1 GB of RAM on Win98SE - optimal settings for system.ini? \ VOGONS

1 GB of RAM on Win98SE - optimal settings for system.ini?

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First post, by deksar

Posted on 2022-12-02, 18:52

deksar Offline

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Joined: 2015-04-22, 05:43

Hello everyone.

I have 2x512 MB DDR (400 Mhz) RAM slots in my Pentium IV (1.8 Ghz - 512 KB Cache) computer, giving total of 1 GB of RAM.

There're too many different tips, tricks, ideas with very different numbers regarding optimizing Win98SE for 1 GB (or more) of system RAM, I'm therefore confused and wanted to ask you here and get your opinions.

What's the best-optimized settings for system.ini, on a Win98SE computer with 1 GB RAM? (PC's usage: 3D gaming, 3D modelling and animation with many softwares installed)
(AutoPatcher 2007 + 2008 Update installed)

I'd like to ask for the following settings in system.ini file;

MinFileCache=
MaxFileCache=
ChunkSize=
MinSPs=
LocalLoadHigh=
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=
DMABufferSize=

And as I know, memory that Windows uses for "MaxFileCache" is also used by AGP video (how much depends on the system bios settings of "AGP Aperture"),
so please consider the following facts as well:

My AGP Aperture setting in BIOS: 128 MB
my AGP GPU (Radeon 9550): 256 MB

Many thanks in advance for any clue!

Reply 1 of 8, by agent_x007

Posted on 2022-12-02, 19:46

agent_x007 Offline

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Try those, but HimemX is needed under config.sys regardless :

[386Enh]
MaxPhysPage=48000
MinSPs=16
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
DMABufferSize=64

[vcache]
MaxFileCache=65535
ChunkSize=1024

Last edited by agent_x007 on 2022-12-09, 22:16. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 8, by Socket3

Posted on 2022-12-02, 20:41

Socket3 Offline

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Since I began using PATCHMEM I've had no need to mess with sistem.ini while using 1GB of ram. Right now I'm experimenting with running win98se on a Core 2 Duo e4400 / 2Gb of ram and a PCI-E 6600GT. It seems to be stable, but I've done very little testing so far.

Have you tried Patchmem?

Reply 3 of 8, by Nexxen

Posted on 2022-12-02, 23:28

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Location: Italy

https://archive.org/details/PATCHMEM

PC#1 Pentium 233 MMX - 98SE
PC#2 PIII-1Ghz - 98SE/W2K

Reply 4 of 8, by AlexZ

Posted on 2022-12-03, 08:08

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Solving the memory problem will not be sufficient. You will often face issues with game compatibility and games crashing due to using a graphics card that requires drivers that are too new. That is the case of NVidia 6600GT. Dual boot rigs are not a great idea.

Pentium III 900E, ECS P6BXT-A+, 384MB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 128MB, Voodoo 2 12MB, 80GB HDD, Yamaha SM718 ISA, 19" AOC 9GlrA
Athlon 64 3400+, MSI K8T Neo V, 1GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT 512MB, 250GB HDD, Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS

Reply 5 of 8, by deksar

Posted on 2022-12-03, 08:31

deksar Offline

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Thanks for all your answers, I'm going to try PATCHMEM and return here with details.

AlexZ, my GPU isn't 6600GT actually it's Radeon 9550, and no Dual boot here, but indeed it seems the game compatibility and crashings will occur..

Reply 6 of 8, by red-ray

Posted on 2022-12-03, 10:03

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AlexZ wrote on 2022-12-03, 08:08:
Dual boot rigs are not a great idea.

Given failed to specify why the comment is worthless.

I have multiple systems are Dual Boot, Tripple Boot, Quad Boot, etc. and all work well 😀

Reply 7 of 8, by AlexZ

Posted on 2022-12-04, 09:47

AlexZ Offline

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If anyone wants to try unsupported configurations in Windows 98, deal with potential crashes and game incompatibility and then try to persuade us it works fine its their own choice, but it will get called out. I have my own experience with NVidia drivers later than 45.23 (issue very well documented on this forum), even GeForce FX isn't 100% compatible and has issues with fonts. Another known issue with late cards is table fog and paletted textures. Table Fog & 8-bit Paletted Textures . Graphics card compatibility comes first. Dual boot rigs are not a good idea because of compatibility and performance - a rig that has very good compatibility in Windows 98 will have poor performance in Windows XP games which are more demanding.

Reply 8 of 8, by deksar

Posted on 2022-12-04, 14:56

deksar Offline

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agent_x007 wrote on 2022-12-02, 19:46:
Try those, but HimemX is needed under config.sys regardless : […]
Show full quote

Try those, but HimemX is needed under config.sys regardless :

[386Enh]
MaxPhysPage=48000
MinSPs=16
ConservativeSwapfileUsage=1
DMABufferSize=64

[vcache]
MaxFileCache=65535
ChunkSize=1024

Thanks a lot for those ideas, could you please tell me what these values actually do?

And why would I need "HimemX" as well?

Thank you.

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