View Full Version : Changing an Intel 486
Superman
01-20-02, 10:02 PM
Is it possible to convert a 486 after it is overclocked from a no math coprocessor to a math one. The reason is that my 486 will only run windows 95 and it would be nice to upgrade to at least windows 98. If anyone could help it would be greatly appreciated.
jazztrumpet216
01-20-02, 10:18 PM
You need to find an Overdrive chip. I have one in my old 486SX 25MHz... it adds a multiplier as well, mine was a 3x multiplier... so in the end I had a 486DX4 75MHz. And it has a whopping 6MB of RAM!!! WOW!!! Anyhoo, I haven't seen any of them around in a loooooooooooong time, maybe you'll catch one on Ebay or something. Hope this helps.
They're around, but almost like "collector's" items now lol
You'll actually pay a premium from an online vendor but less from private sale/auction...
I've thrown several 486 remains in the dumpster over the last few months. Not sure why anyone would mess with those old systems. I sometimes have trouble giving workin P-133 machines away nowadays. I have one 486 mobo and CPU left, but it's at work. I can look tomorrow and see if it's a SX (no math co-processor) or a DX. I know it's only a 33 MHz. I don't think it worked with Win98 either, so that might not help you. I have an extra socket 5 AMD K5 (133 MHz) that will work in some 486 motherboards if you have the right voltage jumpers to support it. If your motherboard will support it, PM me.
A socket 5 processor won't work in a 486 motherboard because socket 5 was introduced with the Pentium and pentium processors use socket 5 and socket 7. 486s were socket 3 or 4.
There were some cyrix 5x86 chips (and I believe AMD may have had a 5x86 as well, but I'm not sure) that would work in some, but not all, 486 boards. Also, I believe there was a pentium overdrive chip made by Intel that was for upgrading 486 boards. I'm not sure what speeds they came in but I believe there was an 83Mhz version. Anyway, the Intel Pentium Overdrive chip may be your best bet if your determined to upgrade this old board and you really want to make sure it will run win98. That way it will have a true Pentium in it. Of course it won't perform exactly like a regular Pentium on a regular Pentium motherboard would because one of the big changes in going from 486 to Pentium was a 64bit 50 or 66Mhz data bus whereas 486 boards only had a 32bit 25 or 33Mhz data bus (with the exception of a few very rare 486 DX50s which had a 32bit 50Mhz data bus).
powerleap and evergreen both made overdrive chips for 486 but if you buy retail they are probly $50-75 and you can buy a new mobo and a cele for about that much
The Coolest
01-21-02, 03:35 PM
OK, U really don't want Win98 installed on even an old P-75! I've seen this comp w/ a P-75 & 32MB RAM, the poor thing baraly moved, u should stick w/ Win95 even if u upgrade the CPU.
Maybe install IE 4 or 5 MAX if u don't have it and leave it be... It would thank u :p
Originally posted by The Coolest
OK, U really don't want Win98 installed on even an old P-75! I've seen this comp w/ a P-75 & 32MB RAM, the poor thing baraly moved, u should stick w/ Win95 even if u upgrade the CPU.
Maybe install IE 4 or 5 MAX if u don't have it and leave it be... It would thank u :p
That's a great point, windows NT workstation 4.0 would be great / ideal for a system like that, and (believe it or not) there's more support for NT than 95 nowadays.
flounder43
01-21-02, 03:44 PM
Originally posted by jazztrumpet216
You need to find an Overdrive chip. I have one in my old 486SX 25MHz... it adds a multiplier as well, mine was a 3x multiplier... so in the end I had a 486DX4 75MHz. And it has a whopping 6MB of RAM!!! WOW!!! Anyhoo, I haven't seen any of them around in a loooooooooooong time, maybe you'll catch one on Ebay or something. Hope this helps.
I had the same setup as that, except I overclocked the mobo to 33 and the 3x overdrive I got was for 100!!! I had 20Mb of ram in that baby, too...
Shadow has everything that I salvaged out of that thing as a donation to his charity thing.
I'm typing this on a OverDrive200MMX, HP OEM Board, 32Mb RAM, WinMe...might be giving this thing away when my new system comes in...
jazztrumpet216
01-21-02, 04:21 PM
Originally posted by flounder43
I had the same setup as that, except I overclocked the mobo to 33 and the 3x overdrive I got was for 100!!! I had 20Mb of ram in that baby, too...
Shadow has everything that I salvaged out of that thing as a donation to his charity thing.
Recently, I cracked that system open (it was our family's system and served as our only computer until about 1997 when my dad bought a Comcrap). Packard Bell put some overclocking options in there, and I tried to run it at 100MHz... I found a dos-based proggie for burn in called "Hot Potato" and ran it on there... it passed the short burn in but it wasn't stable on anything longer. I had to bump it back down. :(
That AMD chip I have is a 5x96 K5 and it will work in some 486 mobos because I took it out of a 486 mobo. But it uses a different voltage than 486 chips. It needs a later model advanced mobo.
Escuchamezz
01-21-02, 05:13 PM
486 HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
if you hurry up this may work http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1324308199
comptech69
01-22-02, 09:13 PM
Funny you mention, my first computer was a Quantex 486-DX2-66MHz, 64MB EDO Ram, 1MB PCI S3 Video Card, Sound Blaster awe gold ISA, and a 28.8k modem, and a 540 WD Hard Drive. This computer was top of the line back then and was around $2300 for the complete system. Boy, times sure have changed over the past few years!
To run Win98, you will need
486 DX2-66
8MB Ram
150 MB Hard Drive Space
VGA Video
Mine ran great with 98, but it also had 64mb of ram!!!
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