VOGONS


First post, by Dhinhoso

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Greetings Vogoners,

I currently have two builds -

i7 4790K / GTX 960 / 16gb-ram for work with Windows 10 and for retrogamming in Windows XP, 7, 8.1 (Hot swap SSDs)
A64 3200+ / Fx Quadro 3000 / 512mb-ram for DOS (SetMul, SlowDOS, Downclocking), Windows 98, Early XP (Hot swap SDs)

Mission: Go to the ultimate build able to downclock to a 486DX or so, Win 98 Full range, Windows XP (Crysis 30-60 FPS).

Reason: My Win 10 build began to be too slow for my current work - planning on moving to a high-end notebook just for working and building only one PC to retrogamming (space issues).

After a ton of research I ended up with these options (Note all these mobos have both AGP and PCIe):

Intel
ASRock 4CoreDual-SATA2, E6500K, 2GB DDR2 667
ASRock 4CoreDual-VSTA, Core 2 Duo or Quad, 2GB DDR2 667
Note: E6500K for example is downclockable to 95x6 = 570 Mhz
AMD
ASRock 939Dual SATA2, A64 X2 or FX, 4GB DDR400
ASRock 939Dual-VSTA, A64 X2 or FX, 4GB DDR400
Note: K8 CPUs is supported by SetMul Utility
GPUs (All buildings)
FX Quadro 3k in AGP8X (DOS/Win98se)
ATI X1800XT in PCIe (WinXP)
Soundcards (All buildings)
SB Live! 5.1 for DOS/Win98
SB X-Fi PCI for WinXP

I found the Win 98/XP drivers for all those chipsets (ULi, Via, Intel), have bought (long ago) a patch for ram issue in Win98 (R. Loew)
Would you recommend any these approach? Have experience? Has suggestions?

Any help will be extremely appreciated because I'm from Brazil and build those systems costs premium from seller to my desk - I'm not allowed to make mistakes...

Last edited by Dhinhoso on 2022-02-13, 02:31. Edited 1 time in total.

Reply 2 of 9, by Dhinhoso

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
dr_st wrote on 2022-02-11, 20:12:

What added value do you see in a real DOS system that you can't get via DOSBox?

Yeah! If things get too complicated when downclocking I think I'm going to use DosBox on XP, so it isn't a deal breaker if speed-sensitive games leave the party - actually any complicated DOS games will be a strong candidate to run on DosBox.

But would be fantastic to have only one machine running everything from 87 to 07 natively wouldn't you agree? ♥

Reply 3 of 9, by fosterwj03

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

You might be better off with a Yamaha YMF744-based sound card or an Aureal Vortex. Both have better compatibility with newer hardware than the SB Live! in DOS.

My YMF744 works in DOS with my Core i5-4690.

Reply 4 of 9, by Dhinhoso

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
fosterwj03 wrote on 2022-02-12, 00:14:

You might be better off with a Yamaha YMF744-based sound card or an Aureal Vortex. Both have better compatibility with newer hardware than the SB Live! in DOS.

My YMF744 works in DOS with my Core i5-4690.

That was a good thing to read, I still have my Aureal Vortex 2 laying around for A3D needs, maybe it can be the soundcard of choice. Ty

Reply 5 of 9, by BitWrangler

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++

If I were doing it from scratch, I'd probably pick a mobile Barton and a KT600 board... but that suits my particular peccadillos. What chipsets do we have to do battle with here?

Unicorn herding operations are proceeding, but all the totes of hens teeth and barrels of rocking horse poop give them plenty of hiding spots.

Reply 6 of 9, by Dhinhoso

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
BitWrangler wrote on 2022-02-12, 05:24:

If I were doing it from scratch, I'd probably pick a mobile Barton and a KT600 board... but that suits my particular peccadillos. What chipsets do we have to do battle with here?

I wasn't able to find a KT600 motherboard with both AGP and PCIe, do you recommend any particular model?

The chipset from 939 sockets mobo listed here is ULi M1695/ULi M1567 - Win 98 drivers still available in their website.

From Intel mobos VIA PT880 Pro/Ultra - Win 98 drivers still available in their website too.

Reply 7 of 9, by pixel_workbench

User metadata
Rank Member
Rank
Member

All Core2 and s939 Athlon64 have downward unlocked multiplier, no need for e6500k. Also, the Asrock 4CoreDual boards have only space for a single slot agp card, so a Quadro fx3000 is not a good choice.

If I was building an all in one rig (which I plan to), I'd use the Asrock 4CoreDual VSTA, and an e7600 cpu. That board has a modded bios to support Wolfdale processors.

For graphic cards, I'd go with a Geforce3 for Windows 98, and something like a Radeon 5870 or 5770 for XP. If you want to populate all the PCI slots with Voodoo2 SLI and multiple sound cards, then you'd need a single slot PCIE card too. In that case I'd use a Radeon 6670 with GDDR5.

One limitation of the board is that it will not work with PCIE 3.0 cards. So the fastest you can use is a Radeon 6970 or Nvidia gtx580. But since the PCIE slot is a 4x 1.1 type anyways, both of those are already overkill.

My Videos | Website
P2 400 unlocked / Asus P3B-F / Voodoo3 3k / MX300 + YMF718

Reply 8 of 9, by Dhinhoso

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie
pixel_workbench wrote on 2022-02-14, 02:15:

All Core2 and s939 Athlon64 have downward unlocked multiplier, no need for e6500k.

Nice to know, my plan is to stay around Core2 or Athlon 64X2 for run up 'til Crysis, use one core for Win98 and downclock to DOS.

pixel_workbench wrote on 2022-02-14, 02:15:

Also, the Asrock 4CoreDual boards have only space for a single slot agp card, so a Quadro fx3000 is not a good choice.

Wow! That's a truly shinny help - never thought on space usage by GPUs and availability in Mobos, you just saved me a bunch of frustration.

I picked Quadro FX 3000 to be the all in one solution for DOS/Windows 98 since these was the last generation of cards supporting palleted-textures and table-fog also the most powerful to do so and support nGlide (DX9) for Voodoo needs. For that same purpose I may go to a single slot FX5500 - FX5900.

pixel_workbench wrote on 2022-02-14, 02:15:

If I was building an all in one rig (which I plan to), I'd use the Asrock 4CoreDual VSTA, and an e7600 cpu. That board has a modded bios to support Wolfdale processors.

Hard to find, expensive, but I may take a shot, e7600 + ASRock 4CD-VSTA looks like the exact fit for my needs. Ty ♥

pixel_workbench wrote on 2022-02-14, 02:15:

One limitation of the board is that it will not work with PCIE 3.0 cards. So the fastest you can use is a Radeon 6970 or Nvidia gtx580. But since the PCIE slot is a 4x 1.1 type anyways, both of those are already overkill.

Another good tip, ty again ♥ PCI4x mode was another thing I wasn't aware of - GTX580 sounds amazing!

Reply 9 of 9, by Dhinhoso

User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I decided to take another approach - caz parts is becoming more and more rare and expensive these days... so... I searched through the parts I already have and my final build will be:

Asus A8V Deluxe (socket 939, 4DDR400, AGP8X, 4 PCIs, Sata)
AMD Opteron Dual 185
ATI Radeon HD3850 AGP [For Windows XP]
Geforce Quadro FX 3000 [For Windows 98]
- Using nGlide for Voodoo needs.
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS
- MIDI output to MT32-pi for DOS synths
- EAX HD for XP
Aureal Vortex 2
- For A3D needs

The plan is hot swap HDDs with systems, disable the unused devices in each one, middle-term soundcard for both systems and when booting in Windows XP for heavy gaming swap the GPU for HD3850.

May work - from DOS to Crysis 30/40FPS

Anything to be aware of?