I recently got my first retro rig. It is also an Athlon system Athlon xp 1600+ with a Asrock K7S8XE motherboard and Ati Radeon 9600 card. it runs well and can say just good things about it. Because is my first retro gaming system I cannot compare it with other systems. So I honestly do not know If could have done much better or much worse.

So far I am really happy with my purchase.

You could check out this thread

General advice for building first retro gaming pc

here you will find many different suggestions for various Athlon builds.

Good luck with your search.

I'd stick to something with a P4 power connector so you won't have issues using modern power supplies.
List of Socket 462 motherboards with 12V 4pin power connector

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-07-27, 12:04:

I'd stick to something with a P4 power connector so you won't have issues using modern power supplies.
List of Socket 462 motherboards with 12V 4pin power connector

Thanks for the recommendation. I have not thought about it yet having no compability issues with modern psu is really a important thing to consider.

There are also many Socket 462 motherboards to pick.

Which chipset would you recommmend? Are the via chipsets more preferable over the Nforce2 chips or is not that imporant?

It's not really a compatibility issue, modern PSUs are technically all compatible with Socket A boards. It's a power issue. Modern PSUs are generally weak on their 5V rail rarely going above 16-18 amps and Socket A boards without the P4 power connector draw a lot of power from there. If you run a high TDP CPU and one of the more power hungry graphics cards, that can overload even the PSU.

As for chipset, I remember back then there were talks about nforce chipsets having unstable drivers, but even if so, they might have been fixed later. I had no issues with VIA chipsets, my Windows 98 PC also runs on a KM266 with an Athlon XP 2800+.

gamefan_851 wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:52:

Which chipset would you recommmend? Are the via chipsets more preferable over the Nforce2 chips or is not that imporant?

With nForce 2 there is no DOS compatibility for PCI sound cards. This apparently has to do with lack of direct memory access via the PCI slots.

I use an ASUS A7V600 with a VIA KT600 chipset, since it allows me compatibility with my sound card (Diamond Monster MX300) and DOS games.

RandomStranger wrote on 2023-07-27, 18:48:

It's not really a compatibility issue, modern PSUs are technically all compatible with Socket A boards. It's a power issue. Modern PSUs are generally weak on their 5V rail rarely going above 16-18 amps and Socket A boards without the P4 power connector draw a lot of power from there. If you run a high TDP CPU and one of the more power hungry graphics cards, that can overload even the PSU.

As for chipset, I remember back then there were talks about nforce chipsets having unstable drivers, but even if so, they might have been fixed later. I had no issues with VIA chipsets, my Windows 98 PC also runs on a KM266 with an Athlon XP 2800+.

thx for the info. I get it now.

I have also read about potentialk problems with nforce drives that was the reason why I asked. But I need to dig deeper in that matter to see if these problems have been solved in the meantime.

VIA chipsets seem to have the best reputation so going with something like the Asus A7 mb sounds like a neat plan.

Shponglefan wrote on 2023-07-27, 21:47:

gamefan_851 wrote on 2023-07-27, 15:52:

Which chipset would you recommmend? Are the via chipsets more preferable over the Nforce2 chips or is not that imporant?

With nForce 2 there is no DOS compatibility for PCI sound cards. This apparently has to do with lack of direct memory access via the PCI slots.

I use an ASUS A7V600 with a VIA KT600 chipset, since it allows me compatibility with my sound card (Diamond Monster MX300) and DOS games.

Thx for your reply as well. Addiotonal DOS compability would be a plus but not a must. The DOS games I have tried so far run well on my asus p2b with a p2 400 mhz.

@all concerning the Cpu. I think I will pull the trigger soon. There are many very cheap offers floating around for the athlon cpus. My favourites so far are the AMD Athlon XP 1600+ 1.4 GHz - AX1600DMT3C or the Athlon xp 2800.

Which one would you guys pick?

With regards to Socket A motherboards and the weak 5V rail on modern PSUs, check this video by Phil.

It might become an issue if you're planning to use a high-end AthlonXP CPU together with a power hungry GPU.

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2023-07-28, 06:45:

With regards to Socket A motherboards and the weak 5V rail on modern PSUs, check this video by Phil.

It might become an issue if you're planning to use a high-end AthlonXP CPU together with a power hungry GPU.

That's good to know. I will watch the video later and then so some research about the power consumption of the cpu and gpu I want to purchase .

The Athlon XP-M line might be among the cpu that could cause some issues. Something like a athlon x 1700 or athlon x 1600 not so much I think??

The card i want to use is Radeon 9600pro for that system. I also need to check if these cards are among the power hungry ones or not.

The Athlon XP-M FQQ4C 1.45V Barton Line has a TDP of ~45W, optimized for notebooks but also works on desktop mainboards, maybe the bios would recognize the CPU as "Unknown AMD K7 Processor" but it should still run fine. For example, I use an XP-M 2600+ in an Epox 8K3A+ (clocked to 2333Mhz, 166Mhz FSB with 1,55V VCore) where the CPU is recognized that way by the bios, but has been running that way for years with no problems. I use my old Enermax 465W power supply with a strong 35A 5V line, which I have bought new in 2003.

The 1700+ Thoroughbred B has about the same TDP as the Barton Mobile FQQ4C versions when run at stock voltage (1.60V) and clock.

I recommend the XP-M series for a current retro build if you want to change the multiplier on the fly under DOS/Windows. You can also undervolt a normal desktop Athlon XP CPU to take some load off the 5V rail of the power supply.

For the normal desktop Athlon XP Thoroughbred B and Bartons you have to pay attention to the production week. Up to production week 39 2003, they still had an open multiplier and you could change it in the bios or via jumper. Later produced Athlon XP desktop CPUs then had a multiplier lock. Changing the multiplier on the fly under Windows/DOS is still only possible with mobile versions!

If you are considering mature VIA socket 462 chipset, why not consider early s754 as well 😉 (i.e. K8T800)
Windows 98 drivers are also available.

NostalgicAslinger wrote on 2023-07-28, 09:45:

The Athlon XP-M FQQ4C 1.45V Barton Line has a TDP of ~45W, optimized for notebooks but also works on desktop mainboards, maybe t […]
Show full quote

The Athlon XP-M FQQ4C 1.45V Barton Line has a TDP of ~45W, optimized for notebooks but also works on desktop mainboards, maybe the bios would recognize the CPU as "Unknown AMD K7 Processor" but it should still run fine. For example, I use an XP-M 2600+ in an Epox 8K3A+ (clocked to 2333Mhz, 166Mhz FSB with 1,55V VCore) where the CPU is recognized that way by the bios, but has been running that way for years with no problems. I use my old Enermax 465W power supply with a strong 35A 5V line, which I have bought new in 2003.

The 1700+ Thoroughbred B has about the same TDP as the Barton Mobile FQQ4C versions when run at stock voltage (1.60V) and clock.

I recommend the XP-M series for a current retro build if you want to change the multiplier on the fly under DOS/Windows. You can also undervolt a normal desktop Athlon XP CPU to take some load off the 5V rail of the power supply.

For the normal desktop Athlon XP Thoroughbred B and Bartons you have to pay attention to the production week. Up to production week 39 2003, they still had an open multiplier and you could change it in the bios or via jumper. Later produced Athlon XP desktop CPUs then had a multiplier lock. Changing the multiplier on the fly under Windows/DOS is still only possible with mobile versions!

Thanks a lot for the info. That will come in handy in the future. I am not up yet up to the task to start overclocking yet but I am interesed in learning about it in the not so distant future. So I need to pick up some cpu and mother board combo that is suitable for over clocking.

zyga64 wrote on 2023-07-28, 10:46:

If you are considering mature VIA socket 462 chipset, why not consider early s754 as well 😉 (i.e. K8T800)
Windows 98 drivers are also available.

Thx for your input. Yes of course getting another more modern mobo family is also a neat possibilty. I will check out the KT8T family and see how much these boards would cost compared to the 462 series.

For windows XP, I recommend the Abit AN7. For windows 98 or XP and 98 dual boot setups I prefer the Asus A7V880. I heard the Abit KW7 is also great, but I've never seen or owned one. I also like my GA-7VT880 Pro - not as fast as the Asus but seems a bit less finicky.

For universal AGP (voodoo 4/5 support) I really really like the MSI KT3 / KT3 Ultra, mostly for the detailed bios settings it comes with. Most of them suffer from capacitor rot so be ready to recap if you get one.

As for what to stay away from - if you plan on dual booting win98, stay away from nforce boards in general. I've managed to get win98 up and running on an Asrock K7NF2, but no luck with my Abit AN7, or NF7, or my Asus A7N8X - they either fail to boot completely (Abit AN7) or become unstable (NF7, A7N8X) after installing the nvidia forceware driver. (I'm using 2x256MB DDR400 so ram amount is not a factor). The NF7 seemed to work OK with a Radeon 9600 PRO and catalyst 6.2, but for win98 I've had best results with the VIA KT880 chipset. I've also had good results with the Asrock K7VT6 - it's a budget board, and I have a pile of these, but they all ran win98 nice and stable. I still have a couple of builds with this motherboard from when me and my brother-in-law used to setup retro lan parties. Athlon 2600+ (Thoroughbred core, fsb 266), Geforce FX 5900XT or Radeon 9700, 512MB of ram, PATA HDD, 350W FSP PSU. Sometimes we'd keep them up for 12 hours straight with no crashes, freezing or other issues.

zyga64 wrote on 2023-07-28, 10:46:

If you are considering mature VIA socket 462 chipset, why not consider early s754 as well 😉 (i.e. K8T800)
Windows 98 drivers are also available.

Definitely. You can't really go wrong with a VIA chipset socket 754 or 939 board for win98. In fact I can't think of any advantage socket A has over 754/939 when it comes to running win9x. Throw a 3200+ and 256 or 512MB of ram in there and you got yourself a great 1998-2002 gaming PC.

If W98 is target, I vote for s.754 build too. Have two (one on nForce3 250 and second on AMD 760G aka 780 - weird, I know), both are powerfull enough for every W98 game. More flexible is nForce with AGP slot, which could be used with many cards from say GF2 up to GF6 series (or ATI 7xxx - X8xx) with official W98 drivers, while AMD with PCI-E is more restricted for later series (GF6 and ATI X up to 8xx), but I have one small uATX build equiped with X700PRO and I´m happy. Big disadvantage is incompatibility with PCI DOS sound (nForce could use at least SB16 emulation on Live! or Audigy 1/2, AMD nothing), but for DOS games I have another build with genuine ISA sound.
If you use s.754 with VIA chipset, then DOS sound should work even with some PCI soundcards (for example ESS Solo, some Yamaha, ALS and others).
With s.754 you can use a modern PSU without the need for a strong 5V rail, you have newest platform with higher performance and CPU could be obviously easy overclocked (OK, not so easy with VIA without AGP/PCI-E lock).
But if you look for DOS/98 dual build, then the 462 platform will be more appropriate and more problem-free.

Socket3 wrote on 2023-07-28, 13:23:

For windows XP, I recommend the Abit AN7. For windows 98 or XP and 98 dual boot setups I prefer the Asus A7V880. I heard the Abi […]
Show full quote

For windows XP, I recommend the Abit AN7. For windows 98 or XP and 98 dual boot setups I prefer the Asus A7V880. I heard the Abit KW7 is also great, but I've never seen or owned one. I also like my GA-7VT880 Pro - not as fast as the Asus but seems a bit less finicky.

For universal AGP (voodoo 4/5 support) I really really like the MSI KT3 / KT3 Ultra, mostly for the detailed bios settings it comes with. Most of them suffer from capacitor rot so be ready to recap if you get one.

As for what to stay away from - if you plan on dual booting win98, stay away from nforce boards in general. I've managed to get win98 up and running on an Asrock K7NF2, but no luck with my Abit AN7, or NF7, or my Asus A7N8X - they either fail to boot completely (Abit AN7) or become unstable (NF7, A7N8X) after installing the nvidia forceware driver. (I'm using 2x256MB DDR400 so ram amount is not a factor). The NF7 seemed to work OK with a Radeon 9600 PRO and catalyst 6.2, but for win98 I've had best results with the VIA KT880 chipset. I've also had good results with the Asrock K7VT6 - it's a budget board, and I have a pile of these, but they all ran win98 nice and stable. I still have a couple of builds with this motherboard from when me and my brother-in-law used to setup retro lan parties. Athlon 2600+ (Thoroughbred core, fsb 266), Geforce FX 5900XT or Radeon 9700, 512MB of ram, PATA HDD, 350W FSP PSU. Sometimes we'd keep them up for 12 hours straight with no crashes, freezing or other issues.

zyga64 wrote on 2023-07-28, 10:46:

If you are considering mature VIA socket 462 chipset, why not consider early s754 as well 😉 (i.e. K8T800)
Windows 98 drivers are also available.

Definitely. You can't really go wrong with a VIA chipset socket 754 or 939 board for win98. In fact I can't think of any advantage socket A has over 754/939 when it comes to running win9x. Throw a 3200+ and 256 or 512MB of ram in there and you got yourself a great 1998-2002 gaming PC.

Thanks for the detailed reply. Yeah getting socket 754 or 939 board sounds like a really good idea then. It is going to be win 98 game only. for games from 99 to 2001 . For 97 to 98 I have my first rig the p2 400 mhz system.For Xp I want to get a sepparate system at some point.

The 3200+ you mentioned also sounds like a great cpu. Would you say that Radeon 9600pro would be nice partner card for that gpu or should I step up the game a bit and look for a Geforce FX card or even highter?

Ydee wrote on 2023-07-28, 15:09:

If W98 is target, I vote for s.754 build too. Have two (one on nForce3 250 and second on AMD 760G aka 780 - weird, I know), both […]
Show full quote

If W98 is target, I vote for s.754 build too. Have two (one on nForce3 250 and second on AMD 760G aka 780 - weird, I know), both are powerfull enough for every W98 game. More flexible is nForce with AGP slot, which could be used with many cards from say GF2 up to GF6 series (or ATI 7xxx - X8xx) with official W98 drivers, while AMD with PCI-E is more restricted for later series (GF6 and ATI X up to 8xx), but I have one small uATX build equiped with X700PRO and I´m happy. Big disadvantage is incompatibility with PCI DOS sound (nForce could use at least SB16 emulation on Live! or Audigy 1/2, AMD nothing), but for DOS games I have another build with genuine ISA sound.
If you use s.754 with VIA chipset, then DOS sound should work even with some PCI soundcards (for example ESS Solo, some Yamaha, ALS and others).
With s.754 you can use a modern PSU without the need for a strong 5V rail, you have newest platform with higher performance and CPU could be obviously easy overclocked (OK, not so easy with VIA without AGP/PCI-E lock).
But if you look for DOS/98 dual build, then the 462 platform will be more appropriate and more problem-free.

Thanks for your reply. Like mentioned above Windows 98 is indeed my target. Missing Dos compability won't be a big problem. If I want my first rig (the above mentioned intel bx 440 system with a asus p2b mobo and p2 400 mhz should be a alright Dos System) but if some Does games would run on a Socket 754 I would take it as big plus no doubt about it.

gamefan_851 wrote on 2023-07-28, 15:28:

The 3200+ you mentioned also sounds like a great cpu. Would you say that Geforce 9600pro would be nice partner card for that gpu or should I step up the game a bit and look for a Geforce FX card or even highter?

You mean ATI Radeon 9600 PRO? GeForce 9600 is PCI-E only graphics and without W98/ME drivers, so no usable under W98 OS.

Ydee wrote on 2023-07-28, 15:51:

gamefan_851 wrote on 2023-07-28, 15:28:

The 3200+ you mentioned also sounds like a great cpu. Would you say that Geforce 9600pro would be nice partner card for that gpu or should I step up the game a bit and look for a Geforce FX card or even highter?

You mean ATI Radeon 9600 PRO? GeForce 9600 is PCI-E only graphics and without W98/ME drivers, so no usable under W98 OS.

Yes of course. I meant the Radeon. Have edited the post already. My bad 🤣. I know that the Geforce 9600 would be way too modern for win 98.

Socket 754 Sempron3100+Gigabyte K8VT800M can be a great combo for win98 and dos, because unlocked socket 462 cpus/mobos are harder to find:

The good: cheap, still easy to find, works with setmul 4-9(800-1800mhz), l1 cache can be disabled, ddr speed can be lowered, HT speed can be lowered (for ms-dos games if you need), works with ESS Solo 1 (Tested/MB must have a VIA chipset !), works with Sbemu (if you don't have a Ess Solo). Has a 12v eps cpu connector so it works with new PSUs. USB legacy mouse support in dos from the bios, no special driver required (only the standard mouse driver). The system is 'rock solid' .

The bad: not as versatile as viaC3/k62/3 regarding speed sensitive older titles but makes up for that in newer more demanding ones. Lacks a ISA slot, so for audio you are stuck with a PCI sound card, The AGP slot is only 8x/4x compatible. Capacitors also, because is still a 'OLD' motherboard.

bogdanpaulb wrote on 2023-07-28, 18:03:

Socket 754 Sempron3100+Gigabyte K8VT800M can be a great combo for win98 and dos, because unlocked socket 462 cpus/mobos are harder to find:

The good: cheap, still easy to find, works with setmul 4-9(800-1800mhz), l1 cache can be disabled, ddr speed can be lowered, HT speed can be lowered (for ms-dos games if you need), works with ESS Solo 1 (Tested/MB must have a VIA chipset !), works with Sbemu (if you don't have a Ess Solo). Has a 12v eps cpu connector so it works with new PSUs. USB legacy mouse support in dos from the bios, no special driver required (only the standard mouse driver). The system is 'rock solid' .

The bad: not as versatile as viaC3/k62/3 regarding speed sensitive older titles but makes up for that in newer more demanding ones. Lacks a ISA slot, so for audio you are stuck with a PCI sound card, The AGP slot is only 8x/4x compatible. Capacitors also, because is still a 'OLD' motherboard.

Thx for your recommendation. I will check out the Sempron 3100 and the Gigabyte K8VT800M for sure. Sounds like decent combo.

The bads are no red flag for me. I just want to play newer games on that rig anyway. For the older stuff I have my p2 system.

gamefan_851 wrote on 2023-07-28, 15:28:

Would you say that Radeon 9600pro would be nice partner card for that gpu or should I step up the game a bit and look for a Geforce FX card or even highter?

An equivalent Geforce fx card would be stepping down really. The fx 5xxx family are rather mediocre cards, particularly low and mid end cards of the generation. 6xxx are debatably overkill for win98. The 9600 is perfectly fine.