Welcome! Sounds like you have a great system in the works!

Thankfully the amount of retro stuff I have gotten rid of is nowhere near your number but I definitely regret getting rid of or selling a few choice items...mainly 3 systems from the mid-late 90s and some other parts including a voodoo 5. I think we all have a few regrets of this sort!

Good luck with the build!

pretty good system actually, though I would make two suggestions .

1 ) get a slightly faster CPU , maybe a 1Ghz Athlon , the reason is that an 850mhz is too fast for the speed sensitive DOS games anyway (and slowing down a 1Ghz will be the same as an 850Mhz), while the Win9X games will benefit from the faster CPU , from the most part . (Games based on the Unreal or Lithtech engine seem to love extra CPU power)

2 ) Geforce256 is good, but If you do want an Nvidia based card , I would go with a Geforce2 64Mb card (ideally a Pro/Ti/Ultra) , should give you a nice boost in speed.

Darkman wrote:

pretty good system actually, though I would make two suggestions .

1 ) get a slightly faster CPU , maybe a 1Ghz Athlon , the reason is that an 850mhz is too fast for the speed sensitive DOS games anyway (and slowing down a 1Ghz will be the same as an 850Mhz), while the Win9X games will benefit from the faster CPU , from the most part . (Games based on the Unreal or Lithtech engine seem to love extra CPU power)

2 ) Geforce256 is good, but If you do want an Nvidia based card , I would go with a Geforce2 64Mb card (ideally a Pro/Ti/Ultra) , should give you a nice boost in speed.

I'd actually prefer like a Voodoo5 but the prices on ebay are just insane. That being said it never got the popularity it should have so it's understandable that it is hard to find. My second choice is a beefier Nvidia card with a pair of Voodoo2s for Glide based games. But even Voodoo2s are pricy. Looking at 60-100 for a pair of Voodoo2s or 200-300 for a Voodoo5. Makes me really angry that I can't find mine. Voodoo3s look fairly reasonable cost wise but I am not sure they will perform well enough in non-Glide games.

As far as all the other stuff is concerned it's just what I happened to have onhand. I think if I go out and buy anything I'll probably do a 1Ghz+ Tualiton P3 with a board.

What about thoughts on a machine for speed sensitive DOS games. I remember back wen I had my 486 that was even too fast for some games.

Honestly I think phil's last two builds are the way to go. Either or both. One for DOS one for Win98. You can try to cover it all on one machine, I think there are a few fast athlon builds that do that. I'm not sure they are as flexible as phil's two computers though.

A 3dfx Voodoo 5, Vortex2, Pentium III-S based Glide Beast Gaming PC

Too many Retro PCs? Let's build a 4 in 1 Retro Gaming PC! 386, 486, Pentium...

blank001 wrote:

Honestly I think phil's last two builds are the way to go. Either or both. One for DOS one for Win98. You can try to cover it all on one machine, I think there are a few fast athlon builds that do that. I'm not sure they are as flexible as phil's two computers though.

A 3dfx Voodoo 5, Vortex2, Pentium III-S based Glide Beast Gaming PC

Too many Retro PCs? Let's build a 4 in 1 Retro Gaming PC! 386, 486, Pentium...

The second one is quite impressive. I mean the First build I think i've seen alot of. And I have seen things about disabling features to slow a system down, but never in such a concise way.

You should check that board for bad caps as it is made by msi (imb THE company when it comes to bad caps...)

meljor wrote:

You should check that board for bad caps as it is made by msi (imb THE company when it comes to bad caps...)

Good call. That is actually the first thing I looked at. So far it looks to be in good shape. Nothing leaking or domed. Not sure if this board was ever repaired or not but it looks ok for now.

Update was rummaging around in my jumk piles and found a Geforce FX 5500 and a 1.2 Ghz Athlon. (Thunderbird I believe) definitely Pre-Athlon XP. Still wish I had a couple Voodoo2's to put in there but maybe if I do get a hold of some i'll build out a K6-X Rig like Phils where you can fake a 386/486/pentium modes.

Good news about the caps then!

Thunderbird is nice for a voodoo5, voodoo2 sli would be perfect for the 850. So find them! 🤣

I also have k6-3+ system with v2-sli and it is simply great. My favorite system as it runs a lot of old games and simply has a good ''retro feel''.
Not a big fan of the fx5500/fx5200 cards as they are slowww. I would prefer a geforce4 ti for the 1200mhz cpu. A very nice card and it provides ''free'' AA in old games because it is a bit overkill with that cpu.

Yeah, the Geforce FX5500 certainly isn't the best AGP card of all time. But it's certainly better then the Alternatives I have handy which would be a Geforce 256 32MB, and a TNT2 M64 32MB. Or a ATI PCI Rage3d all in Wonder.

Not sure I am ready to pay some of the prices I am seeing on ebay. I don't know if I can shake the mentality that there should be someone out there just throwing this stuff away that I might be able to get a hold of. When I was a kid (15-20 years ago) my dad ran is own janiorial company and worked with mainly companies. At 12 I had dozens of 286-486 class machines in my basement I was playing with. Through my teens I had probably 3 or 4 of almost anything you can think of. Really pisses me off that I sold, gave away or trashed all that stuff but I went through a phase where I was tired of all that stuff taking up space and and by the time I moved out at 19 i only had a couple machines.

Seems like the best non-3DFX card that will still work with Windows 98 might be the 6800 Ultra. So I might spring for that, a 3DFX card(s) if I can get a deal on them, or a K6III+ one of the ones that is a huge overclocker.

AS far as more modern machines I have a AMD X2 4400+ based machine and a 3rd Gen I7 with a Geforce 960 I just threw in it, and I have a couple 2nd and 3rd gen i5 and i7 laptops that my company was gonna trash.

I've got a couple of K6-2 450s (not K6-2 plus). If I can fine a good super socket 7 motherboard I may just roll with that and a Voodoo3 and see where it goes. Maybe upgrade to a K63+ later. All in all my biggest issue is that I'm put off by all the ridicules prices, but I guess supply and demand applies.

I must have really got bit by the retro bug because I've also gotten interested in Retro consoles lately. Picked up a Dreamcast and a Modded Original Xbox to run emulators on. Not sure if anyone is into that sort of thing on this forum or not.

Definitely can relate to the retro console thing. I actually jumped from consoles to building old systems. 😀 Have you heard of Coinops for the xbox? Might be worth looking into.

If you're looking for a K6-3+ now, I just got one brand new for really cheap on ebay. Also scored a Voodoo 3 for not much money. I would rather bite now than wait later. My Socket A system cost me more to build than my Super Socket 7, oddly enough, but the motherboard is what got me. Really wanted another KT133A, just because that's what I used to have.

Rhuwyn wrote:

Yeah, the Geforce FX5500 certainly isn't the best AGP card of all time. But it's certainly better then the Alternatives I have handy which would be a Geforce 256 32MB, and a TNT2 M64 32MB. Or a ATI PCI Rage3d all in Wonder....

....Seems like the best non-3DFX card that will still work with Windows 98 might be the 6800 Ultra. So I might spring for that, a 3DFX card(s) if I can get a deal on them,...

I suggest you don't go that way (personally, been there, done that). FX6800 is the one of the most modern display cards with Windows98 support, but this does not make it the best. I don't know what games or software you have in mind for your proposed machine but anything that requires the presence of a FX6xxx, will most probably work better in an XP box. And many things that require Windows 98 will have a hard time with such a card. Windows 98 rigs should better be armed with something like Geforce2 or 4. This is the result of my own experience, and a some sort of consensus around other people here, who dealt with the issue.

tayyare wrote:

Rhuwyn wrote:

Yeah, the Geforce FX5500 certainly isn't the best AGP card of all time. But it's certainly better then the Alternatives I have handy which would be a Geforce 256 32MB, and a TNT2 M64 32MB. Or a ATI PCI Rage3d all in Wonder....

....Seems like the best non-3DFX card that will still work with Windows 98 might be the 6800 Ultra. So I might spring for that, a 3DFX card(s) if I can get a deal on them,...

I suggest you don't go that way (personally, been there, done that). FX6800 is the one of the most modern display cards with Windows98 support, but this does not make it the best. I don't know what games or software you have in mind for your proposed machine but anything that requires the presence of a FX6xxx, will most probably work better in an XP box. And many things that require Windows 98 will have a hard time with such a card. Windows 98 rigs should better be armed with something like Geforce2 or 4. This is the result of my own experience, and a some sort of consensus around other people here, who dealt with the issue.

You know you certainly have a point there. I was purely thinking of what was the fastest thing that would still run in Windows 98. This machine is only for games that I simply can't get running on anything other then 9x.

Anyone have a line on reasonably priced Voodoo5 or pair of Voodoo2s?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3DFX-Sigma-VOODOO-VOO … =item5d56a43053

So...looks like I can get Voodoo3 2000s reasonable. Thoughts about a Single Voodoo 3 VS 2xVoodoo2s in SLI with a more powerfull nVidia card for 2d and non-glide 3d?

Rhuwyn wrote:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3DFX-Sigma-VOODOO-VOO … =item5d56a43053

So...looks like I can get Voodoo3 2000s reasonable. Thoughts about a Single Voodoo 3 VS 2xVoodoo2s in SLI with a more powerfull nVidia card for 2d and non-glide 3d?

You can even do better (the card in your link doesn't look pretty to me):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3dfx-voodoo-3-210-036 … %3D400885559379

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3DFX-COMPAQ-147286-00 … %3D161613875519

You can easily buy a Voodoo3 AGP for less than 20 USD (which is very reasonable). But for a Voodoo2 12MB, you will probably pay 40 USD as the reasonable price around ebay. I just checked and see that some Russian guys put their hands on a bunch of NOS STB Voodoo2 12MBs recently and selling them on ebay for 30-35 USD (which is very reasonable), including shipment.

tayyare wrote:

You can even do better (the card in your link doesn't look pretty to me): […]
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Rhuwyn wrote:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3DFX-Sigma-VOODOO-VOO … =item5d56a43053

So...looks like I can get Voodoo3 2000s reasonable. Thoughts about a Single Voodoo 3 VS 2xVoodoo2s in SLI with a more powerfull nVidia card for 2d and non-glide 3d?

You can even do better (the card in your link doesn't look pretty to me):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3dfx-voodoo-3-210-036 … %3D400885559379

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3DFX-COMPAQ-147286-00 … %3D161613875519

You can easily buy a Voodoo3 AGP for less than 20 USD (which is very reasonable). But for a Voodoo2 12MB, you will probably pay 40 USD as the reasonable price around ebay. I just checked and see that some Russian guys put their hands on a bunch of NOS STB Voodoo2 12MBs recently and selling them on ebay for 30-35 USD (which is very reasonable), including shipment.

The ones you listed are under 20 USD but cost 15-20 USB shipping as well. The one I found is free shipping. Your right it isn't pretty much it's cheap

Voodoo1: easy the most compatible card for the oldest glide games,simply works. can be problematic with p3 or faster above 450mhz in some games, k6 no problems. (fleamarkets they can be found for next to nothing)
Voodoo2: almost as compatible as the v1, can run 800x600 and is more than double the speed with a fast cpu. sli gives 1024x786 and is just retro cool (fleamarkets/patience can give you cheap cards, ebay is expensive)
Voodoo3: 75-80%? compatible with the oldest glide games (with patches and stuff), as fast or faster than v2-sli, much better image quality and perfect 2d (best allrounder and can be had for cheap in agp)
Voodoo4: just a little faster, 2xAA in old games is nice but very slow in later ones,32 bit color. Much less compatible with the older glide games (hard to find/expensive)
Voodoo5:Top dog, great for AA in a lot of glide games. Runs the latest win9x games very well (expensive, will break easier.)

They all are great in their own way. price/performance easily won by voodoo3.

I also have the rush cards but they are aweful, banshee is not a bad choice either but v3 is better and easier to find.

meljor wrote:

Voodoo1: easy the most compatible card for the oldest glide games,simply works. can be problematic with p3 or faster above 450mh […]
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Voodoo1: easy the most compatible card for the oldest glide games,simply works. can be problematic with p3 or faster above 450mhz in some games, k6 no problems. (fleamarkets they can be found for next to nothing)
Voodoo2: almost as compatible as the v1, can run 800x600 and is more than double the speed with a fast cpu. sli gives 1024x786 and is just retro cool (fleamarkets/patience can give you cheap cards, ebay is expensive)
Voodoo3: 75-80%? compatible with the oldest glide games (with patches and stuff), as fast or faster than v2-sli, much better image quality and perfect 2d (best allrounder and can be had for cheap in agp)
Voodoo4: just a little faster, 2xAA in old games is nice but very slow in later ones,32 bit color. Much less compatible with the older glide games (hard to find/expensive)
Voodoo5:Top dog, great for AA in a lot of glide games. Runs the latest win9x games very well (expensive, will break easier.)

They all are great in their own way. price/performance easily won by voodoo3.

I also have the rush cards but they are aweful, banshee is not a bad choice either but v3 is better and easier to find.

yeah patience is somthing that is in shorter supply. I update when i get more to play with.