GreyzardBigME wrote on 2025-03-28, 13:54:

i got these three retro-PC for free, and i was wondering if and how much i can use them for retrogaming, the second on paper is better than the first one but maybe is less compatible with Windows98 and/or dos games? (i know an Athlon XP processor is already better for backward compatibility, and a pentium 3 or athlon equivalent even "more better")

you can gets lots of advice, including some that really try to optimise everything, there is a lot of tech know how on the forum. Instead i'll just give a rough guide and what i'd do if i couldn't change anything

Optiplex GX260 02X378 Pentium 4 - Northwood - 1.80 GHz 256 MB ram DDR 266 MHz (1 module) Integrated graphic integrated sound car […]
Show full quote

Optiplex GX260
02X378
Pentium 4 - Northwood - 1.80 GHz
256 MB ram DDR 266 MHz (1 module)
Integrated graphic
integrated sound card

This is fine for Win98se, W2k and Win XP. It could do with a graphics card if it has an agp slot, doesn't have to be special - even an old fx5200 or a better radeon/geforce preferably. If win98 then 256 mb is more than enough, also for w2k in practice. Some like to load up Win XP with ram, its not really necessary - but still I'd suggest 512mb or 1gb if you have it.

If i couldn't change anything then maybe windows 2k, add office 2003 for the nostalgia and play 2d, isometric and older casual/card type games for occasional diversion

(no name) P5P800-SE Pentium 4 - Prescott - 3.00 GHz 512 MB ram DDR PC3200 400 MHz (1 module) RADEON 7000 / RADEON VE Family Inte […]
Show full quote

(no name)
P5P800-SE
Pentium 4 - Prescott - 3.00 GHz
512 MB ram DDR PC3200 400 MHz (1 module)
RADEON 7000 / RADEON VE Family
Integrated sound card

I think that's a fairly basic graphics card but the rest is pretty mighty and well suited to a WinXP set up. Given a more powerful graphics card and it'll play games into the early 2000's and sometimes beyond

If i couldn't change anything then i'd have win xp and some fun 3d games from the late 90's-2000, maybe up to UT and Quake3 as well as many 2d/isometric games

(no name) P5W DH Deluxe Intel Core 2 Duo - E6600 - 2,4GHz 2 GB ram DDR2 PC2-5300 666 MHx (2 1GB modules) AMD Radeon HD 5450 Soun […]
Show full quote

(no name)
P5W DH Deluxe
Intel Core 2 Duo - E6600 - 2,4GHz
2 GB ram DDR2 PC2-5300 666 MHx (2 1GB modules)
AMD Radeon HD 5450
Sound Blaster Audigy

You're in 64bit land now and this would make a very fast XP system. It would also manage windows 7 just fine, even nicer if you could double the ram - that's what i would do. Again, it could do with a slightly better graphics card if you plan on playing Crysis and beyond, no need to go crazy though

if i couldn't change anything then i'd likely still go for windows 7 and be confident in playing most 3d games up to around 2004 ish, with maybe a few compromises, but would have to accept the graphics card is a bit limiting. Also, this is the one i'd play DOS games on.... in DOSBOX

thanks for the answer, now the most essential questions are:
can i eventually get rid of the optiplex GX 260, or some old games could work better on the older pentium 4 without hyper treading?
on the latest pc i installed Windows 7 sperimenting with a raid 0 (obtaining approximately a "whopping" 216 MB in read and write) is there any old game that could run better compared to my actual pc? (i7-3770, 16GB ram ddr3-1600, geforce 1060 6GB)

Some nice bases there, though potential badcaps on some.
Looked up details on the GX260, looks like it does have AGP, though in some case models, it would only be low profile, I'd probably give it the Radeon 7000 from the second one and put something a bit better in that, or you could drop a Rage / Rage 128 into the GX260.
I think the last system I ran 98 on was an Athlon XP. I think it would probably run on a Pentium HT and just ignore the extra thread - and there are 98 drivers for the 7000.

Vague recollection, is it that you can set dual boot 98 / XP if you install 98 first and leave some unpartitioned space, then XP will deal with creating the dual boot