD burner in a 486 could serve as a backup means if one so chooses this method. A DVD reader could also be used to read data discs for system restoration.

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Reply 19 of 22, by Skyscraper

Posted on 2015-01-05, 23:13

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Nice build 😀

I do also prefer DVD-RW drives for the same reason.
DVD-RW drives are also (often) better when it comes to reading scratched discs.

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.

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