Virtue wrote on 2026-06-02, 00:06:

So major update on this build. Ive been tinkering around with it for a while now and im running into some major problems. At fir […]
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So major update on this build. Ive been tinkering around with it for a while now and im running into some major problems. At first I installed win98 SE, and then decided to upgrade it to the last drivers and stuff supported for the platform using some handy installers I found. It was going ok until I started installing games. The system runs DOS games fine but throw anything remotely 3d at it and it locks up badly.

I first thought it was the nvidia drivers so I downgraded them to an earlier version, i even re-thermal pasted the ti4200 card and no difference, I played around with the 2 soundcard setup I have going and again nothing changed. So this evening I've done a clean install of 98SE with no upgrades apart from direct x 9 and USB drivers.

Quake 2 locks up after a few minutes just the same 🙁 im starting to suspect the ti4200 card i bought is a duff. 😒

Anyone else have any similar issues? Could it be the mild overclock of the cpu chip also?

It's a known issue with SS7 boards and later GPUs, the AGP system is rudimentary and actually using the AGP bus features can cause instability. Voodoo3 cards don't use any AGP features, they use the slot basically as a fast PCI slot so that's another reason why the cards are popular for SS7.

I believe you can turn off the AGP features using the ALi AGP Configuration Utility 1.40 you can download here: https://www.3dfxzone.it/programs/?objid=369

Turn off all the features/set to lowest and see if games start working. I say "I believe" because my build has a V3 and changing these settings does nothing really so I can't say from experience.

I also had instability with a 50Mhz overclock on the CPU, my chip's stock speed is 550 and it runs forever at that speed, but at 600 it freezes after about 10 minutes of gameplay.

NeoG_ wrote on 2026-06-02, 09:55:

It's a known issue with SS7 boards and later GPUs, the AGP system is rudimentary and actually using the AGP bus features can cau […]
Show full quote

Virtue wrote on 2026-06-02, 00:06:

So major update on this build. Ive been tinkering around with it for a while now and im running into some major problems. At fir […]
Show full quote

So major update on this build. Ive been tinkering around with it for a while now and im running into some major problems. At first I installed win98 SE, and then decided to upgrade it to the last drivers and stuff supported for the platform using some handy installers I found. It was going ok until I started installing games. The system runs DOS games fine but throw anything remotely 3d at it and it locks up badly.

I first thought it was the nvidia drivers so I downgraded them to an earlier version, i even re-thermal pasted the ti4200 card and no difference, I played around with the 2 soundcard setup I have going and again nothing changed. So this evening I've done a clean install of 98SE with no upgrades apart from direct x 9 and USB drivers.

Quake 2 locks up after a few minutes just the same 🙁 im starting to suspect the ti4200 card i bought is a duff. 😒

Anyone else have any similar issues? Could it be the mild overclock of the cpu chip also?

It's a known issue with SS7 boards and later GPUs, the AGP system is rudimentary and actually using the AGP bus features can cause instability. Voodoo3 cards don't use any AGP features, they use the slot basically as a fast PCI slot so that's another reason why the cards are popular for SS7.

I believe you can turn off the AGP features using the ALi AGP Configuration Utility 1.40 you can download here: https://www.3dfxzone.it/programs/?objid=369

Turn off all the features/set to lowest and see if games start working. I say "I believe" because my build has a V3 and changing these settings does nothing really so I can't say from experience.

I also had instability with a 50Mhz overclock on the CPU, my chip's stock speed is 550 and it runs forever at that speed, but at 600 it freezes after about 10 minutes of gameplay.

You know what would have helped? If I actually installed the ALI AGP drivers from the start 🤣 I was running the Windows default ones.... No wonder it was crashing all the time! Had a go of quake 2 and it seems to be running MUCH MORE stable, Ive not had a crash yet!

I have had some issues which sound similar and reducing the clock speed of the CPU a bit seemed to solve the problem. (I was overclocking it from 400 to 450MHz at stock voltage) It would work OK for a while but eventually crash any of the games I was playing. Putting it back to stock solved the issue

You may also achieve stability by bumping the CPU voltage by 0.1v though this will generate more heat.

Assuming you haven't already changed it, The CPU cooler in your first image is quite small, you should have a look at getting a socket 370 c00ler. They fit right on a socket 7 but are taller/beefier and usually have a more powerful fan. I remember my K6-2 450 used to overheat on my ALI-based MS5169 and games would again crash after a while. I had to run with no side on the case (this was back around 99-2000 before I knew any better!)

Virtue wrote on 2026-06-02, 19:07:

You know what would have helped? If I actually installed the ALI AGP drivers from the start 🤣 I was running the Windows default ones.... No wonder it was crashing all the time! Had a go of quake 2 and it seems to be running MUCH MORE stable, Ive not had a crash yet!

As far as instability issues go, you got lucky on it being a simple fix haha

FullYes wrote on Yesterday, 11:26:

I have had some issues which sound similar and reducing the clock speed of the CPU a bit seemed to solve the problem. (I was overclocking it from 400 to 450MHz at stock voltage) It would work OK for a while but eventually crash any of the games I was playing. Putting it back to stock solved the issue

You may also achieve stability by bumping the CPU voltage by 0.1v though this will generate more heat.

Assuming you haven't already changed it, The CPU cooler in your first image is quite small, you should have a look at getting a socket 370 c00ler. They fit right on a socket 7 but are taller/beefier and usually have a more powerful fan. I remember my K6-2 450 used to overheat on my ALI-based MS5169 and games would again crash after a while. I had to run with no side on the case (this was back around 99-2000 before I knew any better!)

When I said overclocked I meant its a 533Mhz chip, but this MoBo doesn't have the jumper selection for 533Mhz, it was either a janky number like 526Mhz or the full fat 550. Considering I saw a CPU-Z image of this chip running at 550Mhz I've been running it at that ever since.

It turns out I needed to install the ALI AGP chipset drivers, I didnt realise Windows needed them. So far everything has seemed to have stabilized 😀

NeoG_ wrote on Yesterday, 11:49:

Virtue wrote on 2026-06-02, 19:07:

You know what would have helped? If I actually installed the ALI AGP drivers from the start 🤣 I was running the Windows default ones.... No wonder it was crashing all the time! Had a go of quake 2 and it seems to be running MUCH MORE stable, Ive not had a crash yet!

As far as instability issues go, you got lucky on it being a simple fix haha

I did run the program you mentioned and turned everything down though so that may also have helped!