Windows 98 extended support lasted until 2006, but it'll be hard to find hardware with actual driver support past 2004. The third party support for W98 was dropped very fast after mainstream support ended.

For CPU, if you'd want to go all out, you could get a 3.4GHz Pentium 4 (you can turn of HT in BIOS), but I'd suggest considering AMD Athlon XP or Athlon 64. Clock-2-clock they were faster.

For graphics card, you can go as high as X800 XT (AGP), as far as I know, that's the fastest with W98 support. Though you lose some legacy features. Or you could go for the FX59xx series to have those legacy support.

Hard drive: why not just get a big one over two smaller?

Sound card: CT5807 but why? You do know that it has nothing to do with the ISA Sound Blaster 16, right? You shoot yourself in the foot with this one. It's a rebranded Ensoniq AudioPCI

Edit:

Correct me if I am wrong but isnt Windows 98 a 32-Bit Operating System, which means it SHOULD be able to handle up to 4gb or Memory?

You are technically right, but it's more complicated in practice. You can address 4GB memory on 32bit, !!!BUT!!! with PAE you can go above that, a lot of linux distros and some Windows Server versions support that. At the same time, 1GB or more RAM is let's say above the sweet spot for W98, though there are unofficial patches.

Beware of Creative marketing... the PCI "Sound Blaster 16" has absolutely nothing to do with the ISA card of the same name, it's essentially a rebranded Ensoniq AudioPCI card with ES137x chip (or later Creative re-labeling thereof). It's not a bad card, but basically it's a low-end Sound Blaster clone with Creative sticker slapped on. The added value of the ISA SB16 is in DOS, not Windows, anyway. In Windows it's just DA and the extra features are positional audio stuff like A3D and EAX, which is only very minimally (EAX 1.0) supported. If you're aiming for Windows 98, a Creative Sound Blaster Live (preferably 5.1 or Audigy(2)) would be a far better choice, with full EAX 2.0 and A3D 1.0 support.

Slightly odd you're gonig for a SATA optical drive (which won't benefit in any way from the faster interface) but choosing a slug of an IDE HDD for OS. At the very least go for a 7200rpm drive with decent cache. Look for say a WD800 if you want period-correct but still decent performance.

That aside, the amount of money you're intending to spend on the kind of system you regularly find dumped on the roadside is - in my opinion - excessive. Even if you don't see those nearby, you can do much better than this. Ideally, find a complete system on Craigslist that ticks a number of boxes (i875 motherboard and or a couple of floppy drives, for example) for peanuts, then just add the missing bits. Look in places like vcfed.org and amibay.com for much better prices. I could easily put together an equivalent system and ship it to you from Europe for half the amount you are considering paying here - and generally stuff is more expensive over here 😮 (no, this isn't a real offer, no time for that - but I'm serious it would be easily possible and leave me with a LOT of beer money to boot).

You're going to spend two grand on an obsolete computer? Maybe you need a drug habit?

But, to indulge you,

CPU/Cooler/Motherboard Combo: Asus P4P8T REV 1.02 Socket 478 Motherboard With Intel Pentium 3.00 GHz Cpu - $85.05
- Isn't that a micro-ATX? Only photo I could find. Think the ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe would be the full blown product. Make sure there's "deluxe" in the name. 😉

Memory: 1GB Kit (2x512MB) Kingston DDR1 RAM PC3200U 400MHz CL3 Kvr400x64c3ak2/1g - $17.47
- Back in 2002, "CL2" was a big issue for DDR RAM, if you were going to spend some extra money.

>Correct me if I am wrong but isnt Windows 98 a 32-Bit Operating System, which means it SHOULD be able to handle up to 4gb or Memory?
- If the board eats 4 GB, Win XP-32 will use 3.5 of those. AFAIK, Win 98 really supports only 512 MB.

Operating System and Core Programs Drive: Samsung 60GB 5400rpm IDE, ATA, PATA Internal Hard Disk Drives - $8.67
Video Games Drive: Samsung HM121HC 2.5 120 GB /5400RPM/8M/IDE-PATA Hard Drive For laptop HDD - $26.99
- I think there was S-ATA around in 2005 and in any case, if you want high end, "SCSI" will have to be in the name.
- There were P-ATA drives over 100 GB around and high end ones were at least 7.200 RPM.

Video Card: Creative Geforce4 TI 4600 128MB AGP - $512.48
- Dude, does that thing come with a custom cooler made of solid gold, or what is the trick? 4600 have become rare but they start at 50 € in Ebay auctions, going up to 100, and starting below that as BIN.

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster 16 PCI CT5807 Sound Card - $50.00
- As a random Stranger mentioned: There's a reason people mess around with slightly older Motherboards that include ISA slots. Think for early to mid 2000s it's an CL audigy with all the bells and whistles but DOS games will be a pain.

Power Supply: Corsair TX850M 850W 80 Plus Gold 850W ATX Black - $254.48
- Are there espresso machines for PCI or what are you going to do with 850 Watts?
- Couldn't really hurt, but the fancy 80 plus rating doesn't apply to 10 % average load. 😉

>I'm still tryna find a time period appropriate PSU, this is moreso placeholding.
- Get a double fan Enermax then, those were expensive enough.

Case: NEW TECHMEDIA AT PENTIUM BAREBONE TOWER SYSTEM 1.44, MB I/O PORTS KB USB MOUSE - $319.50
>Three words, Big Beige Case, nuff said.
- If I'm finding the right ebay listing, thats's an entire Socket 7 System with keyboard. Also, it's AT. That Asus board is ATX.
- Random suggestion, consider an In-Win q500 full tower, it will also double as a road block in case Russians invade.

- Full agreement on the optical drive, can't do without. If you want period correct, get one that advertises its max speed on the lid, since noise, for lack of a better word, is good.

Operating System: Brand new genuine Windows 98 Second Edition Operating System CD-ROM and key - $145.00

- To quote the prophet Vincent: "Jules, you give that fuckin' nimrod 145 dollars, and I'll shoot him on general principle."

- 5 1/4 floppy - I get the sentiment, but out of time on anything past a 386.

OK, to be honest, I don't quite understand the whole setup as a matter of nostalgia. Win XP appeared in 2002 and many even messed around with win 2000 before that. So, stilistically, Win98 belongs just there - late 90s.
There's the driver issue and the simple fact that any application that really needs the latter, high end hardware will cause all kinds of trouble win win 98.

And, in general: Don't mean to rain on your parade, but "the best of the best" is subject to interpretation and gaming PCs at any cost were still very much mainstream, consumer tech. So, if you'd want the real deal, you're dealing with x86 tech that was only affordable for rather exclusive, demanding professional use like high end CAD, etc.
With these parts, the sky was the limit but you'd have to find them.
And even below that, there always were parts utterly out of reach for mere mortals back then, like the early Tyan dual Socket 7 motherboards - you can find them today, they're not valued that high, there simply aren't that many around. So, if anything, consider that build a work in progress until you find yet a more exclusive part - sounds fun as well, don't you agree?

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-02, 09:27:

But, to indulge you, […]
Show full quote

But, to indulge you,

CPU/Cooler/Motherboard Combo: Asus P4P8T REV 1.02 Socket 478 Motherboard With Intel Pentium 3.00 GHz Cpu - $85.05
- Isn't that a micro-ATX? Only photo I could find. Think the ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe would be the full blown product. Make sure there's "deluxe" in the name. 😉

Memory: 1GB Kit (2x512MB) Kingston DDR1 RAM PC3200U 400MHz CL3 Kvr400x64c3ak2/1g - $17.47
- Back in 2002, "CL2" was a big issue for DDR RAM, if you were going to spend some extra money.

>Correct me if I am wrong but isnt Windows 98 a 32-Bit Operating System, which means it SHOULD be able to handle up to 4gb or Memory?
- If the board eats 4 GB, Win XP-32 will use 3.5 of those. AFAIK, Win 98 really supports only 512 MB.

Operating System and Core Programs Drive: Samsung 60GB 5400rpm IDE, ATA, PATA Internal Hard Disk Drives - $8.67
Video Games Drive: Samsung HM121HC 2.5 120 GB /5400RPM/8M/IDE-PATA Hard Drive For laptop HDD - $26.99
- I think there was S-ATA around in 2005 and in any case, if you want high end, "SCSI" will have to be in the name.
- There were P-ATA drives over 100 GB around and high end ones were at least 7.200 RPM.

Video Card: Creative Geforce4 TI 4600 128MB AGP - $512.48
- Dude, does that thing come with a custom cooler made of solid gold, or what is the trick? 4600 have become rare but they start at 50 € in Ebay auctions, going up to 100, and starting below that as BIN.

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster 16 PCI CT5807 Sound Card - $50.00
- As a random Stranger mentioned: There's a reason people mess around with slightly older Motherboards that include ISA slots. Think for early to mid 2000s it's an CL audigy with all the bells and whistles but DOS games will be a pain.

Power Supply: Corsair TX850M 850W 80 Plus Gold 850W ATX Black - $254.48
- Are there espresso machines for PCI or what are you going to do with 850 Watts?
- Couldn't really hurt, but the fancy 80 plus rating doesn't apply to 10 % average load. 😉

>I'm still tryna find a time period appropriate PSU, this is moreso placeholding.
- Get a double fan Enermax then, those were expensive enough.

Case: NEW TECHMEDIA AT PENTIUM BAREBONE TOWER SYSTEM 1.44, MB I/O PORTS KB USB MOUSE - $319.50
>Three words, Big Beige Case, nuff said.
- If I'm finding the right ebay listing, thats's an entire Socket 7 System with keyboard. Also, it's AT. That Asus board is ATX.
- Random suggestion, consider an In-Win q500 full tower, it will also double as a road block in case Russians invade.

- Full agreement on the optical drive, can't do without. If you want period correct, get one that advertises its max speed on the lid, since noise, for lack of a better word, is good.

Operating System: Brand new genuine Windows 98 Second Edition Operating System CD-ROM and key - $145.00

- To quote the prophet Vincent: "Jules, you give that fuckin' nimrod 145 dollars, and I'll shoot him on general principle."

- 5 1/4 floppy - I get the sentiment, but out of time on anything past a 386.

OK, to be honest, I don't quite understand the whole setup as a matter of nostalgia. Win XP appeared in 2002 and many even messed around with win 2000 before that. So, stilistically, Win98 belongs just there - late 90s.
There's the driver issue and the simple fact that any application that really needs the latter, high end hardware will cause all kinds of trouble win win 98.

And, in general: Don't mean to rain on your parade, but "the best of the best" is subject to interpretation and gaming PCs at any cost were still very much mainstream, consumer tech. So, if you'd want the real deal, you're dealing with x86 tech that was only affordable for rather exclusive, demanding professional use like high end CAD, etc.
With these parts, the sky was the limit but you'd have to find them.
And even below that, there always were parts utterly out of reach for mere mortals back then, like the early Tyan dual Socket 7 motherboards - you can find them today, they're not valued that high, there simply aren't that many around. So, if anything, consider that build a work in progress until you find yet a more exclusive part - sounds fun as well, don't you agree?

Ti 4600 are stupidly expensive now, I have been after one for a while and only the broken ones sell for 100 usd. Good working ones are worth upwards of 250.

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-02, 09:27:

- 5 1/4 floppy - I get the sentiment, but out of time on anything past a 386.

I liked having them back then up until my Pentium III class daily driver. Didn't see much action, but had some friends stuck with severely outdated rigs and this was a way to trade games. Though today there are more convenient ways to transfer data.

To fill the drive bay there are all kinds of front panes.

For 3.5" I prefer memory card readers. They are much cheaper and more useful than Zip drives, though finding them beige might be an issue.
For 5.24" there are fan controllers, Creative front panels and other similar devices.

RandomStranger wrote on 2022-03-02, 10:04:

I liked having them back then up until my Pentium III class daily driver. Didn't see much action, but had some friends stuck wit […]
Show full quote

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-02, 09:27:

- 5 1/4 floppy - I get the sentiment, but out of time on anything past a 386.

I liked having them back then up until my Pentium III class daily driver. Didn't see much action, but had some friends stuck with severely outdated rigs and this was a way to trade games. Though today there are more convenient ways to transfer data.

To fill the drive bay there are all kinds of front panes.

For 3.5" I prefer memory card readers. They are much cheaper and more useful than Zip drives, though finding them beige might be an issue.
For 5.24" there are fan controllers, Creative front panels and other similar devices.

Why not do both?

I built my new daily driver Ryzen system into a mid 00's Antec case that came with one of these card reader + floppy drives:

Agree with the Creative front panel bay - if you want iconic high-end status, a 'Platinum' version of one of the SBLives or Audigy with front panel stuff is a great show-off.

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-02, 09:27:

But, to indulge you,

CPU/Cooler/Motherboard Combo: Asus P4P8T REV 1.02 Socket 478 Motherboard With Intel Pentium 3.00 GHz Cpu - $85.05
- Isn't that a micro-ATX? Only photo I could find. Think the ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe would be the full blown product. Make sure there's "deluxe" in the name. 😉

Oh So it is, WHOOPS.

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-02, 09:27:

Memory: 1GB Kit (2x512MB) Kingston DDR1 RAM PC3200U 400MHz CL3 Kvr400x64c3ak2/1g - $17.47
- Back in 2002, "CL2" was a big issue for DDR RAM, if you were going to spend some extra money.

I already have an issue with DDR5-6400 ram having a CAS Latency of 38, in my eyes thats far too high, a CL of 1 is 20x better, but I digress.

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-02, 09:27:

>Correct me if I am wrong but isnt Windows 98 a 32-Bit Operating System, which means it SHOULD be able to handle up to 4gb or Memory?
- If the board eats 4 GB, Win XP-32 will use 3.5 of those. AFAIK, Win 98 really supports only 512 MB.

Oh..................wonderful.

dionb wrote on 2022-03-02, 08:40:

Would this be perfect: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/275162622487?hash … bIAAOSwQ9BgP1tm […]
Show full quote

Beware of Creative marketing... the PCI "Sound Blaster 16" has absolutely nothing to do with the ISA card of the same name, it's essentially a rebranded Ensoniq AudioPCI card with ES137x chip (or later Creative re-labeling thereof). It's not a bad card, but basically it's a low-end Sound Blaster clone with Creative sticker slapped on. The added value of the ISA SB16 is in DOS, not Windows, anyway. In Windows it's just DA and the extra features are positional audio stuff like A3D and EAX, which is only very minimally (EAX 1.0) supported. If you're aiming for Windows 98, a Creative Sound Blaster Live (preferably 5.1 or Audigy(2)) would be a far better choice, with full EAX 2.0 and A3D 1.0 support.

Would this be perfect: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/275162622487?hash … bIAAOSwQ9BgP1tm

Slightly odd you're going for a SATA optical drive (which won't benefit in any way from the faster interface) but choosing a slug of an IDE HDD for OS.

Would it be better to have a sata hdd and a ide optical drive?

In my effort to quote replies, I have fucked up hardcore, whoops.

RandomStranger wrote on 2022-03-02, 10:04:

I liked having them back then up until my Pentium III class daily driver. Didn't see much action, but had some friends stuck wit […]
Show full quote

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-02, 09:27:

- 5 1/4 floppy - I get the sentiment, but out of time on anything past a 386.

I liked having them back then up until my Pentium III class daily driver. Didn't see much action, but had some friends stuck with severely outdated rigs and this was a way to trade games. Though today there are more convenient ways to transfer data.

To fill the drive bay there are all kinds of front panes.

For 3.5" I prefer memory card readers. They are much cheaper and more useful than Zip drives, though finding them beige might be an issue.
For 5.24" there are fan controllers, Creative front panels and other similar devices.

I like that front panel with all da blinky lights 🤪

Regressed93 wrote on 2022-03-02, 10:23:

In my effort to quote replies, I have fucked up hardcore, whoops.

you used \
when you should have used /
It happens.😉😅

Doornkaat wrote on 2022-03-02, 10:26:

you used \ when you should have used / It happens.😉😅 […]
Show full quote

Regressed93 wrote on 2022-03-02, 10:23:

In my effort to quote replies, I have fucked up hardcore, whoops.

you used \
when you should have used /
It happens.😉😅

I bloody learned HTML5, I should have remembered that goddamnit, now I need Doom Guy to send me to hell for forgetting that.

Regressed93 wrote on 2022-03-02, 10:28:

Doornkaat wrote on 2022-03-02, 10:26:

you used \ when you should have used / It happens.😉😅 […]
Show full quote

Regressed93 wrote on 2022-03-02, 10:23:

In my effort to quote replies, I have fucked up hardcore, whoops.

you used \
when you should have used /
It happens.😉😅

I bloody learned HTML5, I should have remembered that goddamnit, now I need Doom Guy to send me to hell for forgetting that.

Edit your posts and hide your shame! 😜

Regressed93 wrote on 2022-03-02, 10:22:

Would this be perfect: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/275162622487?hash … bIAAOSwQ9BgP1tm

Hang on, are you located in AU? That both moderates the prices in $ if they are AUD, not USD, and explains (in part) the dearth of other options. Pretty relevant to mention if that is the case 😮

That said, for AUD 2.2k (USD 1500), you can fly to Shenzhen, go to the huge 2nd hand computer warehouses there, pick your stuff, fly back, and probably have enough left for a very nice hotel and a really good night out.

As for the SBLive: yes, that beats an ES137x card easily for Win98, and is a pretty fair price, although 5.1 or Audigy (2) would be better and the Platinum version with front bay may be nicer.

dionb wrote on 2022-03-02, 08:40:

Beware of Creative marketing... the PCI "Sound Blaster 16" has absolutely nothing to do with the ISA card of the same name, it's essentially a rebranded Ensoniq AudioPCI card with ES137x chip (or later Creative re-labeling thereof). It's not a bad card, but basically it's a low-end Sound Blaster clone with Creative sticker slapped on. The added value of the ISA SB16 is in DOS, not Windows, anyway. In Windows it's just DA and the extra features are positional audio stuff like A3D and EAX, which is only very minimally (EAX 1.0) supported. If you're aiming for Windows 98, a Creative Sound Blaster Live (preferably 5.1 or Audigy(2)) would be a far better choice, with full EAX 2.0 and A3D 1.0 support.

Would this be better: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/275162622487?hash … BgP1tm#shpCntId

Slightly odd you're gonig for a SATA optical drive (which won't benefit in any way from the faster interface) but choosing a slug of an IDE HDD for OS.

Would a SATA HDD and Optical Drive IDE be a better choice?

At the very least go for a 7200rpm drive with decent cache. Look for say a WD800 if you want period-correct but still decent performance.

Would 80gb be enough?

Also when did 7,200rpm HDD's first come onto the market for consumers.

That aside, the amount of money you're intending to spend on the kind of system you regularly find dumped on the roadside is - in my opinion - excessive.

In the State of Queensland, dumping things on the the roadside is an illegal and fineable offense, but in other states, you can dump away with no consequenses, if you can haul it, you can have it.

Even if you don't see those nearby, you can do much better than this. Ideally, find a complete system on Craigslist that ticks a number of boxes (i875 motherboard and or a couple of floppy drives, for example) for peanuts, then just add the missing bits.

I checked Craigslist, no one in Australia selling a Windows 98 Computer.

Look in places like vcfed.org and amibay.com for much better prices.

I will, thanks

I could easily put together an equivalent system and ship it to you from Europe for half the amount you are considering paying here - and generally stuff is more expensive over here 😮 (no, this isn't a real offer, no time for that - but I'm serious it would be easily possible and leave me with a LOT of beer money to boot).

Then you are more thrifty than I am.

On a very unrelated note, at a Bar/Pub/Tavern here in Australia the average cost for one bottle of beer is $6AUD(Here in Australia, we call a bottle of beer a "Stubbie")

Regressed93 wrote on 2022-03-02, 10:46:

dionb wrote on 2022-03-02, 08:40:

At the very least go for a 7200rpm drive with decent cache. Look for say a WD800 if you want period-correct but still decent performance.

Would 80gb be enough?

Also when did 7,200rpm HDD's first come onto the market for consumers.

Depends on how many games do you want to install, but most likely yes. Might be tight if you keep a lot of CD images (pirated games) on your hard drive. I have a 60GB drive in my W98 box partitioned to 40:20GB. The smaller part for drivers, the contents of the W98 install disk and installers for some software I consider essential. Though I could offload most of it to a network share. I have 30 games installed and there is around 23GB free space on the larger partition.

As for 7200RPM drives, if you aren't bothered by SATA optical drives and Northwood/Prescott Pentium 4, then early enough.

Cuttoon wrote on 2022-03-02, 09:27:

But, to indulge you,

CPU/Cooler/Motherboard Combo: Asus P4P8T REV 1.02 Socket 478 Motherboard With Intel Pentium 3.00 GHz Cpu - $85.05
- Isn't that a micro-ATX? Only photo I could find. Think the ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe would be the full blown product. Make sure there's "deluxe" in the name. 😉

Oh, it is a Micro-ATX, Whoopsie.

Memory: 1GB Kit (2x512MB) Kingston DDR1 RAM PC3200U 400MHz CL3 Kvr400x64c3ak2/1g - $17.47
- Back in 2002, "CL2" was a big issue for DDR RAM, if you were going to spend some extra money.

I have a problem with cas latency period, for instance DDR5-6400 cl38, that is far to big a cas latency, DDR5-6400 cl1, THAT is 100x better, but I digress.

>Correct me if I am wrong but isnt Windows 98 a 32-Bit Operating System, which means it SHOULD be able to handle up to 4gb or Memory?
- If the board eats 4 GB, Win XP-32 will use 3.5 of those. AFAIK, Win 98 really supports only 512 MB.

How limiting can 98 get?(Rhetorical Question, don't answer that)

Operating System and Core Programs Drive: Samsung 60GB 5400rpm IDE, ATA, PATA Internal Hard Disk Drives - $8.67
Video Games Drive: Samsung HM121HC 2.5 120 GB /5400RPM/8M/IDE-PATA Hard Drive For laptop HDD - $26.99
- I think there was S-ATA around in 2005 and in any case, if you want high end, "SCSI" will have to be in the name.

Is'nt SCSI not as "plug and play" as PATA/IDE is?

- There were P-ATA drives over 100 GB around and high end ones were at least 7.200 RPM.

Is it wierd that I did at one point look up 10,000rpm hdds and found the selection dissapointing?

Video Card: Creative Geforce4 TI 4600 128MB AGP - $512.48
- Dude, does that thing come with a custom cooler made of solid gold, or what is the trick?

X'D Oh My God, that had me laughing very loudly, and the answer is No.

4600 have become rare but they start at 50 € in Ebay auctions, going up to 100, and starting below that as BIN.

When I was putting together the part list, that was the cheapest 4600, it is possible there are cheaper ones on eBay now, and if there are I'll certainly update the gpu on my part list but honestly how long do you expect the listing to say "In Stock" or "Available" or something in that ballpark.

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster 16 PCI CT5807 Sound Card - $50.00
- As a random Stranger mentioned: There's a reason people mess around with slightly older Motherboards that include ISA slots. Think for early to mid 2000s it's an CL audigy with all the bells and whistles but DOS games will be a pain.

How Painful?

Power Supply: Corsair TX850M 850W 80 Plus Gold 850W ATX Black - $254.48
- Are there espresso machines for PCI or what are you going to do with 850 Watts?

Dude, this got me laughing as well, your a comedian, wish I had something equally funny to say.

- Couldn't really hurt, but the fancy 80 plus rating doesn't apply to 10 % average load. 😉

I mean 80+ Titanium has an efficiency rating for 10%, though titanium power supplies came in around the time of Vista, I believe.

>I'm still tryna find a time period appropriate PSU, this is moreso placeholding.
- Get a double fan Enermax then, those were expensive enough.

Can you point me towards a few models?

Case: NEW TECHMEDIA AT PENTIUM BAREBONE TOWER SYSTEM 1.44, MB I/O PORTS KB USB MOUSE - $319.50
>Three words, Big Beige Case, nuff said.
- If I'm finding the right ebay listing, thats's an entire Socket 7 System with keyboard. Also, it's AT. That Asus board is ATX.

Oh, Whoopsie again.

- Random suggestion, consider an In-Win q500 full tower, it will also double as a road block in case Russians invade.

So, first off, again that statement had me laughing, however I would like to point out a few things:

1. China is more likely to invade Australia than Russia is, for Russia, taking on Australia would cripple the country badly, not to mention it would be a bad idea period.

2. I understand you were having a bit of a laugh, but given the current situation at the time of replying, given the situation in Ukraine, that joke was in bad taste, but I understand you were joking, and I am amused.

- Full agreement on the optical drive, can't do without. If you want period correct, get one that advertises its max speed on the lid, since noise, for lack of a better word, is good.

Ahh that distinctive whiiiring and buzzing sound, *Sniffles* I miss those Sounds so much, 😢, I need a moment.

Operating System: Brand new genuine Windows 98 Second Edition Operating System CD-ROM and key - $145.00

- To quote the prophet Vincent: "Jules, you give that fuckin' nimrod 145 dollars, and I'll shoot him on general principle."

When making the parts list, it was the cheapest Windows 98 SE listing on eBay, it is possible a cheaper listing exists now, but the part list is like a month old.

- 5 1/4 floppy - I get the sentiment, but out of time on anything past a 386.

No denying that, but my mentality was "Why not have a Zip Drive and 5 1/4" Floppy Drive in my High End Windows 98 SE Gaming PC, They may not get used much, but c'mon, why the hell not"

OK, to be honest, I don't quite understand the whole setup as a matter of nostalgia. Win XP appeared in 2002 and many even messed around with win 2000 before that. So, stilistically, Win98 belongs just there - late 90s.

I actually have a part list for a High End Windows XP Gaming PC, and is effectively only $200AUD more expensive, I'm constantly chaging the gpu between a 780 Ti and a 980, the 980 is much newer than the 780 Ti, but many say the 780 Ti was better bang for the buch, during Windows XP's Days, so there's a little insight there.

There's the driver issue and the simple fact that any application that really needs the latter, high end hardware will cause all kinds of trouble win win 98.

Humour Me(As in tell me more)

And, in general: Don't mean to rain on your parade, but "the best of the best" is subject to interpretation and gaming PCs at any cost were still very much mainstream, consumer tech. So, if you'd want the real deal, you're dealing with x86 tech that was only affordable for rather exclusive, demanding professional use like high end CAD, etc.

Ahh, the 90's when pc's doing intense workloads would pale in comparison to todays powerhouses.

With these parts, the sky was the limit but you'd have to find them.
And even below that, there always were parts utterly out of reach for mere mortals back then, like the early Tyan dual Socket 7 motherboards - you can find them today, they're not valued that high, there simply aren't that many around. So, if anything, consider that build a work in progress until you find yet a more exclusive part - sounds fun as well, don't you agree?

I can't disagree.

RandomStranger wrote on 2022-03-02, 11:03:

Depends on how many games do you want to install, but most likely yes. Might be tight if you keep a lot of CD images (pirated ga […]
Show full quote

Regressed93 wrote on 2022-03-02, 10:46:

dionb wrote on 2022-03-02, 08:40:

At the very least go for a 7200rpm drive with decent cache. Look for say a WD800 if you want period-correct but still decent performance.

Would 80gb be enough?

Also when did 7,200rpm HDD's first come onto the market for consumers.

Depends on how many games do you want to install, but most likely yes. Might be tight if you keep a lot of CD images (pirated games) on your hard drive. I have a 60GB drive in my W98 box partitioned to 40:20GB. The smaller part for drivers, the contents of the W98 install disk and installers for some software I consider essential. Though I could offload most of it to a network share. I have 30 games installed and there is around 23GB free space on the larger partition.

List of games

Baldur's Gate 2 (retail)
Blood (noCD; pirate)
Colin McRae Rally 2.0 (retail)
Deus Ex GOTY (retail)
Diablo II (retail)
Duke Nukem 3D (noCD; pirate)
Fallout (retail)
Fallout 2 (retail)
FIFA 2002 (retail)
Forsaken (retail)
Gorky17 (retail)
Icewind Dale (retail)
Imperium Galactica 2 (retail)
International Rally Championship (retail)
Jagged Alliance 2 (retail)
MDK (retail)
Medal of Honor Allied Assault (retail)
Prince of Persia 3D (retail)
Quake (noCD; pirate)
Quake II (noCD; pirate)
S.W.I.N.E. (noCD, free full version)
Screamer 4x4 (retail)
Soul Reaver (retail)
Starcraft - Blood War (retail)
Thief: The Dark Project (retail)
Tomb Raider (retail)
Tomb Raider 2 (retail)
Unreal (retail)
Wizardry 8 (retail)
Worms Armageddon (retail)

As for 7200RPM drives, if you aren't bothered by SATA optical drives and Northwood/Prescott Pentium 4, then early enough.

I am yet to make a list of all my Dos, 95,98 games.

Bit I will say this, I have ISO's of All Doom games up to Doom 3,
I have ISO's of All Quake games up to Enemy Ter.........Enemy Ter.........I cannot bring myself to mention that abomination of a Quake Game.
ISO's Of Duke Nukem 3D, plus all the add-ons and shovelware
ISO's of all the Doom and Quake Shovelware,

Hey I love ID Software, I got ISO's of 90% of their 90's games.