> For improved performance, I maxed out the RAM at 128MB and swapped the socketed Intel 486DX-33 by an AMD enhanced 486DX4-SV8B (write-back cache and SMM) in a voltage adapter socket.
128 MB in a 486 is insane. 16 MB was a lot in that era. I remember upgrading my Pentium II (!!!) from 64 MB to 128 MB, in order to not suffer death by loading screen in Diablo II.
Post author here: Well, this is not your run-of-the-mill Desktop Computer, but it is an Intel-based system designed as Server. Servers tend to have (a lot of) more RAM than desktop systems, so I think 128MB is not that much out-of-place. I got an acceptable price on the required 72-pin non-EDO parity SIMMs, so why not max it out?
The hard drive in that machine is still the original COMPAQ OEM version of the Fujitsu M2622F SCSI drive. In 1993, that was the entry base option for storage in that server, and I dare to say that it is typical Compaq tradition that the base level disk drive is just barely aedequate for the system. While that Fujitsu drive was a fair performer in 1991 when it was designed, in 1993 it wasn't that cool anymore. Granted, there were better options available, you could even get an EISA SCSI raid controller for that system.
And as a final remark: Diablo II was the reason my brother upgraded his K6-2 machine from 32MB to 128MB.
I believe that at the time it would have required 16Mbit DRAM, which was still not common in 1994 outside of workstations and servers. (most of them at the time came in larger "400 mil" packages, as opposed to the "300 mil" packages that would have been common by 1995, and as a side note this is part of why 16MB 30-pin SIMMs was never common as the larger package would make them very tall)
I then had a Pentium 166MMX with 64MB (16MB was what was usually offered) which I recently upgraded to 80MB with a couple of sticks I found in an old box.
