RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-01-10, 10:21:

songoffall wrote on 2025-01-10, 09:54:

my XP PC is a Core2Quad Q9400 with GeForce 8800GT and after that beast ran Oblivion with highest settings in 1080p without breaking a sweat, I knew I had reached my sweet spot.

Certainly that's a beast PC for XP. From what I have been told in this forum though, the sweet spot is actually the GPU gen below, as some Unrealengine-based games stutter under XP with nVidia 8000 series and later. This was the primary reason for me adding a 7900 GTX machine to my collection. Obviously performance is slower the 8800 GTS 512 that I was going to use though. But if you don't play those games, then it's great.

That's interesting. Is it UE1, UE2 or UE3 games?

songoffall wrote on 2025-01-10, 11:59:

That's interesting. Is it UE1, UE2 or UE3 games?

To quote joseph-joestar in my build thread where he informed me of this:

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2024-12-27, 13:25:

Most games that have issues with unified shaders were released before 2006, so they should run well on that Athlon 64. To be honest, I don't know of that many, aside from Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and possibly Star Wars: Republic Commando, though I haven't personally tested the latter. Per this PC Gaming Wiki article, it has issues with bump mapping on newer GPUs.

There's also this micro stutter issue with Unreal Engine 2 games when using GeForce 8 and later cards under WinXP.

So, it is supposed to be in Unreal 2 engine games. But I seem to get it in Unreal 1 also.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-01-10, 13:38:

To quote joseph-joestar in my build thread where he informed me of this: […]
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songoffall wrote on 2025-01-10, 11:59:

That's interesting. Is it UE1, UE2 or UE3 games?

To quote joseph-joestar in my build thread where he informed me of this:

Joseph_Joestar wrote on 2024-12-27, 13:25:

Most games that have issues with unified shaders were released before 2006, so they should run well on that Athlon 64. To be honest, I don't know of that many, aside from Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and possibly Star Wars: Republic Commando, though I haven't personally tested the latter. Per this PC Gaming Wiki article, it has issues with bump mapping on newer GPUs.

There's also this micro stutter issue with Unreal Engine 2 games when using GeForce 8 and later cards under WinXP.

So, it is supposed to be in Unreal 2 engine games. But I seem to get it in Unreal 1 also.

Interesting. I'm not getting any visible stutters in Unreal Tournament 2004, not sure I have other UE2 games. As for UE1 games, they are on my 98SE builds.

Bishamon wrote on 2025-01-07, 18:43:

This is my current Windows 98 build. I had originally planned to get my old Athlon 650 going from the year 2000 (minus the Voodoo 5 5500, which I am too concerned about to use), but the motherboard turned out to be no longer functional, as was the power supply, as well as the CD-RW drive, so I decided to target 1999 and bought some new parts. The case is still my original from back then, as is the hard drive (with a fresh Windows 98 SE install), and the four disc CD-ROM drive is one I used breifly in 1996 or 97 and forgot that I had. I bought a 'new' motherboard, power supply, a PIII 550MHz processor, and a Voodoo3 3000 to replace the one I lost (probably still in a box somewhere 😉), and I added the internal Zip drive (because I always wanted one - still have my old external model, but I needed something to use up one of the available drive bays 😉).

Add a 5.25 floppy drive just for the hell of it. Would look epic in that case. Maybe a second optical drive too or DVD rw
W build btw

Hey, after a long abstinence here are some pictures of all of my working retro rigs 😀 they are all covered in stickers (don't judge) and their network names are all from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

No. 1: "DOS/Early 3D" with Windows 95 OSR2.1 - it's supposed to cover 1990 to 1997/8 ish. Thats inside:
- AMD K6 266 (the B-Version with lower Voltage requirement), can be downgraded to a Pentium MMX 166
- Gigabyte GA-586TX3 (Intel i430TX): the most reliable and hassle-free Socket 7-Mainboard I have ever had the joy to work with
- 64 MB EDO-RAM (60ns)
- ELSA Winner2000AVI-3D (S3-VirGE VX) 4 MB RAM (great compatibility)
- Guillemot MaxiGamer 3D II 8 MB (3Dfx SST2) for 3D-acceleration
- ESS AudioDrive 1869F with a Serdaco X2GS / I have a few other options (Audician 32, AD1816-S) but I love these ESS ISA cards
- an OPTI USB 1.1 Card
- a HDD Bay with a CF Card Adapter, a 40x CD-ROM made by LiteOn and a 3,2 GB Seagate Medalist for Storage
- 200 Watt Astec ATX PSU with AT-Adapter
- 3com 100 Mbit NIC
Net-Name: DORFL

No. 2 "Millennium" with Windows 98 SE - it's for everything from 1998 to 2001; I have found this Siemens Xpert 8600 in an attic above a garage, where it had spent 18 years when I've found it. It still works perfectly, but has seen a few major upgrades
- Intel Pentium III 700 Coppermine Slot 1 (FSB 100) / Originally had: Pentium III 500 (Katmai)
- Aopen AX6BC-EZ (Intel i440ZX): a reliable motherboard with no nonsense, but an awkward layout
- 192 MB SD-RAM PC100 / Originally had:64 MB
- Guillemot Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 64 MB (Kyro 2) / Originally had: ATI Xpert 128 (Rage128GL)
- Creative SB Live! 5.1 SB100 / Originally had: Terratec Promedia PCI128 (ESS Solo1-S)
- Promise Ultra100 TX2
- CF Card adapter at the back, 48x CD-ROM made by LiteOn, 20 GB Seagate U10, 15 GB IBM DeathStar DTLA-307015 (works perfectly, firmware is updated, LOVE that thing)
- 300 Watt Delta PSU (that's from the time my former Voodoo 5 5500 refused to work with any other (otherwise perfectly functional) PSU; originally with a 110 Watt Astec PSU, that I've found a 1:1 replacement for in the street)
- 3com 100 Mbit NIC
Net-Name: COHEN

No. 3 "early XP" with Windows XP Professional - it's what I would have liked, when I first got into PC-building
- AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (T-Bred)
- ECS K7S5A Pro 5.0 (really underrated board, and it's purple)
- 1 GB DDR-400 RAM
- MSI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB
- Creative SB Audigy 2 (non ZS)
- 3com 100 Mbit NIC
- DVD-RW and DVD-ROM by LG, 80 and 200 GB WD Caviar SE HardDrives (found in the street, work perfectly)
- 400 Watt Listan Be Quiet! BQT-P4-400S PSU (found it in the street, works perfectly)
- Case: Chieftec Dragon CS601 in dark grey with RGB (one red, one green one blue LED fan 😜)
Net-Name: DRUMKNOTT

No. 4 "late XP, Dualcore" with Windows XP Professional - it's the first PC I have restored from a used PC I got from a neighbor at the time; my first own PC
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (originally with a A 64 3000+ and a boxed cooler, still have it)
- Asus A8N-SLI (originally with an Asus A8V-E SE that died of the cap plague)
- 2 GB Corsair XMS DDR-400 RAM (originally with 2x 512 Kingston KVR Value DDR400)
- Asus Geforce 9600 GT 512 MB PCI-E (my only NV-Card in active use; originally had a Sapphire Radeon X800 GTO, that I still have)
- Creative SB X-Fi XtremeMusic
- Digitus Wifi-Card
- Enermax EG365-AX 24Pin (my Original from 2006!)
- No Name black and silver Midi Tower (my Original from 2006!)
Net-Name: RINCEWIND

the other ones are a little too modern for this forum and this post is long enough 😀

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-14, 14:34:

Hey, after a long abstinence here are some pictures of all of my working retro rigs 😀

Nicely spread selection of PCs. Should be able to play almost any game on those. Are you using a KVM for them? What monitor do you use?

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-14, 14:34:

No. 3 "early XP" with Windows XP Professional - it's what I would have liked, when I first got into PC-building - AMD Athlon XP […]
Show full quote

No. 3 "early XP" with Windows XP Professional - it's what I would have liked, when I first got into PC-building
- AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (T-Bred)
- ECS K7S5A Pro 5.0 (really underrated board, and it's purple)
- 1 GB DDR-400 RAM
- MSI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB
- Creative SB Audigy 2 (non ZS)
- 3com 100 Mbit NIC
- DVD-RW and DVD-ROM by LG, 80 and 200 GB WD Caviar SE HardDrives (found in the street, work perfectly)
- 400 Watt Listan Be Quiet! BQT-P4-400S PSU (found it in the street, works perfectly)
- Case: Chieftec Dragon CS601 in dark grey
Net-Name: DRUMKNOTT

they are all cool but i like the one above, something about that era when builds became "easier" but still (in retrospect) belonging to that 32 bit time. i especially like that some components are found in the street - rescued and put to good use 😀

Really good selection of hardware! I like that Siemens case, but my favorite PC of those is No. 1, since it seems it would be the most fun to use.

Tbh, I am the KVM switch 😅 I use a Dell UltraSharp 2007fp for Systems it likes (all the old ones except for the Siemens). The other one is an Asus 249Q (???) 1080p 144HZ, Freesync capable thing.

I am rarely gaming tbh. It was fun building them though 😁

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-01-14, 16:20:

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-14, 14:34:

Hey, after a long abstinence here are some pictures of all of my working retro rigs 😀

Nicely spread selection of PCs. Should be able to play almost any game on those. Are you using a KVM for them? What monitor do you use?

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-14, 14:34:

Hey, after a long abstinence here are some pictures of all of my working retro rigs :-) they are all covered in stickers (don't […]
Show full quote

Hey, after a long abstinence here are some pictures of all of my working retro rigs 😀 they are all covered in stickers (don't judge) and their network names are all from Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels.

No. 1: "DOS/Early 3D" with Windows 95 OSR2.1 - it's supposed to cover 1990 to 1997/8 ish. Thats inside:
- AMD K6 266 (the B-Version with lower Voltage requirement), can be downgraded to a Pentium MMX 166
- Gigabyte GA-586TX3 (Intel i430TX): the most reliable and hassle-free Socket 7-Mainboard I have ever had the joy to work with
- 64 MB EDO-RAM (60ns)
- ELSA Winner2000AVI-3D (S3-VirGE VX) 4 MB RAM (great compatibility)
- Guillemot MaxiGamer 3D II 8 MB (3Dfx SST2) for 3D-acceleration
- ESS AudioDrive 1869F with a Serdaco X2GS / I have a few other options (Audician 32, AD1816-S) but I love these ESS ISA cards
- an OPTI USB 1.1 Card
- a HDD Bay with a CF Card Adapter, a 40x CD-ROM made by LiteOn and a 3,2 GB Seagate Medalist for Storage
- 200 Watt Astec ATX PSU with AT-Adapter
- 3com 100 Mbit NIC
Net-Name: DORFL

No. 2 "Millennium" with Windows 98 SE - it's for everything from 1998 to 2001; I have found this Siemens Xpert 8600 in an attic above a garage, where it had spent 18 years when I've found it. It still works perfectly, but has seen a few major upgrades
- Intel Pentium III 700 Coppermine Slot 1 (FSB 100) / Originally had: Pentium III 500 (Katmai)
- Aopen AX6BC-EZ (Intel i440ZX): a reliable motherboard with no nonsense, but an awkward layout
- 192 MB SD-RAM PC100 / Originally had:64 MB
- Guillemot Hercules 3D Prophet 4500 64 MB (Kyro 2) / Originally had: ATI Xpert 128 (Rage128GL)
- Creative SB Live! 5.1 SB100 / Originally had: Terratec Promedia PCI128 (ESS Solo1-S)
- Promise Ultra100 TX2
- CF Card adapter at the back, 48x CD-ROM made by LiteOn, 20 GB Seagate U10, 15 GB IBM DeathStar DTLA-307015 (works perfectly, firmware is updated, LOVE that thing)
- 300 Watt Delta PSU (that's from the time my former Voodoo 5 5500 refused to work with any other (otherwise perfectly functional) PSU)
- 3com 100 Mbit NIC
Net-Name: COHEN

No. 3 "early XP" with Windows XP Professional - it's what I would have liked, when I first got into PC-building
- AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (T-Bred)
- ECS K7S5A Pro 5.0 (really underrated board, and it's purple)
- 1 GB DDR-400 RAM
- MSI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB
- Creative SB Audigy 2 (non ZS)
- 3com 100 Mbit NIC
- DVD-RW and DVD-ROM by LG, 80 and 200 GB WD Caviar SE HardDrives (found in the street, work perfectly)
- 400 Watt Listan Be Quiet! BQT-P4-400S PSU (found it in the street, works perfectly)
- Case: Chieftec Dragon CS601 in dark grey
Net-Name: DRUMKNOTT

No. 4 "late XP, Dualcore" with Windows XP Professional - it's the first PC I have restored from a used PC I got from a neighbor at the time; my first own PC
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
- Asus A8N-SLI
- 2 GB Corsair XMS DDR-400 RAM
- Asus Geforce 9600 GT 512 MB PCI-E (my only NV-Card in active use)
- Creative SB X-Fi XtremeMusic
- Digitus Wifi-Card
- Enermax EG365-AX 24Pin
Net-Name: RINCEWIND

the other ones are a little too modern for this forum and this post is long enough 😀

I have one of those purple ECS Socket A boards, ECS KT600-A in my case. Has a bulging cap, but otherwise completely functional. Mine is AGP, so it would be a nice pair with a purple PNY Verto 4200Ti, if I ever track one:

what a beauty of a graphics card <3

devius wrote on 2025-01-14, 21:42:

Really good selection of hardware! I like that Siemens case, but my favorite PC of those is No. 1, since it seems it would be the most fun to use.

Thank you 😁 that PC is fun to use but it was a hell of a lot of work to get it to that state. It wasn't faulty hardware though; I spent years figuring out it was borked combinations of some hardware and the OS that was making it unreliable. It was the same struggle with that Siemens Tower. The Siemens case also has one glaring fault: it has a vertically mounted PSU. You can't imagine how sad I was, when I found that none of the existing Slotkets for P3s fit under this PSU! ;'-(

But I wouldn't replace this tower even if I could: the way I found it and the way I have found case specific replacement parts (case lock, complete front panel) which are complete unobtainium together with a 400 MHz Pentium II accidentally in the street - that's just unique.

gerry wrote on 2025-01-14, 16:38:

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-14, 14:34:

No. 3 "early XP" with Windows XP Professional - it's what I would have liked, when I first got into PC-building - AMD Athlon XP […]
Show full quote

No. 3 "early XP" with Windows XP Professional - it's what I would have liked, when I first got into PC-building
- AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (T-Bred)
- ECS K7S5A Pro 5.0 (really underrated board, and it's purple)
- 1 GB DDR-400 RAM
- MSI Radeon 9800 Pro 128 MB
- Creative SB Audigy 2 (non ZS)
- 3com 100 Mbit NIC
- DVD-RW and DVD-ROM by LG, 80 and 200 GB WD Caviar SE HardDrives (found in the street, work perfectly)
- 400 Watt Listan Be Quiet! BQT-P4-400S PSU (found it in the street, works perfectly)
- Case: Chieftec Dragon CS601 in dark grey
Net-Name: DRUMKNOTT

they are all cool but i like the one above, something about that era when builds became "easier" but still (in retrospect) belonging to that 32 bit time. i especially like that some components are found in the street - rescued and put to good use 😀

yeah, I love that one. It has a special place because it's from the time I really started reading PC magazines and got interested in PC building- and it's a Chieftec Dragon that even has RGB: it has one red, one green and one blue LED fan 😁

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-15, 17:43:

what a beauty of a graphics card <3

If you find one before I do, you can have my AGP motherboard for a build 😁 Sadly, I wasn't able to track a purple sound card or at least confirm that one exists.

songoffall wrote on 2025-01-15, 20:24:

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-15, 17:43:

what a beauty of a graphics card <3

If you find one before I do, you can have my AGP motherboard for a build 😁 Sadly, I wasn't able to track a purple sound card or at least confirm that one exists.

wow, that's really nice. But I cross my fingers, you're going to find one 😀 and my wife would not be too pleased if I built another retro PC^^ The 6 PCs around my desk cover all PC needs I have. I have never seen a purple sound card... maybe some ultra obscure add-on card of some enthusiast mainboard was purple but other than that I only know black, green and yellow for sound cards...

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-16, 20:33:

songoffall wrote on 2025-01-15, 20:24:

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-15, 17:43:

what a beauty of a graphics card <3

If you find one before I do, you can have my AGP motherboard for a build 😁 Sadly, I wasn't able to track a purple sound card or at least confirm that one exists.

wow, that's really nice. But I cross my fingers, you're going to find one 😀 and my wife would not be too pleased if I built another retro PC^^ The 6 PCs around my desk cover all PC needs I have. I have never seen a purple sound card... maybe some ultra obscure add-on card of some enthusiast mainboard was purple but other than that I only know black, green and yellow for sound cards...

I've also seen red, blue and white cards.

AudioTrak Prodigy 7.1 is red, and I have a Chinese card with ESS Solo-1 which is also red.
ESI Juli@, ESI Maya44 and maybe more ESI cards are white.
M-Audio Audiophile 24/96, M-Audio Audiophile 192, Yamaha XG YMF724F-V are blue.

songoffall wrote on 2025-01-17, 00:41:

I've also seen red, blue and white cards. […]
Show full quote

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-16, 20:33:

songoffall wrote on 2025-01-15, 20:24:

If you find one before I do, you can have my AGP motherboard for a build 😁 Sadly, I wasn't able to track a purple sound card or at least confirm that one exists.

wow, that's really nice. But I cross my fingers, you're going to find one 😀 and my wife would not be too pleased if I built another retro PC^^ The 6 PCs around my desk cover all PC needs I have. I have never seen a purple sound card... maybe some ultra obscure add-on card of some enthusiast mainboard was purple but other than that I only know black, green and yellow for sound cards...

I've also seen red, blue and white cards.

AudioTrak Prodigy 7.1 is red, and I have a Chinese card with ESS Solo-1 which is also red.
ESI Juli@, ESI Maya44 and maybe more ESI cards are white.
M-Audio Audiophile 24/96, M-Audio Audiophile 192, Yamaha XG YMF724F-V are blue.

you're right... I even knew there were red ones^^ but white and blue? that would look awesome with a black motherboard like a few intel boards I have seen: black pcb and anodized blue coolers *drool* I have to stay strong and resist the urge to go scour ebay xD

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-17, 13:05:

songoffall wrote on 2025-01-17, 00:41:

I've also seen red, blue and white cards. […]
Show full quote

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-16, 20:33:

wow, that's really nice. But I cross my fingers, you're going to find one 😀 and my wife would not be too pleased if I built another retro PC^^ The 6 PCs around my desk cover all PC needs I have. I have never seen a purple sound card... maybe some ultra obscure add-on card of some enthusiast mainboard was purple but other than that I only know black, green and yellow for sound cards...

I've also seen red, blue and white cards.

AudioTrak Prodigy 7.1 is red, and I have a Chinese card with ESS Solo-1 which is also red.
ESI Juli@, ESI Maya44 and maybe more ESI cards are white.
M-Audio Audiophile 24/96, M-Audio Audiophile 192, Yamaha XG YMF724F-V are blue.

you're right... I even knew there were red ones^^ but white and blue? that would look awesome with a black motherboard like a few intel boards I have seen: black pcb and anodized blue coolers *drool* I have to stay strong and resist the urge to go scour ebay xD

The flesh is weak. Perhaps you should give in to the temptation 😁

songoffall wrote on 2025-01-17, 14:03:

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-17, 13:05:

songoffall wrote on 2025-01-17, 00:41:

I've also seen red, blue and white cards. […]
Show full quote

I've also seen red, blue and white cards.

AudioTrak Prodigy 7.1 is red, and I have a Chinese card with ESS Solo-1 which is also red.
ESI Juli@, ESI Maya44 and maybe more ESI cards are white.
M-Audio Audiophile 24/96, M-Audio Audiophile 192, Yamaha XG YMF724F-V are blue.

you're right... I even knew there were red ones^^ but white and blue? that would look awesome with a black motherboard like a few intel boards I have seen: black pcb and anodized blue coolers *drool* I have to stay strong and resist the urge to go scour ebay xD

The flesh is weak. Perhaps you should give in to the temptation 😁

well my flesh has been weak: I have found a Diamond Monster 3D Rev. F for 35 € including shipping and I couldn't say no xD piece of history that my collection misses, even though I have no real use for it^^

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-19, 10:24:

songoffall wrote on 2025-01-17, 14:03:

Kampfkoloss wrote on 2025-01-17, 13:05:

you're right... I even knew there were red ones^^ but white and blue? that would look awesome with a black motherboard like a few intel boards I have seen: black pcb and anodized blue coolers *drool* I have to stay strong and resist the urge to go scour ebay xD

The flesh is weak. Perhaps you should give in to the temptation 😁

well my flesh has been weak: I have found a Diamond Monster 3D Rev. F for 35 € including shipping and I couldn't say no xD piece of history that my collection misses, even though I have no real use for it^^

Congrats, I've been looking for one of those for a reasonable price for ages 😁 for a P2 build.