It's probably going to overlap a lot with the other two.

You could put something like a PCI Voodoo 3 in there to cover that era of 3dfx games. But the P4 you have can probably do a lot of those games better, and the Voodoo 3 isn't cheap, so not sure how worth it that would be to you.

You could put an ISA sound card in there and throw late-era DOS games at it that the P1 can't quite handle. Games like Build-engine titles that need a beefy CPU at higher resolutions. There are only a few games like that, though, so again, not worth it unless you're really into those games.

It's a great late DOS system; S3 Trio is exactly the kind of AGP card you'd put in a system like that anyway, so fact it's onboard doesn't matter.

Can you give me some examples of games you think it's perfect for? If I only have this computer with DOS, I wouldn't have a computer with Win98 because I have: 286, 386, DX2, Pentium 60 with DOS, Pentium 200 Windows 95 and Pentium 4 Windows XP. I would miss the computer with Win98.

I think I would put a PCI Riva TNT or TNT M64 in there.

https://ebay.us/m/U9lhD5

It should be good for games up to around 1999 or so.

Tiberian Sun / Red Alert 2
Baldur's Gate
Jazz Jackrabbit 2

These games don't require a fast 3D accelerator.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-12-27, 09:03:

I think I would put a PCI Riva TNT or TNT M64 in there.

https://ebay.us/m/U9lhD5

It should be good for games up to around 1999 or so.

I'm afraid this one might not work - I had the same one in Compaq Deskpro EN SFF on BX440 and P2 350 and didn't load the picture. Another one works, the Inno3D TNT2 M64.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-12-27, 09:03:

I think I would put a PCI Riva TNT or TNT M64 in there.

https://ebay.us/m/U9lhD5

It should be good for games up to around 1999 or so.

I need to find a solution that can fill the gap between the P200 and the P4. Keep in mind that I'm not a fan of first-person shooters like Unreal; I only like historical ones like Doom. I much prefer Red Alert (which I played to the point of boredom) but a computer that can run Need for Speed ​​or Screamer 2, or even something more advanced (but still in the same genre), would be very welcome.

Ydee wrote on 2025-12-27, 10:48:

I'm afraid this one might not work - I had the same one in Compaq Deskpro EN SFF on BX440 and P2 350 and didn't load the picture. Another one works, the Inno3D TNT2 M64.

Hmm. Interesting. I wonder why that one in particular has an issue....

This are great machines, a integrated S3 is best option, exelent support in dos, win3.x and win9x

Latest one have integrated ESS 1938 solo1 even being pci, have great and solid dos support, give a try

theelf wrote on 2025-12-27, 12:42:

This are great machines, a integrated S3 is best option, exelent support in dos, win3.x and win9x

Latest one have integrated ESS 1938 solo1 even being pci, have great and solid dos support, give a try

I installed a Sound Blaster 64 ISA for use in DOS. But it works fine in Windows too. My only concern was whether the difference between the powerful CPU and the underpowered graphics card would make the computer too unbalanced.

AlessandroB wrote on 2025-12-27, 13:16:

theelf wrote on 2025-12-27, 12:42:

This are great machines, a integrated S3 is best option, exelent support in dos, win3.x and win9x

Latest one have integrated ESS 1938 solo1 even being pci, have great and solid dos support, give a try

I installed a Sound Blaster 64 ISA for use in DOS. But it works fine in Windows too. My only concern was whether the difference between the powerful CPU and the underpowered graphics card would make the computer too unbalanced.

S3 cards are best compatibility, even when i build a latest pentium 3 like 1ghz i use S3 cards

Lot of games and software of time have s3 compatibility in mind, like cirrus

And in win9x have good support for ddraw

In DOS or win9x are some of the best, if you want custom resolutions and tv out 15khz

nvidia, like geforce 4mx are great cards too, cheap and still easy to find in PCI, but without win3x drivers are not a option for me. No win3x no fun

AlessandroB wrote on 2025-12-27, 13:16:

I installed a Sound Blaster 64 ISA for use in DOS. But it works fine in Windows too. My only concern was whether the difference between the powerful CPU and the underpowered graphics card would make the computer too unbalanced.

Really depends what you are using it for. I am putting an S3 graphics card with my Athlon 1.4Ghz CPU and ISA soundblaster. It is for an overpowered DOS rig. There are some very demanding DOS games that I am hoping to play on it at 640x480 (or higher). Duke Nukem 3D, system Shock etc.

AlessandroB wrote on 2025-12-27, 08:52:

Can you give me some examples of games you think it's perfect for? If I only have this computer with DOS, I wouldn't have a computer with Win98 because I have: 286, 386, DX2, Pentium 60 with DOS, Pentium 200 Windows 95 and Pentium 4 Windows XP. I would miss the computer with Win98.

That Pentium 4 would be a better Windows 98 system - remember that Windows 98 was released in 1998 (as was this computer), but only reached maturity with Win98SE in late 1999, and was only really replaced in the consumer space in late 2001 by Windows XP. A P2-350 runs Win98SE itself fine, but would fail badly at running 2001 games designed for Windows 98 - or even 1999 games like Unreal Tournament. They would far prefer that P4; my main Win98SE system has a P3-1400S and GeForce4Ti, which is as fast as a P4-2000 or so and vastly faster than any P2

In fact I upgraded my late DOS system from K6-2 350 to P3-600 as it was a bit slow in Quake, Fallout, GTA and Master of Magic.

AlessandroB wrote on 2025-12-27, 13:16:

[...]
I installed a Sound Blaster 64 ISA for use in DOS. But it works fine in Windows too. My only concern was whether the difference between the powerful CPU and the underpowered graphics card would make the computer too unbalanced.

In DOS the video system is just a frame buffer and performance is determined purely by how fast it can get stuff from memory to screen. Generally they will be bottlenecked by the bus - so an S3 Trio AGP will be just as fast as an S3 Virge, Voodoo3 or indeed GeForce FX5500 or so.

RetroPCCupboard wrote on 2025-12-27, 11:38:

Ydee wrote on 2025-12-27, 10:48:

I'm afraid this one might not work - I had the same one in Compaq Deskpro EN SFF on BX440 and P2 350 and didn't load the picture. Another one works, the Inno3D TNT2 M64.

Hmm. Interesting. I wonder why that one in particular has an issue....

As seller say: "...This Riva TNT graphics card only works with PCI slots that have the 3.3v pins connected, it will most likely not work with older socket 7 or socket 4 motherboards with AT power supplies ..."

I think that to properly exploit your IBM 300GL with CPU upgrade to P3 (considering that it already has a good VGA for 2D graphics) you could install a Voodoo1 or Voodoo2 card (perhaps in this case even a pair in SLI): the system would cover a wide range of 3D accelerated games in DOS and Win98.

Ydee wrote on 2025-12-28, 08:13:

As seller say: "...This Riva TNT graphics card only works with PCI slots that have the 3.3v pins connected, it will most likely not work with older socket 7 or socket 4 motherboards with AT power supplies ..."

But this is a Pentium II system with ATX power supply I think? Wouldn't that be new enough?

Even my Deskpro was with ATX PSU, but this card was not working.
I have not investigated where is the problem. Moreover, it is interesting that the card works on the same basis, only a much newer production date (2001? I think, Inno3D)

Ydee wrote on 2025-12-28, 09:47:

Even my Deskpro was with ATX PSU, but this card was not working.
I have not investigated where is the problem. Moreover, it is interesting that the card works on the same basis, only a much newer production date (2001? I think, Inno3D)

Interesting. Good to know! I think I will check out some of my older motherboards and PCs and see if they support 3.3v. I have a compaq Pentium MMX PC which is PCI only, but has ATX power.

I think I had a Riva TNT PCI M64 in there at some point, but I took it out, as the CPU wasn't really fast enough to feed the graphics card. My card looks similar to the one I linked, but I have no idea if it is 3.3v PCI.

finding a specific use for a given machine is really an open ended question, its how you decide to deal with components and constraints really. I used to tune machines more, to be for games or applications or programming - but that's a bit like having a theme. as long as there are not big conflicts a PC s a general purpose machine after all. Just do whatever you enjoy with it 😀