bestemor wrote:

... I wonder what would happen if I assembled my 865Conroe with my E6500 and 'special' Gainward 7900GT AGP... 😁

I've actually used that setup (E4300@2400) with Gainward 7900GT and 865 Conroe for years as my regular gaming machine. I replaced it a year ago. But I was using XP of course.

You have to watch the cap behind the agp port closely. It is near two voltage regulators which both get incredibly hot. The cap doesn't like the heat.

Anyway, for pure win98(plus the DOSgames that work without tweaking), a 1000mhz BX board would fit just perfectly.

Indeed, and you can quickly swap the CPU to a slower model and run it at 133 MHz.

Still, my '20 year plan' involves assembling several systems:
- DOS win311, pentium100-233 socket7 HX or TX,

I have build several of those in the past - for the elementary school my kids went to. I used a very versatile Biostar FX board a while too. It hit the trash.

- DOS win98, PIII/Celeron 800-1400 slot1 BX

That is basically what I have - only shifted to cover the 133-1000 Mhz range.

- win98 XP, Soyo 845isa, or some Asus865 with a CT479 and Dothan

I have no need for that. Old soundcards don't really thrill me that much.

- XP only, some 775 P45 E8500

Along with a Quadcore, this is my main machine for now and a while I guess.

But boy the amount of spares this involves, hdds and mobos in particular... oh well, that's why they call it a 'hobby', right ? 🤣

Well, apart from family, there is always the dump. I've thrown out plenty of stuff, and I am not really looking back. Does someone care for another Conroe 865PE? If we can agree on a price, I am going to part with it, I am sure. I even leave the 2x256 MB DC Ram in it. 😉

Though it IS kinda tiresome to constantly look out for stuff getting obsolete and making sure that one get the part before they're gone - latest would be the new hdd 4kb sector 'problem'... <sigh>

What is this now?

bestemor wrote:

Still, my '20 year plan' involves assembling several systems: - DOS win311, pentium100-233 socket7 HX or TX, - DOS win98, PIII/ […]
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Still, my '20 year plan' involves assembling several systems:
- DOS win311, pentium100-233 socket7 HX or TX,
- DOS win98, PIII/Celeron 800-1400 slot1 BX
- win98 XP, Soyo 845isa, or some Asus865 with a CT479 and Dothan
- XP only, some 775 P45 E8500
- or/and a XP+win7(64bit is the next big thing), whoknows

I'd say the highlighted system would be unnecessary. What games do you have that can't be played by the system above or below it?

What is this now?

The new 4kb sector hard disks of course... 😜
Or, the impending death of the old (retro compatible) 512kb sector ones...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/wd-4k-sector,2554.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/4k-sector_size- … view-32012.html

With 'retro' I'm thinking XP, older utility programs etc, and perhaps win98 when using 128gb limit hacks and patches.

I'd say the highlighted system would be unnecessary. What games do you have that can't be played by the system above or below it?

Well, it's more for the dual boot capability/convenience, I guess, than actually 'needed' for win98 games - which will play fine on the PIII.

But mostly an upgrade of the one box I already have(gotten used to), with DOSwin98 games that work satisfactory on a fast machine, and having 'modern'(up to 2006/7?) games on the XP part of it. In addition to the dual boot/single* box, there are some more subtle perks as well, among them easier testing/direct comparison when trying to work out what might be the problem.

(*: yeah, I know making all those other machines listed kinda kills that argument, but still...)

And the ISA part, well - not sure if pointless, but having a possibility for a Roland SCC-1 for the DOSwin98 portion. Or some other ISA card.
We'll see when I finally get around to assembling them all.

bestemor wrote:

The new 4kb sector hard disks of course... :pppt: Or, the impending death of the old (retro compatible) 512kb sector ones... h […]
Show full quote

What is this now?

The new 4kb sector hard disks of course... 😜
Or, the impending death of the old (retro compatible) 512kb sector ones...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/wd-4k-sector,2554.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/4k-sector_size- … view-32012.html

You mean, I can't install win98se on my 2 TB WD Green HD? 😵

ux-3 wrote:

It had no operation quirks whatsoever, despite the "ASRock" warning on it.

AsRock often seem to have interesting features I think, so I find myself looking out for them. But are they any more quirky - in a bad way - than other manfacturers?

Asrock used to be famous for hybrid boards. E.g. boards that had two memory types (DDR and DDR2) or 2 video card slots (AGP and PCIe) or even 2 cpu sockets (with a riser card).

In the old days they used to stick with budget chipsets from VIA or SIS but then started selling Intel chipset boards during the end of their cycle and have no evolved into seeling the latest and greatest with decent overclocking.

They make goog boards, however a budget board from Asus or Gigabyte doesn't cost much more these days. The really really cheap boards these days are all for older sockets (like a G41 S775 board) or use ancient chipsets (Nvidia 630 for AM3)

You mean, I can't install win98se on my 2 TB WD Green HD?

Well, personally I'm somewhat worried about winXP(fat32) (hence my 'explanation' just below that text), and the older (preferred) disk utilities that I use. And other yet unknown issues vs older mobos/bios etc.

Or, maybe I'm easily scared, and haven't researched the potential issues enough ? There may be solutions(or even not an issue at all), but....
Ususally I prefer to stick to older tech, just in case some unknown/unforeseen factors will show up when I get around to actual assembly/installation. I'm thinking the less potential complications the better.
But I'm open for arguments either way.

As for win98, though I haven't tried this myself, I believe there are some patches/hacks/drivers to allow for use of disks over 128GB(when older/smaller disks eventually wear out), at the msfn(?) site. Not sure how high you then could go ?

bestemor wrote:

Well, personally I'm somewhat worried about winXP(fat32) (hence my 'explanation' just below that text), and the older (preferred […]
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You mean, I can't install win98se on my 2 TB WD Green HD?

Well, personally I'm somewhat worried about winXP(fat32) (hence my 'explanation' just below that text), and the older (preferred) disk utilities that I use. And other yet unknown issues vs older mobos/bios etc.

Or, maybe I'm easily scared, and haven't researched the potential issues enough ? There may be solutions(or even not an issue at all), but....
Ususally I prefer to stick to older tech, just in case some unknown/unforeseen factors will show up when I get around to actual assembly/installation. I'm thinking the less potential complications the better.
But I'm open for arguments either way.

As for win98, though I haven't tried this myself, I believe there are some patches/hacks/drivers to allow for use of disks over 128GB(when older/smaller disks eventually wear out), at the msfn(?) site. Not sure how high you then could go ?

Well, I was just kidding. Why would I bother to put Win98 on 2 TB?

Since it concernes XP, I read up about it and it seems to be easily fixed with either a jumper setting or a utility from WD.

How many 2GB FAT partitions can you fit on a 2TB drive? 😁

swaaye wrote:

How many 2GB FAT partitions can you fit on a 2TB drive? 😁

All of them of course 😜

It's the neverending drive ... All games ever written for win98 and some more ...

retro games 100 wrote:

If I were in your shoes, I would sell that hardware. I would then reinvest it, and buy an Epox EP-8KTA3Pro mobo. I would flash its BIOS to the latest beta version, and drop in an XP-M such as a 3000+ rated chip giving you 2.2GHz worth of CPU power. That should run European Air wars OK. BTW, I would recommend the EP-8KTA3Pro non-Raid board, and not an EP-8KTA3+Pro Raid board. The caps on the Raid boards tend to be more rotten than on the non-Raid boards.

Ok, I got the board. Where do I get the bios and the manual?