you shouldn't have any problems building this rig. I might chose other options but that is just personal preference theres nothing wrong with what you have.

How many GB should I go for the hard drive? I am thinking to use a pata-sata converted and maybe a 128gb sata?

If you're leaning more towards DOS gaming, you might want to get a different 2D card. Matrox cards have some compatibility issues with certain DOS games as documented here.

For the hard drive, stick to below 128 GB and get an SSD if you can for silent operation. Before that, check if your motherboard's BIOS actually supports drives that large. Lastly, regardless of what your BIOS supports, any drives bigger than 128 GB can cause problems under Windows 98.

well the Matrox card is on its way 😀 My first challenge would be to make ANYTHING work on that machine. I will modify it if some game doesn't work.
What would you recommend, then, for DOS games?

DraxDomax wrote on 2021-06-16, 04:07:

What would you recommend, then, for DOS games?

Check Gona's DOS compatibility chart that I linked to, and take your pick based on that. Personally, I would go with an S3 card. Either the S3 Trio64V+ for pure 2D, or the S3 VirgeDX if you also want to experiment with their proprietery S3D API.

Note however that Matrox cards deliver higher image quality than pretty much all of their contemporary counterparts. So if DOS gaming isn't a huge priority, you can stick with the Matrox. Otherwise, look for something more compatible.

if you want to play any d3d games Id stay clear of any s3 card, except savage 4. I of course welcome any opinions regarding s3 graphics and 3d performance. If it was my rig I stick to what works Ge force 2 MX 200 PCI. Is about fast enough on a 233 mmx the gpu wont be a bottle neck and compatibility pretty much on par with s3. Should run detonator 12.xx series drivers or lower with it. Lower the less cpu overhead on the 233mmx

Warlord wrote on 2021-06-16, 04:30:

if you want to play any d3d games Id stay clear of any s3 card, except savage 4. I of course welcome any opinions regarding s3 graphics and 3d performance.

He already has a Voodoo card for D3D and Glide gaming.

But I agree, S3 Virge cards are not good for Windows 3D gaming. I only ever recommend them for their DOS 2D game compatibility and the occasional experiment with DOS games that support the S3D API.

I mean sure you can run d3d games with a voodoo 1, but I have no idea why anyone would want to run anything on a voodoo 1 except the few dos glide games that want to run on a voodoo 1 its not any good for anything else in reality. Which is pretty much the only relevant reason to use a voodoo 1 in the 1st place.

I am not sure really. I think some games, even though installed on Windows and executed from there, could be DOS games in a wrapper that w95/98 allow, right?
I guess I have to see. Hopefully, the MM2 isn't total garbage and I could move it on, if I have no use for it!

the matrox card isn't total garbage its not that bad. I expect it will work pretty good until you run into a game that doesn't like it.

As for the Geforce MX... I had a GF4MX400 (I think) and it was kinda a painful period... I was on a P133 until 2004 and my folks finally gave in to my pleas... A friend specced me a decent AMD system but I fell into the marketing hype and not only paid more for an inferior system but that system had a defect I was dragging through their warranty (of course it works fine in their lab) and... Nah, I just don't want to hear about MX!

I'd say this has late dos/early 9x written all over it.

Yeh the Matrox card isn't great but if you don't hit any of the dos incompatibilities and focusing on glide games you should be ok.
No one is saying the MX is a fast card but its very compatible and plenty fast for this rig BUT if it brings up bad memories that's more then fair enough.

Personally This feels more dos then Windows for me so would pick a card that doesn't have any issues in your dos games but also lets you play around with other 3D accelerated API's that never really took off.
3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)

Official BIOS allows you to install HDD's upto 32GB which I would think is enough but you can use an unofficial bios to give you 127GB support
http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/J.Steunebrink/k6plus.htm

chinny22 wrote on 2021-06-16, 10:46:

I'd say this has late dos/early 9x written all over it. […]
Show full quote

I'd say this has late dos/early 9x written all over it.

Yeh the Matrox card isn't great but if you don't hit any of the dos incompatibilities and focusing on glide games you should be ok.
No one is saying the MX is a fast card but its very compatible and plenty fast for this rig BUT if it brings up bad memories that's more then fair enough.

Personally This feels more dos then Windows for me so would pick a card that doesn't have any issues in your dos games but also lets you play around with other 3D accelerated API's that never really took off.
3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)

Official BIOS allows you to install HDD's upto 32GB which I would think is enough but you can use an unofficial bios to give you 127GB support
http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/J.Steunebrink/k6plus.htm

This is a very good point. It is a pain to find out too late that you need temporary hardware to be able to flash your bios.

I have a 128 ssd lying around. I am leaning on the side of getting an adapter and plug that in. I heard if the BIOS picks up 32GB, I can just format a partition this size and enjoy 32GB, which is lightyears of what I had at the time... No problems, right? 😀

DraxDomax wrote on 2021-06-16, 04:07:

What would you recommend, then, for DOS games?

I've got a rig that (for now anyway) is built solely around DOS Glide games. (P200 non-MMX, S3, Voodoo 1). Here's the list of supported games: DOS Glide Games List

My highlights are Descent 2, NASCAR Racing 2, Screamer 2 and Tomb Raider. With your extra bit of grunt you should also get a lot of joy out of Carmageddon, Fatal Racing and Screamer Rally.

One of these days I plan to bump the RAM and install Win95 for some glQuake.

Carmageddon is probably my top 5 favorite game! Nothing is like it and absolutely will never be.
It's probably the reason why I never got a ticket and never felt like running a red light or had any problems to stay well under the speed limit.
Pedestrians around me benefit from it too, although I don't know about one wearing a yellow shirt and waving a chequered flag... 😉

Sorry I know it's just chatting at this point but I feel I would like to share this with you, if you know what it is 😀
(music:) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNvqcwIV8B0

BTW, all parts are ordered, except the sound card. Those keep a lot of value...
I am not sure which power cables will come with the PSU... I think I'll need one "Molex" for the optical drive, one "FDD" power cable and maybe I will have a SATA power cable with the modded ATX PSU that I could just plug into the converted SSD, to save me buying a spitter... I'll see what comes and order accordingly.
Very exciting times, almost as exciting as when I bought my first "all out, you are an adult now, all of this is YOUR money, do what you want" gaming machine... Always had to make do with compromises, before that!