What should I look for in a 486?

[Erik_Twice]

So, I want a 486 to run my old games be it Descent, A-Train, Theme Hospital or X-COM. Given its such an old hardware I don't know what can of specs would be the best ones.

I think the most demanding game I would run would be Genewars or perhaps Constructor so it's well within range, I don't think I will run into any speed problems with the games I want to play.

So, any tips?

[Upsidedown Fuji]

Holy cow, that takes me back. I'm not sure if anything I say is helpful but...

Well from what I remember I had a 486 DX2 66mhz clone system. Good old Dos 5.1 and Windows 3.11 for Workgroups...

Back in those days the brunt of your gaming goodness was based the system with graphics cards as more of an after thought for more colors and running limited FMV off game CDs. If I remember correctly they were ISA/vesa PCI based cards. The real thing to look out for were sound compatibility issues. Soundcards sucked back then and only a handful of companies like Creative SoundBlaster, and Roland stood out. As long as your system matched the system requirements of the software you want to run in DOS, you're good. System specs weren't as varied as they are now a days.

I looked for Descent's requirements and it looks like a simple 486 DX would run it fine. So any old run of the mill 486 should do as long as you have an adequate CD-ROM, Harddrive space, and memory/sound card. If you can max out the memory and find a capable video card for your system, I don't see any real problem getting any of the classic DOS based games up and running at native speeds.


So basically make sure you have a decent speed CD-ROM, Soundblaster compatible sound card, and some extra harddrive space. The rest should take care of its self.

[noiseredux]

If you end up installing Windows 98, then I've got one of those older Dazzle USB video capture cards. There's no XP/Vista/Win7 drivers for it, so it's useless to me now.

[Breetai]

Why not use at least a Pentium?

[jp1]

Agree on pentium. It supported nearly everything (if not everything) 486 did. I remember playing all the old stuff you mentioned on my Pentium 100mhz.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

I have a goodwill nearby that literally has like a dozen brand new 100mhz-200mhz Pentium MMX processors in stock.

Another good route to consider is a nice cheap old laptop circa 2000. I have a 700mhz Gateway Solo Pro 9300E with 544MB of RAM and dual boot with both Win98SE and XP. It's great for older games as it has a Rage Mobility with 8mb of RAM so it can run just about anything from 1999 back.

[CRTGAMER]

Hardware
You can go with a faster chip, some DOS games need at least a Pentium. The main thing to stick with for less compatibility problems is an AT setup. Usually has a Hard off-on power button in the front, not "Sleep" off button as in ATX systems. For real compatibilty older Sound Blaster Pro or 16 with a PCI or ISA slot. The slower ISA version will be the best compatibility. For game controllers, not USB but the old 15 pin joyport found on sound cards. CH controllers were top of the day. The Mach One can be set to free floating or self centering, great when a second one is used as a throttle in Flight games. Goodwill a good source.



Running DOS
DOS 6.22 is the best operating system for DOS games. Has built in memory maker, you can edit the CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.Bat files to multi-boot for different memory configurations. Some games need a clean non memory management boot, Most need either HIMEM or EMS memory enabled. To avoid command line prompts, you can even use an older Menu program such as POWER MENU. Even WIN 3.11 Workgroups can be booted from DOS 6.22 off the Menu. Keep Win 95-98 outta the drive, they do offer boot to DOS mode, but with some problems. I found that DOS games run better without WIN 98 in the background.

No command line prompts, Power Menu, great program!



I have an AT FIC VA-503+ with AMD550mhz setup. One of the fastest AT systems available. Same AT case started as a 386SX, then 486, then 486DX2. Finally the current 550mhz, unfortunately it died during a Bios update. To fix it I have to solder in a new Flash Bios chip. At least I can still run separate drives of DOS/ WIN Workgroups, WIN98 SE and WINXP on Wife's newer PC using internal swap IDE drives.


Another route, multiple swappable boot drives with one each DOS, WIN98 and WINXP

[Hobie-wan]

Another vote for at least a Pentium. Even a Pentium II/Celeron machine should be dirt cheap and won't be as old. You won't have to worry about old style SIMM memory either. I'm sure if you hand out in the free section of Craigslist or see if you have a Freecycle in your area you can get one for free if you're area is big enough.

[Erik_Twice]

But the question is. Can I run those games without speed issues on a Pentium? Will they accept newer cards?

Also it seems that there's only two games I want that would need a Pentium: Constructor and Magic Carpet

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

But the question is. Can I run those games without speed issues on a Pentium? Will they accept newer cards?

Also it seems that there's only two games I want that would need a Pentium: Constructor and Magic Carpet

You should, I've run dos stuff no problem on my 700mhz P3 laptop so I don't think here should be an issue.