You decided correctly 😀

The most important part for 1998 is a 3dfx graphics card. A voodoo3, banshee, or voodoo2 can be acquired for modest sums.

A SB live! would be perfect for sound and are cheap.

You might want to get a Socket370 or Socket7 motherboard with ISA slots to make playing DOS games easier. Socket7 is easier to slow down in that regard with K6+ amd MMX options, but s370 is cheaper and faster for late 90s games.

I should warn that SB Live is not compatible with Via chipsets on s370 boards and you need to get an Audigy2 or something else like a Aureal Vortex instead.

Thanks for replying c: Of the 3dfx cards you listed which will give the best performance? Also, what sort of case should I look for? I'd like to have both CD and Floppy Disk drives. I'm not very well versed in older tech, I'm a modern sort of PC enthusiast haha.

Voodoo3 AGP aren't too expensive and have best performance of the lot. Although voodoo2 SLI has similar performance and you can use another 2d/3d card of your choice with it. I would recommended the v3 though.

I prefer modern cases as old cases can be hard to find, have poor cooling/ventilation, are heavy as hell and probably need a clean. You won't find a modern case with a floppy drive, but you can use a 3.5-5.25 bay converter. I like this modern case: https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-CC-9011014-WWC … w/dp/B006I2H0YS. The two big side panels fans keep all my expansion cards cool and the 3 drive bays is handy.

You need a gotek floppy emulator, but by 1998 floppys were dead already.

Also, I've been using NVIDIA products ever since I was a kid. Are there any good GeForce cards out around the time or would a Voodoo 3dfx beat it out anyway?

kolderman wrote:

You need a gotek floppy emulator, but by 1998 floppys were dead already.

Ah I see, I was hoping to maybe run DOOM.

Circa 1998, GeForce didn't yet exist on the NVIDIA side of things. It wasn't until the following year (1999) that the GF256 came out. If you go with a Voodoo2, you'll need a regular 2D card. In this case you could use a Riva TNT, one of NVIDIA's earlier offerings and fits within the 1998 time period.

Platform wise, you have 3 different choices in the Intel side of things. If you're looking more at mainly DOS games, then going for a Socket 7 / Slot 1 platform might be a better idea, along with ISA slots. However, if you're looking at more Windows era games with a few DOS games on the side, then you could use Slot 1 or even Socket 370 (though IMO 370 is more 1999 than 98). If you could find one, a Slot A motherboard + CPU would be a unique platform to build upon, though upgrade options here are limited a bit.

dylerius wrote:

kolderman wrote:

You need a gotek floppy emulator, but by 1998 floppys were dead already.

Ah I see, I was hoping to maybe run DOOM.

And you can! Either stick the gotek in one of the drive bays with an adapter, or just copy the files over using USB. You might also want a 120gb ssd, or a 500gb seagate HDD that can be resized to 120gb (win98 limit). You probably want an ISA sound card for Dos games like doom, the ess audiodrive is your cheapest/best option.

I also strongly recommended watching lots of videos from phils computer lab.

I'm looking mostly at the 98 era of games, mostly strategy games and maybe some shooters. I decided on the Voodoo 3. It should run Half-Life at a smooth 60 right? Here's the card: https://www.ebay.com/itm/3dfx-Voodoo3-2000-AG … kAAAOSwDKxdp5zp.

I decided to settle on yellow because I thought it was cute ahaha. As for my other parts, I decided on a Socket 370 Motherboard, here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Gateway-Corfu-1-Pent … ity!45817!US!-1, and an Aureal Vortex, here: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Turtle-Beach-TB … -MAAOSw1s5dhkWT. I'm not used to seeing the sound be a seperate component from the motherboard, kind of neat.

As an aside, I know it's not 1998, but I found a GeForce 4 MX for a fraction of the cost of the Voodoo 3. Will this work with my setup? https://www.ebay.com/itm/NVIDIA-GeForce4-MX44 … o4AAOSwwJ5dkbAG

Will all these parts work together? What sort of RAM and CPU should I get to finish it off?

Half life came out at end of 98 and was considered advanced for it's time. It will be playable on v3 with a fast cpu, but not sure. Personally I play HL1 on iteration up - voodoo5+athlon XP 3200. Vastly more powerful than a s370 system.

You do NOT want to get that motherboard. See the slot down the edge? It's not a normal ATX mobo. You might want to consider a pentium4 if you want to play more advanced games. Phil just did a video on p4 systems. Cheap, easy to find and powerful.

Item 173736435056 on feebay is a good example of an ideal s370 board. That one is very expensive, but look for one with similar layout.

Sounds like you need to do a bit more reading and watching before buying anything 😀

Although the v3 you found is fine, just make sure to screw a 40mm fan onto it.

Amd yes gf4mx is a great budget card, then and now. Probably the best budget card ever. If you don't care too much about DOS games, a p4 is such a good cheap option, you can even find cheap OEM systems without much difficulty.

> I'm not used to seeing the sound be a seperate component from the motherboard, kind of neat.

Yes, discrete sound cards are one of the great things about retro pc gaming. Especially into the DOS era where the cards had really interesting and unique sound synthesis capabilities. And then you find out about midi and all the options there with external midi modules .... the rabbit hole runs deep.

kolderman wrote:

Sounds like you need to do a bit more reading and watching before buying anything 😀

Haha, there's no denying it. I've been watching a few videos regarding old 3dfx cards but most of my component knowledge comes from the 2010's. You really take for granted compatibility in this day and age. Also, I decided on the Geforce 4M simply because of the increased VRAM and the fact that it can run Dawn of War. It came out a good five years past 1998 but damn if it's a good one, and I'd like to experience what the original players did.

dylerius wrote:

It came out a good five years past 1998 but damn if it's a good one, and I'd like to experience what the original players did.

I'm not too familiar with dawn of ware but it's doubtful Original players were running 1998 hardware to play dawn of war. The system requirements is like a Pentium 4. You can put a really cheap graphics card that barely will run that game, in a system that can barely run that game and it will probably be a pretty bad experience.

The technological leaps from year to year between 98 to 2003 is more than going from 2010 to now. It is like comparing 98 1st edition to XP SP2 and windows 7 to windows 10.

Get your dates straight for starters. As posted above, technology was moving much faster back then than now. One year in the 1990s differed more than the last ten years.

Your original idea for a Voodoo3, P3 system is a 1999 system, not a 1998 system, and that difference is not trivial. Typical mid 1998 would be an S3 Virge or ATi Rage Pro combined with a Voodoo2, running on a P2 (if you had money to burn back then) or K6-2. A P3 with Voodoo3 (or TNT) would be *much* faster, just as a P4 with Gf2MX would eclipse that. It's all old slow crap compared to modern stuff, so absolute performance isn't relevant for retrocomputing, only how well the build fits your requirements. So get those requirements straight before choosing any hardware!

Agreed, Dawn of War was released in 2004. Which means you are now trying to run games throughout the entire Win98 lifecycle. It’s possible, none of the games you have listed so far seem particularly cpu sensitive but your getting much farther from the “original experience” you were targetting for the Warhammer collection in the first post.

I've found that retro computing is largely dependent on the games. If you want Dos era games with ISA sound, that pretty much puts you in the p1-p2 era. Much faster and older games sometimes glitch. If you dont need ISA sound, I think p3-p4 fits the bill better. Later systems seem to be more dependent on the video card.

dionb wrote:

Get your dates straight for starters. As posted above, technology was moving much faster back then than now. One year in the 1990s differed more than the last ten years.

Your original idea for a Voodoo3, P3 system is a 1999 system, not a 1998 system, and that difference is not trivial. Typical mid 1998 would be an S3 Virge or ATi Rage Pro combined with a Voodoo2, running on a P2 (if you had money to burn back then) or K6-2. A P3 with Voodoo3 (or TNT) would be *much* faster, just as a P4 with Gf2MX would eclipse that. It's all old slow crap compared to modern stuff, so absolute performance isn't relevant for retrocomputing, only how well the build fits your requirements. So get those requirements straight before choosing any hardware!

Cobra42898 wrote:

I've found that retro computing is largely dependent on the games. If you want Dos era games with ISA sound, that pretty much puts you in the p1-p2 era. Much faster and older games sometimes glitch. If you dont need ISA sound, I think p3-p4 fits the bill better. Later systems seem to be more dependent on the video card.

To echo what has been said: you need to better identify what approach you'd like to take first. The blessing and curse of retrocomputing is that we spoiled for choice.

Generally, the wider a time your machine will cover, the more compromises you will make to get everything working (if you can at all). Acceptable compromises depend on the individual, if they're even tolerated. To avoid such compromises, it's common to see people here with multiple retro rigs.

In addition to what time period your applications will cover, another common consideration is whether to substitute modern power, storage, and display solutions for their period-correct counterparts (for late 90s builds, these would be PSUs with higher 5V/3.3V amperage, mechanical HDDs/ FDDs, and CRT monitors). Scarcity, reliability, performance, and convenience--or some combination thereof--often determine modern substitutions for retro builds. Again, this is matter of preference.

Discovering the boundaries of functionality and compromise is what retro gaming research is all about. Fair warning, though: this rabbit hole is as deep and twisted as you desire. 😵

If it was me write down a list of the main games you want to play.
1) Check the recommended system requirements of the most demanding games. This will decide your hardware for you.
2) Double check if any of your games are effected by speed issues. https://www.vogonswiki.com/index.php/List_of_ … sensitive_games
3) Decide on whats important and the compromises, No 1 system can do everything perfectly but once you start playing you find actually not having that bit of hardware of choice doesn't really matter anyway.

Agreed, Dawn of War was released in 2004

Dawn of War is one of those games which should be played on at least overclocked Athlon 64 X2 AM2/Core 2 Duo and GeForce 6800 or better video card.
General rule for most 3D RTS IMHO: hardware must be at least 2 years younger to play it comfortably.