Is there any reason to not just keep all three systems?

Otherwise, I'd probably just use the Pentium 4 2.4 GHz with the GeForce4 Ti 4200 for Win 9x and the Pentium 200 MMX +Voodoo 1 for DOS and/or Win 9x.

I don't have a problem keeping all three but it seems redundant maybe?

For example, I can scrap the Pentium 3 and just use the Voodoo 3 (PCI) on the Pentium 4 system?

...or is there really a benefit to having all three? I'm not really looking for period accurate but instead want the best possible experiences (ie. "Time Machine" PCs)

If there's no pressing reason to get rid of one, I'd hang on to them for now. By using them over time, you'll figure out which system(s) you prefer.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-02-15, 02:25:

Is there any reason to not just keep all three systems?

Spoken like a true enthusiast!

If there's one thing I've learned after trying to get hold of old parts again, it's don't get rid of anything. Ever. Well maybe not quite that extreme. But the point is, having spare parts can come in handy, and getting these parts again down the road if you need them or change your mind is only going to become harder.

So if you have the space, keep all the things!

Shadzilla wrote on 2024-02-15, 08:41:

Spoken like a true enthusiast! […]
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Shponglefan wrote on 2024-02-15, 02:25:

Is there any reason to not just keep all three systems?

Spoken like a true enthusiast!

If there's one thing I've learned after trying to get hold of old parts again, it's don't get rid of anything. Ever. Well maybe not quite that extreme. But the point is, having spare parts can come in handy, and getting these parts again down the road if you need them or change your mind is only going to become harder.

So if you have the space, keep all the things!

Or, at least, trying to assess the retro potential of something before tossing it. I've gotten rid of a lot of hardware over the years, and most of it... I don't regret that much... but there are certainly a few things that I now kick myself for having gotten rid of. Even little things like, say, PATA cables and optical drives.

The thing about PC world is that it's not very clear contemporaneously what the 'last' generation to do some valuable retro thing is. Did anybody care in 2003 when buying it or in 2008 when tossing it whether sound card X had good DOS support and sound card Y was a paperweight in DOS? Probably not... and then you come here and start having regrets.

(Or, you could be like my friend who had a last-generation 1GHz PowerBook G4, an LGA775 i865 board, though not one of the best ones, and an Ivy Bridge desktop. The first two got tossed well over a decade ago; as for his Ivy Bridge desktop, well, I bought it from him to turn into a dual boot retro XP system 😀).

Certainly, to get back to the OP's quandry, I think getting rid of anything pre-C2D, or at least pre-P4, is risky. Shrinking supply of Pentium MMX and Pentium III parts...

If you wanted only 1 PC's I'd go with the P3 with both the GF4 and Voodoo installed and 2 sound cards PCI for Windows and ISA for dos.
This would give you strong D3D performance, Glide, and play most dos and Win9x games.

If you wanted only 2 PC's I'd go with the MMX and P4.
MMX with the voodoo1 which would make for a powerful dos rig
P4 with either the AGP cards and Voodoo 3, this would be a killer Win98 PC

I'd also keep all 3 though.
MMX with the voodoo 1 as the original voodoo has the best compatibility in dos and told i76 only works properly with voodoo 1
P3 with voodoo 3 and Aural Vortex 2 for sound. This gives you a fast glide PC and with A3D 2.0, something creative cards can't do.
P4 with either AGP card and Creative card for a fast D3D and EAX.

Thanks so much for the advice everybody.

Is there any reason to install Windows 98 SE instead of Windows XP on the Pentium 4 PC?

sofakng wrote on 2024-02-16, 01:53:

Is there any reason to install Windows 98 SE instead of Windows XP on the Pentium 4 PC?

I would put it the other way around - is there any reason to install Windows XP on the Pentium 4? If you want an XP retro system, you can find dirt cheap C2D/C2Qs or newer sandy/ivy bridges that will just destroy a P4 in performance, not to mention power efficiency. And... I presume your Pentium 4 is AGP. There are excellent, much more affordable, much higher performance options for XP with a PCI-E system.

Put another way - with that hardware, you can either have one of the most powerful 98SE retro systems out there, or one of the slowest XP systems (okay, not really the slowest, plenty of people ran XP on PIIIs, but this is the next slowest...). What makes more sense?

sofakng wrote on 2024-02-16, 01:53:

Is there any reason to install Windows 98 SE instead of Windows XP on the Pentium 4 PC?

It depends on what you want to use it for. Some games may only work with Windows 98, plus Win98 has native DOS support should you want to play any DOS games with it.

A Pentium 4 is also a bit underpowered for an XP machine, but it again depends on the era of gaming/software you intend to use it for.

You could always install both operating systems and dual-boot.

Thanks as always for the help. It sounds like Win98SE is the way to go!

sofakng wrote on 2024-02-16, 02:48:

Thanks as always for the help. It sounds like Win98SE is the way to go!

... yup, and start gathering parts for an XP project. Maybe you don't want an XP project yet, but there are excellent parts for XP systems floating around at very affordable prices right now. And they're not making more ivy bridges and 780 Tis, so you might as well stock up now...