VOGONS

New Old PC -- Windows 98SE or Windows XP?

Topic actions

First post, by LordLao74

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

Hey all,

I just got a new old Dell to play with and I'm trying to decide in which direction I'd like to take it. Figured I'd come here for some fun discussion on the topic.

Currently, the Dell has a Socket 478 motherboard with a Prescott Pentium 4 HT 3.0GHz, 512MB DDR-400, integrated audio (probably Realtek, haven't checked), an Intel Extreme Graphics 2 IGP. As it is, the system feels better configured for Windows 98SE where the IGP won't be totally useless. I also don't currently have a reliable Windows 98SE system. I have a Slot 1 Pentium III but it gives me endless software issues (multiple windows reinstalls no idea what its deal is) and my other Windows 98 socket 370 system has been down so long I can't even remember what's wrong with it. For these reasons, I'm sort of tempted to toss Windows 98 on it.

At the same time it'd be fun to upgrade it too into a better Windows XP system. This motherboard lacks an AGP or PCIe slot so PCI is the only option for add-on cards, but I have a PCI ATI Radeon 9250 I could install and I could bump the RAM up to 2GB (only two RAM slots). Probably won't add a sound card to save time on the PCI bus for the GPU. This would let me use the HT features of the processor, which I doubt work well on Windows 98 so I'll likely disable Hyper-Threading if I go the Windows 98 route.

I already have a solid Windows XP system with a Core2Duo E8500 CPU, 4GB RAM, and a GTX 645 GPU. That system is very capable so keeping this one WinXP doesn't really permit me to play anything I couldn't already run on the other system. So I feel like I will end up running games that are more inline with 98 like Monkey Island, Starcraft, Diablo. Most demanding game I'm likely to throw at it is something like Star Wars KOTOR II.

Thanks for your thoughts

Reply 2 of 8, by LordLao74

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

That is what I'm leaning more towards at the moment. Might add a sound card if I do go Win98 but otherwise its all set after I apply some new thermal paste.

Reply 3 of 8, by NeoG_

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I would normally say ¿por qué no los dos?, but since you already have a capable XP system I don't see any reason to have another P4 XP system. Would serve you much better as a 98SE system.

98/DOS Rig: BabyAT AladdinV, K6-2+/550, V3 2000, 128MB PC100, 20GB HDD, 128GB SD2IDE, SB Live!, SB16-SCSI, PicoGUS, WP32 McCake, iNFRA CD, ZIP100
XP Rig: Lian Li PC-10 ATX, Gigabyte X38-DQ6, Core2Duo E6850, ATi HD5870, 2GB DDR2, 2TB HDD, X-Fi XtremeGamer

Reply 4 of 8, by LordLao74

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

That's my feeling too. So I'm installing Windows 98 as I type this. So far so good. It would be really cool to have a stable Win98 system again.

I think part of my hesitation to move off XP was that this thing still had its original install of Windows XP from whatever year this thing was bought with the serial key on the side of the case. Felt almost wrong to remove it after so many years. Also the parts I could have added are just sitting doing nothing and that's no fun. But I do miss Win98

Reply 5 of 8, by NeoG_

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

Since you aren't using it, may as well stick the 9250 PCI in there anyway. It works with 98SE.

98/DOS Rig: BabyAT AladdinV, K6-2+/550, V3 2000, 128MB PC100, 20GB HDD, 128GB SD2IDE, SB Live!, SB16-SCSI, PicoGUS, WP32 McCake, iNFRA CD, ZIP100
XP Rig: Lian Li PC-10 ATX, Gigabyte X38-DQ6, Core2Duo E6850, ATi HD5870, 2GB DDR2, 2TB HDD, X-Fi XtremeGamer

Reply 6 of 8, by Twisted Six

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Newbie
Rank
Newbie

I'll swim against the stream....I hated all the DOS-based versions of windows from W311 up through ME. WHen I gave up DOS I went to WinNT4 and never looked back. All the games we played ran swell on it and 3DFX always supported it. It was fun laughing hysterically at all the other silly ones cussing their unstable Win9x systems; especially if it crashed in the middle of gameplay!! Networking sucked...security sucked....everything sucked...so I'd vote XP. If you want some nostalgia, OK, Win2k; probably my favorite retro OS...infact I'd still be running it if there was browser support! Any prescott P4 system will have Win2k support along with XP.

Ok you win98 brats, throw rotten tomatoes!! 😜

If you tolerate this, then your children will be next.

Reply 7 of 8, by wbahnassi

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

XP would be the suitable one for a P4, but what the heck... I like to know that I can go for anything but the norm, esp. if I have another system with the same OS. So I'd say go with anything else but WinXP 😅

I, too, am of the Win2K fan-base... I'd say it's probably time to give it a shot.. or any other OS for that matter.

Turbo XT 12MHz, 8-bit VGA, Dual 360K drives
Intel 386 DX-33, Speedstar 24X, SB 1.5, 1x CD
Intel 486 DX2-66, CL5428 VLB, SBPro 2, 2x CD
Intel Pentium 90, Matrox Millenium 2, SB16, 4x CD
HP Z400, Xeon 3.46GHz, YMF-744, Voodoo3, RTX2080Ti

Reply 8 of 8, by RetroPCCupboard

Posted on 
User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I think mostly things that work on Win2k will also work on your XP box. And you mentioned that both of your win 98 boxes have issues. So I would install Win98. Possibly adding a PCI soundcard that is compatible with MSDOS if you want to venture into that territory.

Go to top of page Go to top of page
Back to Windows
Close window
Close window