First post, by Kampfkoloss
- Rank
- Newbie
Hello, I'm planning to build an old Windows 98-PC for gaming (mainly 2D strategy games, Monkey Island 1⁺2, Commander Keen 4-6, but some 3dfx-supported titles like POD, Tomb Raider and Screamer 2 too). Resolution will be at least 800x600, but normally I try to get it to 1280x1024, since that's my monitor's native resolution (19'' HP LP1965 LCD). I know my DOS-Games don't support such high resolutions, but I try to get this running for my Windows-Games. 32bit-color is preferable for me, I set it to 16bit only if I have to.
What I need is some advice what would be smarter in the long run, because future upgrades are possible, once I can afford it again.
Here's the Hardware I have:
Mobo/CPU/RAM:
Aopen AX6BC-EZ (440ZX, Slot1, FSB 66 and 100 only, 512 MB RAM max) and a P3 Katmai 500, 256 MB PC133 SDRAM
Asus CUV4X (Apollo Pro 133A, Socket 370) and a P3 Coppermine 800 (FSB133), 256 MB PC133 SDRAM
Graphics:
ATI Rage128 GL 16 MB
MSI GeforceFX 5200 128
Radeon 8500LE 64MB
Creative Voodoo2 (8MB) for backwards compatibility.
Sound:
Terratec ESSOLO1 PCI (OEM, no Wavetable-Connector!)
SB Live! (first edition with golden contacts, PCI, Digital I/O board is missing)
HDDs:
one 40 GB Seagate
one 80 GB ExcelStor,
Both are IDE100, so it's probably smart to connect the system-HDD to an extra PCI-IDE-Controller (I still have kicking around somewhere)? To boot from that one, I have to set the primary boot device to SCSI, don't I? I've read ExcelStor HDDs suck, because they'd tend to fail pretty often. Has anybody here experience with these?
PSU: Fortron FSP 250W (refurbished, electromyne)
Final thoughts:
The Aopen-Board is a solid one, but it lacks a few features and the Asus, well it has a VIA-Chipset, but it sure is flexible with S370, FSB133-Support (but no Tualatin...) and universal AGP. This one would be nice to build a Voodoo5-System. Both ATI cards have the scrolling bug in commander keen, which is one of my favorite games, so they both have to go... they could be replaced with an Asus V7700 (GF2 GTS) 32, Medion (Aldi) MSI Geforce 3 TI 200 64, or a GF 4 MX 460 64 depending on what CPU I can get in the future (Coppermine 700 to 1000). They are all easy to get cheaply here (Germany). But I think the FX should do an okay job, too. It's just not period correct and it's actually slower than some older cards like GF 4 TI 4200 or GF 3 TI 500. The MX 460 is in between them. The Voodoo is definitely part of the machine. I hope I can get another matching one to build a SLI. Alternatively I'm going for a Voodoo 3 3000 (PCI) for Glide only.
All opinions and any help are highly appreciated. Thanks in advance 😀
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