My two cents.....

Go for a 440BX chipset, from one of the good brands. Something like Asus P2B, Asus P3B (the models with ISA slot) Intel SE440BX or just read this review/article from TomsHardware: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/review-sl … chipset,67.html

Why not 820 chipset? Well.... You will kind of like give up ISA slots. As I am not aware of any 820 that has them.
I have, however, one such board in my collection. An Intel-VC820 board.
The bad news about this board is that it is slow compared to most of the 440BX based boards.
As it is using RD-Ram and not PC-100 ram. The reason is complicated, so the short answer is memory timings.
(other factors play in, though the short answer are still timings)
The good part about the VC820 board, is that it is really stable and it has PC-Pci/SB-Link header.
That header is used for soundcards, such as an YMF-724 based card, in order to compensate for no ISA slot.

On the dual-CPU subject. Then it is not good for anything Win9x stuff. It is for server stuff.
It can be used for heavy productivity software too, and for that you need to have an OS that supports it.
Once you need dual CPU for gaming, then you need more horsepower than P-II/P-III can deliver.
Shure there are a few games that supports dual stuff on Slot1 platform. They are just not that many games.
(Or so have I been told)

luckybob wrote:

very good, but win98 sometimes has problems with more than 512mb of ram. if you have issues, drop down to 512mb and try again.

if you TRUELY want to dive into the deep end of slot 1 dual cpu boards: http://www.ebay.com/itm/121942662629

You lured me 😵
I dived the deepest ever on eBay and couldnt resist buying it. Im a sucker for serverboards and a dual slot 1 With AGP and ISA?! Hell Yeah! Always moaned about my old Compaq Proliants that all are ISA/EISA and or PCI/PCI-X. Maybe i now can get rid of my Tyan Tomcat dual socket 7 board thats a useless, but rare oddity for me.

@Scraphoarder

As long as you put 8gb of ram and 2x 1ghz cpus in that thing, then post pictures, i will be happy.

luckybob wrote:

@Scraphoarder

As long as you put 8gb of ram and 2x 1ghz cpus in that thing, then post pictures, i will be happy.

I will try, just have to find a case that it fit into. Have two Slot 1 1ghz Coppermines and think i have some 1gb sd ram sticks from recycled Proliant 3000s. Hopefully they will fit?

Wow! There is a lot to the Slot 1 system. If I can save up the money, I will try to get one of those crazy boards you guys have shown me. Maybe I'll look into Slot 2 as well!

Jupiter-18 wrote:

Wow! There is a lot to the Slot 1 system. If I can save up the money, I will try to get one of those crazy boards you guys have shown me. Maybe I'll look into Slot 2 as well!

Got a slot 2 rig in progress but slot 2 xeon is a real money pit and board selection is the worst of it. Expect to cough up anywhere from $125 to $200 before you even get around to buying the case and power supply unless you happen to find a good deal at the right time, avoid buying oem boards at all costs. Most slot 2 boards top out between 550mhz and 700mhz but a few rare ones will take up to 900mhz just fine so you can start lusting after those 900mhz 2MB pentium 3 xeons (prices for these tend to be ridiculously low sometimes in the US).

nforce4max wrote:

Got a slot 2 rig in progress but slot 2 xeon is a real money pit and board selection is the worst of it. Expect to cough up anywhere from $125 to $200 before you even get around to buying the case and power supply unless you happen to find a good deal at the right time, avoid buying oem boards at all costs. Most slot 2 boards top out between 550mhz and 700mhz but a few rare ones will take up to 900mhz just fine so you can start lusting after those 900mhz 2MB pentium 3 xeons (prices for these tend to be ridiculously low sometimes in the US).

Then Slot 2 will be a build to look forward to further in the future! So glad I found this forum!

Honestly if someone offered me $1000 cash for my slot-2 setup. I would still turn them away. I might think about it for a few seconds, but I don't see myself letting mine go ever.

Would it be safe to assume that a Slot 1 build would be well suited to workstation graphics? Especially a dual-cpu setup? If so, what are some retro workstation GPUs?

Well, first gen Quadros were already around then. Quadro 2 can also be used as a replacement for GF2, with same DirectX/D3D support in addition to optimized OpenGL drivers for specific apps.

Historically speaking, affordable x86 Wintel workstations drastically reduced the market for expensive SGI machines.

That is a deep rabbit hole friend. I think its best to leave that area alone for now. That said, just have a look here: http://www.wikiwand.com/en/3Dlabs

It would be fun to have a retro CAD workstation. Retro 3D graphics look so cool.

Oxygen were the high-end Quadros of the PPro days... (4-digit MSRP). Fast forward to Wildcat I'm not even sure I ever noticed it then.

So if I did build a Slot 1 or Slot 2 Workstation, I should go with a 3Dlabs Oxygen? What about Diamond FireGL?

Uh... I dunno if you're that dedicated but...
https://www.xicomputer.com/reviews/1998/cadalyst-aug.asp
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3Dlabs-Dynamic-Pict … r-/222168583681
First thing that came in my result, who knows you could find it cheaper

And google this (because localization messes up with usable links): PC Mag 30 Jun 1998 page 191 for a pop-level article on this stuff. Also features the FireGL that you mentioned.

But if you start to go, say, 2003+, Quadros practically ruled them all.

EDIT: the Oxygen 402 is more for a Pentium Pro era (1997 or before), and while yes, you can put in a period-correct FireGL card in a Slot1 build, I doubt these early CAD-oriented cards will have that many other uses. Quadros however, also have good DirectX/D3D support for games, which is why I mentioned it in the first place.

So if I understand it correctly:
3Dlabs - Pentium II
FireGL - Pentium III
Quadro - Pentium 4

You could go team green for a dual CPU system...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Tyan-Computer-S2885AN … ehtBtm6IGhMj6uQ

I'd like to stick with Pentium 4 and older. Basically 2002-03 is my limit. Just how I'd like to keep it.

Well, in that case gdjacobs' suggestion still falls within the timeframe (though s940 Opteron might be late 2003 iirc -- have to check). Opteron makes a much better workstation platform than Pentium 4, and would make a great pair with Quadro FX 3000 (also ~2003). The great news is that those old quadros can be found for dirt cheap. 😉

Ok! Good to know!
So bottom line, what would a dual Slot 1 PC excel at?