First post, by f1etch
Hi
I have been trying to sort out my vintage computer stuff recently due to moving to a smaller house, and would appreciate any suggestions anyone has on how to make the most of what I have, and maybe reduce how many different machines I have...
I enjoy old DOS games, like battle isle (1,2,3, Incubation), Daggerfall, Heretic, TIE Fighter/X-Wing etc
I also enjoy old Windows games like NWN, Morrowind, Diablo, Diablo2, KOTOR etc
I have a bunch of old systems, graphics cards and soundcards, and am trying to find the best combinations, in the fewest machines...
I could really use 2 machines for most games, as multiplayer is always more fun!
Here's what I currently have to work with...
AGP Systems...
Asus P2B-B (Baby AT) BX100 based, Slot1 P3-650 - Nice quiet machine, oldest non-laptop I have
Biostar M7MIA-R v2.0, AthlonXP 1900 - My favourite, DDR ram and an ISA slot... Currently working well, although expect the capacitors will go one day...
Epox 8K7A+, Althon XP 2400 - Still going although again, capacitors will probably go one day...
ECS K7S5A, Althon 1200 - Boots but seems unstable, caps are bulging a bit, could be on it's way out.
HP D230 MT - 845GE chipset, P4 2.8GHz DDR333- Should be 98SE compatible, need to try it, nice and quiet for a P4
HP XW4100 - 875P chipset, P4 3.0GHz, DDR400 - Same as above, more powerful, SATA HDD support, but very noisy.
Graphics cards...
Voodoo1
2x Voodoo2, (with the SLI cable)
Voodoo3 2000 PCI
Voodoo3 3500 AGP (Compaq OEM variety, not the TV)
Voodoo3 3500 TV AGP
ATi AIW 128 PCI (Rage 128 based)
Radeon 9700 AGP
Radeon 9700 Pro AGP
GeForce 6200 AGP (works in the P2B-B)
GeForce 6600GT AGP
Sound Cards...
2x AWE32
1x AWE64 GOLD
2x Live5.1 PCI
1x Audigy2 ZS PCI
I think I'd like to get down to 3 machines...
BX100 - Most retro for oldest stuff
M7MIA-R - Best machine with an ISA slot for the AWE64 Gold
One of the HP P4s - Best machine that can still run 98SE, but could probably run XP & Win7 32bit as well...
I do have some very old Thinkpad Laptops, (Pentium133 through to Pentium-M 1.7GHz) which I sometimes use for Retro Gaming on the go, but prefer the desktops for 3DFX, AWE soundcards etc.
So, if you had that set of ingredients, how would you set it up?
Thanks in advance for any advice / suggestions!
F1etch