VOGONS


Windows 98SE - Basic Build - Opinions Welcome

Topic actions

Reply 60 of 66, by momaka

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

^ Nice!
Would be a better match for the CPU as well.
Now you can tackle some early 2000's gaming too, and probably with still pretty decent framerate (early DX8/8.1 titles.)

Reply 61 of 66, by Ozzuneoj

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t

A Geforce 4 Ti is the perfect addition to that system running Windows 98SE in my opinion.

By 2003-2004 Windows XP was really taking over, even for a lot of us Win9x holdouts. Pairing a near top of the line CPU from mid 2003 with one of the best bang-for-your-buck cards of 2002 is just a great matchup. You could definitely run a faster GPU (high end FX series or 6800) to play later games at higher settings but if you want to play basically every game available up to 2002 with few compromises, you've got the machine for the job. 😀

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 62 of 66, by StriderTR

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

I recall these Ti 4200's being pretty popular when they were released, as well as decent performers. A good "middle of the road" type card. Though, I've never used one, I was on ATI at that time.

I was just given the system the card was originally pulled from. A "Medion" PC from around 2002/2003. Going to open it up today and see if the MB/CPU are any good. 😀

It appears this Medion company is still around. That's kinda cool to see. Seem to be German based, and they still do computers ... and ... work with Aldi Foods...

Fine by me, I love Aldi, shop there all the time. 😜

https://www.medion.com/us/who-we-are.php

Retro Blog & Builds: https://theclassicgeek.blogspot.com/
3D Things: https://www.thingiverse.com/classicgeek/collections
Wallpapers & Art: https://www.deviantart.com/theclassicgeek

Reply 63 of 66, by StriderTR

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie

GeForce 4 Ti 4200 is working great so far. All games that were working on the MX440 are still working and it passes all the simple tests I've done.

Only two pieces of software are giving me trouble, same two that were beforehand as well.

Blood II shows a black screen for movies and menus. No idea how to fix it.

3DMark99 Max crashes on startup every time. Also not sure what's happening with it.

Retro Blog & Builds: https://theclassicgeek.blogspot.com/
3D Things: https://www.thingiverse.com/classicgeek/collections
Wallpapers & Art: https://www.deviantart.com/theclassicgeek

Reply 64 of 66, by Ozzuneoj

User metadata
Rank l33t
Rank
l33t
StriderTR wrote on 2025-06-07, 16:51:
I recall these Ti 4200's being pretty popular when they were released, as well as decent performers. A good "middle of the road" […]
Show full quote

I recall these Ti 4200's being pretty popular when they were released, as well as decent performers. A good "middle of the road" type card. Though, I've never used one, I was on ATI at that time.

I was just given the system the card was originally pulled from. A "Medion" PC from around 2002/2003. Going to open it up today and see if the MB/CPU are any good. 😀

It appears this Medion company is still around. That's kinda cool to see. Seem to be German based, and they still do computers ... and ... work with Aldi Foods...

Fine by me, I love Aldi, shop there all the time. 😜

https://www.medion.com/us/who-we-are.php

I don't have a lot of experience with Medion but what I have seen seemed good. I would guess that it's a pretty solid machine if it had a Ti 4200 installed in it. The big question will be if the capacitors on the motherboard are okay since that is peak cap-plague era. Also, I would just assume the power supply isn't worth using and plan on testing\using the system with something else to be safe. If you're the adventurous type you can always crack the PSU open later to see if it's worth using or fixing.

EDIT: Hah! I see you posted the Medion system here. Sure enough... decent P4 system, but the caps are bad. 🙁 So typical of this time period.

Now for some blitting from the back buffer.

Reply 65 of 66, by Joseph_Joestar

User metadata
Rank l33t++
Rank
l33t++
StriderTR wrote on 2025-06-07, 23:30:

Blood II shows a black screen for movies and menus. No idea how to fix it.

I vaguely remember Blood II and Shogo having issues with certain Nvidia driver versions.

Try 56.64 and see if it helps with those games.

PC#1: Pentium MMX 166 / Soyo SY-5BT / S3 Trio64V+ / Voodoo1 / YMF719 / AWE64 Gold / SC-155
PC#2: AthlonXP 2100+ / ECS K7VTA3 / Voodoo3 / Audigy2 / Vortex2
PC#3: Core 2 Duo E8600 / Foxconn P35AX-S / X800 / Audigy2 ZS
PC#4: i5-3570K / MSI Z77A-G43 / GTX 980Ti / X-Fi Titanium

Reply 66 of 66, by StriderTR

User metadata
Rank Oldbie
Rank
Oldbie
Ozzuneoj wrote on 2025-06-08, 00:18:

I don't have a lot of experience with Medion but what I have seen seemed good. I would guess that it's a pretty solid machine if it had a Ti 4200 installed in it. The big question will be if the capacitors on the motherboard are okay since that is peak cap-plague era. Also, I would just assume the power supply isn't worth using and plan on testing\using the system with something else to be safe. If you're the adventurous type you can always crack the PSU open later to see if it's worth using or fixing.

EDIT: Hah! I see you posted the Medion system here. Sure enough... decent P4 system, but the caps are bad. 🙁 So typical of this time period.

Yeah, I thought about opening up the PSU and taking a peek, It's just a CoolMax 500W I think. However, I don't think I will since modern ATX power supplies work fine. I also already have 3 older PSUs that I've recapped and can use if needed. One is ATX (Antec 550) for systems like this, and the other two are older AT supplies. Who knows, maybe I will. Then I'll have two of each.

I'm just gonna recap the motherboard for now and hold onto it for future use. 😀

Retro Blog & Builds: https://theclassicgeek.blogspot.com/
3D Things: https://www.thingiverse.com/classicgeek/collections
Wallpapers & Art: https://www.deviantart.com/theclassicgeek