Yeah, I've gotta agree that a Pentium 4 and a Geforce 4 Ti really do go well together! Can't say the same for a Geforce 4 Ti and a Pentium 3.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-06-18, 10:23:

Argh, bugger. Of course. You mentioned you have a Cedar Mill model. Overlooked that detail. Ahh, well. I can have a play with the P4Tool at least. And I've always got my main retro rig.

CPUSPD and SETMUL are still useful as they more than one type of throttling options. And CPUSPD can be used with EMM386 enabled whereas P4Tool doesn't work with EMM386 (you need to use an alternative memory manager if you want to enable EMS).

Shponglefan wrote on 2026-06-18, 19:07:

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-06-18, 10:23:

Argh, bugger. Of course. You mentioned you have a Cedar Mill model. Overlooked that detail. Ahh, well. I can have a play with the P4Tool at least. And I've always got my main retro rig.

CPUSPD and SETMUL are still useful as they more than one type of throttling options. And CPUSPD can be used with EMM386 enabled whereas P4Tool doesn't work with EMM386 (you need to use an alternative memory manager if you want to enable EMS).

Yeah, I've used them before. They're okay, particularly CPUSPD, but would have preferred a more 'natural' way of downclocking via the BIOS. Also, with every CPU I've used and every tool I've tried, I've never been able to adjust the multiplier; it's always locked. But thanks for heads-up about the P4Tool and EMS.

Will be looking into doing a dual-boot at some point with XP. Basically because one game just isn't working right under 98. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. It's a buggy game anyway and one I've only played once and it was years ago. Under 98, I can get up to the main menu, but when it tries to play the in-game intro, I just get a black screen. Thinking about it now, it's likely a driver issue. I'm presuming there's a driver for the card for around the time the game released on PC...? But I did try using the unofficial patch, which fixes a number of bugs and crashes. However, that only works with XP and above as it requires the mscoree.dll file.

What I do want to get at some point, is a slightly bigger HDD bay. But is there a specific thing I need to type into eBay...? Do I need to get something specific for a micro ATX case? The current one only has room for 2 HDDs. It'd be nice to get one that holds 3-4. But of course, eventually, I will look into a medium ATX case.

I'm likely going to split my 80GB HDD, which has 98 on, into two partitions - one for 98 and the other for XP. I was messing about with that yesterday using Partition Magic 7. Or would it be recommended to do that via FDISK instead?

Nope. Call of Cthulhu doesn’t even work with the last GeForce 4 Ti driver. So I’ll definitely have to give it a try under XP. It’s likely I’d only be able to play it with one of the 6000 cards.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-06-20, 11:36:

Will be looking into doing a dual-boot at some point with XP. Basically because one game just isn't working right under 98. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. It's a buggy game anyway and one I've only played once and it was years ago. Under 98, I can get up to the main menu, but when it tries to play the in-game intro, I just get a black screen. Thinking about it now, it's likely a driver issue. I'm presuming there's a driver for the card for around the time the game released on PC...? But I did try using the unofficial patch, which fixes a number of bugs and crashes. However, that only works with XP and above as it requires the mscoree.dll file.

What I do want to get at some point, is a slightly bigger HDD bay. But is there a specific thing I need to type into eBay...? Do I need to get something specific for a micro ATX case? The current one only has room for 2 HDDs. It'd be nice to get one that holds 3-4. But of course, eventually, I will look into a medium ATX case.

If you have two HDDs, then I would recommend to install 98 into one of them and XP to the other, you will avoid possible issues with the bootloader.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-06-20, 11:36:

I'm likely going to split my 80GB HDD, which has 98 on, into two partitions - one for 98 and the other for XP. I was messing about with that yesterday using Partition Magic 7. Or would it be recommended to do that via FDISK instead?

FDISK isn't really capable of resizing partitions(At least the Microsoft versions), you would have to start from zero by deleting and re-creating them. Partition Magic 7 should be capable of doing it, as the system is newly installed I assume that you don't have any important data on it, but if you have always backup before resizing partitions.

EDIT: If Partition Magic 7 doesn't work out, as you only have Win9x installed currently which uses the FAT filesystem you can use a Linux boot CD/DVD/USB Stick with GParted to resize the FAT partition (If you don't like the Linux command line, don't worry, it is a GUI application 😁), while Linux still has some rough edges with NTFS volumes(however getting better and better by the year), that will only play part after you have installed WinXP.

MagefromAntares wrote on 2026-06-21, 00:30:

If you have two HDDs, then I would recommend to install 98 into one of them and XP to the other, you will avoid possible issues […]
Show full quote

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-06-20, 11:36:

Will be looking into doing a dual-boot at some point with XP. Basically because one game just isn't working right under 98. Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. It's a buggy game anyway and one I've only played once and it was years ago. Under 98, I can get up to the main menu, but when it tries to play the in-game intro, I just get a black screen. Thinking about it now, it's likely a driver issue. I'm presuming there's a driver for the card for around the time the game released on PC...? But I did try using the unofficial patch, which fixes a number of bugs and crashes. However, that only works with XP and above as it requires the mscoree.dll file.

What I do want to get at some point, is a slightly bigger HDD bay. But is there a specific thing I need to type into eBay...? Do I need to get something specific for a micro ATX case? The current one only has room for 2 HDDs. It'd be nice to get one that holds 3-4. But of course, eventually, I will look into a medium ATX case.

If you have two HDDs, then I would recommend to install 98 into one of them and XP to the other, you will avoid possible issues with the bootloader.

DustyShinigami wrote on 2026-06-20, 11:36:

I'm likely going to split my 80GB HDD, which has 98 on, into two partitions - one for 98 and the other for XP. I was messing about with that yesterday using Partition Magic 7. Or would it be recommended to do that via FDISK instead?

FDISK isn't really capable of resizing partitions(At least the Microsoft versions), you would have to start from zero by deleting and re-creating them. Partition Magic 7 should be capable of doing it, as the system is newly installed I assume that you don't have any important data on it, but if you have always backup before resizing partitions.

EDIT: If Partition Magic 7 doesn't work out, as you only have Win9x installed currently which uses the FAT filesystem you can use a Linux boot CD/DVD/USB Stick with GParted to resize the FAT partition (If you don't like the Linux command line, don't worry, it is a GUI application 😁), while Linux still has some rough edges with NTFS volumes(however getting better and better by the year), that will only play part after you have installed WinXP.

Right, gotcha. Makes sense. This is where I need to get a bigger HDD bay for this tower I have. I only have the two HDDs at the moment - the C drive, which is 80GB, and a D drive for the games, which is only 10GB. And it's almost full already. ^^; This is the bay:

And it slides into two grooves to hold it in place. I imagine I would have to get something specific for this tower...? After all, this was bought as a pre-built Tiny PC back in the earlier 00s, so I imagine it requires custom parts. As I say, a mid-tower is planned, but I kinda have to work with what I have at the moment.

Also, as to Linux, I've never ever used it. I'm a total novice.

I have XP installed on my 10GB drive. It's not big enough, to be honest. But it's okay as a temporary measure. I have a genuine XP Home Edition disc, though I think it may be an OEM version. I noticed it's still asking me to activate Windows in 30 days. I imagine the link for that isn't going to work now anyway, but I'm not connected to the net on any of my retro systems. Is there a workaround for that?

I will likely get a small SSD drive for XP. It does feel a bit slower than 98, which is no surprise considering it’s a bigger OS and requires more disk space.

DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 22:57:

I have XP installed on my 10GB drive. It's not big enough, to be honest. But it's okay as a temporary measure. I have a genuine XP Home Edition disc, though I think it may be an OEM version. I noticed it's still asking me to activate Windows in 30 days. I imagine the link for that isn't going to work now anyway, but I'm not connected to the net on any of my retro systems. Is there a workaround for that?

I will likely get a small SSD drive for XP. It does feel a bit slower than 98, which is no surprise considering it’s a bigger OS and requires more disk space.

You can activate it here if it's a legit retail version using the 14 digit machine ID generated in the activation window when you choose activate via phone
https://aka.ms/aoh

NeoG_ wrote on Yesterday, 23:56:

DustyShinigami wrote on Yesterday, 22:57:

I have XP installed on my 10GB drive. It's not big enough, to be honest. But it's okay as a temporary measure. I have a genuine XP Home Edition disc, though I think it may be an OEM version. I noticed it's still asking me to activate Windows in 30 days. I imagine the link for that isn't going to work now anyway, but I'm not connected to the net on any of my retro systems. Is there a workaround for that?

I will likely get a small SSD drive for XP. It does feel a bit slower than 98, which is no surprise considering it’s a bigger OS and requires more disk space.

You can activate it here if it's a legit retail version using the 14 digit machine ID generated in the activation window when you choose activate via phone
https://aka.ms/aoh

Oh. Great. Thanks. I'm surprised XP is still an option. I imagine before long it probably won't be.

DustyShinigami wrote on Today, 00:00:

Oh. Great. Thanks. I'm surprised XP is still an option. I imagine before long it probably won't be.

The reality is it's a rudimentary but obfustcated mathematical algorithm based on the machine ID that returns another value you type into the computer. It costs them virtually nothing to keep running so it will likely be around for a long time.

Even if it does go offline, the algorithm has been reverse engineered so you can generate the value that microsoft is supposed to give back to you with an app called "telephone activator"

NeoG_ wrote on Today, 00:06:

DustyShinigami wrote on Today, 00:00:

Oh. Great. Thanks. I'm surprised XP is still an option. I imagine before long it probably won't be.

The reality is it's a rudimentary but obfustcated mathematical algorithm based on the machine ID that returns another value you type into the computer. It costs them virtually nothing to keep running so it will likely be around for a long time.

Even if it does go offline, the algorithm has been reverse engineered so you can generate the value that microsoft is supposed to give back to you with an app called "telephone activator"

Ahh, I see. Fair enough. I'm presuming the ID generated is different every install...? Or is it the same? If it's the same, I've made a record of it.

As an aside, it was definitely a driver issue with Call of Cthulhu. The last version for Windows 98 is too old. The latest XP driver - the game works no problem.

DustyShinigami wrote on Today, 00:12:

Ahh, I see. Fair enough. I'm presuming the ID generated is different every install...? Or is it the same? If it's the same, I've made a record of it.

It changes on every install and can even change when swapping out hardware without re-installing and require re-activation