Simplethings
Member
Alright guys, I have been working on my favorite nostalgic machine for a while now and finally have got the rare bits I needed to make it a more capable machine.
After looking for a year for 4MB of special PS/2 RAM it finally popped up, and if you have a PS/2 model 25 or 30 I suggest you look on Ebay now because the seller has more.
I also got the Kingston SX Now! 33Mhz CPU upgrade.
Here are the results from a single benchmark of my upgrade:
3DBench
Stock PS/2 Model 25-286 10Mhz:
2.6
Wolf 3D Benchmark FPS:
4.4
PS/2 Model 25-286 w/ 33Mhz Kingston SX Now!
5.1
Wolf 3D Benchmark FPS:
7.7
As you can see I got about twice the original performance after the upgrade. I felt like the 256kb integrated VGA was holding it back so I threw in a 2MB ISA STB Nitro card I had pulled from a 486 I got from a thrift store and ran an external monitor. HOLY CRAP BETTER:
PS/2 Model 25-286 w/33Mhz Kingston SX Now!
8.1
Wolf 3D Benchmark FPS:
13.3
As you can see the ISA VGA card really takes this system into overdrive. The CPU by itself took Wolf3d from a slideshow to "playable", but the VGA card makes it smooth, a responsive.
I want to do a modification to my system like the one that evildragon did in this thread:
http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?35786-IBM-PS-2-Model-25-VGA-Mod-Explained
basically wiring the PS/2 model 25's integrated monitor to the internal ISA card rather than the integrated VGA. I'm not sure if I can just do this with the card I have already without causing damage to my CRT. Unlike his monochrome monitor mine is color already. Do you guys think I should just try it and see what happens?
After looking for a year for 4MB of special PS/2 RAM it finally popped up, and if you have a PS/2 model 25 or 30 I suggest you look on Ebay now because the seller has more.
I also got the Kingston SX Now! 33Mhz CPU upgrade.
Here are the results from a single benchmark of my upgrade:
3DBench
Stock PS/2 Model 25-286 10Mhz:
2.6
Wolf 3D Benchmark FPS:
4.4
PS/2 Model 25-286 w/ 33Mhz Kingston SX Now!
5.1
Wolf 3D Benchmark FPS:
7.7
As you can see I got about twice the original performance after the upgrade. I felt like the 256kb integrated VGA was holding it back so I threw in a 2MB ISA STB Nitro card I had pulled from a 486 I got from a thrift store and ran an external monitor. HOLY CRAP BETTER:
PS/2 Model 25-286 w/33Mhz Kingston SX Now!
8.1
Wolf 3D Benchmark FPS:
13.3
As you can see the ISA VGA card really takes this system into overdrive. The CPU by itself took Wolf3d from a slideshow to "playable", but the VGA card makes it smooth, a responsive.
I want to do a modification to my system like the one that evildragon did in this thread:
http://www.vcfed.org/forum/showthread.php?35786-IBM-PS-2-Model-25-VGA-Mod-Explained
basically wiring the PS/2 model 25's integrated monitor to the internal ISA card rather than the integrated VGA. I'm not sure if I can just do this with the card I have already without causing damage to my CRT. Unlike his monochrome monitor mine is color already. Do you guys think I should just try it and see what happens?