First post, by GiSWiG
Just looking for a little advice, tips, etc. or what ever you think...
So I need to make room and clear up most of my retro collection. Because of PCem and DOSBox ECE I'm good but I still want to have one period correct-ish build than I can adjust as needed. I basically want to whittle it down to one, possibly two PCs and maybe a few cards if I decide to switch it up a bit. The rest, I plan to ebay. I may take sell some to get other cards like Voodoo 2s.
I currently have two complete "super" builds that will remain.
Win98: Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2GHz, 512mb DDR, nVidia QuadroFX 3000, SB Audigy2 ZS Platinum, TB Vortex2 A3D, 120GB SSD. nGlide provides 3dfx glide but not in DOS.
WinXP/7: Phenom II X6 1100T, 8GB DDR3 RAM @ 6-6-6-18 @ 1333MHz, 2x Radeon 6850 in Crossfire, SB X-fi Platinum
The build I'm looking at is based on a Pentium II 400MHz on an ASUS P3B-F w/ two ISA slots. This is because the P2 is unlocked and I can bring it down to 133MHz and down to effective single and double digit MHz when shutting off L1 Cache. This is mostly for DOS gaming.
I am a Voodoo fan but I do want to cover as much ground as I can. I will soon have a Voodoo 1. I was thinking of pairing it with a Voodoo 3 3000. I do also have a S3 Trio64V+ card, Diamond Stealth 64 2001. In this build, is the Voodoo 3 overkill? Would I be better served with say a Voodoo2 paired with the S3 card? I also have a Geforce Riva TNT, an MX200 or 400, GF2 GTS 64mb, FX 5200 and FX 5500 but I'll probably avoid the FX.
Sound Card wise, I have a SB32 3670 and Audician 32 Plus w/ Dreamblaster S2. May use one or the other of find a way to use both.
I use an IDE to SD card adapter which makes switching things up easy
The other potential build would be based on a P3 933MHz on an ASUS P3V4X, VIA chipset, AGP4x, 1 ISA slot. Probably more suited for the Voodoo 3 but I would want to pair it with the Voodoo 1 or get a Voodoo 2 and use that instead of the Voodoo 1. I can't reduce the speed as I can with the P2 400, some DOS games require lowering Bus speed to 66Hz to run without artifacting.
Running an ISA sound card might not be worth it. SB Live with DOS capabilities might be a better choice.
This build leans toward modern Win98 and my Win98 "super" build would be a better choice.
(I think I'm talking myself out of this one)
Other cards available (and probably will sell):
AWE 64 Value, Reveal SC500, Voodoo Rush, Matrox G200, Matrox G400 Max, Radeon X850 XT, GF 6800 GT, mix of Audigy 2 ZS, X-fi and SB Live, TB Santa Cruz.
I think my main toss up is if a Voodoo 3 is overkill for a P2 400 and would I be better served with a Voodoo 2, maybe SLI, and something else.
So yeah, gota do what ya gota do. I need to reduce my stock but I want to keep a well rounded machine.
Thanks for any advice.
Steamer/GOG-er: ASUS Crosshair IV Formula | AMD Phenom II X6 1100T 3.7GHz all cores | Mushkin 8GB DDR3 RAM 1333 w/ 6-6-6-18 1T | Dual AMD Radeon HD 6850s in CrossFireX | X-Fi Titanium | Dual-boot Windows XP and Vista
