🚀 go-pugleaf

No, '486DX 50s tend to burn up, (die of heat exhaustion) they ain't wrung
out yet.  They aren't even very available anymore.  Intel is pushing their
DX2 50, 50mhz internal - 25mhz to the mem bus.  There are too many
problems with 50 mhz DX '486s to justify buying them for anything right
now, IMHO.  Maybe Intel should have called the iapx486DX50 the RU486?
  
 >3.	Is it standard operating procedure to socket 486 chips?  In other
 >	words, in the future can I easily install an overdrive chip in
 >	my system?  A 486 running 100 MHZ internally boggles the mind.
 
486 DXs are almost all socketed now, some sockets are easier to deal with
than others.  Standard sockets require a great deal of force to remove a 
socketed chip.  Zero insertion force sockets have a lever on them that makes
the chore easy, but ZIF sockets aren't used on most boards.
 
 > 
 >4.	Is a local bus for graphics worth it?  The bad news is they are
 >	pretty new and non standard.  The good news is they will soon have
 >	a standard, and they make graphics really fast.  But I'm an American
 >	and I want instant gratification so I can't wait.
 > 
 >	I've read several reviews that say local bus graphics is the way to go.
 >	I've read a couple of reviews that say they aren't any faster unless
 >	you've got drivers for the chips.  I doubt Sierra is going to be
 >	writing a custom video driver for Fred's custom local bus.  On the
 >	other hand, there seem to be 3 main chip sets tied to the local bus:
 >	S3's chip, TI's chip, and the Weitek chip.  So software vendors only
 >	need 3 drivers, right?  (I feel I should put a smiley after that but
 >	I'm too ignorant to know if it's a dumb question or not).
 > 
 >	And Orchid seems to make motherboards with a local bus tied to one
 >	of their top-of-the-line graphics boards.  Do they use one of the
 >	above chip sets or do software vendors need 4 drivers?

   If you go local bus stay away from the "accelerator" chips, they only
work with windows and windows games are LAME.  All great games run
under DOS so that there isn't a lot of operating system overhead to get in
the way of performance.  If you go local bus go with an ET4000 or VESA
compatible chipset, they run dos applications (like games) faster than the
windows accelerator chips.  Very few games use video drivers.  They are
usually 256 color MCGA.  Games that use higher resolutions require your
board be VESA compatible or have a VESA compatible driver, just about all
modern svga controllers come with a VESA driver.

 >5.	Some of the companies I'm looking at are Compu-Sys, Gateway 2000,
 >	Fast Micro, and Swan.  Any good/bad stories to tell?  Anyone want
 >	to mention another vendor?  I won't buy from any vendor that's been
 >	around for less than 3 years, I know Gateway meets this criteria
 >	but don't know about the others.

   Criminy! you don't need the level of support you're going to pay for if
you go with any of these guys.  You know which end of a screwdriver to
open a paint can with so buy pieces from a company that is learning
English and get a lot more for your money.  If the system goes down you
are not going to lose your job.  Besides, when you buy pieces it is much
more likely you will get quality components.  Buy Teac floppy drives,
Quantum or Kalok hard drives, Gravis game card, Sony monitor, Diamond
Speedstar (not Stealth).
 
 > 
 >6.	I figure this system will cost me $2500 or so, plus shipping and
 >	stuff.  Any ideas on what shipping and stuff is going to run me?
 
   Plan on a C note.  Insurance is important.
 > 
 >7.	The thought of putting DOS on this machine makes me want to buy that
 >	286 dog I mentioned earlier, and windows is junk.  What other OS's
 >	are available?  Top runner right now is OS/2, although I've heard a
 >	lot about DR-DOS.  As it's a game machine something like UNIX is
 >	out of the question.  Unless someone knows of a UNIX clone that
 >	runs DOS programs with no special effort, I don't know of any.

  Unix will stick you with "Hunt the Wumpus" and "Nethack", forget it. 
All good games run under dos, OS/2 will cause you untold grief trying to
run games, it can be done but you have to tweak for every little wierdness
your games come up with.  Game software doesn't run nuclear power plant
control systems and frequently wants the operating system to just go away
so it can run on the bare iron.  Multi-tasking operating systems have
problems with this, they want to proceess swap your game out on occasion
to let other tasks run, (like op sys housekeeping) games that take over
system resources (like clocks and I/O especially) give these operating systems
fits, or strokes, or heart attacks or just hang them by the neck until
dead.  Even "well behaved" games get annoying when they are made to
stutter by "advanced" operating systems.  
 > 
 >8.	What's a game port?  Isn't it just an RS232 port I can plug a joystick
 >	into?  And how about a sound card like sound-blaster.  Does it come
 >	with a speaker or do I need to plug it into my stereo?  And is it
 >	really worth the $200 bux when I just want to play the dang game
 >	whilst rocking out to the latest Led Zeppelin disk anyway?
 
 A game port is analog.  A couple of 555 timers on the game port board are
coupled to potentiometers on the joystick through RC circuits. Get a sound
card.  With some of the money you save by buyings parts get a Roland MIDI
card and a regular Sound Blaster.  Digitized sound requires the Sound
Blaster.  MIDI cards give you the best soundtrack sound currently available.
You can hook sound cards to small speakers directly or to your stereo
system, depends on what kind of db levels you want.  MIDI sequencer cards 
require a MIDI keyboard or similar for output.
 
 > 
 >9.	Anything else I should be thinking about?  Remember this is a game
 >	machine, and one notable absence is backup.  At work I'm sys admin for
 >	a network of 16 Suns and about 3.5 gigabytes.  I back all of it up
 >	every night.   On the other hand, I can't see forking over $300 to
 >	save my place in Lounge Lizard Larry.  If I ever do use this for
 >	anything other than games I'll get backup, right now I don't plan
 >	to.
 
  You are right, forget backup.  Saved games can be backed up to floppy in
seconds.  Also forget a CD rom for now.  CD rom games are usually just
bloated versions of games that come on diskette.  Keep you eyes open for a
good deal on a CD rom player after you become familiar with CD rom
standards requirements.  You probably want to wait until SCSI gets cheaper
and more PC standardized.  I'm hoping VESA local bus will force the SCSI 
bus interface standardization issue.  As of yet no game company has risked
releasing a title on just CD rom, the installed base is miniscule so far.
 
 > 
 >10.	Yes I've thought of Amiga/Atari.  I'd love an Amiga but the fact of
 >	the matter is I use PC's and Suns at work, and if I ever do anything
 >	non-game I'll be duplicating my work environment.  I'd love a UNIX
 >	box but don't know of any that would make a good game machine for
 >	my price range.  I'd kill for a Sparc for $2500 that played SimAnt.

  Amigas are wonderful game machines but right now Amiga game software is
in price freefall.  This means developers will stop writing Amiga games.
Have you ever really seen an Atari ST?  Lately?  How about an Atari ST
game?

 > 
 >11.	And you thought the other questions were subjective.  Whats a good
 >	game?  I like wargames that emphasize strategy and tactics.  Arcade
 >	games get old pretty fast.  I never really cared for simulations,
 >	and once I run my jets into mountains to see the crash sequence I
 >	don't want to fly anymore.

If you like Sim Ant you will become addicted to Civilization, I hope it
doesn't ruin you life. :-)  I mean.....  you know what I mean.
Try The Perfect General, Out of This World, Ultima VII, Wing Commander I &
II, The Secret of Monkey Island I & II, Castle Wolfenstein. 
Don't buy Leather Goddesses of Phobos II.
 
 >Well, that should do it.  Thanks for any advice you can give me.

A '486 50mhz local bus machine commands a 50% plus price premium over a 
'386 40 ISA machine.  Many games are impossible to play on fast '486 machines
without slowing the machine down with special software.
486 machines, aside from being overkill, are still too buggy for game
purposes.  There are too many BIOS bugs, bus blivets and reliability
issues for me to be comfortable with them yet.  There are problems with sound
cards and game controllers on '486 systems that work fine on other systems.  
Stick with the AT form factor, don't ever buy a system with proprietary:
power supply connectors, keyboard connector, memory sockets, passive
backplanes, video connector, MCA bus, or anything that isn't standard.
Usually only Brand Name companies try to hose you with these things.
Generic suppliers have to be Me Too kind of guys to compete.  If you
follow my advice your system will be cheaply upgradeable until the next
century.  You will be able to upgrade to a local bus '486, when it becomes
necessary to have it, with little pain or money.
Buy a '386 40 ISA base system with 4 meg of memory, an ET4000 based video
card with a meg, (or a VESA card, but they are slower)  a cheap S/P/IDE
card, 100+ meg disk, Sound Blaster the floppy drives and spend the rest of
your budget on the biggest VGA monitor you can afford.  19" is good.
Local bus video is not yet necessary for any game, in fact until SVGA
becomes more standardized, games will be plenty fast on an ISE bus card, 
try Castle Wolfenstein to verify this.  Remember that any mother board you buy
for your sysem now will be less expensive and better quality in the near
future.  This also applies to hard disks and video controllers.  Cases,
power supplies, P/S/IDE controllers, and floppy drives are largely commodity
items now.  Monitors vary widely in quality and performance and are not
subject to drastic price reductions in the forseeable future.  Therefore
it is wise to put a large part of your budget into a large monitor since
it will hold more of its value and will greatly enhance game play.  I
recommend a Sony GVM 2000.  A big trackball is better than a mouse for most
games and last but not least, get a case of Bondwell Quickshot II
joysticks.  They are cheap, wear out fast, and have the best action and
ergonomics of any joystick on the market.

Now, get a Computer Shopper and bone up on your Mandarin!
 
 

  Mike

__
  mikem@travis.csd.harris.com  Mike McCole  305-973-5466
  2101 W. Cypress Creek Road  Ft. Lauderdale FL 33309 MS 143
  All opinions expressed are mine, not Harris Corporations.