september0451 wrote on 2020-12-16, 05:52:

Creative Vibra 128 (or CT4810)
Creative Audigy 2 ZS Premium Pro

The Vibra 128 should work, not sure about the ZS though, it might be too new. For that system, I would suggest getting a Sound Blaster Live for Windows gaming. Look for one that comes with the LiveDrive I/O front panel, if that's important to you. They can usually be found for very reasonable prices.

Ideally, you also want an ISA sound card for proper DOS game compatibility. One of the best all-rounders is the Yamaha Audician 32, but there are plenty of other choices as well.

The ESS and generic Yamaha ISA cards are pretty good for the most part.

If the board supports it maybe a 166-233mhz Pentium/or mmx. Maybe a Voodoo 1 and a pci lan or usb card. If you opt for pci usb you can always put a isa 10mb lan card in it for pretty cheap. And then still have lots of fun empty isa slots to fill up. Alternstively (Im half asleep I cant spell) use a pci slot for a nice pci ata133/and or sata 150 controller. A bootable one is really nice and fun.

september0451 wrote on 2020-12-16, 05:52:

Picked up my family's old Aptiva from the corner of my parents basement last week. Still had all the original bundled software […]
Show full quote

Picked up my family's old Aptiva from the corner of my parents basement last week. Still had all the original bundled software so I was able to do a factory reset on it. I have a few bits of hardware I'd like to use for upgrades, but I'm not sure what might be appropriate.. or compatible.

Specs on release:

Model 2176-C3X
Pentium 133 MHz
16 MB Ram
ATI 3d Rage chip (2 MB Vram)
2 GB HDD
IBM Mwave soundcard (combo w/ 28.8 fax modem) ISA formfactor

Upgrades my dad Added to it 20 years ago:

64MB of Ram (80 total)
10 GB HDD (Bios only seems to be able to handle 8gb, so it only shows up as an 8gb drive.

The motherboard looks like the expansion slots use a daughterboard that is almost as large as the mainboard. Has 2 PCI slots and 6 ISA slots.

I have a few expansion cards I'd like to try out with it, but I don't know if it's a good idea or not, because some of them are from a different era of Home PCs.

I have 2 soundcards, they are both Sound Blasters, but one is much newer than the other, if they both work I'd love to use the newer one.

Creative Vibra 128 (or CT4810)
Creative Audigy 2 ZS Premium Pro

I think I'd prefer the Audigy (which came out of a Compaq I bought in 2004 that was shipped with Windows XP) as it's 24-bit, and has all the cool gadgets on the front drive bay panel (like Optical and a 1/4" input), but the Audigy 2 doesn't have a 15 Pin MIDI port, which I'd love to use with my Gravis Game Pad or a Microsoft Sidewinder 3D joystick. So it's a tossup there. I can't think of a reason to need Firewire on a computer this old, but I'd gain that I/O with the Audigy.

I also have 2 PCI video cards I could use. But there are tradeoffs there too.
ATI 3D Rage II +DVD
ATI Radeon 7000

The ATI 3D Rage II makes sense for this PC because it's Era appropriate, and a direct upgrade to the embedded graphics chip on the mainboard.
It would be an upgrade to 4mb vram using a Mach64 GT GPU.

The Radeon 7000 is a ridiculous upgrade, but maybe that would be awesome?! It's about 4 years newer than the 3d Rage II, and has 64 MB of Vram.

My main question is, would these videocards be usable in pure Dos? Would the extra ram even be utilized, or would they be mostly just for Windows games? The other issue is that one of the original packaged games that came with the PC was a version of Mechwarrior 2 that was specifically designed for the 3d Rage chip. It looks like a completely different game than the normal retail release, and I love the amped up version, but I don't know if it would work at all with either the 3d Rage II or the Radeon 7000, Or I wonder if the game Might still be able to access the 3D Rage chipset with either of these cards installed?

I've already upgraded the 8X Mitsumi Cd-Rom drive that shipped with the PC with a Creative 24X drive I had in an old box, because the IBM/Mitsumi drive was starting to get faulty, it wouldn't stay open and one of the times I tried to hold it open I actually ripped the whole tray out of the drive ( 🤣 ) so that was an easy upgrade.

I've upgraded to Win98 SE, even though my original plan was to run OS/2 Warp 4 and Dos 5.0 because I think Win98 is probably a more capable OS on this hardware, and will enable the possibilities of the hardware with software that was released all the way up to the turn of the century.

I COULD look for a monitor that supports 800x600 or 1024x768, but I'd probably have to find an LCD that still accepts a VGA cable and in 4:3, but I really just like the nostalgia of a 14" 640x480 CRT, and the one I've got was the original monitor for the system.

What would you do with it? Help me out! I'm hoping to play some sierra classics like Kings Quest, Some Tie Fighter, Doom and Quake, and some older 16/32 bit windows games like the Journeyman Project. I plan to get a capture card for my main computer and stream some stuff on Twitch direct from the Aptiva. Should be fun.

Networking would make things a lot easier. Is there a way to get modern broadband into it? Or at least something with a CAT5 cable? I've got the Win98 Mass storage drivers, I hope they install nicely, but I have to burn them onto a CD to get them on the machine, Once that's done I should be able to use a flash drive since it does have a single USB 1.1 port, but I'd love to be able to just download software directly from the internet if I can. I would assume that kind of thing will only exist in PCI form factor, but If I could find an ISA expansion card for CAT5 networking, I'd be gold, because I don't think my ISP will ever support dial-up. Same goes for the 15pin Midi port for the game controller, then choosing between the Audigy 2 and the Vibra would be no competition.

Let's see...

"My main question is, would these videocards be usable in pure Dos? Would the extra ram even be utilized, or would they be mostly just for Windows games? The other issue is that one of the original packaged games that came with the PC was a version of Mechwarrior 2 that was specifically designed for the 3d Rage chip. It looks like a completely different game than the normal retail release, and I love the amped up version, but I don't know if it would work at all with either the 3d Rage II or the Radeon 7000, Or I wonder if the game Might still be able to access the 3D Rage chipset with either of these cards installed?"

Usable? Yes, at least assuming the extra card would be set as primary by BIOS, because DOS just uses whatever adapter BIOS uses as binary.

As for extra RAM: no, no difference. 2MB RAM is enough for 800x600@24b colour, or 1024x768@16b colour. There are no DOS games that exceed that, in fact anything over 800x600@8b (256 colours), which only needs 512kB, is exceptional.
In WIndows, you need to distinguish between 2D and3D. In 2D, it's simply a matter of framebuffer size, so resolution vs colour depth. 2MB vs 4MB is (assuming you're doing max 1024x768 on desktop) is the difference between 16b and 24b colour. It does not significantly affect performance. In 3D you need additional buffers, but there it's quite simple: Radeon 7000 has far more than would be needed, Rage far less - except for specific Rage title, which definitely runs on the onboard 2MB adapter.

For DOS the main issue is VESA compatibility. ATi chips are slightly below average there (sideways scrolling in SVGA titles can be very choppy), but all your options are ATi, so nothing to choose there.

"I've upgraded to Win98 SE, even though my original plan was to run OS/2 Warp 4 and Dos 5.0 because I think Win98 is probably a more capable OS on this hardware, and will enable the possibilities of the hardware with software that was released all the way up to the turn of the century."

Hang on... you were talking about pure DOS earlier. What's it going to be? Tbh I really wouldn't run Win98SE and software up to turn of the millennium on this. Yes, it's accurate in terms of what you probably did (my mother had a similar Aptiva P90 and did just that), but there's a reason people were so desperate for an upgrade back then. This is a late 1995/early 1996 system, and in the 1990s a few years mattered massively in performance. It's a matter of personal choice, but I far prefer to run older software than hardware (=situation when system was new and felt amazing) than newer software on hardware (=situation when system was ageing and you were frustratedly saving up for replacement). Technically it could run Unreal Tournament, but you're not going to enjoy it... I have DOS-only or DOS+Win3.1 builds up to 350MHz, in fact my main DOS build was a P133 until recently - as I find that pretty much the sweet spot for late DOS games I play. It would also be sufficient for Win95, but even though it will run Win98SE, it won't run games from Win98SE-era well. As for Warp 4, that's a curiosity, and will do fine on this.

Also, optimal choices for Win98 might not be so good for DOS. Iirc these Aptivas had an OPTi Viper-M chipset, which was slow by 1996-standards. I don't recall what its cacheable limit was, but 64MB is likely. With 80MB RAM you're over that limit. In Win98, you really can use that RAM to avoid swapping to disk, so even though your most-used RAM isn't cached (DOS and Win9x use RAM top-down), performance will be better with 80MB than with 64MB. In DOS however you are never even coming close to that much RAM usage, so there is no benefit >64MB, and the loss of L2 caching will give you a performance hit (about 5% with PLB, less with asynch cache). But this would be something to test with cachechk - run it with 80MB and 64MB and compare results. Maybe the Viper-M could cache more. There might also be a WB/WT setting in BIOS, where choosing WT will double cacheable area, but with IBM OEM BIOS that would surprise me.

"I COULD look for a monitor that supports 800x600 or 1024x768, but I'd probably have to find an LCD that still accepts a VGA cable and in 4:3, but I really just like the nostalgia of a 14" 640x480 CRT, and the one I've got was the original monitor for the system."

Oh? My mum's old Aptiva P90 came with an IBM G50, which was no great monitor, but could easily do 1024x768@72Hz or 800x600@85Hz. I'd be surprised if your newer Aptiva had a monitor that could only do 640x480. Which monitor is it exactly? In any event, if you want to keep 640x480, there is no benefit whatsoever to upgrading video chip or memory, as at that resolution 1MB would be enough for 24b true colour, so 2MB is enough for 3D (as the onboard Rage shows).

"What would you do with it? Help me out! I'm hoping to play some sierra classics like Kings Quest, Some Tie Fighter, Doom and Quake, and some older 16/32 bit windows games like the Journeyman Project. I plan to get a capture card for my main computer and stream some stuff on Twitch direct from the Aptiva. Should be fun."

That's a very broad range of games, from 1980s to mid/late 1990s. Sound hardware is the most relevant bit. You currently have an IBM mWave in the system. That is an awful beast to get working properly (at least in Win95, in Win98SE it is natively supported, go figure...), but when it works it gives you decent SBPro emulation, WSS and good MPU-401, plus wavetable in Windows but not DOS. Oh, and awful AdLib. Your alternatives are PCI sound blasters. The "Vibra 128" is just another Ensoniq ES1373-derivative that is basic but gets the job done - but needs TSR drivers in DOS. Audigy2 is the most advanced Win98 sound card, but not a good DOS choice and IMHO belongs better in a P3/Athlon type system with no pretentions at running DOS stuff.

The games you mention:
KQ - I'm assuming you're looking at the SCI remakes from ~1990. They support sound, but only very old standards. AdLib, CMS and MT-32 being the relevant ones. AdLib is theoretically supported by all the sound cards listed, but badly. You want something with real OPL2/3 or a good clone. CMS requires a Game Blaster or early Sound Blaster with the relevant chips. I'd recommend soldering a clone (MUS-1099) yourself if so inclined. MT-32 is great, but costly these days, an external MIDI module, which means you need bug-free MPU-401.
Tie Fighter - highly demanding DOS game. Pushes DOS audio to the limit. In particular showcases MIDI slowdown and hanging note bugs on Soundblaster 16. Needs something with decent MIDI and preferably 16b audio - but at the same time doesn't support WSS (the other 16b standard).
Doom - works with everything. Easy.
Quake - audio not challenging (although good MIDI is recommended), but will run slowly on a P133.

Your mWave has awful AdLib emulation and it supports WSS, but not SB16. Good: supports DOS wavetable, TSR driver needed, but only extended memory, no conventional (with 80MB definitely not an issue)
Your Vibra 128 has awful AdLib emulation, can do DOS wavetable but needs big TSR to do so. Supports either SBPro or SB16 depending on driver used (SBPro requires original Ensoniq driver which may or may not work)
Your Audigy2 has generally bad DOS support. AdLib buggy, TSR driver needed that requires EMM386, so no sound at all in titles that need to disable EMM386.

So, actually the mWave isn't too bad, but the other cards have overlapping weakness, so hardly an improvement. What you need is AdLib (real OPL3) and preferably SB16 support. Under DOS you really want ISA cards.

Two approaches:

1) go for 2 cards, keep mWave for MPU-401 and Wavetable, add an early SB16 with real OPL3 for SB16 DA and AdLib.
2) attempt a single card. Because of Tie Fighter a single SB16 really isn't a good idea. A card with ALS100 (non-Plus) would be best option: SBPro2 and SB16 support, bug-free MPU-401 and either a real OPL3 or a 1:1 clone. A card like this with wavetable would be perfect, but hard to find and probably crap wavetable. Add one of Serdaco's excellent wavetable modules instead.

In both cases KQ and similar <1993 games would appreciate an MT-32 module, but that's heading down the rabbit hole...

"Networking would make things a lot easier. Is there a way to get modern broadband into it? Or at least something with a CAT5 cable?"

Sure. DOS networking is easy. Look into mTCP. You need a card with packet driver support. Generally 3Com 3C509 are fast, excellently supported and get the job done, but failing that you can get most ISA cards working decently under DOS and there are DOS packet drivers for a lot of PCI cards too. FTP is the protocol to use. Under DOS you want to run the server on the DOS box (mTCP contains an FTP server) so you can use a modern GUI client to move the files there. Under Win9x you can do it either way.

The ATI Rage and rage 2 both will do fine in both Windows and DOS.

My slightly newer Aptiva has the rage2 dvd onboard and passed all DOS test I've thrown at it. In Windows it's fine for any 2D mode and displays 24b colour. Direct3D support is present, but don't expect too much of it. A game like Midtown madness on low specs and resolution will run though.

Mine is currently paired with a voodoo 1 and will get a voodoo 2 whenever I find the time. That boosts 3D speed significantly, but image quality in 2D will suffer a little.

Other thought: a PCI TNT2 or Geforce 2 would be suitable if you don't want to pay the voodoo prices.

I think the Pentium 133 will be a good DOS performer, fine for w95 but a bit slow for w98. W98 would only provide usb support (when adding some USB addon card ) over 95 on such machines. W95 also supports direct X and DOS environment so no loss.

Audio: keep the mwave. Seriously.
No it is not the greatest at all, but it's authentic. If you replace it, keep it stored safely and put it in again if you're selling the computer some years from now. Keeping it/ restoring to original adds value 😀

I'd install 2 soundcards.
Dos which is this PC's strong point really needs an ISA card. Sure the Mwave isn't highly regarded but if it does everything you want no need to upgrade

You don't really need the Audigy 2 but you do have an excuse, It's the last card with Win98 support and will improve sound in Windows games and enable EAX
Bit overkill for a Pentium but if drivers don't kill system performance It'll act just like a Live! with cleaner output.
It can be made to work in dos but compatibility is average, more of a last resort option on PCI only systems.

The Vibra 128 is an interesting card, Its part of the Ensonic AudioPCI range which creative brought out so they could use the dos driver technology on their Live! cards (yep same as the Audigy 2's)
It has it's own sound font standard, With all that said I'd still pick a Live/Audigy card over one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensoniq_AudioPCI

Both graphics cards are fine Dos the 2 cards compatibility is pretty much the same (note the list has problem games, your not after 100% compatibility just with games YOU play)
https://gona.mactar.hu/DOS_TESTS/
In Windows the CPU will hold you back more then the graphics card.

MechWarrior uses ATI CIF 3d acceleration.
Below list shows games using this and their compatibility
https://gona.mactar.hu/ATI_3D_CIF/

And this post has more relevant info
3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)

Re networking, defiantly do it, makes life Soooo much easier.
Win98 supports networking out of the box. Key thing is to find a network card with good driver support.
If you have spare PCI slots that's the way you can go upto 100MB (1000 cards are a waste)
If not plenty of 10MB ISA cards work just a well and the speed doesn't matter much on a Win9x box.

Getting 98 to talk to modern OS's can be tricky but plenty of work arounds depending on your setup.

2 PCI slots will limit your upgrade options quite a bit. You'll have to prioritize.

I would recommend upgrading the video with one of your ATI cards and reserve the remaining PCI slot for either a 10/100 network card or a VIA-based USB 2.0 adapter (UHCI/EHCI). You can certainly use USB 2.0 with Win98SE. USB 2.0 would also open a world of additional hardware to this PC including wired/wireless networking, external drives, joysticks, etc.

As for the hard drive, I'd check with IBM/Lenovo for the latest BIOS. It might support larger drives. If not, you could use drive overlay software to get around the BIOS with only a short boot delay as your penalty. Bigger drives often have better access times. You could also try an IDE to SATA adapter with a SSD if you want to roll the dice for really good access time.

BTW, the IBM manual for the 2176 says it has a P54C Pentium socket. It can host up to a 200 MHz Pentium P54C. You'll need a Pentium Overdrive MMX if you want to run software optimized for MMX (even in DOS).

dionb wrote on 2020-12-16, 09:32:

Hang on... you were talking about pure DOS earlier. What's it going to be?

I didn't mean as in the whole system is purely a DOS system, I mean for running DOS programs from within actual DOS rather than from within Windows.

Oh? My mum's old Aptiva P90 came with an IBM G50, which was no great monitor, but could easily do 1024x768@72Hz or 800x600@85Hz. I'd be surprised if your newer Aptiva had a monitor that could only do 640x480. Which monitor is it exactly? In any event, if you want to keep 640x480, there is no benefit whatsoever to upgrading video chip or memory, as at that resolution 1MB would be enough for 24b true colour, so 2MB is enough for 3D (as the onboard Rage shows).

Yeah after I posted I realized I was wrong. It's an IBM G40, and it looks like native resolution is 800x600.

The games you mention:
...
Tie Fighter - highly demanding DOS game. Pushes DOS audio to the limit. In particular showcases MIDI slowdown and hanging note bugs on Soundblaster 16. Needs something with decent MIDI and preferably 16b audio - but at the same time doesn't support WSS (the other 16b standard).

I remember as a kid I had trouble getting this working, but it was always because of balancing the Conventional, Extended and Expanded memory and needed a boot disk, but the game itself ran quote well if I remember correctly.

Quake - audio not challenging (although good MIDI is recommended), but will run slowly on a P133.

I've got a newer version of the game on CD, and it installs to Win95 no problem. Seems to run very smoothly at 320x240 but I can't seem to change the resolution without locking up the system.

So, actually the mWave isn't too bad, but the other cards have overlapping weakness, so hardly an improvement. What you need is AdLib (real OPL3) and preferably SB16 support. Under DOS you really want ISA cards.

Two approaches:

1) go for 2 cards, keep mWave for MPU-401 and Wavetable, add an early SB16 with real OPL3 for SB16 DA and AdLib.

thats great advice. And with ISA I have silly amounts of expandability with this board.

"Networking would make things a lot easier. Is there a way to get modern broadband into it? Or at least something with a CAT5 cable?"

Sure. DOS networking is easy. Look into mTCP. You need a card with packet driver support. Generally 3Com 3C509 are fast, excellently supported and get the job done, but failing that you can get most ISA cards working decently under DOS and there are DOS packet drivers for a lot of PCI cards too. FTP is the protocol to use. Under DOS you want to run the server on the DOS box (mTCP contains an FTP server) so you can use a modern GUI client to move the files there. Under Win9x you can do it either way.

I didn't know you could get clone kits for expansion cards, that really interests me, I build Guitar Pedals and Synth Modules as a hobby (I'm an audio engineer by trade)

Thanks for all the helpful advice!

fosterwj03 wrote on 2020-12-16, 15:39:

2 PCI slots will limit your upgrade options quite a bit. You'll have to prioritize.

I would recommend upgrading the video with one of your ATI cards and reserve the remaining PCI slot for either a 10/100 network card or a VIA-based USB 2.0 adapter (UHCI/EHCI). You can certainly use USB 2.0 with Win98SE. USB 2.0 would also open a world of additional hardware to this PC including wired/wireless networking, external drives, joysticks, etc.

I didn't even think of a USB card, that's a great idea.

fosterwj03 wrote on 2020-12-16, 16:02:

BTW, the IBM manual for the 2176 says it has a P54C Pentium socket. It can host up to a 200 MHz Pentium P54C. You'll need a Pentium Overdrive MMX if you want to run software optimized for MMX (even in DOS).

Another thing I didn't even consider. I haven't been able to glimpse the CPU and socket yet because it's probably under that daughterboard I was talking about, and I didn't want to disassemble the system that far yet. But if I managed an upgrade like that, it would be pretty substantial. I'll look into it.

september0451 wrote on 2020-12-16, 16:35:

[...]

I didn't mean as in the whole system is purely a DOS system, I mean for running DOS programs from within actual DOS rather than from within Windows.

Even then, the dilemma applies - <64MB is optimal for DOS, where >64MB is better for Windows.

[...]

Yeah after I posted I realized I was wrong. It's an IBM G40, and it looks like native resolution is 800x600.

Native resolution? These are CRTs, no such thing as native resolution 😉

That said, this is a lousy monitor, with just 38kHz horizontal refresh, so 800x600@60Hz or640x480@75Hz. I'd be sorely tempted to stay on 640x480 too for the sake of my eyes...

[...]
I remember as a kid I had trouble getting this working, but it was always because of balancing the Conventional, Extended and Expanded memory and needed a boot disk, but the game itself ran quote well if I remember correctly.

Yes, this was a challenge for memory too - but it's Soundblaster 16+MIDI that really gets roasted by it.

[...]

I've got a newer version of the game on CD, and it installs to Win95 no problem. Seems to run very smoothly at 320x240 but I can't seem to change the resolution without locking up the system.

That's probably something related to the video card. Still, I expect the CPU to sweat at higher resolutions.

[...]

thats great advice. And with ISA I have silly amounts of expandability with this board.

The limiting factor won't be slots, but resources (address, IRQ and DMA). Two cards is pretty easy, above that things get complicated.

[...]
I didn't know you could get clone kits for expansion cards, that really interests me, I build Guitar Pedals and Synth Modules as a hobby (I'm an audio engineer by trade)

Then you definitely have the required skills 😀

Particularly the older cards were through-hole only, generally only 2-layer PCB. Take a look here at what's out there:
The comprehensive list of all modern reproductions of vintage sound cards

september0451 wrote on 2020-12-16, 16:36:

I didn't even think of a USB card, that's a great idea.

Be careful with USB 2.0 cards.They tend to take up three separate IRQs. This can be a problem for sound cards as they don't like to share those. And on some platforms, a USB 2.0 card can reduce performance by 10-20% just by being in the system.

The built-in USB 1.1 is slow, but it works ok for small (up to 100 MB) file transfers and only takes up one IRQ. A 10/100 network card is much faster and likewise takes up a single IRQ.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2020-12-17, 02:08:

Be careful with USB 2.0 cards.They tend to take up three separate IRQs. This can be a problem for sound cards as they don't like to share those. And on some platforms, a USB 2.0 card can reduce performance by 10-20% just by being in the system.

You're right on both counts, but I find that Via USB adapters tend to IRQ share with other devices fairly well. The manual for this PC also states it is has a "Plug and Play" BIOS, so it may have a setting to reserve IRQs for the sound card and wave table.

As for performance loss, the CPU will need to engage with the USB device during any USB activity. That's true with 1.1 devices as well. USB 2.0 just gives much faster data rates. You likely wouldn't see any impact when USB isn't in use.

september0451 wrote on 2020-12-16, 05:52:

Picked up my family's old Aptiva from the corner of my parents basement last week. Still had all the original bundled software […]
Show full quote

Picked up my family's old Aptiva from the corner of my parents basement last week. Still had all the original bundled software so I was able to do a factory reset on it. I have a few bits of hardware I'd like to use for upgrades, but I'm not sure what might be appropriate.. or compatible.

Specs on release:
Model 2176-C3X
Pentium 133 MHz
16 MB Ram
ATI 3d Rage chip (2 MB Vram)
2 GB HDD
IBM Mwave soundcard (combo w/ 28.8 fax modem) ISA formfactor

Upgrades my dad Added to it 20 years ago:
64MB of Ram (80 total)
10 GB HDD (Bios only seems to be able to handle 8gb, so it only shows up as an 8gb drive.

The motherboard looks like the expansion slots use a daughterboard that is almost as large as the mainboard. Has 2 PCI slots and 6 ISA slots.
I COULD look for a monitor that supports 800x600 or 1024x768, but I'd probably have to find an LCD that still accepts a VGA cable and in 4:3, but I really just like the nostalgia of a 14" 640x480 CRT, and the one I've got was the original monitor for the system.

Uggh ! My opinion only: some IBM's were not worth the effort to work with. Have a few old Aptiva's and they are very reliable but also junk when it come to upgrades. I repeat: just my opinion..
For a decent newer monitor a Dell 1708FP or 1908FP is probably the best old LCD 4:3 you can find at a good price. Has VGA and DVI inputs, only does 1280x max but works well for DOS games and does support proper 640x480 very well...
added also does 720x400 like many crt's

A period-correct IBM solution would be anything from the P ("Professional") range. The P70 was a beast, with Sony Trinitron tube and high horizontal refresh. Only weakness was the anti-glare coating, which was frequently was already starting to peel off 20 years ago. Oh, and lugging it around risks a hernia 😉

Tbh though the G40 was particularly bad. Even the G50 released at same time was much better - 60Hz at 1024x768, 75Hz or more at 800x600.

Like I said, I just wanted to keep the CRT for nostalgia's sake. Tried dropping in the Radeon and it wouldn't post, even though It displayed the memory test just fine, even detected the entire 64mb of vram, The RAge II card seemed to work, but made things buggy and as it turns out its' only a 2mb card, not a 4mb, so not so much worth the effort, might as well leave it stock and keep that 2nd PCI slot free for something more useful, or a Voodoo 2 if I can manage to find one at some point.

I think I'm going to go with the 2 card approach for sound, I'll keep the mwave for DOS, since it seems to be compatible. I don't have experience with the other cards considered to be better, so I'm going to stick with it and just be happy that it sounds authentic to my ears. I'll probably use the Audigy 2 for Windows, as it seems lots of people have had success getting it to work outside of DOS, and it seems to be widely considered the best possible quality you can get for a card in win98.

I think I'll stick to trying tt nab a network card, and maaaaaybe USB 2.0 if I can't seem to get the 1.1 port working. Mostly I just want it for file transfers from my main modern desktop. Going to see if somehow I can get some games from GOG and run them natively without all the hacks and tweaks they added to run on a 64 bit OS. I think the core game files are still there. Just need to experiment.

But first need USB working because I'm not going spend all day burning CDs with software and drivers that might not work.

Need a USB 3.5" floppy drive to transfer files using disks haha.

september0451 wrote on 2020-12-18, 06:08:

Need a USB 3.5" floppy drive to transfer files using disks haha.

This isn't as crazy as it sounds, If you have networking setup you can use the Floppy for the NIC drivers and after that grab everything else off a network share 😀
You can also go with a Gotek USB floppy emulator and kind of get best of both worlds, convenience of USB but the native support of FDD (your still limited to 1.44MB though)

I have the pentium 200mhz. Model.
You might be able to upgrade the CPU just need to change the jumper settings.

I would use the computer as a pure DOS gamer or add Win-95b too.
Use the Sound blaster AWE64 or Vibra or Sound Blaster 16 with OPL3.
You a modern CDROM drive up to 52x
This Computer/CPU will not support DVD playback or at least NOT in good quality.
NOT enough ram either.
MP3 will play okay.
I would work on the hard-drive first by looking for a quiet fast one.
IBM or WD 72,000 rpm.
Default onboard video card is fine for DOS play.
Try to use components with default drivers in Win95 for easy install.
For networks I would use a 3com 3c509tx 10/100 or Intel pro 10/100
Yes networking can work is you use a wireless access point.
Like this one:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/TP-LINK-TL-WA901ND-W … 4IAAOSwd7Rf3FXg

https://www.ebay.com/itm/TP-Link-TL-WA801ND-N … acAAOSwZVlXv4s2

Nice computer. I like how simple and clean they look with the front door closed.