Boy, I'd say that sounds like a pretty good machine for Windows 95. Gaming I assume would be mostly DOS, in which case you might want to set up a typical CONFIG.SYS menu system to choose whether to boot into 95 or an optimal DOS config at bootup.

We used to run 486dx2-66's with 8mb Ram as mid range, back in 1995.
I remember Pentium's being too expensive at that time for the average person.

keenmaster486 wrote:

Boy, I'd say that sounds like a pretty good machine for Windows 95. Gaming I assume would be mostly DOS, in which case you might want to set up a typical CONFIG.SYS menu system to choose whether to boot into 95 or an optimal DOS config at bootup.

Dos games yes but also I would like to run games like Diablo. Would that be possible?

95 will run just fine on that machine, can run it on a lot less.

Back in the day, when Windows 95 came out, 486s with 8MB RAM was hip thing. Pentiums were out of reach for common Joe. So it is very period correct to have a 486 to run Windows 95. Mine was a Cyrix 486DX33 with 6MB RAM (I got my first Pentium in late 1996 / early 1997), so I think it's quite ok to run Windows 95 on your machine.

Our family had a 386 PC w/ 16MB RAM, our hi-tec 486 laptop had less. Having 32MB or more for Win95 isn't wrong , though.
Windows 95 OSR 2.5 and 128-256mb ram

Win95 is an option for this system. If you can upgrade the memory to 32 MB or more also Win98SE is an option.
For WfW 3.11 it is a bit late, but if you cloak the Win95 installation you can easily install WfW 3.11 in parallel on the same disk. (or much more simple and faster copy a generic installation). Depending on the directory where you are in then WfW 3.11 or Win95 will start up.

Win95 can work quite nicely on a 486 system, as long as you have 8 to 16 MB and a fast HDD with a decent amount of space.
I run Win95b on a 486DX2-80 with 16 mb and a VLB IDE controller. Works acceptably.

My first install of Win95 (beta) was on 386DX-40 with 4MB memory and Quantum 340MB HDD 🤣

Man, you guys live old. 🤣 My first Windows 95 PC had a 100MHz Pentium and 16MB of RAM. The older 486 PC had DOS and Windows 3.1. And if I recall correctly, Windows 3.1 ran ok, but would slow down or hiccup if you had to do anything processor intensive, like any kind of gaming (excepting minesweeper and solitaire). At that time, GOOD gaming was a DOS thing (Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, Star Wars: X-Wing, Jetfighter: Advanced Tactical Fighter, Carmen Sandiego games, SimCity, etc.)

Hell, even I recall that the Pentium machine was a bit slow when trying to do DOS games from WITHIN Windows 95 (in a DOS window, even in full screen). I don't know if it was because of the lack of RAM or the processor just not being able to handle it. When I got my Windows 98 machine with a 350 MHz Pentium II and 128 MB of PC-100 RAM, those slow-downs were a distant memory. DOS games ran full-speed with no problems within Windows and the system never missed a beat trying to load web pages (our first experience with the internet was on the Windows 95 computer....which was a Packard Bell).

Usable for sure, but why? The appeal of running 95 on a machine with less than 32 megs is different now, I would just stick with 3.1. It'll work, even usably- but do you really want to?

FFXIhealer wrote:

Man, you guys live old. 🤣 My first Windows 95 PC had a 100MHz Pentium and 16MB of RAM. The older 486 PC had DOS and Windows 3.1. And if I recall correctly, Windows 3.1 ran ok, but would slow down or hiccup if you had to do anything processor intensive, like any kind of gaming....

Windows 3.1 gaming? What is it exactly? 🤣

tayyare wrote:

Windows 3.1 gaming? What is it exactly? 🤣

Solitaire, Minesweeper, Reversi? 😀

Based on the fact that you have a POD83 (which is equivalent to a Pentium 75 MHz in performance), running Windows 95 on it shouldn't be a problem.
However, the more memory you install, the better performance you will have (say up to 32 MB).

tayyare wrote:

Windows 3.1 gaming? What is it exactly? 🤣

Lots of Maxis stuff! Robosport! Simcity 2000!

Also, Myst!

gdjacobs wrote:

tayyare wrote:

Windows 3.1 gaming? What is it exactly? 🤣

Lots of Maxis stuff! Robosport! Simcity 2000!

Also, Myst!

I of course remember SimCity, Simcity 2000 and Civilization 1 and 2, some Sierra adventures (Larry, Kings Quest, Police Quest) and even a kind of Strip Poker but you already know what I mean 🤣

First of all, all of these minorities have their (proper 😊) DOS versions. Before Windows 95, not much people were seriously considering playing games under Windows. The games that were hip during that period (1994-1996) were all very demanding and almost all had nothing to do with Windows 3.x whatsoever.

Scali wrote:

tayyare wrote:

Windows 3.1 gaming? What is it exactly? 🤣

Solitaire, Minesweeper, Reversi? 😀

🤣

He already excepted those in his original post, though. 😊

that kind of setup would be fine, though I would add more RAM. 8-16mb was the norm for most people in 1995, but 32mb will help.

FFXIhealer wrote:

Man, you guys live old. 🤣

That's one way of putting it... 😀
The 1987 to 1993 era have a special place in my heart. It was the time of pure magic for me.
I am not only speaking of Intel/Amd/Cyrix machines, I am speaking of Amiga computers too.
Having lived through this era, makes you look at computers in a total different light.

Today, young people that are into retro gaming, mostly don't realise that there were more
to it than just sound'n gfx. It was the way the computers felt, sounded and smelled.
You can find it too, in an old 486 machine. Sounds and smell's are just a big part of it.

Taking commodore machines... When they were turned on for 10/15 minutes, they began
to spread a special smell from the internal electronics.

I know... I am an old fart'. 🤣