The Amstrad Mega PC 386SX was an IBM-compatible PC with a difference. It contained an entire Sega Mega Drive on an ISA card. Released in 1993.

Powered by an Intel i386SX running at 25 MHz. It has 1 MB of RAM and a 40 MB Seagate hard drive, not bad for 1992! On the front of the box is a slider panel, that switches between the PC mode and the Mega Drive, sliding to the left covers the Mega Drive and exposes the 3.5" floppy drive.

The Mega PC was a system produced by Amstrad under license from Sega with Mega Drive and IBM-compatible PC functionality in one. The Mega PC was similar in concept to the TeraDrive, but was an unrelated project.

The PC section used an Intel i386SX running at 25 MHz. It had 1 MB of RAM and a 40 MB hard disk drive.
Released in Europe and Australia around 1992-1993
Cream-colored, with a sliding cover on the front to change between Mega Drive and PC modes.
The output from the Mega Drive section was only available through the VGA connector, to the supplied dual-sync (15 kHz/31 kHz) monitor.
Though the PC section is always running when the system is switched on, Mega Drive software cannot be used at the same time as PC software, due to the system having only one video output.
Could also be used with a Mega CD with the use of a special connector only available from Amstrad.
Most of the Mega Drive hardware is contained on an 8-bit ISA card, with AdLib-compatible sound on the same board.

Our unit was very kindly donated by R J Wiseman

Serial No: W16314551A Hard Disc Drive Type 17

Manufacturer: Amstrad
Date: 1993

This exhibit has a reference ID of CH2534. Please quote this reference ID in any communication with the Centre for Computing History.

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