Dan9550 wrote on 2023-01-29, 12:04:

Some back of mine questions i have that i would be keen to hear your thoughts on are:

• Is XP a good choice? Would Windows 2000 be a better if i could only pick one OS?

I don't think you'd gain all that much with W2k over XP. On a Pentium III or a Netburst Celeron, you'd probably gain some performance compared to XP SP3.

Dan9550 wrote on 2023-01-29, 12:04:

• Would i be better off replacing the Voodoo 2s with a Voodoo 4 or something?

I don't think this PC needs either of those. Unless you dual boot W98.

Dan9550 wrote on 2023-01-29, 12:04:

• Would it be worth trying to dual boot with 98? Obviously some hardware changes would be required in that case.

With the appropriate changes, sure. Switching out the X-fi to an Audigy 2 ZS and the HD4670 for an X800 XT and done. The CPU bottlenecks the GPU and the GPU has some incompatibilities with some early era XP games anyway.

Dan9550 wrote on 2023-01-29, 12:04:

• Is DOS impossible? Better off sticking with DOSBox?

Not impossible, but not ideal either. The earlier you go, the more trouble you'll have to deal with.

As i figured, i think it's best for me to consider exactly what games i want to play and if that really needs a W98 / DOS install, i went down the rabbit hole of looking at using old thin clients for retro gaming PCs which could check some boxes for me. The space saving would be excellent if everything else works.

Thin clients are compact, but lack flexibility. I don't think you'd be that much more ahead with them for DOS over modifying this P4 build. The issue with a late P4 like this is that it's really well suited for the W98-XP transitional period from 2000/2001 up to 2004-2005, but lacking in compatibility for earlier parts and lacking in power for later.

Completely agree threw together a list of games i would play off the top of my head and most fall in the later 90s and onwards time period, with some few DOS exceptions (DOOM, Wolf 3D for example). So for me DOS is really just a wish more than a necessity which makes me wonder would have two thin clients, one for 98 and one for XP serve we just as well if not better than my P4 build. The other consideration i have here is space savings which would be nice.

Hearing a lot about the HP t5720 for 98 and an Hp t620 for XP thinking it over if having those both would serve my needs.

I'd direct you towards this comment:Re: Windows XP: is there a True Ms-dos patch?
If you don't need anything special, then VirtualPC should be fine for DOS. It shouldn't have any problems with Doom and Wolf3D, though I remember having some input lag, but that might have been VirtualBox and not VirtualPC that had this issue. It's free so worth a try. You can also run Windows 98 in it, but only without 3D acceleration. Which is still fine for Build Engine games for example.

Thin Clinet for XP is also very underpowered. The T620 runs XP, but has no GPU power and you also have to give up on EAX.

Alternatively, you could go for 2 very compact builds with a KVM switch.

There is a quirky little case called Raijintec Metis. It's mini-ITX with a twist. It has room for two full-height expansion cards, and certain boards that are officially uATX fit inside. Like for example the BIOSTAR H61MGV3 and the Asrock H61M-VG3, that are 19×17cm boards (mini-ITX is 17×17) and have a PCI-e 16x and a PCI-e 1x slot in the specific arrangement that lets you install a sound card above the graphics card.

So you can have something like an i3-3220T, which is a low power CPU that can even be cooled passively, a GTX750 Ti, and a Sound Blaster X-fi Titanium SB0880. This offers you all the perks and power you need for XP (aside of having an internal optical drive) in a very compact form factor and all standard parts. I'm actually planning to build something like that in the near future. I had that Metis case a couple of years ago, and I regret selling it.

You can do something similar for Windows98. It's a build I already did:
Win98BOX

Agree with everything above.

I'd try the Win98 games and find what doesn't work in XP, good chance you don't need 98 in the end either.
While the V2's aren't really appropriate, if your using them for glide games and like using real hardware I'd keep them over a V4 as 3dfx cards are overpriced and at least you already own these

Well i've done far too much thinking in this realm, i think i'm still sane... I decided to grab a t620 Plus thin client because it was pretty cheap and i couldn't really find much else in that super compact size which is my more important factor at this stage. I know it won't be an ideal system but if my guesstimations on hardware are correct it should serve me well.

I'll do a bit of a build log once it arrives to see if it is actually any good and well at the very least it should be a fun adventure!

As for the P4 system i can stuff that away for a rainy day everything going well with the thin client maybe i won't need it anymore?

Thinking about the 98 / DOS side of this as well for me most the games i would be interested in would work on XP and the few DOS games i would want to play would have another solution to play them. If things go well with the t620 i may consider a t5720 for 98 as that would meet my needs. I'd end up with two time capsules of PCs i've owned in the past which could be cool.

Appreciate the advice if it all goes pear shaped there is always plan b.