VOGONS


First post, by kaoticfury

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hi Guys, i am new here but have been reading lots of posts, very cool!

i recently purchased a P4 vintage PC from the bay. here is the current setup

Intel Pentium 4 530 HT 3.0 Prescott
Intel D915GAG
2GB Dual Channel DDR, 200MHZ
AMD HD 6450 512MB PCI-E
250GB 7200 HD
Reltek HD Audio
DVD/RW Drive, CD-ROM Drive
300W Power Supply
Windows XP SP3

As you can see...this could be a Win 98 PC...but XP is installed which is okay....i would like to use this PC for playing Diablo2, Half life, Red Alert or Starcraft...so all the games were released about in early 2000.
i know HD6450 was released in around 2011....i am looking for something newer or better than HD 6450...i may build another core 2 duo PC later....so i am looking for a GPU that is super fast in P4 setup but also works well in core 2 duo setup (no need to be period correct)

if HD6450 is already overkilled in current setup...i guess i can just leave it...and focus on GPU in core 2 duo setup only.

Another question is how fast GPU does Intel D915 or P4 processor support....

thank you all!

Reply 1 of 14, by Meatball

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The 915 chipset and this Radeon are beyond Windows 9X support. Further, the HD4650 will be severely hamstrung by the CPU, which is 5 years older. Some ideal GPU choices to pair with this P4 would be 6800 (non-GT) GeForce 6, or a Radeon 9700 Pro or 9800. It doesn't make sense to spend the money, though, since you already have the HD4650. If your board is compatible with a Core 2, the HD4650 will definitely benefit from the better performing CPU as well as less power-draw and heat.

None of this will matter for the games you want to play, though. You could run all of those games just fine with the hardware you have on Windows XP. Any workarounds you might need or want to install are documented at PCGamingWiki.com.

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Home

Reply 2 of 14, by PC-Engineer

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I have a similar build for similar focus (games up to 2004) with a GeForce FX5900 (AGP, vanilla) and i am very satisfied. For your System you will need a PCX variant, unfortunately very rare. Otherwise a Radeon X800 or GF6600/6800 would be good fit, but you loose some DX5/6 features for pre 2000 games.

Epox 7KXA Slot A / Athlon 950MHz / Voodoo 5 5500 / PowerVR / 512 MB / AWE32 / SCSI - Windows 98SE

Reply 3 of 14, by kaoticfury

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Meatball wrote on 2023-01-11, 19:05:

The 915 chipset and this Radeon are beyond Windows 9X support. Further, the HD4650 will be severely hamstrung by the CPU, which is 5 years older. Some ideal GPU choices to pair with this P4 would be 6800 (non-GT) GeForce 6, or a Radeon 9700 Pro or 9800. It doesn't make sense to spend the money, though, since you already have the HD4650. If your board is compatible with a Core 2, the HD4650 will definitely benefit from the better performing CPU as well as less power-draw and heat.

None of this will matter for the games you want to play, though. You could run all of those games just fine with the hardware you have on Windows XP. Any workarounds you might need or want to install are documented at PCGamingWiki.com.

https://www.pcgamingwiki.com/wiki/Home

thank you! i think i may just hold on and keep as is for now.

Reply 4 of 14, by Warlord

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Meatball wrote on 2023-01-11, 19:05:

The 915 chipset beyond Windows 9X support.

incorrect the truth is 915 is the last officially supported chipset, and a radeon x800xt or pe variant is the most powerful card that will both work on your mobo and run 98se, if you get a pci sound card like a audigy 2 zs and the x800 it will totally run 98se

Reply 5 of 14, by Meatball

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Warlord wrote on 2023-01-12, 00:46:
Meatball wrote on 2023-01-11, 19:05:

The 915 chipset beyond Windows 9X support.

incorrect the truth is 915 is the last officially supported chipset, and a radeon x800xt or pe variant is the most powerful card that will both work on your mobo and run 98se, if you get a pci sound card like a audigy 2 zs and the x800 it will totally run 98se

Thanks for the correction, I appreciate it!

Reply 11 of 14, by ODwilly

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If you want a cheap, more compatible pcie XP card for your P4 check out the x300 and x600 ati cards. Better, more power efficient versions of the Radeon 9550 and 9600 in pcie flavor, and dirt cheap as used OEM cards.

Main pc: Asus ROG 17. R9 5900HX, RTX 3070m, 16gb ddr4 3200, 1tb NVME.
Retro PC: Soyo P4S Dragon, 3gb ddr 266, 120gb Maxtor, Geforce Fx 5950 Ultra, SB Live! 5.1

Reply 12 of 14, by kaoticfury

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ODwilly wrote on 2023-01-14, 10:17:

If you want a cheap, more compatible pcie XP card for your P4 check out the x300 and x600 ati cards. Better, more power efficient versions of the Radeon 9550 and 9600 in pcie flavor, and dirt cheap as used OEM cards.

thank you!

Reply 14 of 14, by Cosmic

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kaoticfury wrote on 2023-01-15, 03:00:

Does anyone know if any kind of LCD that can be used in this system? trying to save some spaces

Any LCD with a matching connector (VGA, DVI, or both) to your graphics card should work, but an LCD in a 4:3 or 5:4 aspect ratio would be most appropriate for the games you'll likely play.

For my 2004 rig, I use a 19" Thinkvision L1900PA which is 1280x1024 (5:4) at 70Hz. It's super crisp. NEC and Samsung are also good manufacturers to look for, especially if they can go above 60Hz.