VOGONS


First post, by Ultris

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I already have my Windows 98 gaming PC covered, but it's probably way too new for older DOS gaming. That's why I'm going to use a Pentium II-based system:

PC: Dell OptiPlex GXa
CPU: Pentium II 233MHz
RAM: 128MB ECC SDRAM
GPU: ATI 3D Rage Pro Turbo 4MB (integrated)
HDD: 4GB Maxtor HDD
OS: Windows 98SE
Sound Card: Integrated Crystal CS4236 ("SB16-compatible audio")

I have ISA and PCI slots, but absolutely no means of supporting AGP. I'm willing to buy an ISA sound card and PCI video card >as long as they're cheap< (no 3dfx cards, please)

Is this capable of running older DOS games, or do I have to get an older Pentium/486 PC? Thanks 😀

Reply 1 of 3, by Skyscraper

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Yes that computer will work, the built in ATI Rage and Crystal CS4236 should work fine for most DOS games.

You will run into some speed related issues with some old DOS games and also the famous Pascal compliler bug which makes some games fail to start but they can be patched.

Most games from 1992 - 1996 will run fine without any advanced tinkering.

New PC: i9 12900K @5GHz all cores @1.2v. MSI PRO Z690-A. 32GB DDR4 3600 CL14. 3070Ti.
Old PC: Dual Xeon X5690@4.6GHz, EVGA SR-2, 48GB DDR3R@2000MHz, Intel X25-M. GTX 980ti.
Older PC: K6-3+ 400@600MHz, PC-Chips M577, 256MB SDRAM, AWE64, Voodoo Banshee.

Reply 2 of 3, by clueless1

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Define 'older'.

This machine will run most DOS games from 1994-1997. There are still some speed-sensitive games from 1994-1995, though, so it's possible it may run a few games too fast from those years. And the Pentium II is not very flexible in terms of disabling cache. You can disable L1, but it slows down too much (think 286). Many games from 1993 and earlier are speed sensitive, so won't run well on this system, unless they are from 1989 and earlier (IOW, 286-era).

The integrated ATI should be fine, but if there are issues, there's lots of cheap PCI options out there. See the PCI benchmark link in my signature.

I would recommend for sound an Audician 32 Plus ISA card. It's very popular on these boards due to good sound quality and high compatibility. Just search 'audician 32 plus' on ebay. They are about $20-25 shipped. If you want general MIDI music, then a DreamBlaster S1 or X2 would work awesome on the Audician's wavetable header.

The more I learn, the more I realize how much I don't know.
OPL3 FM vs. Roland MT-32 vs. General MIDI DOS Game Comparison
Let's benchmark our systems with cache disabled
DOS PCI Graphics Card Benchmarks

Reply 3 of 3, by chinny22

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If you already have it, just try it out!
P2 makes a great late dos gamming PC, and if your lucky the earlier ones wont be affected by speed issues but only testing will confirm.