gurganus@stable.ecn.purdue.edu (James P Gurganus) (06/14/91)
Recently I posted questions about buying a 486-33 system. Lots of the people who responded asked me to post the system I got and how good of a deal it was...so here goes. (If you don't care about 486-33s then just skip all this junk.) Many thanks to all the net-advice I got!! $3554-- (including shipping.) Gecco Computer Systems (Arizona) 486-33 ISA 128K Cache Expandable to 512K 8 megs Expandable to 64Mb on the motherboard 120 Mb Hard Drive (IDE) 1.2 and 1.44 Floppy drives Diamond Speedstar Plus (1 meg video Ram) Impressions Super VGA 14" Monitor - Non Interlaced (1024X768) Spire Eiffel Motherboard Full Tower Case -I've had it for two days now and I am just overwhelmed. The system is incredible. -The monitor is excellent but has just a tad of flicker at 1024X768X256. -I've already installed my 2400 baud modem and my Adlib Sound card. I haven't tested the modem yet, but the sound card works great. -There's even a little fan sitting next to the CPU!! -I called the tech support for a minor problem (more later on that) and he was helpful. He told me lots of little neat things about it...He said that the video transfer rate on the motherboard is 92Kb per something compared to 32Kb per something normally. (I don't know what that means or if its even right, tho.) I know that I haven't had it long enough to personally make sure its a reliable system,but I've got Windows 3.00a and QEMM running with no problems. Windows proves itself at 1024x768x256!--especially with a cool 256 color wallpaper bitmap. :) Now for the gripe list: - The keyboard they sent me is TERRIBLE. I'm considering buying a decent keyboard from someone else. - The turbo button doesn't seem to have any effect and the motherboard manual is vague to say the least. This is what I called the techs about. The keyboard switching feature is incompatible with QEMM. When I attempt to switch to 16 Mhz mode (from the default 33), the system reboots. Very aggravating. Does anyone have a clue as to how I can get around this problem? I checked and the turbo button is hooked up to the right jumper, but apparently its not one of those that simply switches your speed for you. It just locks the turbo mode on according to the manual. But its not causing the problem since if I remove QEMM, keyboard switching works fine. Well...this is the longest post I've ever made! **ANY advice or help on the turbo problem would be GREATLY appreciated.** (I'm already finding some software that can't keep up with the CPU at full blast 33 Mhz mode!) James Gurganus (gurganus@ecn.purdue.edu)