Today I repair and test a budget model FIC 486-VC-HD motherboard. This board refused to boot due to a dead RTC module, but also had terrible memory latency. Join me today as I get this board repaired and dig into a surprising caching problem that impacts many 486 boards from the early 90s.

DS12887A+ RTC modules from DigiKey:

24-pin DIP sockets:

Necroware’s nwX287 modules:

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00:00 Introduction

The 3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 was 3dfx' last mass produced and commercially available card. The company failed shortly after its release and it has become highly sought after. Unfortunately, it isn't known for it's reliability and these aging bits of 3dfx history often need to be repaired. In this video, I fix a long list of problems with this as-is, untested card that I got for a great price. With some luck and a bit of patience, will I be able to restore it to its former glory?

Voodoo 5 5500 AGP Component Map:

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00:00 Channel Announcement!

You have the unsettling feeling that someone is following you...

Hello, I'm Hefka Le Nekopunk!

Nyan nyan, pew pew pew!

I wanted to do something a little different for #DOScember this year - installing MS-DOS 6.22 in a VM! In this video, I go through VM creation, DOS install, setup, memory management and more! And of course, it wouldn't be a retro DOS video without seeing Doom running at least once.

Useful links:

ISO Image with PCNet32 NIC drivers, CD-ROM driver, MTCP and SB16 utilities:

MTCP DOS Network Utilities:

Phil's Computer Lab DOS Benchmark Pack:

Phil's MS-DOS Starter Pack

FreeDOS - a great MS-DOS alternative with many modern enhancements!

VMware Workstation Pro and Player:

VMware Sound Blaster 16 MIDI and Enhancements:

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00:00 Intro

After a few weeks of distraction, I'm back with part two of my adventures in building a 486 for my daily gaming use! Be sure to check out part one where I go into detail about the parts I'll be using and my goals for the build. Today, I'll be building it on my test bench and will be doing some performance tuning and testing with several different 486 CPUs. I'll be tweaking the cache, memory and my VLB card and will be running a whole suite of benchmarks. I'll also be doing the opposite of performance tuning - trying to slow the system down sufficiently for speed sensitive games. Stay tuned for part three where I'll finally get the system properly built and do some gaming!

My Daily Use 486 Build - Part 1

Overclocking the AMD Am5x86 486 processor to 160MHz!

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00:00 Introduction

I have several old motherboards waiting for RTC replacements. Rather than buying new DS12887 modules, I decided to solder up one of Necroware's awesome RTC replacement modules. Unlike traditional RTC modules, the coin cell battery is accessible and can be easily replaced. In this video, I go over the parts required and my experiences constructing it.

Note: Check out Necroware's comment below. I used square pin headers for my first module, which work but really aren't the best choice. Look out for the thinner round pin headers instead.

Necroware's nwX287 github page:

Necroware's YouTube Channel:

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I got a great deal on these two CPUs from a seller on eBay. Unfortunately, they arrived too late to be included in my #sockettome7 build. I put together this quick video to have a look at them and compare the Pentium 200, 133 and my old Pentium 120 with retail heatsinks.

This is part two of my contribution to the #Slot1BuildOff. I've had these parts for a long time and the build-off gave me the push to finally get it put together! In this video I will swap out a Pentium II for one of the best overclocking CPUs in history - the Celeron 300A. I'll also show the completed build, get Windows 98 installed and play some games and run some benchmarks! And finally, I'll see if the Celeron 300A can handle a 50% overclock.

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00:00 Introduction

Be sure to check out the other great videos in the #slot1buildoff playlist!

*Music during Windows 98 install is "8-Bit Dreamscape" by "The Whole Other".

Synology's Active Backup for Business is a free backup tool included with many of their higher end "plus" series NAS units. Today I'm taking a look at its integration with VMware vSphere and ESXi. In short, it is an excellent tool that provides features you'd expect to see from enterprise "paid" backup solutions.

Synology's Active Backup for Business page:

Supported NAS models:

vSphere Support:

User access requirements for vSphere: