I had this 486 tower for some years now. However I finally got around to upgrading it with a Sound Blaster 16 along with a full cleaning and retrobrite. She even boots up her original Windows 3.1 install!
Posted by -Techromancer-@reddit | vintagecomputing | View on Reddit | 20 comments
This Hewitt Rand is sporting a 50MHz 486 DX2. The CPU is highly unusual as the 66MHz quickly took over, leaving this an oddball that was top of the line for a couple months then out right discontinued.
The 66MHz model would see use for years by OEMs well into the Pentium era as a low cost option. The 50MHz one I have lived in a very small window in time.
It's fully loaded with 8 single megabyte 30 pin SIMMs for memory.
As mentioned in the title, I have installed a Sound Blaster 16. This is my only addition to this computer.
Storage is provided by a 210MB Maxtor HDD which was made before the Maxtor dark ages and continues to happily drum along with its original Windows 3.1 install 33 years on.
3.5in and 5.25 floppy drives round out the drives, both of which have been cleaned and greased.
A classic Trident 8900D provides VGA output with a whopping 1 megabyte of video memory.
A dial up modem is also original to the system. Overall this PC represents what was once a top of the line clone desktop in 1992 when it was built.
I hope you guys enjoy the post :3
grimacefry@reddit
Since its a DX2 at 50mHz, you currently have a 25Mhz bus speed and multiplier of 2. You can easily increase the FSB (front side bus) speed to 33mHz, and leave the multiplier at 2, and you'll get an easy upgrade to a 486DX2 66mHz. Won't increase heat much, if you start overclocking beyond that you'll run into problems
TtempredditT@reddit
That's a beautiful case there I think my dad would be more familiar with the specs but I simply wonder myself how smooth and fun it would be running Tyrian on it, heh.
MWink64@reddit
I love Tyrian! I can confidently say that it should run fine on this system, as the specs are almost identical to one I played it on (486 DX2-50, 8MB RAM, ISA video card). However, the highest graphics setting is called "Pentium" for a reason.
-Techromancer-@reddit (OP)
Never heard of it. The system requirements say a 386 or 486 SX though so I think I am in luck! I’ll give it a play.
MortalWombat37@reddit
Excellent game. I would suggest the Tyrian 2000 version.
Despite how elaborate the graphics are, and how new it is, the game should run excellently. Tight coding. I ran it on a Cyrix 486slc/33 with ISA video and it was quite playable.
-Techromancer-@reddit (OP)
Well the jury has spoken. It will be my next game I play
TtempredditT@reddit
Ey, it's a great game! I finished playing it on an emulated version on the Wii, and I never expected the bits of lore to slowly come up by the end
Though, since that was OpenTyrian, I dunno exactly how the original Tyrian 2000 was played. But either way should be pretty much the same I'd imagine
isecore@reddit
8 megs of ram? You madman! Whatever would one need such a ludicrous amount of memory for?!
(jk, she's a beaut!)
torklugnutz@reddit
This is a good setup for playing Ultima 7
andrewbean90@reddit
Now all you need is a period correct CD-ROM drive.
Necessary-Clock-5893@reddit
Such a classy build
Turquoise_HexagonSun@reddit
That’s a good looking tower. What video card you running? Looks like a Trident of some sort.
Away-Ad-3407@reddit
win 3.1 booting up "what year is it? omg how is my buddy Novell doing?"
Phunistle@reddit
Brand I’ve not heard of! Nice build. Zooming in, it looks like a straight ISA system? No VLB or PCI slots?
-Techromancer-@reddit (OP)
straight ISA indeed. The system was made right as VLB became a thing. Hewitt Rand was a Canadian clone maker that existed for a few years out of Vancouver. Every system of theirs I seen was well put together from nice parts.
Phunistle@reddit
Very cool man. I love seeing a nice clean vintage 486. I was fortunate enough to have acquired a Gateway 2000 4DX2-66V system a few years back. It is so fun to play those old games I played when I was a young kid. I’m sure you’re having fun with that machine! Thanks for sharing with us.
-Techromancer-@reddit (OP)
It feels like a time machine. The 486 era is well before my time but it is super cool being able to actually feel and use something made way before I was alive.
MortalWombat37@reddit
Excellent game. I would suggest the Tyrian 2000 version.
Despite how elaborate the graphics are, and how new it is, the game should run excellently. Tight coding. I ran it on a 486slc/33 with ISA video and it was quite playable.
Away-Huckleberry9967@reddit
God dammit, I paid a looot of money for similar specs back in the 90s. Soundblaster was a must-have.
-Techromancer-@reddit (OP)
The best part is the original owner used it for documents. They were also on a town council. Using government the dime to buy a state of the art PC for typing seems about right.