Presumably you've tried things like:

- using a driver cleaner and/or ensuring all 3dfx/voodoo/glide files are removed before installing other graphics card drivers
- checking for resource conflicts
- removing the NIC and/or sound card
- reinstalling windows from scratch

BX boards are popular here, Voodoo 3 is a nice card, and that es1868 gets a good writeup round here too. Think there are some issues with bx boards and voodoo 1's, not v3's though. I have had problems with some nics on some boards.

Lockups on accessing sound effects sounds like a sound card resource not set right - eg. game set to use 220/1/5 when the sound blaster is on 240/3/7 etc.

On NFSIII Make sure you have the voodoo 3 patch and then set the registry thrash driver to "voodoo2". I'm also running a modified voodoo2a.dll driver of 2000.10.23.1736 which is said to be pretty fast.

Svenne wrote:

Speaking of the sound, I can't get sound effects to work in Tyrian 2000. FM music works fine, but when the setup tries to initialize the sound effect the computer just hardlocks. Is there maybe something wrong with the sound card?

Are you playing the DOS version or the Windows version? If you're playing the DOS version, which sound driver are you using? If the game doesn't have an ESS Audiodrive driver, you should be using the Sound Blaster Pro driver. Either that or you've got a IRQ or DMA conflict.

ratfink wrote:

Presumably you've tried things like:

- using a driver cleaner and/or ensuring all 3dfx/voodoo/glide files are removed before installing other graphics card drivers
- checking for resource conflicts

Done that, didn't work.

ratfink wrote:

- removing the NIC and/or sound card

I had quite some trouble fitting the NIC, as the backplate is too thick; I'm afraid I might break something if I try to remove it.

ratfink wrote:

- reinstalling windows from scratch

Haven't had time to do this, as it's a rather lengthy and tedious process. However, since easter break begins today I'll give it a shot if nothing else works.

ratfink wrote:

Lockups on accessing sound effects sounds like a sound card resource not set right - eg. game set to use 220/1/5 when the sound blaster is on 240/3/7 etc.

I've already checked that, and everything seems to be fine.

RogueTrip2012 wrote:

On NFSIII Make sure you have the voodoo 3 patch and then set the registry thrash driver to "voodoo2". I'm also running a modified voodoo2a.dll driver of 2000.10.23.1736 which is said to be pretty fast.

Registry thrash driver? Unfortuneately I have never heard of that one. Would you mind giving me a bit more info please?

Svenne wrote:

• There's weird crackling sound artifacts in Carmageddon II. It's rather annoying, to say the least.

In my experience this is "normal" as it has always happened to me. Sound will work for a little bit, then most effects will stop, and you'll be left with crackling? I wish I knew the cause.

Sorry about the massive necropost, but I just wanted to share some updates.

* Need for Speed 3 now works in Glide mode. Turns out I just forgot to copy a file. Oops!
* I also re-installed the sound drivers, and now the popping in Carmageddon 2 is gone, and sound now works in Jazz Jackrabbit.
* I checked the CD Audio cable, and found out it was wired incorrectly. Luckily I had a spare which I installed, and now CD music works, except for in C2.

I'll update the OP and add some benchmark results soon. Pictures won't be coming until I get a better case.

However, I still have some questions I'd like to have answered:
* How fast should I expect this machine to be? I play NFS 3 maxed out at 1024x768x16, and when I drive through dust clouds, the framerate drops to a crawl. I also get stuttering issues in Carmageddon 2. Am I expecting too much from this build?
* Even though sound in DOS somewhat works, I get crackling sounds in Tyrian 2000. It frankly sounds like crap. I've checked the resource settings, and they seem to be alright.
* I'm also not too fond of the cloned OPL chip; while it sounds okay in some games, the differences become very noticeable in games that depend on FM synthesis for sound effects. Stunts is a good example of this.

I also want to add a wavetable card, specifically a DB50XG/DB60XG, but the cheapest ones I can find are $20 + shipping. Since there are several Yamaha YMF724's with SB-Link connectors for much less, would it be better to just get one of these + an SB-Link cable instead?

Speaking of SB-Link cables, does anyone know where I can buy one, or alternatively, how I can make one?

I'm also thinking about upgrading the CPU to something a bit faster; I've heard that Carmageddon 2 is quite taxing on the CPU, and I thought getting a faster one might improve performance. I can't find any cheap and fast slot 1 P3's, but there are several cheap slockets around, and I have a 1,2 GHz Tualatin Celeron which I think either has an adapter board or is pin modded (it's mounted on an Apollo Pro133A-based board, which I don't think is compatible with Tualatin CPU's). Would a slocket work with one of these adapters?

I'd also like to thank you guys for the advice you've given so far. This forum is awesome!