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Need help with deciding what to build

M

mijk

Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2013
Messages
35
Location
Ontario, Canada
Hey everyone, I need help deciding what to build:

1. AMD386 40MHz, 40MHz co-processor, 64MB RAM, 2MB VRAM video

2. AMD K6-III 500MHz, 768MB RAM, 64MB ELSA GLoria-II

3. AMD Athlon 1GHz, 3GB RAM, 256MB GeForce 7800GTX


First one to celebrate 32bit, modern computing. Second, 1999 was a good year for me and also the Pentium era ushered a new era of computing to many families. Third, AMD won the gigahertz race, fi to you Intel.

I'm bored and I need a project to work on since my ARM project will be over eventually. :p
 
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Yes, that one qualifies for vintage as this site defines the term.

What do you intend to run on the 386? Do you actually have a motherboard with 64MB on it? That's 8 SIMM sockets each with an 8MB SIMM, incredibly rare and expensive. Most faster 386 motherboards were geared to budget users and only had 4 SIMM sockets which could handle some 4MB SIMMs but mostly had 1 MB SIMMs. Early V86 multitaskers or the earliest extended mode programs would be okay with it but the much of the 32-bit software was written expecting more memory than a typical late period 386 motherboard provides. Early 32-bit gaming is better handled by a 486 motherboard with VLB graphics card.
 
Most 386DX motherboards maxed out at 16 or 32 MB of RAM, which is more than enough for anything that will run well on a 386 (DOS, Windows 3.x, OS/2 2.x, etc.).
 
krebizfan said:
Yes, that one qualifies for vintage as this site defines the term.

What do you intend to run on the 386? Do you actually have a motherboard with 64MB on it? That's 8 SIMM sockets each with an 8MB SIMM, incredibly rare and expensive. Most faster 386 motherboards were geared to budget users and only had 4 SIMM sockets which could handle some 4MB SIMMs but mostly had 1 MB SIMMs. Early V86 multitaskers or the earliest extended mode programs would be okay with it but the much of the 32-bit software was written expecting more memory than a typical late period 386 motherboard provides. Early 32-bit gaming is better handled by a 486 motherboard with VLB graphics card.
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Then maybe I should go that route.
 
I hadn't realized that there was a "gigahertz race". Or, to paraphrase one of the 6809 development engineers, "If we had known how much attention was paid to raw clock speed, we'd have put a waveguide on the 6809."
 
Chuck(G) said:
I hadn't realized that there was a "gigahertz race". Or, to paraphrase one of the 6809 development engineers, "If we had known how much attention was paid to raw clock speed, we'd have put a waveguide on the 6809."
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Sad as it was, yes. I think more and more people are realizing that Hz has little to do with performance now.
 
mijk said:
What's the problem? Not old enough?
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To some folk that is case but who cares, if its what you want to do go for it. Personally I'd skip the 386 and go with a cheap 486 system maybe to start with. It was that processor along with Windows 3.x that really bought 32 bit computers to the majority of the so called "unwashed masses." Later boosted by the MS "Start Me Up!" side show ;) Most of the later ones were quite capable of having 64megs of ram so a good selection of OSs to choose from. If you're lucky to find one, you can have a mobo with vlb/isa/pci

Of course you can avoid x86 altogether.
 
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60's, 70's, mid 80's is considered "classic vintage computers" era and what this board was originally launched to discuss.

Over time Amiga, Mac, IBM PS/2, VAX, 386, 486, Windows 3.1 systems, OS/2, and now Pentium have been added. Extra forum categories have been added. Brings new life to the board, right?

As I have said many times the term vintage pertains to an era. It's just as legitimate to say "vintage 70's S-100" as it is to say "vintage Windows 3.1 gaming system for Doom" .....

So I say if you think a partuicular era or class of computers is not "vintage" enough for you, stay out of that particular forum. The younger members gravitate to the newer vintage forums keeping this board fresh and relevant IMHO.

thm_Heathkit_EC-1_front_upper.jpg

My oldest working computer ... Heathkit ec-1

thm_OS2_1.10.jpg

One of the newest, on-topic for this forum anyway..OS/2 v 1 file mgr.

I love them all!

P.S. my day job is as a vmware / cloud computing technical sales consultant mgr. Newest of the new today, vintage "cloud computing era" tomorrow. I usually post here using an iPad or Vista machine I built from the Maximum PC magazine's 2008 "Dream Machine" specs.
 
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billdeg said:
60's, 70's, mid 80's is considered "classic vintage computers" era and what this board was originally launched to discuss.

Over time Amiga, Mac, IBM PS/2, VAX, 386, 486, Windows 3.1 systems, OS/2, and now Pentium have been added. Extra forum categories have been added. Brings new life to the board, right?
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It does. Also I'd imagine helps encourage those with the newer stuff have a peek at the other forums and maybe they'll get into something older, generating new discussions for those types.

All in all vcf is a good place to hang out. You never know what might be learnt along the way.
 
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