VOGONS


First post, by realGoldenRod

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Some weeks ago I started a Win 98 project, which I eventually gave up on because I couldn't get a stable install no matter what I tried. So I tried Win 2000 to see how it would fair and the install went off without a hitch and I have a stable system. Now before anyone says "why don't you just try XP," I already have an XP rig and I'm wanting to play around with Win 2000. Besides from what I hear the two are basically the same except Win 2000 doesn't have all the bloat UI. Anyway, I'm looking for suggestions on some parts to try and max the build out. I'm pretty limited because of my motherboard and I'm not too interested in changing it out. Here's what I'm working with:

MOBO: ECS P4M800PRO-M
CPU: Intel Celeron D 326
GPU: ATI Radeon X800XL 256mb AGP graphics card
RAM: Corsair 2x512mb DDR-400 (max memory bus on the board is 200mhz)

I also have a PNY nvidia geforce 8400GS 512mb PCI card that I'm not using. Would the performance be better on that card than the X800XL? Does anyone have a recommendation for a better GPU? I'm not really interested in using any AGP > PCI-e bridges or PCI > PCI-e bridges, so the card has to be either AGP or PCI. For the CPU I'm thinking of getting the Core 2 Duo E4600. Does anyone have an alternative or would this be my best option? According to CPU Benchmark from Passmark it's better. As for memory I'm currently at 1gb and I don't see much point in going up. My board only supports a max of 2gb. It does support both DDR and DDR2. The max memory bus is 266mhz for DDR2 533. Open to suggestions on memory if it's worth it.

I finally got the build into a case and off the test bench. Anyway, let me know what you guys think.

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Reply 2 of 5, by rasz_pl

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Arent old P4 computers still super cheap? Wouldnt it make more sense buying younger one with pcie and maybe even ddr2 instead?

AT&T Globalyst/FIC 486-GAC-2 Cache Module reproduction
Zenith Data Systems (ZDS) ZBIOS 'MFM-300 Monitor' reverse engineering

Reply 3 of 5, by chinny22

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I actually prefer Win2k over Win98 for my 9x gaming, just about all games work and the OS is much less buggy. So if you still wanted to use this as your primary Win98 machine.
GPU: GF4 Ti or non crippled GF FX to keep compatibility levels.
Audio: SBLive - Audigy 2 ZS
CPU: As fast as you can

But if its going to be push Win2k to the limit
GF7 was the last supported in Win2k
The cool thing is a Core 2 Duo will show as 2 sperate CPU's in Windows 2000 which in Windows 2000 is the max supported CPU count!

Reply 4 of 5, by realGoldenRod

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According to the manf. CPU support list, my board is only compatible up to the Core 2 Duo E6420 and I need to update the BIOS for that. The BIOS update says it adds support for Intel Conroe series, but it's unclear if it's the full suite of CPUs in that series. The manual and ECS' online resources are specific to indicate that the CPU's and memory is what they tested, so other stuff could very well be compatible, it's just unclear. When I was working with Win 98 on this build, I originally had 512mb of Micron DDR-400 and there were a lot of instability problems with it. I bought it without looking at the memory first. This is why I'm leaning towards the E4600, however if any of you know for sure that the E6600 or the E6700 will work on this board then let me know.

I'm still early in this win 2000 install and I only have SP4 and the ATI driver installed for the X800XL, however I'm having some issues with the ATI Catalyst software. It won't launch and it errors out saying it can't find a specific .dll file. The driver seems to be operating just fine though. Anyhow, I still need to test the X800XL's performance. I don't have any games on this machine yet.

I have the SB Audigy 2 ZS installed in that bottom slot. No driver installed yet.

Reply 5 of 5, by realGoldenRod

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As for stuff I want to run, I'm limited to PC CD-ROM only on this rig, as my optical drive is an IDE CD-ROM drive. No DVD. But the games I have are AoE II, SW Galactic Battlegrounds, COD 1 and 2, Diablo 2, Star Trek Elite Force 1 & 2, Star Craft Ver. 1.05, Kings Quest and I want to see if Heavy Gear 1 & 2 will run on this. In a general sense, mostly games from before the "Games for Windows Live" era. I also plan to try older interactive CD-ROM stuff like Magic School Bus, Reader Rabbit, Super Solvers and so on. Those were stuff I grew up on back in 1st and 2nd grade. At the very least try to load the ISOs and see if it works. I can do some of that on my XP rig already.