Reply 20 of 28, by AlexZ
_tk wrote on 2023-01-27, 20:58:I still don't understand a "fast" P4 for a Win98 only build. By that point almost everyone had moved on to XP. And any late 98 games can be played just fine (and likely better) in XP.
I get it if doing a dual-boot XP and you want 98 on there to cover the earlier 9x games, but otherwise I'd rather have something more period appropriate. I guess it'd be something to do or if that's what you already have, but otherwise I personally wouldn't go out of my way to seek out an i865 or i875 mobo for such a build.
I see purchase price as the main argument. PIII can run Windows 98 games just fine, but 440BX boards are scarce and can be expensive with a fast CPU. A P4 board can be bought together with CPU for peanuts. Very suitable for people who prefer to play Windows 98 games as opposed to DOS and will use Dosbox-x for the latter. Athlon XP is exactly in the same category - not sufficiently powerful for many Windows XP games, but excellent for Windows 98. Paired together with GeForce 4 MX440 (128bit) or FX5500/FX5600 will make an excellent Windows 98 rig.
Dual boot XP/98 is not a good idea as it requires a graphics card that is old enough to use compatible drivers in Windows 98 but too weak for Windows XP games. This includes FX5900 which is usually a waste of money.
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