Certainly that's a no expense spared kinda build. Will look forward to seeing it in action. What case are you using?

How about an Athlon XP build with Geforce 4 ti GPU, AWE64 in ISA slot and *maybe* a single Voodoo 2 if you want that for some DOS games? Yes, there are KT133/KT133A boards with an ISA slot. That should handle games further into 00s without losing much compatibility.

plasticfactory wrote on 2026-06-29, 17:01:

I'm looking for any major pitfalls, "upgrades", or recommended sidesteps.

A Tualatin P3 would really complete the 'spared no expense' thing you've got going on here

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2026-06-29, 18:46:

Certainly that's a no expense spared kinda build. Will look forward to seeing it in action. What case are you using?

I suppose that isn't bad feedback! I bought a NOS AOpen BG08

Mike_ wrote on 2026-06-29, 19:11:

How about an Athlon XP build with Geforce 4 ti GPU, AWE64 in ISA slot and *maybe* a single Voodoo 2 if you want that for some DOS games? Yes, there are KT133/KT133A boards with an ISA slot. That should handle games further into 00s without losing much compatibility.

The plan was to do an XP build next, but the main issue with this is that I happen to have the CPU and Voodoo 5 already 😀

Fish3r wrote on 2026-06-29, 19:20:

plasticfactory wrote on 2026-06-29, 17:01:

I'm looking for any major pitfalls, "upgrades", or recommended sidesteps.

A Tualatin P3 would really complete the 'spared no expense' thing you've got going on here

I strongly considered this and ultimately picked the Coppermine because I like the Slot 1.

Fish3r wrote on 2026-06-29, 19:20:

plasticfactory wrote on 2026-06-29, 17:01:

I'm looking for any major pitfalls, "upgrades", or recommended sidesteps.

A Tualatin P3 would really complete the 'spared no expense' thing you've got going on here

I was really close to the Tualatin and wound up going for the Coppermine because I like the Slot 1 form factor. Hopefully I don't regret this.

I would swap the AWE64 Gold for an AWE32 with real OPL3 for DOS. I don't think there is anything to gain from the AWE64 DOS-wise compared to AWE32. An AWE32 with real OPL3 would sound nicer for DOS games with FM music.

Fish3r wrote on 2026-06-29, 19:20:

A Tualatin P3 would really complete the 'spared no expense' thing you've got going on here

Tualatin supporting motherboards with ISA and AGP are quite hard to come by though. I have one with AGP but no ISA and one with ISA but no AGP.

The voodoo2 SLI setup is probably wasted here as the voodoo5 will run anything in win98 better and DOS games won't take advantage of SLI - A voodoo5 and Voodoo1 would be a better combo IMO. If not a V1, a single V2 is more than enough for DOS era games once you apply compatibility patches.

Mike_ wrote on 2026-06-29, 19:11:

How about an Athlon XP build with Geforce 4 ti GPU, AWE64 in ISA slot and *maybe* a single Voodoo 2 if you want that for some DOS games? Yes, there are KT133/KT133A boards with an ISA slot. That should handle games further into 00s without losing much compatibility.

I had issues trying to run Lithtech games on a similar setup. For some hot Shogo action I'd say not recommended?

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-06-30, 08:17:

The voodoo2 SLI setup is probably wasted here as the voodoo5 will run anything in win98 better and DOS games won't take advantage of SLI - A voodoo5 and Voodoo1 would be a better combo IMO. If not a V1, a single V2 is more than enough for DOS era games once you apply compatibility patches.

Wait, SLI is just a redundant card in DOS? That would certainly change things.

[/quote]
Tualatin supporting motherboards with ISA and AGP are quite hard to come by though. I have one with AGP but no ISA and one with ISA but no AGP.
[/quote]

That was another consideration when picking the Coppermine.

wbahnassi wrote on 2026-06-29, 20:05:

I would swap the AWE64 Gold for an AWE32 with real OPL3 for DOS. I don't think there is anything to gain from the AWE64 DOS-wise compared to AWE32. An AWE32 with real OPL3 would sound nicer for DOS games with FM music.

Noted, I will do some research on this (glad I didn't buy the AWE64 yet). Can you tell me a little bit, technically, about what exactly is going on that makes the aWE32 + OPL3 a better choice?

Also, does anyone know why I can't edit posts? I keep wanting to fix things 😁

wbahnassi wrote on 2026-06-29, 20:05:

I would swap the AWE64 Gold for an AWE32 with real OPL3 for DOS. I don't think there is anything to gain from the AWE64 DOS-wise compared to AWE32. An AWE32 with real OPL3 would sound nicer for DOS games with FM music.

Sorry for all the posts, but I understand now. I didn't realize the AWE64 emulated the OPL.

This suggestion makes a lot of sense considering the overall setup, thanks for the recommendations.

Yeah the AWE64 never had a real OPL3 chip. AWE32 had it on earlier editions only, so be careful which model you go for. Both AWE64 and AWE32 can do the AWE part without any difference.. so I'd say the AWE32 wins feature-wise.. but in audio quality the AWE64 Gold wins.

I had an early AWE32 (CT2760) and it was terribly noisy. I swapped for an AWE64 gold and it was a vast improvement. Unless you have always had an OPL3 card, you would probably not notice the difference between the Creative opl3 "clone" and the real thing.

For true OPL3, a Mediavision pro audio spectrum 16 would be better if you want real OPL3 and good sound quality. You can run 2 sound cards in parallel if you manage the resources (IRQ, DMA) properly.

Depending on the games you want to play, you may still find that some games take issue with the hardware you have chosen. I am not convinced there is a "do-all" build. I have ended up with 2 DOS/98 machines as I could not get one of them to do everything. However your build is sort of in-between mine in terms of hardware, so you might have better luck than me.

Thanks again everyone.

Can anyone clarify the SLI question about DOS? I read a lot about this last night, and it seems that the Voodoo5 really should cover everything the Voodoo2s in SLI would.

Are there any thoughts on adding a DOS only VGA card? Something like and S3?

Regarding clones OPL3 devices, I have found that some don't like high-clockspeed systems. My Yahama YMF 719 card refused to work properly on my 1.4Ghz Pentium III, but a soundblaster 16 worked fine on it.

plasticfactory wrote on 2026-07-01, 15:36:

Thanks again everyone.

Can anyone clarify the SLI question about DOS? I read a lot about this last night, and it seems that the Voodoo5 really should cover everything the Voodoo2s in SLI would.

Are there any thoughts on adding a DOS only VGA card? Something like and S3?

I think DOS games only support 640x480 in Glide anyway, as they expected a Voodoo 1. So I would think a single Voodoo 2 would be more than enough. I have no idea if SLI works in DOS, as I haven't tried it.

I have only tried a Voodoo 1 in DOS, and it works well enough for me. So take whatever I just said as an assumption rather than fact. 😀

Swappable CF cards or SSDs

Win XP
Win 2000
Win98
Win95
DOS

Lots of CPU motherboard combos you could use
Intel or AMD

I am also looking for exactly this:
https://shop.rabbitholecomputing.com/products … a-pci-hard-card

Does anyone else make something like this, or am I stuck with cables? I really like that its all integral.

plasticfactory wrote on 2026-07-01, 15:36:

Thanks again everyone.

Can anyone clarify the SLI question about DOS? I read a lot about this last night, and it seems that the Voodoo5 really should cover everything the Voodoo2s in SLI would.

Are there any thoughts on adding a DOS only VGA card? Something like and S3?

Some games in DOS will operate with the V2s in SLI mode, some require that SLI is disabled for them to work. While the cards will run some games with SLI active, all glide DOS games were designed with the Voodoo1 as a target platform so the additional power of a single V2 is already 'wasted', the power of V2s in SLI is even more unused overhead.

The benefit of having a passthrough card for DOS games (e.g. V1 or V2) is that the switching is automatic whenever the card is used. If you have a V5 and S3 - both of which are self contained 2D/3D cards - you will need to go into the bios and switch whether AGP or PCI is initiliased first to choose which GPU is active. You would also need an external switcher to change between the two card's outputs.

Another consideration is if you are planning to use the V5 at reasonably high resolutions, using a passthrough card (e.g. V1 or V2) can also add some softness to the VGA picture.

So there is some things for you to think about.

plasticfactory wrote on 2026-07-01, 19:02:

I am also looking for exactly this:
https://shop.rabbitholecomputing.com/products … a-pci-hard-card

Does anyone else make something like this, or am I stuck with cables? I really like that its all integral.

This is a specialty card, I haven't seen anything else like it. M.2 cards are all focused on converting PCI-Express slots to M.2 Express SSDs which is bviously not suitable here.