Nice to see one of these rigs assembled from stuff that one has laying around 😀

What OS are you using? I presume 98SE?
The mismatched drives will look better in a beige case, as you kinda already mentioned but as long as it works, right? 😜

The MS-6119 looks like a nice BX board. Kinda odd that one link mentioned it having LX instead of BX chipset? BX usually have those green heatsinks so you're probably good anyway.

40GB is a good start for a retro rig, unless you want to use a ton of images. I always played from the optical drive and 40GB is more then enough to get you started 😀

When ordering a Live!, some of the royalty OEM ones (think Dell) are more difficult to setup.

Looks pretty good and I suppose it's in a working state right now? But it's not completed yet.

When: This a "LC-Power" about a Power Supply?

britain4 wrote:

Parts on the way:

Nvidia Geforce4 4200Ti
Soundblaster Live!

That video card is way overkill for a PIII and breaks a lot of compatibility with some DX5/6/7 features older Win9x games need - there is no need to go faster than a GF3 here if I may humbly say so myself.

You will also end up regretting the SB Live! as its legacy SB emulation is dreadful in case you are playing any MSDOS games on this PC; since it's a Slot 1 motherboard it must have an ISA slot - either drop in an SB AWE64 or go for a PCI card with real FM Synthesis (YMF-2xx, ESS Solo-1) or better SB Emulation (Aureal Vortex 2) would be my advice.

appiah4 wrote:

That video card is way overkill for a PIII and breaks a lot of compatibility with some DX5/6/7 features older Win9x games need - there is no need to go faster than a GF3 here if I may humbly say so myself.

You will also end up regretting the SB Live! as its legacy SB emulation is dreadful in case you are playing any MSDOS games on this PC; since it's a Slot 1 motherboard it must have an ISA slot - either drop in an SB AWE64 or go for a PCI card with real FM Synthesis (YMF-2xx, ESS Solo-1) or better SB Emulation (Aureal Vortex 2) would be my advice.

That's weird, I always thought the Geforce4 Ti was the best choice for a PIII build (but we usually think about pairing those cards with high-end Coppermines and Tualatins), are you sure you're not thinking of the Geforce 6x00? (the card that dropped DX5 palletted texture support)

I agree about the sound card, any motherboard that has an ISA slot deserves an ISA sound card, but I admit, the SB Live! does have a place for native Windows gaming (particularly games that use EAX).

Tetrium wrote:

The mismatched drives will look better in a beige case, as you kinda already mentioned but as long as it works, right? 😜

There's always spray-painting the drive bezels (and CD/DVD trays) black. I spray-painted a beige NEC DVD-RW drive to match the black case for my Athlon 64 build, and I eventually plan on doing the same to the Toshiba DVD-ROM drive that's in my Dell GX150.

Still a pretty nice build regardless of its usual quirks.

Tetrium wrote:

Nice to see one of these rigs assembled from stuff that one has laying around :) […]
Show full quote

Nice to see one of these rigs assembled from stuff that one has laying around 😀

What OS are you using? I presume 98SE?
The mismatched drives will look better in a beige case, as you kinda already mentioned but as long as it works, right? 😜

The MS-6119 looks like a nice BX board. Kinda odd that one link mentioned it having LX instead of BX chipset? BX usually have those green heatsinks so you're probably good anyway.

40GB is a good start for a retro rig, unless you want to use a ton of images. I always played from the optical drive and 40GB is more then enough to get you started 😀

When ordering a Live!, some of the royalty OEM ones (think Dell) are more difficult to setup.

Looks pretty good and I suppose it's in a working state right now? But it's not completed yet.

Yup in its current state it’s 100% spare parts! It is apparently a nice board, I’m quite happy with it anyway. I think 40gb will do me but it is quite an old well used drive so we’ll see how it goes on. It is fully working right now, just upgrades to do!

appiah4 wrote:

That video card is way overkill for a PIII and breaks a lot of compatibility with some DX5/6/7 features older Win9x games need - there is no need to go faster than a GF3 here if I may humbly say so myself.

You will also end up regretting the SB Live! as its legacy SB emulation is dreadful in case you are playing any MSDOS games on this PC; since it's a Slot 1 motherboard it must have an ISA slot - either drop in an SB AWE64 or go for a PCI card with real FM Synthesis (YMF-2xx, ESS Solo-1) or better SB Emulation (Aureal Vortex 2) would be my advice.

I know it is hugely overkill for a P3 450 and probably also even a high end Coppermine but I’ve heard a lot of recommendations for it on here for P3 builds... hopefully once I get a nice Coppermine or Tualatin in there I should unlock more of its potential.

The sound card I thought was supposed to be decent too based on what I’ve read on here, ah well, I’ll follow your recommendations for a new one 😀

Yeah I might go down the spray painting route on the drives, I have some knocking around but I don’t know if I should switch to a beige case or not yet.

appiah4 wrote:

That video card is way overkill for a PIII and breaks a lot of compatibility with some DX5/6/7 features older Win9x games need

Features such as?

I think the GF3 and GF4 series are pretty much on the same line compatibility wise, maybe some game and driver specific glitches. GF2's and GF4MX's have adjustable texel alignment and maybe some other advantages, but the lower performance level is a hard trade-off even for most Pentium III builds. An add-in Voodoo2 could always sort out some issues.

firage wrote:

I think the GF3 and GF4 series are pretty much on the same line compatibility wise, maybe some game and driver specific glitches. GF2's and GF4MX's have adjustable texel alignment and maybe some other advantages, but the lower performance level is a hard trade-off even for most Pentium III builds. An add-in Voodoo2 could always sort out some issues.

I was under the impression that GeForce 4 has issues with scaling under DOS that GeForce 3 does not. If I posted this in error, someone please do let me know, but GF4 will not be as smooth as GeForce 3 for DOS games which I think should be a concern for a Win9x system..

appiah4 wrote:

firage wrote:

I think the GF3 and GF4 series are pretty much on the same line compatibility wise, maybe some game and driver specific glitches. GF2's and GF4MX's have adjustable texel alignment and maybe some other advantages, but the lower performance level is a hard trade-off even for most Pentium III builds. An add-in Voodoo2 could always sort out some issues.

I was under the impression that GeForce 4 has issues with scaling under DOS that GeForce 3 does not. If I posted this in error, someone please do let me know, but GF4 will not be as smooth as GeForce 3 for DOS games which I think should be a concern for a Win9x system..

Try with "GeForce FX" - FX it's a last "Old-PC Games" compatible.

Well we'll see how it goes with that GPU, my suspicion is that it'll be just fine for what I'm using it for. If not I'll have a look for something a little older. Or perhaps a Voodoo2 as someone said.

It does sound like I made a mistake with the sound card... I thought it was well regarded on here from what I'd read, apparently not. It is a budget build and I didn't fancy putting in a £130 bid for the AWE64 that just went on eBay. What's my bet bet if I'm looking for something under £50? Either PCI or ISA.

britain4 wrote:

I didn't fancy putting in a £130 bid for the AWE64 that just went on eBay

Wat? The Live! is an excellent Windows sound card, and has reasonable DOS compatability (just be sure to get a 5.1 version). The AWE64 is average, and anyone who pays 130 pounds for one, Gold or not, should go to jail.

The Live! has the potential of being a very good option for that system if it’s one of the good models and you have the right drivers, if not then you’re probably in for a frustrating ride. But give it a shot before you discount it.

The best option for a PIII that will be used for a mix of Windows and DOS games is having both a PCI and ISA card installed - also more fun to set up!

squiggly wrote:

The Live! is an excellent Windows sound card, and has reasonable DOS compatability (just be sure to get a 5.1 version).

Does this apply also to Value version (CT4670)?

Srandista wrote:

squiggly wrote:

The Live! is an excellent Windows sound card, and has reasonable DOS compatability (just be sure to get a 5.1 version).

Does this apply also to Value version (CT4670)?

Yes...but there are some dodgy OEM versions of the Live!...but if you get one with "5.1" somewhere on the card you will be safe, they were all good.

OK I’ll give the card a shot then, seem to be getting some mixed reviews on it 😁 it is a 5.1 card I’ve ordered, the CT4760.

That’s what I thought about the AWE64... I wonder if someone saw the one on BIN for a similar amount and assumed that’s what they were worth.

britain4 wrote:

OK I’ll give the card a shot then, seem to be getting some mixed reviews on it 😁 it is a 5.1 card I’ve ordered, the CT4760.

That’s what I thought about the AWE64... I wonder if someone saw the one on BIN for a similar amount and assumed that’s what they were worth.

The only thing the Live cant do is A3D2 (well technically OPL as well but neither does the awe64)...for that you need vortex2 card...I have two PCs for late 90s...one is p3 with a Live! and one is a SocketA with a vortex2.

squiggly wrote:

britain4 wrote:

OK I’ll give the card a shot then, seem to be getting some mixed reviews on it 😁 it is a 5.1 card I’ve ordered, the CT4760.

That’s what I thought about the AWE64... I wonder if someone saw the one on BIN for a similar amount and assumed that’s what they were worth.

The only thing the Live cant do is A3D2 (well technically OPL as well but neither does the awe64)...for that you need vortex2 card...I have two PCs for late 90s...one is p3 with a Live! and one is a SocketA with a vortex2.

OK got you. I probably got really into building computers about 2005 ish so a lot of this stuff is new to me. I think by that point things were a lot simpler! Any harm having 2 sound cards in the same system?

I understand I can probably make a Voodoo2 work alongside my Geforce4 if I wanted to? But not sure about the sound card.

britain4 wrote:

squiggly wrote:

britain4 wrote:

OK I’ll give the card a shot then, seem to be getting some mixed reviews on it 😁 it is a 5.1 card I’ve ordered, the CT4760.

That’s what I thought about the AWE64... I wonder if someone saw the one on BIN for a similar amount and assumed that’s what they were worth.

The only thing the Live cant do is A3D2 (well technically OPL as well but neither does the awe64)...for that you need vortex2 card...I have two PCs for late 90s...one is p3 with a Live! and one is a SocketA with a vortex2.

OK got you. I probably got really into building computers about 2005 ish so a lot of this stuff is new to me. I think by that point things were a lot simpler! Any harm having 2 sound cards in the same system?

I understand I can probably make a Voodoo2 work alongside my Geforce4 if I wanted to? But not sure about the sound card.

Having a PCI and ISA sound card together works really well! I would still avoid the awe64...go for an ESS audiodrive. Cheap, common, and good. Two pci sound cards is a pain which is why I have two separate builds for the Live and Vortex2.

I have a geforce FX 5500 alonsgside v2 sli and it works good, the gf4 should also be fine.

And yes, by 2005 things had simplified a great deal. Look at Phils videos on YT to get good build ideas. If you can get a voodoo3 plus a vortex2 that would make an awesome alternative machine for glide/a3d2. You heard of Thief? That's what you use it for first.

squiggly wrote:

Having a PCI and ISA sound card together works really well! I would still avoid the awe64...go for an ESS audiodrive. Cheap, common, and good. Two pci sound cards is a pain which is why I have two separate builds for the Live and Vortex2.

I have a geforce FX 5500 alonsgside v2 sli and it works good, the gf4 should also be fine.

And yes, by 2005 things had simplified a great deal. Look at Phils videos on YT to get good build ideas. If you can get a voodoo3 plus a vortex2 that would make an awesome alternative machine for glide/a3d2. You heard of Thief? That's what you use it for first.

I've ordered an Audiodrive for it! Pretty cheap too. I do watch his channel, got some good ideas from there.

I'm thinking of making this into 2 builds - I have another S370 system with a 500mhz Celeron in it currently and a Coppermine-compatible mobo. I've got a 700mhz Coppermine, a Tualatin and a slocket en route. If this MSI board will go down to the voltage the Tualatin needs (official specs say no but kaputnik has the exact same board and his does) then I'll pin mod the slocket and run the Ti 4200 in this. I'll use the 700mhz chip with the S370 board and get something like a Voodoo3 for it.

If the voltages on the MSI board don't go low enough then I'll run them the other way round with the Coppermine in the slocket and a slight over volt to 1.8v (the lowest the motherboard "officially" supports) and the Tualatin in the S370 board with the pin mod.

So I should have 2 decent builds there that should cover all the games I want to play.