During these quarantine times (May 2020 for who's reading this in the future), it is definitely worth it.
It really depends on what era of games you want to play on this rig. S754 is not many miles ahead of your Athlon XP system in terms of raw CPU power, it came out right after the S462 platform.

If you want to play early 3D titles for Win XP (Quake 3, NFS titles prior to Underground 2, etc.) it should be fine. If you want later titles (GTA SA, Doom 3, maybe even Crysis?) you are better off with a Core 2 Duo system.
But then again, people have their own definition of playable, I played NFS MW on my dad's Athlon XP system as a child and I enjoyed it.

If you want to build a S754 system, here are my sugestions.

- both Win 98 and Win XP are fine, I would choose XP for compatibility/stability.
- S754, unlike S939, didn't have dual channel capabilities, 1GB or more should be fine (98 requires a patch for that)
- the sound cards mentioned are not particularly of good quality (at least not better than onboard sound), you should get a SB Live! or an Audigy.
- all the mentioned GPUs are weak, you need something with decent horsepower: 6600GT, 9600PRO, X850, etc..

You could give it a try with the parts you have available for now.

At the risk of being slightly off-topic I would recommend above all getting a CRT. Even if you use it with eg. dosemu, a good CRT really improves the experience on several fronts:
- 4:3 aspect ratio at all times
- true VGA 70 Hz for 720x400 modes (especially 320x200), so no frame dropping
- higher refresh rates (85 Hz and above) for early FPS such as Half-Life on Windows
- natural "anti-aliasing" for 640x480 games like StarCraft, which looks a lot better (IMO) than on an LCD

cde wrote on 2020-05-12, 09:39:

At the risk of being slightly off-topic I would recommend above all getting a CRT. Even if you use it with eg. dosemu, a good CR […]
Show full quote

At the risk of being slightly off-topic I would recommend above all getting a CRT. Even if you use it with eg. dosemu, a good CRT really improves the experience on several fronts:
- 4:3 aspect ratio at all times
- true VGA 70 Hz for 720x400 modes (especially 320x200), so no frame dropping
- higher refresh rates (85 Hz and above) for early FPS such as Half-Life on Windows
- natural "anti-aliasing" for 640x480 games like StarCraft, which looks a lot better (IMO) than on an LCD

I love CRTs (I have one for my DOS rig), but I don't think they are worth it for an XP era gaming PC. I would rather use a nice 4:3 LCD, which gives me both a classic aspect ratio and lots of space on my desk.

The Socket 754 system could be a modest upgrade from your current Socket 462 Windows XP system, or it could be close to an ulimate Windows 98/ME system that could take over Win9x gaming duty from your Socket 7 system.

Regarding RAM, more than 1 GB RAM really isn't necessary (or even advisable) if you're using Windows 9x operating systems. (As previous posters have mentioned, Windows 98 needs patches and custom configuration to handle larger amounts of RAM over 512MB properly.) Windows ME can handle more RAM without patches & tweaking, but unless you're prepared to do quite a bit of tweaking and modding, Windows ME doesn't offer much that can't be done in XP.

Either SB PCI card would work for giving your system some support for older 3d sound enabled games, access to a MIDI port (or legacy game port), and perhaps might work with some DOS games if initialized properly with the right drivers in DOS mode in Windows 98. If you don't have one of these specific needs, it might be best to stick with onboard audio.

When it comes to video cards, I'd use the 9550 first, and then try out other cards only if older games don't work right.

In summary, everything you want an answer to depends on your answer to this question:
What kinds of games and other applications do you want to run on this system that aren't working well enough on your current systems?

comp_ed82 wrote on 2020-05-12, 10:21:

Windows ME can handle more RAM without patches & tweaking, but unless you're prepared to do quite a bit of tweaking and modding, Windows ME doesn't offer much that can't be done in XP.

One comes to mind. It can run off cheap consumer grade flash cards (CF/SD etc) with media bit set to removable. Win XP needs more tweaking to run there. 😀

Thanks a lot for the exaustive answers.

What I want to say is that I really don't need a system cause I think I cover all the ERA system just now, but It was a simple way to pass an afternoon thinking that I have all the component and I just can have fun building an old system (that as you understood, I love too much).

I am more interested in Windows 98se than Windowd XP, so I think I go with this one. But Windows ME is more demanding between 98se? And it can worth to try to download an ME Iso and try it? I think I never had in the past Windowd ME version.
So about a memory RAM I thinj I can simply put ONE stick of 512mb DDR400 2,5C so it can be as fast as I can.
Ok so, I will put the Radeon 9550 card (I think the less interesting than the others, cause Is more common, but probably the most powerful isn't it?) and then see what can I do.

Probably I am currently playing games on my old system on Windows 98se (even if my Asus socket 7 card puy on 75mhz bus make games crash after a while, provably cause the bus or probably cause the Voodoo Banshee drivers that I think they are troubly) and so If I made another Windows 98Se system more easy and smooth probably I will have less problems and I can use the older K6-2+ system to only the DOS games.

I think this is enough, any other suggestions?

In about one hour I will start to build, obviously I will take out my Viewsonic g90f+/b monitor, 19" 100hz CRT monitor, old timer galore!!!

The video cards you have available are only fast enough for up to very early 2000's games, maybe 2002-2003 era at most. Which you can just as well run on windows 98, no need for XP. For later games you'd really want a more powerful DX9 era card, something like at least Radeon 9800, preferably X800/850, or their nvidia counterparts (FX5900, 6600, 6800). Or alternatively one of the early DX10 cards available for AGP.

So since your selection of video cards better fits windows 98 and since your K6-2+ system is on the weaker side for windows 98 games, I'd say it makes more sense to install 98 on this one and leave XP to your existing XP-M build. If you find a PCI sound card with decent DOS compatibility (such as an ESS Solo-1, Yamaha YMF724/744 or similar) you could even run a lot of pure DOS games on it. In that case SetMUL can be used to slow the CPU down to 800 or 1000 MHz and disable L1/L2 caches, slowing it down to about mid-range 486 level. That's exactly what I've done with my own similar board (Asus K8V SE Deluxe) and it works surprisingly well as a versatile DOS/98 build.

And if you don't need to run DOS games on this system, then you basically don't need to change any of your available components, you can make a great windows 98 build out of them. Radeon 9550 will be the most powerful of the cards you have, yes, even if it is the SE version with 64-bit memory. The sounds cards are pretty basic, but they will do for now. You can always upgrade to something like a Live! or Aureal Vortex 2 at a later point if you want fancy 3D effects.

As for picking between windows 98SE and ME, if you don't want DOS I'd actually go with ME. I know it (deservedly) got a bad reputation back in its day, but I've found it to be more stable and reliable these days.

Jo22 wrote on 2020-05-12, 10:49:

One comes to mind. It can run off cheap consumer grade flash cards (CF/SD etc) with media bit set to removable. Win XP needs more tweaking to run there. 😀

Admittedly, I've never come across that scenario yet, as I still have a pile of functioning mechanical IDE HDDs for desktop usage.
I'll have to keep that in mind for when my last 2.5" PATA drives bite the dust, though. 😀

The 9550 isn't a bad card and some of them can be softmodded via drivers to 9600/xt or 9700 speeds (might be the 9500 my memory for that time is not the best).

Whatever you do you can have a lot of fun on 98SE or XP.

You also mentioned DOS in your initial post . Your DOS experience will not be optimal without an ISA sound card, which you cannot add add to your board for lack of ISA slots. Later DOS games, especially blockbusters (Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, etc) will work properly with PCI sound cards that have a degree of DOS support, but older and/or lesser known titles may have compatibility issues . DOS games can also be speed sensitive, you will need to find ways to slow down your system (disabling caches, slowdown utilities) for those to work properly or at all .

This is not meant as a put down, as you have the basis for what could be an excellent Windows 98 SE machine, but it may not be optimal for DOS, depending what era you are aiming for .

computerguy08 wrote on 2020-05-12, 09:27:

- all the mentioned GPUs are weak, you need something with decent horsepower: 6600GT, 9600PRO, X850, etc..

You could give it a try with the parts you have available for now.

A Radeon 9550 SE may be enough if your are targeting up to 2002 games or so , but it will not be optimal for that and will likely have compatibility issues with older titles and the 9600 Pro would be similar compatibility-wise except faster .
If you want to run with a single card, I would avoid going with something too recent as there are driver and compatibility issues with newer cards such as the 6660 GT (Geforce 6 series) and Radeon X850 , again especially with older titles .
For a single card setup, a Geforce FX5700 or FX 5900 would probably cover the largest time period, but still is not optimal due to lack of Glide support .

IMHO, to cover the entire range of Windows 98 SE 3D gaming, you really need two cards :
a) One for older titles, from 2000 and earlier. The best choice here would probably be a 3DFX Voodoo 2 or Voodoo 3 PCI variant (to use a Voodoo 3 with least potential issues your motherboard BIOS should have an option to choose to boot from PCI or AGP) . Oh, and the Voodoo 3 works well for DOS games too .
b) One for newer 2000 and higher 3D titles. Here you can consider an AGP 6600GT, 9600PRO, X850, etc or even something faster, as long at has Windows 9x drivers .

Do keep in mind, however, that games released after 2002 or so will likely run under Windows XP and might actually run better under it, so it may not be worth getting an extremely fast video card for your Windows 98 SE setup .

I hope this helps and is not too confusing .

darry wrote on 2020-05-12, 12:22:

You also mentioned DOS in your initial post . Your DOS experience will not be optimal without an ISA sound card, which you cannot add add to your board for lack of ISA slots. Later DOS games, especially blockbusters (Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, etc) will work properly with PCI sound cards that have a degree of DOS support, but older and/or lesser known titles may have compatibility issues . DOS games can also be speed sensitive, you will need to find ways to slow down your system (disabling caches, slowdown utilities) for those to work properly or at all .

This is not meant as a put down, as you have the basis for what could be an excellent Windows 98 SE machine, but it may not be optimal for DOS, depending what era you are aiming for .

I don't think he is aiming for DOS compatibility, he mentioned that he has a K6-2 rig with an ISA card.

darry wrote on 2020-05-12, 12:48:

A Radeon 9550 SE may be enough if your are targeting up to 2002 games or so , but it will not be optimal for that and will likel […]
Show full quote

A Radeon 9550 SE may be enough if your are targeting up to 2002 games or so , but it will not be optimal for that and will likely have compatibility issues with older titles and the 9600 Pro would be similar compatibility-wise except faster .
If you want to run with a single card, I would avoid going with something too recent as there are driver and compatibility issues with newer cards such as the 6660 GT (Geforce 6 series) and Radeon X850 , again especially with older titles .
For a single card setup, a Geforce FX5700 or FX 5900 would probably cover the largest time period, but still is not optimal due to lack of Glide support .

IMHO, to cover the entire range of Windows 98 SE 3D gaming, you really need two cards :
a) One for older titles, from 2000 and earlier. The best choice here would probably be a 3DFX Voodoo 2 or Voodoo 3 PCI variant (to use a Voodoo 3 with least potential issues your motherboard BIOS should have an option to choose to boot from PCI or AGP) . Oh, and the Voodoo 3 works well for DOS games too .
b) One for newer 2000 and higher 3D titles. Here you can consider an AGP 6600GT, 9600PRO, X850, etc or even something faster, as long at has Windows 9x drivers .

Do keep in mind, however, that games released after 2002 or so will likely run under Windows XP and might actually run better under it, so it may not be worth getting an extremely fast video card for your Windows 98 SE setup .

I hope this helps and is not too confusing .

The cards I mentioned would be used with Windows XP ofc. Windows 98 doesn't really make sense for newer 3D games anyway.

computerguy08 wrote on 2020-05-12, 12:50:

darry wrote on 2020-05-12, 12:22:

You also mentioned DOS in your initial post . Your DOS experience will not be optimal without an ISA sound card, which you cannot add add to your board for lack of ISA slots. Later DOS games, especially blockbusters (Doom, Duke Nukem 3D, Quake, etc) will work properly with PCI sound cards that have a degree of DOS support, but older and/or lesser known titles may have compatibility issues . DOS games can also be speed sensitive, you will need to find ways to slow down your system (disabling caches, slowdown utilities) for those to work properly or at all .

This is not meant as a put down, as you have the basis for what could be an excellent Windows 98 SE machine, but it may not be optimal for DOS, depending what era you are aiming for .

I don't think he is aiming for DOS compatibility, he mentioned that he has a K6-2 rig with an ISA card.

You are right, I missed that. I only saw the reference to DOS in the subject line . In that case, I do not really see the point of another 98 SE machine, considering that his K6-2 can handle Windows 98 SE just fine with maybe a bit more RAM . Stuff newer than 2000 will likely run on his XP machine .

It might actually be a better idea to upgrade the XP machine with socket 754 board and have a better XP machine .

Windows 98 is far less troublesome with older games and hardware, however 9 times out of 10 I end up putting 2k on my 9x system as I can't stand the lack of stability 9x has over 2k. Sadly 2k much like xp brakes alot of support for dos and earlier 3d games, DX support for the voodoo1 and 2 and suport for some sound cards and older 3D APIS are not there too. Some installers don't play well with 2k/xp as well.
So at the end of the day, yes 98se makes alot of since not just for me but for alot of others too. If you don't mind the quirkiness of 9x and it being less stable then NT/2k/XP
AS for your case, having a high end 98 system can be useful if you just want one retro system. It may be less stable, but 98se can play alot of XP era games wile keeping dos support with the right sound card.

austinham wrote on 2020-05-12, 13:08:

Windows 98 is far less troublesome with older games and hardware, however 9 times out of 10 I end up putting 2k on my 9x system as I can't stand the lack of stability 9x has over 2k. Sadly 2k much like xp brakes alot of support for dos and earlier 3d games, DX support for the voodoo1 and 2 and suport for some sound cards and older 3D APIS are not there too. Some installers don't play well with 2k/xp as well.
So at the end of the day, yes 98se makes alot of since not just for me but for alot of others too. If you don't mind the quirkiness of 9x and it being less stable then NT/2k/XP

I agree with Windows 98 SE making a lot of sense, but the OP already has a K6-2 running that. I do not really see why he would another one when he has an XP machine already as well.

At the end o f the stoty I think I will put 98se and that's all. I prefer to remain "oldie" considering that I have already a Socket A xp-m system for windows xp, with the great x1950pro video card and the Xp-m overclocked to 2,4ghz. So I am ok for Windowd Xp.
I just try to have a fast fast machine (only to try, I think I will put away after a few tries) on windows98se.

So at the end I will put 512mb of RAM, the 3200+ socket 754 that I have here, and the 9550 as you adviced me.
I sure will try to hard/soft mod this Radeon if it is possibile.

So for new, I proceed to build, wow. Can't wait. I will put some photos then, thabking you all for this great help and advices.

Ah... And YES, I am complete happy and in love with my old DOS machine (with another hard disk and Windows 98SE installation) cause I had great and hard work to put all these hardware inside to work. Voodoo Banshee, the k6-2+ 450mhz inside a socket 7 mainboard (the fabulous Asus p/i-p55t2p4 can make the AMD K6 works perfectly with secrete jumpers settings) and the fabulous ISA audio card Sound Blaster AWE64 value.
So obviously this is the system for true 6.2 DOS, and sometimes Win98se.

And this on that I will try today to build will be the true Windows98se fast system.

Hope all works!

biessea wrote on 2020-05-12, 13:57:

At the end o f the stoty I think I will put 98se and that's all. I prefer to remain "oldie" considering that I have already a So […]
Show full quote

At the end o f the stoty I think I will put 98se and that's all. I prefer to remain "oldie" considering that I have already a Socket A xp-m system for windows xp, with the great x1950pro video card and the Xp-m overclocked to 2,4ghz. So I am ok for Windowd Xp.
I just try to have a fast fast machine (only to try, I think I will put away after a few tries) on windows98se.

So at the end I will put 512mb of RAM, the 3200+ socket 754 that I have here, and the 9550 as you adviced me.
I sure will try to hard/soft mod this Radeon if it is possibile.

So for new, I proceed to build, wow. Can't wait. I will put some photos then, thabking you all for this great help and advices.

I would swap the Socket A motherboard with the Socket 754 one. This way you will get:
- a Windows 98SE system with an Athlon XP and a Radeon 9550
- a Windows XP system, an Athlon 64 (I suppose) and a X1950 Pro

IMO, a much more balanced system config. The Athlon XP still should be fast enough for a fast 98 machine. The X1950 has more raw power, better suited for an XP machine.
But you should do it the way you like it to be, this is only my advice.

biessea wrote on 2020-05-12, 14:00:

Ah... And YES, I am complete happy and in love with my old DOS machine (with another hard disk and Windows 98SE installation) ca […]
Show full quote

Ah... And YES, I am complete happy and in love with my old DOS machine (with another hard disk and Windows 98SE installation) cause I had great and hard work to put all these hardware inside to work. Voodoo Banshee, the k6-2+ 450mhz inside a socket 7 mainboard (the fabulous Asus p/i-p55t2p4 can make the AMD K6 works perfectly with secrete jumpers settings) and the fabulous ISA audio card Sound Blaster AWE64 value.
So obviously this is the system for true 6.2 DOS, and sometimes Win98se.

And this on that I will try today to build will be the true Windows98se fast system.

Hope all works!

In the end, you should do whatever makes you happy and works well for you . If you want to have machines with significant overlap in game playing abilities, that's your choice and it might well pay off for some games that will hit their sweet spot on your Windows 98 SE socket 754 system . Experimenting with different spec systems and exchanging opinions on them is a big part of what makes this hobby fun .

Best of luck in your endeavor and do let us know how things turn out .