There's a pod_v2.0_to_v2.1_dx5.zip patch but I don't know if it's appropriate for POD Gold, which I don't own.

Main problem with this game IIRC is stuttering sound on fast computers.

It ran well on my 350 MHz P2 back in the day. It also runs well on my current 200 MHz Pentium MMX rig.

Every faster system I've tried it on is unplayable due to this sound problem.

I usually run the fully patched 3Dfx version. It's only intended to be installed if you have a Voodoo 1 card, but also works on later cards.
If the installer doesn't present the MMX+3Dfx option, you can just create the files sst1init.dll and glide.dll with notepad and put them into Windows/System.

I also have the addon "Back to Hell" in a box, I believe it comes with all of the patches ever released for this game in one installer.
Uploaded the patches here: https://archive.org/details/PODPATCHES

I also have this patch here, which makes the game work with "modern" Force Feedback devices, like the Sidewinder Force Feedback wheel.

not sure there really is a best version, most of the 3d accelerated ones including 3dfx have major issues with the skybox textures.

there is also a claim on the wiki for this game that the original OEM version actually has more detail on most of the tracks compared to later releases...

This is a difficult topic. You might want to use the Wayback Machine (https://archive.org/) to see if you can still look at the collected wisdom that Stiletto cites in his links in this post. The post is geared toward Win2K/WinXP, but there is a lot of info for Win9x systems in the sites specified in Stiletto's first post, particularly POD Underground.