Author Archives: Michal Necasek

More on the C&T Super386

Posted on November 20, 2015 by Michal Necasek

Since last week’s post, more information about the Chips and Technologies C&T has come to light. It now appears that at least some 38605DX processors were made. Whether there is any surviving working system is still an open question (since … Continue reading →

Posted in 386, C&T, Documentation | 32 Comments

The Forgotten 386

Posted on November 13, 2015 by Michal Necasek

The CPUs that fit into a 386 socket are well known: Intel’s original, AMD’s exact copy, and Cyrix/TI upgrades. There is also IBM’s 386SLC which is close to a 386 but can’t be plugged into a standard 386 socket. The photo below … Continue reading →

Posted in 386, C&T, PC history | 25 Comments

More ISA VGA Benchmarks

Posted on November 6, 2015 by Michal Necasek

After establishing that Trident VGA cards are indeed very slow, the natural follow-up question is: Are there cards even slower than that? But not some 8-bit VGA card from the 1980s (or a Realtek from the 1990s), and not some … Continue reading →

Posted in Cirrus Logic, IBM, S3, VGA | 9 Comments

About Those Trident VGAs…

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Michal Necasek

An earlier post mentioned that the performance of Trident-based ISA VGA cards leaves much to be desired. A reader pointed out that such cards tend to have switchable 8-bit/16-bit bus width and performance might suffer if the card is incorrectly jumpered. … Continue reading →

Posted in Trident, VGA | 18 Comments

Fast Unaccelerated VGA?

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Michal Necasek

For the purpose of comparing the relative real-world performance of various processors, it’s useful to run CPU and graphics-intensive benchmarks such as 3DBench or DOOM. To avoid benchmarking the graphics card instead, the VGA has to have enough headroom so … Continue reading →

Posted in 386, ATi, S3, VGA | 27 Comments

The Nearly Ultimate 386 Board

Posted on October 5, 2015 by Michal Necasek

Spurred by the acquisition of a 386 ZIF socket adapter, I revived the semi-mysterious 386 board acquired over a year ago. To recap, the board is unusual in that it has CPU frequency configurable via jumpers, but I had trouble getting anything … Continue reading →

Posted in 386, Hardware Hacks, PC hardware | 9 Comments

This Is How to Feed It

Posted on September 25, 2015 by Michal Necasek

The question of how to feed an Intel SBT2 board has been answered thanks to a very kind blog reader. Interestingly, there are two different answers. The official one is this: The Delta Electronics RPS-350 B power supply comes from a … Continue reading →

Posted in Intel, PC hardware | 14 Comments

The Vanishing Dream

Posted on September 11, 2015 by Michal Necasek

By sheer coincidence, three different yet similar wavetable daughterboards landed on my desk. They’re of different ages but all use Dream synthesizer chips. Together they provide an interesting window into the evolution of MIDI synthesizers. The oldest daughterboard is from … Continue reading →

Posted in MIDI, Sound | 2 Comments

How To Feed This Board?

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Michal Necasek

I have a minor problem and it looks like this: Those are the power connectors on an Intel Server Board SBT2, produced circa 2000. I can’t find the right thing to plug into them. The 24-pin connector should be more … Continue reading →

Posted in Intel, PC hardware, Xeon | 19 Comments

386 ZIF Socket Adapter

Posted on August 3, 2015 by Michal Necasek

After a long wait, I decided to bite the bullet and order a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) socket adapter suitable for 386 CPUs through Digi-Key. The manufacturer is Aries Electronics and the part number is 196-PRS14001-12, as established some time … Continue reading →

Posted in 386, Hardware Hacks, PC hardware | 13 Comments