Dextor - A tale of a 486dx2-80 build.

I thought that it was time, to do a build log. More accurate, a rebuild log. As I have had this baby build one time before. It had some slight issues, and I got a new controller for it. And I changed some hardware in this build.
The case, or rather the "new" case, housed a K6 system when I got it. It was bend out of shape. I sold the board, and used some of the money for hardware upgrades on this build.

Anyway...
On with the build, and then some benchmarks. I should note, that this build is has gotten a different case again. A slightly better case, so the machine is now on it's third case.

Hardware-list:
- Abit AH4T Rev-1.2 128kb-Cache (Voltage regulator, can run Dx4's)
- Amd 486dx2-80 CPU with a brand new cooler.
- Two sticks of 8mb 72-Pin Ram
- Seagate 16gb U10 Harddrive.
- Spea-Mirage-V7 S3-805-Vlb VGA Card
- Pine PT-627 Vlb Controller.
- Creative Labs SB16/Vibra16 CT-2890 that has an OPL-3 Chip.

I have more or less standard settings on this build. Nothing is overclocked and the VLB slots are running with 0 wait state. On the controller, I have disabled Game-Port, Com3+4-Port's and the Parallel-Port. The controller is set to run DMA3.

I simply love all these components. They are great, perform excellent and play nearly everything from 1990 to 1993. Next step is to do the reassembling of the case, motherboard and the rest of the hardware.

First boot.....
I started by entering the BIOS, and load "fast defaults/settings", enabling stuff, disabling stuff and setting the clock. Rebooted and the system would start perfectly. No issues, other than the one were I had to move the controller down.
Took a picture of the Controller-BIOS screen and went on to test with Norton Sysinfo, to see if it made a difference, from VLB Slot-2 to Slot-3. Did not, so I am a happy champ. All what's missing, is the final touches such as bay covers and one rear slot bracket.

Time for some benchmarks.... First results....

Further and future upgrades for this machine, will perhaps be a SCSI controller. I have bought a Bus Logic BT-445 SCSI VLB Controller. And it should deliver a faster solution than the IDE. Not that the IDE controller in this build are slow, compared to what was around at that time. It is just that a SCSI will take some load off the CPU. The following pictures are this build, running with the SCSI card. Yet I can not decide if I will go the SCSI route at all. Drives are in most of the times too loud for my taste. If I decide on SCSI, then I will be getting a SD card drive for SCSI controllers.

My thoughts on this build?
Hmmmm... For a gaming rig, that are aimed directly at 1989 to 1993 (until Doom), then I like this build. It has parts that works great with each other, it has none of those vertical beige/white spaghetti lines (tested with Civilization and Lotus-III). It runs Doom great, and Dynablaster run with both music and sound effects on. I have had 3D-Bench running faster with a Goldstar VLB-Controller. Though I think it is the controller card that makes it run a tad slower.

Looking at the goal... Wich is to make a 1989/93 machine, and then comparing it to a Dx2-66/CL-5428. Then this baby is a great machine. In other words... I am really pleased with this machine. Build-Log finished (for now).