I would recommend

late dos/early win98
I'd actually say the BX motherboard is perfect for this job!
The SBLive is fine as you already have it.
You have an ISA slot for Dos sound card,
Most late dos games aren't speed sensitive (most common will be the Pascal related which is solved by a simple patch.
https://www.pcmicro.com/elebbs/faq/rte200.htm … 0Error%20200%20(Divide,unit%20included%20with%20these%20compilers.

Either the Banshee or GF2 are good choices. Good dos compatibility and about right pairing for a C300.
The C300 will hold you back a little for Win9x games but as you also want a late 9x gaming PC this won't matter.
(for reference I do most my late dos gaming on a PIII 600 on a BX board)

Late win98
Depending on the chipset the P4 will probably make for good late 9x
GF FX is about as late as you can go while maintaining 9x compatibility
Pair it with the V2
Audigy 2 ZS as its the final card with Win9x support.

The Compaq may work depending on drivers but the Asus M2N doesn't seem to have 9x drivers from quick look of the Asus site

Winxp
Faster the better so whatever hardware makes a complete system.
The SB XFi is perfect for this build as last card with XP support

DataQueue wrote on 2024-02-11, 08:49:

System a: Was thinking on using the core 2 or athlon X2 for win xp with the gt 960.

That's a fine choice, but if you want something that packs a bit more punch, official WinXP drivers do exist for Intel's Ivy Bridge platform, as well as Nvidia's GTX 980 cards. Having more power can be beneficial for demanding WinXP titles like F.E.A.R. and Neverwinter Nights 2, especially if you want to play them at higher resolutions.

System B: The P3 with the fx 5200 for the late win98.

Similarly, I'd go with a faster Pentium 4 or an Athlon64 here, if you want to max out some of the later games like Serious Sam and Deus Ex. Also, the FX5200 is low performing budget GPU, so you probably want something better like a 5600 or 5900XT.

Thanks. Some good advice.

Was trying to fit in what I had, for now. The 5200 it seems doesn't want to work, so I'll keep looking for a bargain to replace it. I'll hang on to the 5200 and try to fix it later just to have a working FX.

chinny22 wrote on 2024-02-11, 23:34:

The Compaq may work depending on drivers but the Asus M2N doesn't seem to have 9x drivers from quick look of the Asus site

Foiled by the compaq, it's a pci-e board. No AGP 🙁 Otherwise the SB Live and a fast AGP card would be perfect with an Athlon 64 3500+ I heard on the rumour mill that the x800xt and the 7800gtx work. May be worth going that route.

EDIT: Ignore this. I do have a P4 coming. sis 651 chipset and there are drivers on Phil's website that makes me optimistic. P4 2.4 on the board.

Second Edit: A mate found a Quadro FX1500 (PCIE) as well. I'll give that a go on the Compaq. I see him in a week or two. So it seems I have options now.

The XP machine progress pic.

Still waiting on the xfi extreme music to arrive so it has an SB Live in there for now.

Xeon x3350 (core 2 quad)
DX48BT2 X48 Motherboard
2gb corsair 1333 ddr 3
GTX 960 2gb
240gb Sata ssd
DVD drive
Sblive (to be swapped for an xfi extreme music)
Cougar MX330-s case.

I'll post some other pics later as I button it all up and install everything.

The XP machine Lives GPU motherboard and sound drivers installed on the XP build.

Easiest of the three gets a tick for now.

Need to bench test it and stability test before I move it off my workbench and start installing more software.

Oh yeah. X-fi extreme music. I'll put that in the XP machine and start installing games etc tonight. It's running very stable so far.

Really enjoying the XP machine.

This is the basic setup of one of the 98 machines. Yet to finalise and put an OS on it. Also awaiting the second voodoo2.

Currently a p3 866 with a gf2 mx and a voodoo2 with a sblive.
It's in a jonesbo case as I am having a very hard time finding beige cases. Also a 3d printed IO panel.