Nothing wrong with the CT3600. It is just an AWE32 with no onboard RAM. Once you add RAM, it will be no different than most other AWE32 cards with CQM.

Also, no mods for 98SE needed for faster CPUs.. even with a C2D running at 3.33Ghz it works just fine. I haven't tried higher yet.

Just don't use the unofficial service pack. The newer ones are junk and screw up a lot of stuff.

Use the official February 2004 update CD and then any specific fixes for other stuff that you need:
http://www.vogonsdrivers.com/getfile.php?file … =873&menustate=

remove this

Those unofficial service packs also have made multiple 98 installs I've had oeuvre the years fail or become unstable. I don't even bother with them anymore either.

oeuvre wrote:

Those unofficial service packs also have made multiple 98 installs I've had oeuvre the years fail or become unstable. I don't even bother with them anymore either.

Ultimate Windows 98 Boot CD is much better than those. Doesn't mess up anything, has 98lite integrated and even support for a lot of cards out of the box (including Voodoo3)

I agree with the thoughts on the unofficial service packs. I just don't bother - introduced too many complications (and bugs!).

As for the hardware, sounds like a great build. My retro "daily driver" is a Pentium E5800 with 2GB RAM and a 6800 Ultra. I do have to run rloew's VMM patch for the amount of memory installed, but it's as rock solid as Windows 98 SE gets. Don't fear the RAM or the clock speed.

PcBytes wrote:

Ultimate Windows 98 Boot CD is much better than those. Doesn't mess up anything, has 98lite integrated and even support for a lot of cards out of the box (including Voodoo3)

That's what I'll be using. I found that the unofficial service packs are rather stable if you know what your doing, you cant just check everything off and install every part of it.

Anyway the seller sad the AGP port is bad and caned the sale. I'm now looking for a different 478 board with ISA.

edit:
Got an Advantech AIMB-742, its a much better board with 800mhz fsb and ddr400 support. also has a much better isa bridge chip.

Very interesting board !!! 😎

From my point of view, it makes much more sense to build a high-speed w98 PC like this instead of running win98 on dual PII / PIII or dual-Xeon setups.

The lack of smp suport in 9x sucks.
Advantech makes some really good bords. I have one in my new system.

Mr. horse wrote:

The lack of smp suport in 9x sucks.
Advantech makes some really good bords. I have one in my new system.

That's what Win2k is for, it plays 95% of Win9x games fine and is more stable the 98Se will ever be.
I spend more time gaming in 2000 now, but do duel boot to Win98 for that other 5% or just when I want the complete "retroness"

Also own a 6800 Ultra in my Socket 478 "Win9x Ultimate Build" Honestly apart from bragging rights and your bank balance the GT offers no difference for Win9x gaming

Yes, 2k is 100 time more stable and usable. But it does lack support for some things, like drivers for some sound cards and dx suport for voodoo1 and 2 cards. Dos app support is not very good in 2k either.

The cpu block has arrived and its in amazing shape for its age. I believe the cpu-330 came out in 2007? Aside from two small scratches on the side of the block its spotless. It has everything that came with it new aspect the box.

I got the CPU, ram and PSU today.
The PSU looks new. But I opened it up to be safe. I put new thermal compound on the heatsinks and put a new better fan in it. All the caps looks good too.

Received the ram for the sound blaster and the 6800gt. The 6800 was shiped in a paper bag and was damaged in shipping. 😵
Who ships video cards in a paper bag?
Anyway I bought a 6800 ultra OC. Hopefully it arrives with out damage.

I recived the sound blaster and pci sata raid card today. Hopefully the raid card will work in 98. It did state 98 suport, but the chipset supports 98.

I got the motherboard and it sure is a nice one.
Its a latter version and suports Prescott CPUs out of the box. The VRM heat sink is soldered on even.

I also dug through all my heatsinks and found a few stick on heat sinks I can use for the build.
Ill start to post photos soon.

Cool build! Would love to see some pics.

What ISA bridge chip is on the new board? IIRC the ITE one was the one to have?