Sphere478 wrote on 2023-08-03, 08:00:
Very interesting read, thanks for sharing.
Unfortunately I don't own a working GF2 or 3 😦
I have a GF2 MX400 but to my surprise, it's not working. I may get another one in the future but since I prioritize the DVI output, it will be harder to find one.
After seeing that an overclocked K6-2 doesn't perform well enough for late 90's games, even with decent video cards (well, other than GF2/3...), I'm thinking about building something decidedly slower, aiming at less demanding and older software.
Besides, all the retro PC cases I own are for baby AT/ATX boards, and since this build is aimed at ≤'99 stuff, I think I'm going to go with something older, slower and retro-er.
appiah4 wrote on 2023-08-03, 08:44:128-bit memory bus becomes a factor as you crank up the resolution or turn on MSAA.
Also, with that CPU that 9250 is performing at about 10% its max performance 😀
Knowing that the 64-bit variants of the R9200/9250 are already too fast for a SS7 CPU, I can save the 128-bit card for a newer and faster build. P4 maybe? C2D?
For the Radeons I read about modifying the EDID to force the output to be 1280x960@70MHz so I'll probably try that too some time down the road.
In order to cover all the eras with the least amount of machines possible, a Pentium MMX build will do for most stuff from mid 80's to mid 90's. After that, probably a C2D can go from late 90's to early 2010's. I'm still trying to figure it out.
I thought I could get away with the K6-2 @585MHz (4.5x130MHz, stock voltage) for late 90's stuff but it seems that it's too much for the SS7 platform and I'm not too happy about over stressing the chipset/video cards.
I remember having played Half Life on an AMD 5x86 😆 those were the days! We were far more tolerant with low framerate/resolution back then.