#1: Watch all videos on this channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IKSyqRwwfY.
#2: Get a heavy Pentium III for late retro games.
#3: Use SB Live! for late retro games (with surround sound).
#4: Use a Roland MT-32/CM-32L for early games MIDI. And a SB Pro 2 for samples.
#5: Use a Roland Sound Canvas for middle games MIDI. And a SB 16 for samples.

GL & HF! 😀

To keep things (relatively) cheap: do not build yourself: buy an OEM desktop / mini tower instead.

building a P3 system defeats the whole retro gaming PC 😀 and I HAVE to build it myself, that's where part of the fun is 😎

I know the parts the I want, just not exactly what to get yet... but I definitely want a SB 16/32 of some nature in there.

PeterLI wrote:

#1: Watch all videos on this channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IKSyqRwwfY. #2: Get a heavy Pentium III for late retro gam […]
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#1: Watch all videos on this channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IKSyqRwwfY.
#2: Get a heavy Pentium III for late retro games.
#3: Use SB Live! for late retro games (with surround sound).
#4: Use a Roland MT-32/CM-32L for early games MIDI. And a SB Pro 2 for samples.
#5: Use a Roland Sound Canvas for middle games MIDI. And a SB 16 for samples.

GL & HF! 😀

To keep things (relatively) cheap: do not build yourself: buy an OEM desktop / mini tower instead.

Screw intel! In the mid to late 90's AMD was all the rage. An AMD Athlon classic @900MHz meets the Intel pentium 3 1ghz. Go for an AMD Athlon 1.33GHz CPU.

Athlon didn't come onto the scene until June 1999.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_Ath … microprocessors

Pentium 3 showed up in February of 1999. So mid to late '90's was all about Pentium, Pentium MMX, Pentium 2 and the entire AMD K6 range.

This is the eternal question and there're countless answers depending on who you ask. I'd have to agree with PeterLI though, a Pentium III with at least 1 ISA slot is an excellent choice for vintage gaming and covers almost everything. If I was forced to keep only one retro PC then my PIII 1Ghz, Windows 98 machine would be it. The ability to play late SVGA games at full detail and a high frame rate is reason enough, but it does so much more - ATX, USB, Glide + Direct X, etc.

And for those few games which have speed issues then you can build a 386 or 486 and use that machine to satisfy your vintage hardware urges.

Just my 2 cents!

I currently have 3 machines (4 if you count DOSBox on my modern machine) just to cover this year range for gaming. There is no 100% foolproof single machine to play games from that decade. The hardware changed so fast in such a short amount of time that a machine that's perfect for the early part of the decade is woefully inadequate for the later part of it. This entire forum is a testament to the eternal quest to that goal, however eternally unattainable it is.

The best you can do if you want to keep it to a single machine is to get a fast Pentium III and compromise on components between sound and video to cover a good range. Dual sound cards, ISA/PCI and switching hardware profiles within Windows or booting into DOS with the PCI card disabled will take care of sound. Graphics is split between fast or compatible when it comes to DOS S/VGA. For Windows, a fast D3D + Glide will get you far.

The best solution is to decide what games you want to play (which you already have) and research what components you need to support those games specifically, and then pick parts for them.

Thanks for the replies.

Can someone define the speed sensitive games? I always though those were only games made specifically for the 8088 like KQ1 etc... The early games I would want to use would be everything 1990+ Sierra.

If I did go with a fast Pentium 3 or Athlon Slot A built how would the dos compatibility be? Could I stick with only a ISA Sound Blaster card for everything? Win 98 games included?
And for video... I wouldn't mind finding a Geforce 256 32mb which I bought when it original came out, but would using that give me issues with the early dos games?

I know going with ATX makes everything so much more simpler, can use any case, have usb... but like I mentioned I just want to ensure those early Sierra Dos games and Dos don't give me a headache on a P3/Athlon system. Hardware issues included... USB/newer chipsets in dos.

Only SB is a shame really: most late 1980s to mid 1990s games are best experienced with LA & GM/GS MIDI. SBs playback of MIDI is really poor.

I'd agree with senrew - a whole lot changed between 1990 and 2000. Building to the specific library you want to play is probably best given the circumstances. If you could divide and conquer with a Pentium machine (it sounds like you already have most of that together) to handle DOS, support ISA cards, etc and then a second, newer machine for the Direct3D/OpenGL games from the later half of the decade (and probably games into the early 2000s as well; depending on the build and the titles), you'd probably be better off overall.

Semi update...

I picked up an Asus TX97-E on ebay for pretty cheap in as new condition, which also included a 233MMX with a brand new heatsink/fan, and 128MB EDO (2x64mb). Not the CPU I wanted but free with the board. The seller had in the notes for extra $30 he would toss in a "brand new AT case with PSU...". Your eye's did not deceive you 😀 "brand new AT case"... I can't even source one on ebay or at least a decent used one, and the seller lived very close by so pickup was an option. The seller confirmed it was a brand new in the box 😎 Baby AT case with 250w PSU.

When I picked up the stuff he actually not only had installed the board for me, he tossed in a free CD drive, Floppy, ATI All in Wonder (Rage Pro 8mb pci) in the box with all accessories, a ESS sound card (...uggh), and a 430mb samsung hd 🤣... 430mb. Seller did all the cabling, hooked up the PS2/Com's etc. He has a 2nd brand new AT case so I may take that off him as well. It's the usual beige case but it's, good build quality and one of the newer ones, newer being 1998/1999.

I'm not planning on keeping most of the components because I already had an idea of what I wanted, if you have any suggestions let me know. As you can see i'm trying to keep everything in era.

AMD K5 75/100
24-32mb EDO
4-8x CD
1-2GB HD (probably a Bigfoot or Fireball)
Sound Blaster 16 (CT-2940) ISA
Either a S3 Trio 64 2mb or an ATI Rage II+ 2mb
Voodoo 1 4mb

Btw, if anyone is interested in the ATI All in Wonder (8mb Rage Pro PCI) let me know, it comes with the box and all the accessories, also the 128mb EDO ram (2x64mb) and the 233MMX. They're your's for the price of any of the parts I'm looking for above 😎 (plus shipping for the card)