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Hello. I've got an old IBM PS/2 Model 50. It has a 10 MHz 286 processor. I just want to know if it's possible to overclock an IBM with a 286, because it's really slow when I play 256 color DOS games. I'm not worried about blowing it up, as there's plenty more where that machine came from! Can I get it up to 16-20 MHz?
Thanks
Have we created a new joke forum.
You are not going to be able to get any noticable extra speed out of that machine.
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Yeah, an overclocked 286 - - woo & hoo!
Sorry, but really?
There is an overclocking forum, but, as I understand it, a chip is OC'd by increasing the base frequency on the motherboard.
This is only possible on boards that support multiple frequencies (486 +)There were 286 12 MHz chips, and there was a method to punch those up to 16 MHz (iirc), but the gain would be negligible.
One more thing:
When you fill out your specs when posting - ok, it's like, not a survey of who's running what - it's supposed to facilitate the solving of a particular computer problem.
In other words, post the specs for the machine in question, ok? Does that make sense? Your listed specs have not one thing to do with your post - kind of defeats the purpose of that feature.thanks
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This goes back to the days of steam computing.
I do not recall that over-clocking was invented then.
In order to increase performance, you installed a faster processor chip.
Also a co-processor could be added, which speeded up certain (mathmatical?) functions.
I seem to recall mention of a Weitek chip (or similar), but am not sure what this did -can anyone advise.
Good luck - keep us posted.
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Sorry about posting my P4's specs up, it's just that I'm used to posting on the General Hardware forum...
Sorry about the question, too. I know now that it's a dumb one, but a person can never get enough speed from his computer. I did have a 16MHz 286 once, and it ran my 256 color games with aplomb. Smooth
"frame rates," no slowing down when monsters tried to shoot fire rings at me, and so on. There is a big diff between a 10 and 16. I have an Intel 80287 math co-processor, but it doesn't seem to help much. I didn't know that overclocking wasn't invented back then. Again, sorry for my bad question!
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Why not try it on a pentium computer. There are an abundance of them around too. And if it's to fast you can slow it down. Heck I got about 30 pentium pc's.
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Nothing wrong with asking questions, or trying to optimize an old machine.
(Sorry about harshing over the system specs - it's a relatively recent improvement around here, and often saves a lot of time when implemented properly, is all)
I play around with 386, 486 & P1 machines - and still get plenty of use out of them.
Still own quite a few XTs & 286's but I don't do a heck of a lot with them anymore - I mean, they all work, but there's only so much functionality that you can wring out of the old hardware. They were good to learn on though. 386 and up are so easy to find anymore, a little more worthwhile to work on.
A math chip will only improve performance if the software makes use of it - not everything does (or at least, did). Might get some improved performance with a better ISA VGA card - pretty slow graphics by modern standards, but some were better than others - maybe try one with more than the basic 256K vram.
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Ok, thanks for the info. I'll try and get a hold of a i meg video card. I just hope my 10 MHz doesn't bottleneck it! This will hopefully make classics like Commander Keen run faster :)
Thanks again!
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Heh - I loved the old Keen games (well, the later ones, anyways *g*), classics.
Lots of stuff like that around on the various abandonware sites.If your 286 box has CMOS/setup (some did) you might be able to tweak things a bit, depending on options (video & bios shadowing, 'wait states' etc)
Do you have any extended memory on this machine? Some versions of Keen (iirc) could take advantage of the extra ram.
Oh - I looked up that reference to speeding up a 286 - it was a hardware mod, replacing a support chip on some boards would boost a 6MHZ system up to 8 or 9 MHz (whew!) - IBM wrote a 'governor' into the ROM to defeat that - killjoys.
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G'day,
Just a thought: how about uprating the crystal?? 10MHz to 20MhZ perhaps??
It works for a lot of microcontrollers.
regards,
Elric
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I'm pretty sure that this thing has extended memory- there's a RAM card (I think that's what it's called) in one of the PCI-like slots. (not sure if it's a PCI slot, but I'm just calling it that)
Elric, by crystal, do you mean the processor? I don't think 286s go up to 20 MHz. I think that they go up to only 16MHz. Thanks for the suggestion though. So far, I can't find any used 286 CPUs. May have to just buy a 386 PC.
By the way, jboy, I think that Keen 4 is the best game. Especially with that funky music, though I can't hear it on this machine!
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Replacing the crystal was what I was referring to - before my time - it would be easier (& more satisfying) to pick up a 386 board, if there are any that aren't in landfills ; )
Believe me, I've got a 386 16MHz, it's pretty sad (barely better than a 286 cpu - or so it seems) - a 25 or 40MHz machine will play most older DOS games, even DooM I.
PS2 machines used a proprietary slot type, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) - it had advantages over ISA, but the cards can be pretty hard to find.
If it's an extended memory board, it should count the ram at the POST - if it's expanded memory, that's another story.
Started playing Keen on my 8 bit XT box with EGA video - didn't get to hear the funky music until I upgraded - there were like 7 or 8 games in all.
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G'day,
Yes, I meant the crystal that is driving the processor. On certain microcontrollers you can use a range of crystals to change the processor speed. I don't know how easy this would be. You would have to locate it and then remove it and then find a suitable replacement. As for 20MHz, well you could try a few different values.
In most production processes the chips all come from the same batch, but a tested and then "graded" and for reliabilty resaons they are branded below their maximum value. So, you never know what they are capable of.
Just had a quick look at one of my old books and it suggested 24MHz (although it did state that the CPU runs at half the clock speed, so it could be referring to 12MHz cpu)
Still, it's a thought.regards,
Elric
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jboy, thanks for the information about the architectures. I found out that that card is an extended memory board, because the boot up counts up to 3072 KB, and I know for a fact that this machine didn't originally have 3 MB of RAM. There are some old motherboards at a thrift store. (I only go to the thrift store for computers, NOT anything else ;) I see 386, 486 and old Pentium boards regularly, some times I see 286 boards, and even 8088 boards, though that's rare.
Elric, thanks for clearing that up for me about crystals. When I have the appropriate time, I'll try and remove all that proprietary junk out of the way to get full acess to the motherboard and find the crystals. This IBM is so non standard that the power unit even looks different! It's this long thing that stretches across the whole case, unlike a typical power supply which looks like a metal box. The supply doesn't even have a fan on it! It's weird...
Also, I noticed that unlike a typical PC, the hard drive isn't in it's own bay, it just sits above the motherboard. There's sure a lot of differnece between interior components when I look at my Pentium 4 and 286 machines. I put both machines side by side and compared how they looked inside. Man... The 286 chip is tiny compared to the Pentium 4 chip! The 286 doesn't even have a heatsink on it, while my P4 (2.8 GHz) has loud fans and a big heatsink above it.
Okay, I was really off topic, it's just that I found those differences really cool!I think that if I want extra speed, I'll just have to buy a 386 or 486 from the thrift store, and add sound to it to hear the MIDI music on Keen. Unless I can find a IBM style video card.
Thanks again!
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Yep, PCs really didn't start to become standardized 'til about the 386 - but PS2s were a breed apart, that's for sure. Still have their supporters - the 486 PS2 machines could run Win9x or so.
Some PS2 links.
Not very upgradeable - most PS2 parts are only good for PS2 machines.
Heatsinks weren't really required until the 486 chip - even then, not that much heat produced compared to the Pentium class.
Have fun : )
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Dear Mr Insect - the full name for a 80387 chip is a maths co-processor. This perhaps explains why it does not help a lot with games but would for spread sheets.
All it does is speed up mathmatical functions such as multiply and divide, by using floating point instead of many addtions or subtractions.
As I understand it, you should have the correct co-processor for the processor *AND* speed of such.
Good luck - keep us posted.
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Mike Newcomb, thanks for the info on the math co-processors!
Well, my sister is buying a new computer, and she gave me her old one. (I greedily told her that I was in need of a second hand computer!) It's a windows 95 Compaq with 233 MHz Pentium 2 MMX.
Wow, Keen and all those other classics on a P2 and yes, a sound board, so I can hear that music! I plan to download DOS 6 and ditch win 95, so I can play games without interruptions.
Of course, I still plan to tinker with my PS2 and other old machines since it's so fun!
Thanks again, everyone!
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Well, there you go!
One nice feature of Win95 & Win95A was that it could be installed on top of a DOS operating system - creating a 'dual boot' DOS/Win95 machine - great for DOS afficionados, best of both worlds.
Of course, large disk support (2 Gb+) wasn't introduced 'til 95B - which was when the dual boot option was dropped.If you do plan on running DOS6xx on that machine, and the HDD is greater than 2Gb, then you'll want to divvy up the drive into partitions - that, or leave 95 on there and just boot into DOS mode - which is relatively compatible with the old games.
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Sorry it took me a while to get to the DOS forum...
Thanks about the info. This computer has Windows 95B and it's got a 6.5 GB hard drive. I guess I'll make drive partitions, because DOS 7 ain't good. I've tried it and don't like it. 6.22 is the best DOS.
Again, thanks
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I think the IBM 286 is probably a model 8550-021 or similar, because I have such a model myself in my own junkyard ;-)
The correct model number is written (maybe on a sticker) at the right frontside below the floppy drives.
Here are some tips:
- Upgrading the harddisk will help to speed it up if your current one is a very old and slow type (I cannot remember the name of that type of harddisk now).
- The cooling of the power supply is done by a remote fan. I myself experimented by removing the cable from that fan to get a more quiet machine and until now with no problem and overheating at all!
- You are lucky having the memory expansion because my machine only has 1 Mb;-)
- You are able to install Windows 3.1 (go to that forum for support)
- IBM still has plenty support for your PS2, just write down the correct model number and go to their site....Good Luck!
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Hey- Thanks for the tips! I checked the hard drive, and it is upgraded, a 60 MB model ( and I'm sure the original didn't have 60) I have installed Win 3.1 on this machine, and it does work. Thanks about that bit on the power supply and it's fan. At first I didn't know what the fan was for, it didn't seem to be cooling anything. I'll disconnect it. As you said, it doesn't do harm, and besides that fan is so loud that it's almost as loud as the multiple fans that cool my 2.8 GHz Pentium 4!
Again, thanks!
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