First post, by Jeff Lange
Hey all, just joined the site. Posting this here to document my personal nostalgic upcoming/in-progress "retro" build.
This is just getting underway, but I've long dreamed of building what I consider to be my personal holy grail computer. I've had newer better computers (still do), but with old hardware being pretty cheap and a (hopefully) well thought out plan, I'm excited to get a chance to use it. I've been into computers for as long as I can remember, with my enthusiasm and budget fluctuating heavily between other hobbies and responsibilities, but I am finally building what I probably would have dreamt of, if the hardware existed and I had the money for it, when I was in my teens.
Goal: The latest hardware to support MS-DOS and Windows 98SE with official drivers, and that can run reasonably well Windows 3.11 through Windows 7 32-bit with Windows 1-2 and Windows 10 32-bit/11 64-bit as novelties. Ideally without needing to change any BIOS settings between any boot. The system should be able to run MS-DOS 6.22 through Windows 7 32-bit with native drivers for all hardware that would reasonably be able to run in DOS (though other drivers can be used if performance is improved). 3D acceleration should target maximum compatibility and feature complete for games released for Windows 9x with reasonable performance for XP, anything newer is for 2D applications.
Hardware
MB: ASRock 775i65G R3.0
CPU: Intel Pentium E5800
RAM: 2 GB Patriot DDR1-400 PC3200 CL2 (2 x 1 GB)
GPU: nVidia GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 256 MB AGP
SC: Sound Blaster Audigy Platinum eX SB0090
HD1: 120 GB Intel 320 SSD
HD2: 1 TB Samsung 860 PRO
Optical: Sony BWU-100A ATAPI IDE BD-RW/DVD-RW/CD-RW
Floppy: Matsushita LS-120 or LS-240 Drive
PSU: Corsair CX650M
Case: Undecided
Monitor: NEC Multisync 90GX2
KB: Logitech G510
Mouse: Logitech G700
Game Controllers: InterAct UltraRacer PC, Logitech Momo Force (Red), Gravis Gamepad or Gamepad Pro, Logitech Wingman Force
WiFi-Ethernet Bridge: TPLink TL-WR902AC
Speakers: Undecided
OS1: MS-DOS 7.1
OS2: Windows/386 2.11
OS3: Windows for Workgroups 3.11
OS4: Windows 98 SE
OS5: Windows XP Professional 32-bit
OS6: Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit
[OS7: Windows 10 32-bit]
[OS8: Windows 11 23H2]
[OS9: Windows 1.04]
I've sourced much of it, including the MB, CPU, RAM, GPU, SC, Optical Drive, and Monitor. Much of the rest of it is relatively easy or cheap to find with the exception of an LS-240 drive that works and isn't crazy expensive. I have a few ideas for cases and speakers, but don't really know which direction to go yet. I had a Lian Li PC-60USB that was stolen a few years ago and I've considered replacing it (I even see that new case clips are available now), but I just can't justify spending what people want for these things with dents and broken clips.
There are specific reasons for each component. I had been considering trying to find an E6500K for that unlocked multiplier, but to be honest I don't think I need to go beyond 3.2 GHz, if anything I'll want to slow it down, which if I use the correct settings on the ASRock, I believe it can be slowed down to approximately an effective speed of 75 MHz (6x multiplier, 100 MHz FSB, 1/8 speed thermal throttling), though again I am trying to avoid needing to make BIOS changes to run different software so will likely try to patch and/or use software slowdown methods first.
I've been working on a replacement for MSCDEX for a while now that adds support for Joliet and UDF 1.02 - 2.60 to allow working directly with non-bridge data DVD and BD discs and it has grown to be a pretty useful tool stack that really provides a lot of utility, particularly in MS-DOS 7.1 where it enables LFN and large file support beyond what FAT-32 can handle (via splitting and recombining files over 2 or 4 GB), and large USB removable media support. It's pretty cool. It also works with MS-DOS 6.22 but requires DOSLFN to support LFN and it's not quite as feature complete. Once it gets to where it needs to be, I'll probably post it for others to use, if anyone is interested. When combined with other common utilities (JemmEx, XCDROM32, etc.) it gives an extremely complete MS-DOS experience with a full driver stack (CD drive support, mouse, etc.) while maintaining around over 625 KB conventional memory free and about 120 KB upper memory with NOEMS.
