First post, by FXing Serious
Hi there fellas! I am new to this forum. I recently got an interest for old games and building old gaming rigs. I got tired of the games being released today. It's just the same thing over and over again. So I started by putting together a machine with Athlon XP 3200+ and a Radeon 9800 XT. I then replaced the ATI with a Matrox Parhelia. I know this card wasn't great in terms of gaming performance but I was looking for something I have never tried before; no ATI, no Nvidia. I had a lot of fun playing and exploring all those games I never had the chance to play back then; from 2001 to 2004.
Now that I am done with Socket 462, I decided to build a Socket 7 Machine. My first computer ever was Super Socket 7 sporting an AMD K6-2 550, 64MB of RAM and an integrated SiS IGP(I think it was SiS 530). The games I used to play included: C&C Red Alert 2, Monster Truck Madness and Emperor: Battle for Dune (Slideshow) It was an amazing machine in the eyes of an 8 year old kid.
Now, the computer I just built has a SOYO SY-5SSM motherboard. It came with an AMD K6-2 500 and 64 MB RAM and it has a SiS 530 IGPU. For the GPU, I got a Diamond Stealth II S220. I also bought a Cyrix MII-366 GP and an IDT Winchip 2-3D 200Mhz. I took the AMD K6 out and installed the Winchip 2. I had to try this one first because of how rare this CPU is for me. I have also never heard about Rendition before until now.
Performance in Windows 98 SE seems to be good, but gaming is another matter. I started Starcraft. I don't have an FPS counter but it's quite playable except that it stutters a bit during gameplay and get's worse in the main menu. Quake II runs like @#$@#$ even at 320x240 resolution, and I am only able to run the game in software mode. Diablo II lags like hell.
I am not sure if these problems are caused by the GPU, the Winchip 2, or the games themselves because I chose games that are too demanding. I tried looking for the system requirements for each game but they seem to be a bit vague, as I am used to how games today specify a "minimum" in GPU model, DirectX version etc. I would like to know what do you guys think.
Any recommendation for games are welcome! I am still "new" to this. I also apologize for any mistakes in grammar, as English is not my first language. Thanks!