VOGONS


First post, by EmberBlitz07

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NOTE:
This may be very sporadic, as my main source of income for this project comes from art commissions, which also come very sporadically. Just know I haven't quit on this if I haven't posted any updates in a while on this, it's just I haven't managed to get much income since the last post.

Anyways, I've recently started off my planned build by buying the 3 main parts for it, the display adapter, the CPU, and the RAM. Here's the main specs I plan to use for them:

  • AOpen AX6LC motherboard - Intel 440LX (£46) or Siemens Nixdorf D1064 motherboard (£50) - Intel 440BX (neither ordered yet)
  • Intel Pentium II 233 400 (£17.30) (arrived)
  • 128MB Samsung SDRAM (£3.88) (ordered, should be here around Friday)
  • AZTech Sound Galaxy Multimedia Pro 16 IIIS+ PNP ISA sound card (£25) (not ordered yet)
  • S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB AGP display adapter (£6) (arrived)
  • Standard beige ATX case [boring, I know] (unknown) (haven't ordered yet)

Anyways, the first part of the build has came today, that being the display adapter, an S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB! It's certainly not great by any means, but it's the cheapest I could find considering I'm on a tight budget, and will hopefully do well considering its DOS compatibility.
IMG-20260407-125622-edit-1967192617060.jpg
Here's a photo of the card, my first ever AGP!

- Kannon

Last edited by EmberBlitz07 on 2026-04-08, 19:40. Edited 1 time in total.

x2 Fujitsu Siemens Stylistic ST4121 (XP Tablet PC SP2/Windows 98SE)
Kalidor K2100 (Windows for Pen Computing 1.0)
Planned:
Intel Pentium II 400MHz
S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB
128MB SDRAM
Siemens Nixdorf D1064
AZTech SGMM Pro 16 IIIS+

Reply 1 of 14, by EmberBlitz07

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I also hope to get a CRT monitor when I can get the money for that, although that will be last.

x2 Fujitsu Siemens Stylistic ST4121 (XP Tablet PC SP2/Windows 98SE)
Kalidor K2100 (Windows for Pen Computing 1.0)
Planned:
Intel Pentium II 400MHz
S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB
128MB SDRAM
Siemens Nixdorf D1064
AZTech SGMM Pro 16 IIIS+

Reply 2 of 14, by TheIpex

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This should be a fun DOS machine; do you have any games specifically in mind that you'll be playing on it?

Intel 486DX2 66MHz
Intel Pentium MMX 233MHz
Intel Pentium III-S 1400MHz
Intel Pentium G3258 4600MHz

Reply 3 of 14, by EmberBlitz07

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TheIpex wrote on Today, 00:11:

This should be a fun DOS machine; do you have any games specifically in mind that you'll be playing on it?

Yup! Specifically:

  • Wolfenstein 3D
  • Half-Life
  • Doom 1 & 2
  • Duke Nukem 3D
  • Shadow Warrior
  • Blood
  • Redneck Rampage

Would post my art commissions page in case anyone would want one to help out with this, but I'll not do it just in case the mods won't like it.

x2 Fujitsu Siemens Stylistic ST4121 (XP Tablet PC SP2/Windows 98SE)
Kalidor K2100 (Windows for Pen Computing 1.0)
Planned:
Intel Pentium II 400MHz
S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB
128MB SDRAM
Siemens Nixdorf D1064
AZTech SGMM Pro 16 IIIS+

Reply 4 of 14, by EmberBlitz07

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EmberBlitz07 wrote on Today, 00:20:
Yup! Specifically: […]
Show full quote
TheIpex wrote on Today, 00:11:

This should be a fun DOS machine; do you have any games specifically in mind that you'll be playing on it?

Yup! Specifically:

  • Wolfenstein 3D
  • Half-Life
  • Doom 1 & 2
  • Duke Nukem 3D
  • Shadow Warrior
  • Blood
  • Redneck Rampage

Would post my art commissions page in case anyone would want one to help out with this, but I'll not do it just in case the mods won't like it.

Oh, and how would one forget - the almighty Rise of the Triad.

x2 Fujitsu Siemens Stylistic ST4121 (XP Tablet PC SP2/Windows 98SE)
Kalidor K2100 (Windows for Pen Computing 1.0)
Planned:
Intel Pentium II 400MHz
S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB
128MB SDRAM
Siemens Nixdorf D1064
AZTech SGMM Pro 16 IIIS+

Reply 5 of 14, by EmberBlitz07

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Well, the PII's just came and...
IMG-20260408-133352.jpg
I got a little more than I bargained for. See that? That's 400MHz, not the 233 I ordered. Guess I got insanely lucky on that one.

x2 Fujitsu Siemens Stylistic ST4121 (XP Tablet PC SP2/Windows 98SE)
Kalidor K2100 (Windows for Pen Computing 1.0)
Planned:
Intel Pentium II 400MHz
S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB
128MB SDRAM
Siemens Nixdorf D1064
AZTech SGMM Pro 16 IIIS+

Reply 6 of 14, by H3nrik V!

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The thing is that the 400 MHz P-2 runs at 2.0V whereas the 233 is a 2.8V CPU. This might limit your choice of motherboards, as not all LX chipset boards may support the lower voltage. (somebody correct me if I'm wrong). On the other hand, the 400 could be set to 66 FSB thus running at 266, and probably very cool even 😀

If it's dual it's kind of cool ... 😎

--- GA586DX --- P2B-DS --- BP6 ---

Please use the "quote" option if asking questions to what I write - it will really up the chances of me noticing 😀

Reply 7 of 14, by H3nrik V!

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Oh, and if I'm not wrong, your CPU is from Week 32 of '98 - this means that it could be with an unlocked multiplier, thus having even greater versatility in clock settings.

If it's dual it's kind of cool ... 😎

--- GA586DX --- P2B-DS --- BP6 ---

Please use the "quote" option if asking questions to what I write - it will really up the chances of me noticing 😀

Reply 8 of 14, by EmberBlitz07

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H3nrik V! wrote on Today, 13:13:

The thing is that the 400 MHz P-2 runs at 2.0V whereas the 233 is a 2.8V CPU. This might limit your choice of motherboards, as not all LX chipset boards may support the lower voltage. (somebody correct me if I'm wrong). On the other hand, the 400 could be set to 66 FSB thus running at 266, and probably very cool even 😀

This is why I'm seeing about getting the Siemens Nixdorf motherboard with a 440BX chipset that supports both 66 and 100, so that I can take full advantage of it.

Thing is though, 50 is big money for someone like me without a steady source of disposable income, and the only income I really get is from art commissions (although I may start working as a video editor). I may post the link for info on commissions in case anyone wants to help out, if the mods are okay with it. If not though, that's okay.

x2 Fujitsu Siemens Stylistic ST4121 (XP Tablet PC SP2/Windows 98SE)
Kalidor K2100 (Windows for Pen Computing 1.0)
Planned:
Intel Pentium II 400MHz
S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB
128MB SDRAM
Siemens Nixdorf D1064
AZTech SGMM Pro 16 IIIS+

Reply 9 of 14, by RetroPCCupboard

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Have fun. Should be great for the games you mention.

Reply 10 of 14, by EmberBlitz07

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RetroPCCupboard wrote on Today, 14:38:

Have fun. Should be great for the games you mention.

Yup! HL1 would probably stress it out the most, but the 400MHz PII should be fine for low-res software rendering.

x2 Fujitsu Siemens Stylistic ST4121 (XP Tablet PC SP2/Windows 98SE)
Kalidor K2100 (Windows for Pen Computing 1.0)
Planned:
Intel Pentium II 400MHz
S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB
128MB SDRAM
Siemens Nixdorf D1064
AZTech SGMM Pro 16 IIIS+

Reply 11 of 14, by RetroPCCupboard

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Despite what the game says the min requirements are, this game is very demanding. My PII 300Mhz can just about play it in software mode at lowest resolution.

I would probably put a cheap 3D accelerator in there for half-life. Maybe a TNT2 M64 or something. But you can make do with software if thats not an option.

Reply 12 of 14, by EmberBlitz07

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RetroPCCupboard wrote on Today, 16:53:

Despite what the game says the min requirements are, this game is very demanding. My PII 300Mhz can just about play it in software mode at lowest resolution.

I would probably put a cheap 3D accelerator in there for half-life. Maybe a TNT2 M64 or something. But you can make do with software if thats not an option.

Yea, money comes in pretty slow, considering as previously mentioned, people looking for commissions also come pretty slow and that's my main source of income, although I might try working as a video editor.

x2 Fujitsu Siemens Stylistic ST4121 (XP Tablet PC SP2/Windows 98SE)
Kalidor K2100 (Windows for Pen Computing 1.0)
Planned:
Intel Pentium II 400MHz
S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB
128MB SDRAM
Siemens Nixdorf D1064
AZTech SGMM Pro 16 IIIS+

Reply 13 of 14, by RetroPCCupboard

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EmberBlitz07 wrote on Today, 16:59:

Yea, money comes in pretty slow, considering as previously mentioned, people looking for commissions also come pretty slow and that's my main source of income, although I might try working as a video editor.

I imagine AI image generation probably isn't helping with your income.... certainly I have seen several people using it to generate art for their home

Reply 14 of 14, by EmberBlitz07

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Yea, shame really. Although I'd say my artstyle isn't everybody's cup of tea either, so that may be another reason.

Here's an example of my artstyle, a sort of self portrait.
Untitled106-20250603205851.png

Apologies in advance for steering this sort of off topic.

x2 Fujitsu Siemens Stylistic ST4121 (XP Tablet PC SP2/Windows 98SE)
Kalidor K2100 (Windows for Pen Computing 1.0)
Planned:
Intel Pentium II 400MHz
S3 Trio 3D/2X 4MB
128MB SDRAM
Siemens Nixdorf D1064
AZTech SGMM Pro 16 IIIS+