Another one of my builds, this was my fourth (and for now, final). Enjoy!

System specs
OS: Windows 98SE
CPU: Pentium III 600E (Coppermine, SL43E)
Motherboard: ASUS P3B-F Slot 1 Rev 1.04, Intel 440bx Chipset, 1x ISA slot
RAM: 256mb SDRAM
Graphics: 3Dfx Voodoo 3 2000
Sound: Soundblaster Audigy 2 (SB0240), Soundblaster Vibra 16S CT2800
Storage: 40gb Seagate barracuda IDE in Mobile Rack, NEC-based USB 2.0 PCI card, Generic BTC DVD/CDRW drive
Case: Generic Genius blue and beige case
PSU: HEC-350AD-T

Purpose
This is my fourth (and for now, final) build, following my Pentium 4 (Thor), Ivy Bridge (Jupiter) and Pentium MMX (Fenrir) builds. This build fills the last major gap in the period of gaming I’m interested in.

The objective of this build was to have a sort-of-period-correct 1999/2000 Windows 98 system focused on Glide games - something my Pentium 4 system isn’t optimised for, and my Pentium MMX system isn’t powerful enough to achieve.

I wanted to explore this era as it passed me over back in the day. My family had a pentium 133 with an S3 Trio that we got in 1996. That PC remained entirely stock (no 3D acceleration for us), and in 2000 we finally upgraded to a Pentium III 800mhz with a Geforce 2 200 mx. What a difference! Over that time 3Dfx was just about gone, and Nvidia was in the ascendent, so the Voodoo cards were something I never experienced, or even really heard of until getting into this hobby.

A secondary objective was to run late-era DOS games at high resolution (for example Duke3D and Mechwarrior 2 at 1024x768) which my Pentium MMX machine isn’t quite powerful enough to do. Not a major factor in my decision making, but nice to have.

Overall, I absolutely love this computer. It feels more like a Windows 98 machine than my Pentium 4 (which is really better suited to XP) and has a weird nostalgia to it that doesn’t really make sense given my original Pentium III was a slightly later model that ran Windows Me.

I’m still fine tuning this and running benchmarks, but so far it’s handled everything I’ve thrown at it with ease. This is the Windows 98 machine I wish I had built in the first place and has mostly displaced my Pentium 4 system as my primary Windows 98 rig.

Background and planning
I started this build in late 2023. I’d acquired a lot of the parts I needed as part of other builds and general collecting over the course of that year, and just needed a motherboard, CPU, and a spare case and PSU to complete it (so actually, still quite a lot).

I planned to use components from around 1999/2000, using Shponglefan’s annual specs for ultimate gaming rigs as a (very) rough guide. However, I didn’t want to restrict myself too much to period correctness so there are some newer parts thrown in.

Given this rig’s focus on glide gaming, I planned around the Voodoo3. I’d purchased a Voodoo3 2000 to put it in a super socket 7 motherboard with an AMD K3+ 400 that I also acquired. However, I ditched that idea in order to use that SS7 motherboard in my pentium MMX rig, which is probably the rig I use the most. Since I’d heard great things about the intel 440BX chipset, I thought a slot 1 build would fit the bill nicely.

Buying the final parts was straight forward. I snagged a CPU and motherboard combination from Ebay in early 2024 and rehomed my Pentium 4 rig into a modern case to make way for this build.

Given the prominence of the number 3 in this build (Pentium III, Voodoo3, Asus P3B), it was only appropriate that I name it after a god wielding a trident, hence why I dubbed this build Neptune. (As a side note, being of Italian heritage I go for the Roman name rather than the Greek one, no offence to Poseidon or my Hellenic retro PC brethren).

Planned upgrades/changes
This rig is mostly complete. I have four things left on the to do list:

1. Install a modern PSU
2. Upgrade the case fans
3. Replace the hard drive with an SSD and SATA2IDE adapter
4. Settle on an ISA soundcard for DOS gaming (this depends on what I land on for my Pentium MMX build)

Other optional future upgrades include:

1. Upgrade the CPU to something in the 750-800mhz range (noting I have a Pentium 4 where CPU power is required)
2. add an Aureal vortex 2 soundcard for A3D support (noting most of my games support EAX, and I’m well covered there).

Operating systems
Windows 98SE is the only OS I use on this system. I’ve gone for a vanilla installation with only the USB mass storage device drivers in addition to the usual chipset/graphics/sound drivers. Since this rig never goes online and only plays games, I don’t see a need to install any further updates. I don’t have any noticeable stability or performance issues to address through updates.

Motherboard, CPU, and RAM
The Asus P3B-F motherboard is well-regarded and I have no complaints. As a Rev 1.04 board, it is compatible with the later Socket 370 FCPGA coppermine CPUs, and Tualatin CPUs, with appropriate slotket adapter should I want to go there.

I picked this board as I found one with CPU for a reasonable price, it was one of two or three other 440BX boards I was looking out for (the others being the Aopen AX6BC, and Abit AB-BE6).

As a 440BX board the standard FSB is 100mhz. I understand the FSB can be overclocked to 133mhz, allowing me to either overlock my current CPU or utilise newer ‘B’ series Pentium III and Celeron processors. However, I have no intention to go beyond the standard 100mhz, so I run everything stock. My Pentium 4 can handle games demanding more CPU power.

The 600mhz slot 1 processor (SL43E) is a coppermine with a 100mhz FSB. Made in 2000 it was probably mid-range for its time (although perhaps not widely available?).

RAM is 256mb SDRAM. I have the option to go to 512mb, but again, if I need more RAM, the Pentium 4 is there. I remember 256mb being quite a lot back in 2000 when we purchased our PIII machine, so it seems appropriate for this build.

Graphics
Given this rig is aimed at Glide games and parts from 1999/2000, there really is only one choice - a 3Dfx Voodoo3. Not much more needs to be said. I have the 2000 model, which is slower clocked than the 3000 and 3500, but cheaper for that reason. I haven’t noticed any serious performance limitations, and frankly, I’m amazed at what this card can achieve for its time. This is probably because it’s not how I remember PC gaming in 1999, given my PC hardware was so limited back then (good thing I had a Nintendo 64 eh).

Sound
One of the things I love about this era is that the motherboards have a combination of AGP, PCI and ISA slots (mostly, the ISA slots) which means lots of choice re: components. My Asus P3B-F has 1 ISA slot (some others have 2). I could use it for a range of things, but the most practical is sound, DOS sound specifically.

Of course an ISA soundcard won’t cut it for late-90s windows titles. That requires something beefier with A3D and/or EAX support. I therefore run two sound cards in this rig, both from Creative:

1. Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 SB0240 (PCI)
2. Creative Soundblaster Vibra 16S CT2800 (ISA)

I originally had a Soundblaster live! Digital (SB0220) in my PCI slot, which is closer to period correct. However, I came across the Audigy 2 for a good price so figured I’d upgrade.

The Soundblaster Audigy 2 covers Windows 98 duties. I installed the VxD drivers using Joseph_Joestar’s helpful tutorial, and it works great. The EAX sounds amazing, especially in games like Half Life and Unreal. This card has adequate DOS support with some limitations (crackling on the digital sound in some games), and the ability to use sound fonts for general MIDI is a huge bonus for late-era DOS games that use general MIDI music, eliminating the need for external MIDI modules.

Unlike the Audigy 2 ZS (which I have in my Pentium 4 system), this card can use the digital SPDIF CD audio with VxD drivers, which is nice for reducing noise (though, truth be told, I don’t notice a lot using analog on the 2 ZS). I’ve also set up the SB16 emulation for this card, despite having an actual SB16 installed. This works well most of the time for digital sound, though the FM synth is horrible.

The Vibra16 comes in when the SB16 emulation doesn’t cut it (which for me is only a handful of games). This card is configured so that it doesn’t conflict with the SB16 emulation, and the CD drive’s analog CD audio is connected to this card so that I can still get CD audio in pure DOS without initialising the Audigy 2. This card has genuine OPL3, but it’s not really used on this rig as I tend to play games that use general MIDI.

Under Windows, I have the lineout of the Vibra card going into the line-in of the Audigy card. This allows me to mute the Vibra when not in use. When gaming in pure DOS I just plug the speakers/headphones directly into the Vibra.

The Vibra may get replaced by my ESS Audiodrive 1868f, or a CQM-based creative card, but we’ll see where things get to on my Pentium MMX rig first.

Storage
Nothing special here. I have a 40gb Seagate Barracuda IDE HDD on primary master. I love these late-model IDE drives, they’re nice and quick and this one doesn’t seem to have any issues yet.

I store my HDD in a mobile rack/caddy mostly for cable management - it puts all my drives up the top of the case without obstructing my motherboard (which was an issue when my Pentium 4 build was in this case). Eventually, I will replace my HDD with an SSD for longevity, and will swap SDDs with different OSs installed via this caddy (I really want to try Windows 2000 for no practical reason).

I have a generic BTC CD/DVD optical drive. It does the trick and I have no complaints.

I also have an NEC-based USB 2.0 card for easy file transfers, installed using this helpful method.

PSU and Case
Nothing special here either. I picked up this beige and blue genius case when building my Pentium 4. It’s a bit of a squeeze compared to a standard ATX mid-tower, but with this rig that’s not an issue. The great thing about this case is that it has very minimal yellowing.

The PSU is a bit old, but voltages all read fine. I will upgrade this at some point for longevity.

Miscellaneous
This case doesn’t really have good airflow. Regardless, I’ve got an exhaust fan hooked up, and another fan on a bracket to give some extra cooling to the Voodoo3, for whatever that’s worth. I stole the idea from this thread. The fan is pretty basic and I need to upgrade it, it's just what was lying around and I haven't got around to upgrading just yet.

As with my Pentium 4, given this is a late 90s computer, it would be massively incomplete without WINAMP, so I can blast some 90s/early 2000s heavy metal.

Peripherals
For convenience/space, all my computers use the same (mostly modern) peripherals:

• Screen: Dell P2423 - a 1920 x 1200 Monitor that I use in 4:3 mode for my retro machines, and 16:10 for my modern computers (no gaming on those though!)
• Keyboard: Leopold FC990R in classic beige with Cherry MX Speed Silvers. This Keyboard is USB and PS/2 compatible. I have a bunch of other keyboards, but this is the main one for my retro rigs. The speed silver switches are… ok… I prefer blacks but this was the last of this type I could get and they’re fine.
• Mouse: Cherry 5400 (grey), like the keyboard it is USB and PS/2 compatible, being grey is also a plus, but the main benefit is its optical! I have a trekker mouse (ball) too, but I have zero nostalgia for old computer mice… they can live in the past.
• Speakers: Creative T60s - nothing special, but they do the job
• Headphones: Sennheiser HD280 Pro headphones - I’ve had these bad boys since 2009 and they’re great. I have a baby and a toddler, so headphones are a must. I plan to pair this with a headphone amp
• Joysticks: Logitech Extreme 3D pro (Win 98 Win XP), Microsoft Sidewinder 3D Pro (DOS, Win95)

I have a manual KVM switch which is… me… I just plug/unplug each of my machines depending on which one I want to use at the time. Not the most elegant solution, but works for me.