DJMadMax wrote on 2021-09-10, 11:41:

I might go for an MMX build. Afair there's at least a 166 and a 200 MHz model in my collection - not sure about the 233 Mhz model though.

An MMX system is a great choice for DOS and early Win9x gaming. The 166 MHz model can be slowed down a bit more than the later models. This is handy if your main focus is on DOS games, since some of them are speed sensitive.

Also, note that any Intel CPU clocked over 200 MHz will cause Runtime Error 200 issues with certain games such as Jazz Jackrabbit. There are patches for that, but it gets tedious to apply them to every executable that suffers from this problem.

DJMadMax wrote on 2021-09-10, 11:41:

School was a long time ago and my only ways of keeping up my English skills is having conversations like those here (and watching movies in English since I like them the way they're meant to be and most of the jokes or sayings get lost in translation).

Your English is fine.

Just some tips for staying alive on planet Vogon:

Don't share links to auction sites.

Don't start conversations about recapping entire boards or not.

And for all that is holy, stay away from the emulator people, they want to make you one of them.

DJMadMax welcome to vogons, I am from your northern neighbouring country 😀

Those are some really great advices here, big thanks to all of you! I knew that the Vibra Soundblasters arent the best but I thought that at least the CT2960 had an implemented OPL3. Guess I'll go for the big boy then, the AWE32 CT3900. To be honest good (Midi) sound is quite important for me and I'd rather have a faulty video over a faulty sound.

PhilsComputerLab is a channel I recently subscribed to, didnt know him before. Those Pentium MMX "hacks" are a great feature. Just watched the video and at first I didnt think I'd have to make use of it for myself but then I checked the other link about those "speed sensitive games" and man, those are quite a lot. Even some of my all time favourites are up there, for example "Day of the Tentacle". On the other hand I'm pretty sure that this game ran totally fine on my 486-DX50 back then but the list says, 16 Mhz max before the game runs into sound problems. I have the CD version with complete speech, maybe they already recoded that one for faster CPU speeds? But fortunately the rest of the list doesnt bother me too much. It's either games I'm not really interested in or the "problems" start with way faster machines. Other Socket 5 processors at hand would be a P60, P90, P120, P133 and P166 but they arent compatible with SetMul I guess? In case I might run into problems with any game I would use SetMul in combination with a batch file. Again, this is a great advice, thanks alot!

@Joakim
So, Ebay links and such are prohibited? Okay, good to know. About recapping entire boards - you mean that other thread from the "wayback archiving" dude? I think it's a noble idea of him. Dont wanna sound naive, I just hope it's for the best. But I also dont wanna argue with mods, so I'll let it be it for now 😀

Aaaaand with the emulator people you mean... DOSBox? Should I confess? Of course I've been messing around with DOSBox - for many years now but I never denied my origins 😁 You could say I'm aware of both worlds and I do admit both. Without being able to emulate stuff (not only DOS) I'm sure lots and lots of stuff would've been totally forgotten by today if people werent able to emulate things. Plus: emulating is so easy today. One of the weird things I almost immediately go for with a new multimedia device is: "can it run ScummVM/DOTT?" - I even have it ready to run on my Nintendo DS ^^

But yeah, emulation (no matter what) is a fallback for me but definitely not the "real thing".

Oh, and greetings to Denmark @WolverineDK 😀

Joakim wrote on 2021-09-10, 16:06:

And for all that is holy, stay away from the emulator people, they want to make you one of them.

Hey now, that's really just the one guy, and he has already had a temp ban, next step is a permanent ban.

The rest of us emulator people are fine and have been here for decades 😀

That's what you all say until you try and slap the brain slug on our heads 😉

Ofc I wasn't being serious. I have dabbled with emulators for over 20 years. But tbh it never felt real for some reason, but it is probably just my lack of imagination of our beloved random BSOD, compatibility problems and and the overhanging fear of 25 year old PSUs will blow up in our faces. 😉

DJMadMax wrote on 2021-09-10, 11:41:

Tetrium wrote on 2021-09-09, 21:28:

Out of curiosity, did you ever dumpsterdive or buy stuff from places like fleamarkets and second hand shops?

See? I'm already learning so much new stuff here 😁 "dumpsterdive" - there isnt a word for that in German (well, maybe "Containern" as I think about it) but of course I know what it means 😀 Actually I only tried that once. Kind of a sad story - I was at my local recycling center, bringing over some garden stuff when I noticed a big container right behind where I was unloading the green cut. I went closer to have a look of what's inside and nearly got a heart attack. It was filled, literally up to the ceiling, with computers. Many in cases, some just as mainboards with CPU, coolers and RAM installed. At least a couple of hundreds of systems! I then asked the supervisor if it's possible to have a closer look and maybe take something back home (even for a fee) so they dont have to recycle/trash it, but nope... no chance. Either they knew what they had there or it was just a dude following policies. Flea markets on the other hand are a great source here in Germany. We have an online listing (www.marktcom.de) for almost every flea market coming up the next couple of weeks/months, therefore it's pretty easy visiting one every weekend if desired. Second hand shops like thrift stores are more clothing related here, I've never seen one for electronics and entertainment stuff which doesnt mean that they dont exist. I've just never come by one (and never especially searched for them, maybe I should).

I don't know the German word for dumpsterdiving either, but I know the Dutch word for it which is "morgensterren" or at least where you are a "morgenster" which literally tanslates to morning star (or "Morgenstern" in German, though I don't know if it is even a real word in German 😜 ).

It's basically where you walk or cycle or ride down a lot of roads looking left and right when people put all of their junk stuff at the side of the road. This isn't as profitable anymore though here in The Netherlands since recycling has become a thing over here so people tend to either bring it to a recycling center where we can usually never touch it, or they try to sell it "BeCaUsE ReTrO MusT MeAn HiGh PrIcE €€€€+++".
But can still get lucky from time to time. This year alone I managed to find no less than 2 Pentium 4 era PCs and a more modern one with DDR3 and integrated graphics (but non-standard PSU alas).

Here in The Netherlands we also have a few online options. Most well known one is marktplaats.nl but another popular one can be tweakers.net or certain facebook groups.

Second hand shops used to be a great resource but this has all but dried up from what I can see. One of the best things I bought in recent years though was a NIB walkman 🤣! And it was cheap as well, like €7,50 or so 😜
Ok, that's not PC hardware but you get my point I guess 😀