In the past, I ran Windows 98SE on real 486 PCs and early Pentiums. Pentium 75 to Pentium 133.
Pentium 166 MMX was the lowest PC I ran Windows XP SP0/SP1 on (official minimum requirement).
Windows 98SE fits somewhere in-between those two extremes, I think.
Windows 98SE, in its role as an "OS", itself may or may not make use of FPU/MMX that much.
So if you have a weak host CPU, starting with a slow Pentium or fast 486 might be worth considering.
Also make sure the emulated VGA card has 2D GUI acceleration and
that enough RAM is available to the emulated PC (24MB, 64MB, 96MB, 128MB etc).
So there's no need for Windows 98SE to perform excessive swapping.
Using an SCSI controller would be cool, too, but I'm not sure if PCem/86Box has one.
Back in the days, I've often used PCs with a humble CPU, but combined with lots of RAM and a quick HDD, whenever possible.
If no SCSI is available, you can still try enabling DMA in device manager - and cross your fingers and bet that Windows 98SE will boot up again next time. 😉
Edit: The slowed Windows 98SE experience I ever had was with a 486DX2-66 based Compaq PC.
So I would recommend to try to emulate something quicker..
"Time, it seems, doesn't flow. For some it's fast, for some it's slow.
In what to one race is no time at all, another race can rise and fall..." - The Minstrel
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