i'd definetly update to 64MB...

and i would exchange the SB against a PCI Card, both the Matrox and the S3 are very bad 3D Cards, you won't be able to play a few of the games you mentioned (like Pandemonium). i'd go with the Matrox maybe and buy some Voodoo 2 card as an add-on... i don't know the Matrox one though, i once had an ELSA Victory S3 Virge DX, 3D was awful, no game faster than 20fps, even the earliest 3D games, 2D Performance was very good though

well, the HD is also a weak point, 2GB ain't that much if you are going to play games from the early 3DFX era (like Pandemonium)

as far as OS goes, DR-DOS 7 + Win98SE is my choice for retro systems but you might prefer something else

all in all, it's worth a try, but the system might be a bit weak for some later titles on your list, i'm thinking of Magic Carpet, Destruction Derby and others, i can remember the time when i had an P75 and Magic Carpet did not run at 100% with best settings

Thanks for the reply.. Im thinking the later titles, like Destruction Derbry and Magic Carpet I might be able to patch and run on my main rig (athlon64, 1gb ram, 9800xt).. Most importantly I wanted to run games like Toonstruck, Phantasmagoria, Prince of Persia, 7th guest, 11th hour, System Shock on the retro rig

I forgot to mention, theres a Voodoo 2 12mb I have lent my friend eons ago that I might be able to get back 😀.. I forgot how it all works so I'll add another question

d) Can I install the Voodoo for 3d gaming and the other card for retro gaming both at the same time??

forget what i said about the PCI sound card, ISA will get you into less problems, stick with it

if you can live without the newer old games than that system should be enough, a game like Prince of Persia did run smooth on my 386DX with 8MB RAM, toonstruck is one of the hardest games to get to run, didn't even work for me on my old system i had back then, so don't expect it to work 100%, but the specs should be good enough

just checking System Shock req on box (optimum):
486 DX/66+
8MB RAM

that should work 😉 i'd recommend a 4MB graphics card any day though, if the Matrox has only 2MB, don't use it imho (as i said the Virge has good 2D peformance)

Very useful info hydr0x thanx a million.. Im surprised youre new here too 😀
Anybody else with any other info\advice dont hesitate to post coz Im sure I forgot mentioning a lotta other games.
Dr-DOS seems to be the best DOS, but also, are you sure Win98 SE instead of Win95?

Win98 SE are the best Windows from W9x line. I would recommend them.
Generally about Windows: get at least 32 MB memory if you want to use them seriously (they will work with 16 MB - I lived with 16 MB for a few years - but it will be slow)

I have no idea why do you need DR DOS at all - Windows 9x have they own DOS (IMHO quite good). You can boot directly to it if you want (without Windows GUI). I have not ever had any problems with it (I do not have any other DOS on my computer).

Mirek

So youre saying that all Win95-only games like Phantasmagoria, Toonstruck will work flawlessly on Win98 SE?
About DRDOS: Doesnt it have better mouse\cdrom\sound support or is that just a myth?

So youre saying that all Win95-only games like Phantasmagoria, Toonstruck will work flawlessly on Win98 SE?

mh no i wouldn't agree with that, i'd guess 1-3 games in a hundred won't work, but on the other hand you've also got the same problem just by using the latest DirectX version you need... with each DirectX update some Win95 games might no longer work (although you're probably not reaching that era, example: Moto Racer is DirectX3 and already has 3DFX)
if you are really sure you won't need 98SE for anything (USB for example) you could got with latest Win95... i'd prefer a dual/triple-boot-system though in case there really is a Win95 only game in your collection (that doesn't work under XP WIn95 mode), although you've only got 2GB which is not too much for 2 Windows installations :p

W98 SE is just a bug fixed W95 with some extensions. 😀 I do not think that W95 games should have any problems...

I have no idea what do you mean by "better mouse\cdrom\sound support" in DR DOS.
DOS PS/2 or serial mouse drivers and ATAPI CD ROM drivers are standards. A sound card either does not need drivers or they are sound card dependend.
Only thing I could imagine would be that DR DOS would bundle them into its installer (to save you separate download)...

Mirek

So Win98 SE all the way for me 😀.. What else should I take into consideration?

Good news and bad news:
I'll start with the bad 🙁

It seems that this pcs ram is too old, first of all I thought It'd just be PC100\PC133 SDRAM, but its some old stuff I dont seem to recognize so looks like I wont be able to upgrade ram.

Good news is I got my hands on my old Voodoo Card.. Its a Diamond Multimedia Voodoo 2 12mb, not bad ay? 😀

I'll try to look for the ram for the computer, 16mb is very very low, I was hoping for 64mb!

What does it look like? EDO?

hehe, I wonder if it's that old 30-pin crap. Good luck 😀

EDO was a fine thing to have back then. Was compatible with the slots of its precedessor.

Well, the ram looks closest to this:

Somebody please identify it for me

Mmmmmm, EDO...

EDO or PS/2. But Definately a SIMM

If it has the same number of pins as the one on the picture, it's a 72pin SIMM. Whether it's EDO or FPM (Fast Page Mode) is tough to tell. Award Bios would tell you in the boot-up, POST splash screen (right before your OS starts to load... you can hit the PAUSE key to stop it there most of the time) what type of RAM was in each bank.

If not, download "Everest Home Edition" from www.lavalys.com. Run it from Win9x and it'll tell you everything you need to know about your system (including RAM type).

I could take a guess depending on what type of motherboard chipset you have, but Everest or the BIOS boot-up screen will tell you right away.

Useful info, and QBiN.. very useful info 😀 Thanks
I'll keep you guys updated