dionb wrote on 2024-02-17, 17:16:
The thing to look at is motherboard chipset drivers.
Basically "PCIe bad, AGP good" as far as Windows 98 is concerned.
That isn't exactly accurate. I've had success running win98se on i915 and i965 chipsets and PCI-E video cards like the 6600GT and X800.
dionb wrote on 2024-02-17, 17:16:Then for 2007-2008 you want the highest possible CPU support on such chipsets. That points you towards Asrock, with things like: […]
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Then for 2007-2008 you want the highest possible CPU support on such chipsets. That points you towards Asrock, with things like:
- AM2NF3-VSTA - nForce3 board that supports Phenom II quadcores up to the X4 BE 970
- ConRoe865PE - fastest Intel chipset board, supports up to C2Q Q6600/QX6700. Limited by FSB (1066MT/s max)
- 4CoreDual-SATA2 - fastest Via chipset board. Similar CPU support to the above, slightly lower performance, but you get a PCIe 4x (physical 16x) slot for more versatility under XP.
Given that Phenom II X4 BE 965 beats the pants off a C2Q Q6600 (although at 25% more power draw...) that combined with the AM2NF3-VSTA would be my suggestion for this build. Note that nForce3 driver support ended very quickly, so you can't run newer Windows on it. If you want to be able to go up to Windows 10, one of the Intel options might be better.
I've had stability issues with fast builds like this while running win98. I've attempted to build systems around the ConRoe865PE + P8600 and a Gigabyte GA-MF3 + Athlon64 6000+, both with similar results, witch are Windows XP running perfectly fine while win98 installing, but seemingly "degrading" after a couple of days of usage. Random freezing, blue screens, and general instability. I've tried everything - limiting ram to 512MB, using the memory patch for win9x, using older AGP video cards (radeon 9600, geforce FX 5900XT), SATA and IDE spinning disks, everything - the results were the same. The only way of getting the systems stable were dropping down to slow CPUs - an Athlon X2 4000+ for the GA-MF3+ and a E4500 for the ConRoe865 - that made the machines usable under win98.
dionb wrote on 2024-02-17, 17:16:
In any event, pair it up with an ATi Radeon HD4670 or HD3850 AGP, the two fastest AGP platforms out there.
As far as I know none of those video cards have win9x drivers, requiring a second PCI that do. Are there modded win98 drivers for these cards? That would be awsome.
pote2639 wrote on 2024-02-17, 16:30:
[...]
Not sure if it's even possible since The Spec that can play 2007-2008 games might not be compatible on Windows 98 at all. But I'm planning to get a Core 2 Duo and maybe a Geforce 6800 ultra but then the GPU might be the bottleneck for the game that's around 2007-ish.
I'm kind of stuck here, any suggestion? thanks in advance!
That's the problem. In therory it is possible to build such a PC using two video cards, one AGP or PCI-E for windows XP and newer games, one PCI for win9x titles (like a radeon 9200, FX 5200 or Voodoo 3 PCI), but all my attempts at such a buld have failed. My current fastest and 100% stable "combo 9x + xp build" is built around a a Gigabyte GA-MF3 and Athlon64 5000+, 2GB of 800MHz DDR2 in dual channel and a Geforce FX 6800XT AGP. It plays games up to 2006 very comfortably with most garphical settings maxed out, and even a limited selection of 2007-2008 games, but with limited resolution and graphical details. For win98 I installed patchmem and limited memory to 512MB. It also runs off a seperate 1GB partition and only has access to 32GB off the disks total of 500 (the other partitions are NTFS). I tried adding a voodoo 2 in for glide games but I've had issues with it and this PC. To make up for that I'm using dgVoodoo.
The PC does however play Far Cry, Doom 3, Quake 4, GTA San Andreas, Black and White 2, Homeworld 2, C&C3, and a plethora of other XP era games. It does fumble with newer titles like Crysis, and others like Fallout 3 run well enough but with reduced graphical settings.
Good luck with your build!