Questers 386sx desktop

A cheapest way to get 386 in early 1990s was to get a 386sx. These processors were crippled-down, a bit slower and many times with none or almost no cache possibility. 2MB RAM was usually enough for operation faster than 286, but most of times no extended features wear used - these computers were still used as DOS machines.
This particular machine has been re-built with specification, as original boards were ruined (yes, battery leak). It is still a 25MHz 386sx, with 2MB of RAM and a simple 8-bit ISA VGA, which was a typical solution for having better VGA instead of Hercules. Serial and parallel ports are supplied with Goldstar GW451C controller and floppy/IDE controller is a Longshine LCS. The hard disk is a WD L42S, a typical thing to go these times if someone wanted IDE but not wanted a "full height" form factor.
Summing up, a nice DOS machine, but much slower in Windows 3.x operation than 386DX with 4MB of RAM.


Approx. year 1991

Class AT
CPU Intel 386sx
Speed 25MHz
RAM 2MB (SIMM32)
ROM AMI BIOS
Mainboard SCAMP 386 (TH99)
Graphics Octek EVGA 8 (256kB)
8-bit ISA, Chips F82C451
Sound None (PC Speaker)
Ports I/O Goldstar GW451C (COM/LPT)
LCS-6623W (IDE/FDD)
Network None
System expansion bus 6x 16-bit ISA slot
Floppy/removable media drives 1x 3.5" 1.44MB floppy disk drive
1x 5.25" 1.2MB floppy disk drive
Hard disks/ATA devices: WD WDA-L42S (TH99) (40MB, CHS: 1067/2/39)

Peripherals in collection:
 - None

Other boards:

 

None
Casing AT desktop
Non-standard expansions: None
Operating system(s): MS-DOS 6.22

For EVGA information and dump, look here. Board is generally slow.


Contents: Starting, usage    

Starting

Very typical mainboard with extended configuration options related to cache and memory. It is possible to configure it for faster and slower RAM (BIOS for analysis).

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