What specific games and/or OS are you wanting to use?

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-02-18, 20:46:

What specific games and/or OS are you wanting to use?

Hi. I want play games from era Windows 95/98/XP.

As child I started with 486DX2 with only DOS, Pentium 90MHz with S3 Trio64 and Win95, Pentium 200MHz MMX with Riva128 & Voodoo 2 12MB and Win98SE, up to Celeron 1.7GHz Willamette with GeForce4 and WinXP. After that I jumped to laptops starting with MSI GX600PX.

Into this time I thinking about P3-S Tualatin + some good AGP card (as older system with only DOS/Win98), or newer combo CPU with some PCIe card (as newer system with Win98/XP).

JosefHrib wrote on 2024-02-18, 20:47:

Hi. I want play games from era Windows 95/98/XP.

As child I started with 486DX2 with only DOS, Pentium 90MHz with S3 Trio64 and Win95, Pentium 200MHz MMX with Riva128 & Voodoo 2 12MB and Win98SE, up to Celeron 1.7GHz Willamette with GeForce4 and WinXP. After that I jumped to laptops starting with MSI GX600PX.

Into this time I thinking about P3-S Tualatin + some good AGP card (as older system with only DOS/Win98), or newer combo CPU with some PCIe card (as newer system with Win98/XP).

The Windows 95 through XP era does cover a wide range of potential games (about 15 years). Your best bet is to go dual systems, one for Win 98 and one for XP.

A fast Pentium III will nicely cover the Windows 98 era. With an ISA slot for ISA sound card, you're also guaranteed audio compatibility for DOS games.

For Windows XP, I'd recommend a Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge CPU. I opted for an i7-3770k build. It nicely covers the Windows XP era with solid backwards compatibility even for most Win 9x games.

You are getting good advice.

I also want to say that you should consider what feeling you are looking for. I mean you probably could do all this on a modern computer but you want more nostalgia.

Just the tactile feel of a real power button on a desktop computer that beeps when you turn it on.. A crt (that makes your eyes sore), a noisy sb 16 and a ball mouse, takes me back to playing Simon the Sorcerer when I was 12.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-02-18, 21:03:

The Windows 95 through XP era does cover a wide range of potential games (about 15 years). Your best bet is to go dual systems, […]
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JosefHrib wrote on 2024-02-18, 20:47:

Hi. I want play games from era Windows 95/98/XP.

As child I started with 486DX2 with only DOS, Pentium 90MHz with S3 Trio64 and Win95, Pentium 200MHz MMX with Riva128 & Voodoo 2 12MB and Win98SE, up to Celeron 1.7GHz Willamette with GeForce4 and WinXP. After that I jumped to laptops starting with MSI GX600PX.

Into this time I thinking about P3-S Tualatin + some good AGP card (as older system with only DOS/Win98), or newer combo CPU with some PCIe card (as newer system with Win98/XP).

The Windows 95 through XP era does cover a wide range of potential games (about 15 years). Your best bet is to go dual systems, one for Win 98 and one for XP.

A fast Pentium III will nicely cover the Windows 98 era. With an ISA slot for ISA sound card, you're also guaranteed audio compatibility for DOS games.

For Windows XP, I'd recommend a Sandy Bridge/Ivy Bridge CPU. I opted for an i7-3770k build. It nicely covers the Windows XP era with solid backwards compatibility even for most Win 9x games.

Hm. Good idea with two systems.
One system P3-S system for DOS/Win95/Win98.
Second system for XP nonDOS.

If I were to choose a P3-S Tualatin 1266MHz 512 for my first DOS/Win95/Win98 system, which is the best motherboard? And as a graphics best 6800AGP?
Or variant 1400 vs 1266 have some other benefits? I find few pieces 1266 and cost more than half price of 1400, so in my eyes is better choice bang for bucks 1266.

For the second system, if I were to go the Sandy/Ivy/Haswell route, there is already PCIe here, so I could easily buy a 980Ti here as well?

JosefHrib wrote on 2024-02-18, 21:37:

For the second system, if I were to go the Sandy/Ivy/Haswell route, there is already PCIe here, so I could easily buy a 980Ti here as well?

I think the 980Ti is a bit too new to have good XP driver support... look at something like the 780 Ti. Same with Haswell.

Ivy Bridge/780Ti (or 7970 from AMD) is all officially supported for XP. 980Ti, Haswell, etc has been made to work, but... requires more fiddling.

VivienM wrote on 2024-02-18, 21:40:

JosefHrib wrote on 2024-02-18, 21:37:

For the second system, if I were to go the Sandy/Ivy/Haswell route, there is already PCIe here, so I could easily buy a 980Ti here as well?

I think the 980Ti is a bit too new to have good XP driver support... look at something like the 780 Ti. Same with Haswell.

Ivy Bridge/780Ti (or 7970 from AMD) is all officially supported for XP. 980Ti, Haswell, etc has been made to work, but... requires more fiddling.

Good to know. Thank you.

So for newer second system is best as newest system IvyBridge with 780Ti? Ok.
I can have for 15eur(+25eur shipping) GeForce 7900GT 256MB PCIe is it good or bad deal?

And for first system, older system, I can have P3-S Tualatin 1266MHz 512 for only 15eur(+5eur shipping). Is it good price? Or is better some other choice?
Here I only not know what is best gpu. Maybe GeForce 6800 because is it last with AGP? It's a shame that there is no PCIe board that supports even older systems.

I have to look around the aftermarket a bit. I don't know their current good price. So that I don't buy some stupidity somewhere for useless money. 😁

I personally would no go past fx for a sub win 98 build. Especially if you also have an xp system.

Joakim wrote on 2024-02-18, 21:49:

I personally would no go past fx for a sub win 98 build. Especially if you also have an xp system.

Over FX is it bad for older system? No 6800 AGP? I meaned that for 6800 AGP exist drivers. Hm good to know.

Its not s huge deal but there is something called 8-bit paletted textures that fx was the last card to support.

JosefHrib wrote on 2024-02-18, 21:46:

I can have for +- 40eur GeForce 7900GT is it good or bad deal?

Bad. I'm pretty sure I can get a 780Ti for $100CAD on eBay...

And the 7900GT I don't think aged that well. I had one back in the day... that I replaced with an 8800GT, and I think the 8800GT was a dramatic improvement in performance for only one generation.

More importantly, the 7900GT is a GPU from 2006. Most stuff from 2006 is... not that significant for retro purposes, even though a lot of excellent-at-the-time things came out in 2006 (the C2D being the biggest). By 2006, almost nothing supported 98SE, so 2006-era hardware is effectively XP(and newer)-only. And with the poor reception of Vista in late 2006, the XP era continued until... 2012-3 or so... so you've got a good 6 years' worth of improvements available if you go with ~2012-3-era hardware...

VivienM wrote on 2024-02-18, 21:40:

I think the 980Ti is a bit too new to have good XP driver support... look at something like the 780 Ti. Same with Haswell.

Ivy Bridge/780Ti (or 7970 from AMD) is all officially supported for XP. 980Ti, Haswell, etc has been made to work, but... requires more fiddling.

As a 980Ti / XP user, the only thing that is required is manually adding a line to the .INF file. Other than that, the 980 Ti works fine under Windows XP.

Officially the drivers do support up the 960, but it's all part of the same series of GPU.

That said, a 980 Ti is complete overkill for an XP system.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-02-18, 22:05:

As a 980Ti / XP user, the only thing that is required is manually adding a line to the .INF file. Other than that, the 980 Ti wo […]
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VivienM wrote on 2024-02-18, 21:40:

I think the 980Ti is a bit too new to have good XP driver support... look at something like the 780 Ti. Same with Haswell.

Ivy Bridge/780Ti (or 7970 from AMD) is all officially supported for XP. 980Ti, Haswell, etc has been made to work, but... requires more fiddling.

As a 980Ti / XP user, the only thing that is required is manually adding a line to the .INF file. Other than that, the 980 Ti works fine under Windows XP.

Officially the drivers do support up the 970, but it's all part of the same series of GPU.

That said, a 980 Ti is complete overkill for an XP system.

Only inf mod? Oh so this is not problem for me. Ok.
Ok, so for newer system I added to watchlist i7-3770K, 4x4GB DDR3 1600MHz, ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe, 780Ti/980Ti
And MB? Asus P8Z68-V or ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe?

And what tips for older system is it P3-S Tualatin 1266MHz 512 for +-25eur good offer? Here I only not know which GPU and Motherboard because I not readed many about older mb. 🙁

JosefHrib wrote on 2024-02-18, 21:37:

If I were to choose a P3-S Tualatin 1266MHz 512 for my first DOS/Win95/Win98 system, which is the best motherboard? And as a graphics best 6800AGP?
Or variant 1400 vs 1266 have some other benefits? I find few pieces 1266 and cost more than half price of 1400, so in my eyes is better choice bang for bucks 1266.

I haven't built a Tualatin-based system before, so I can't advise on CPU or motherboard options for that.

For GPU for Windows 9x, I'd recommend a GeForce4 4200 Ti. They're relatively available/affordable, and offer great Windows 98 performance and compatibility. DOS compatibility is also quite good.

For the second system, if I were to go the Sandy/Ivy/Haswell route, there is already PCIe here, so I could easily buy a 980Ti here as well?

While I use a 980 Ti with my own setup, it is complete overkill for a Windows XP system. I only use it because I had a spare one on hand.

A 780 Ti would be more reasonable albeit still an overkill option for Windows XP. But at least you won't need to worry about a GPU bottleneck. 😁

JosefHrib wrote on 2024-02-18, 22:09:

Ok, so for newer system I added to watchlist i7-3770K, 4x4GB DDR3 1600MHz, ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe, 780Ti/980Ti

Unless you're planning to dual boot something modern, you don't need that much RAM. 32-bit XP is limited to 3.x gigs of RAM, so 4 gigs will do you nicely if you don't plan a dual boot.

Add to your watchlist the i5-3570K and even the non-K too.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-02-18, 22:09:

A 780 Ti would be more reasonable albeit still an overkill option for Windows XP. But at least you won't need to worry about a GPU bottleneck. 😁

Your thoughts on a 780Ti vs 7970? I am not sure why I got a 7970, I think I must have misread some things, but how much of an upgrade would a 780Ti be?

And when is socket LGA1155 is ok for WinXP what from same Ivy Bridge lineup but year newer socket LGA2011? No go with XP?

VivienM wrote on 2024-02-18, 22:15:

Your thoughts on a 780Ti vs 7970? I am not sure why I got a 7970, I think I must have misread some things, but how much of an upgrade would a 780Ti be?

I haven't used the 7970. I did start out with an R9 270X in my current XP rig, which I believe is less performant than a 7970.

I found as I upgraded monitors going from CRT @ 1024x786 -> LCD @ 1600x1200 -> LCD @ 1920x1200 (75Hz), I needed more GPU headroom. Hence why I opted for the 980 Ti since I happened to have a spare and it could be made to work with XP.

Ultimately it comes down to your own setup. With a CRT at lower resolutions and/or with older games, added GPU performance would likely be moot. But for a widescreen LCD at higher refresh rate (esp. to keep minimum frames at or above native refresh rates) then more GPU performance can't hurt.

JosefHrib wrote on 2024-02-18, 22:09:

Only inf mod? Oh so this is not problem for me. Ok.
Ok, so for newer system I added to watchlist i7-3770K, 4x4GB DDR3 1600MHz, ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe, 780Ti/980Ti
And MB? Asus P8Z68-V or ASUS P8Z77-V Deluxe?

Yeah, the INF driver mod is pretty simple. Here's a guide on adding 900-series GPUs under Windows XP: https://mattpilz.com/windows-xp-drivers-nvidi … 980-ti-titan-x/

I can't speak to the Asus P8Z77-Deluxe since I haven't used it. I am using an Asus P8Z68-V Pro/Gen 3 with no complaints so far. 😀