Firstly, are you running a patch for the 768MB ram size? 512MB is the max supported by vanilla 98SE. More can cause issues.
With that hardware there really is no point in running more that 128MB, maybe 256MB if you ever upgrade the CPU/GPU.
Secondly, do you intend on running any video cards that support later version of Direct X? Personally I run whatever the latest version my video card supports.
For 98SE DX7-8.1 is all I would bother with, unless I'm needing NGlide or something to work with DX9 hardware.

My main 98 retro PC for example has a Radeon 8500, and thusly uses DX 8.1
I think (could be wrong) that Savage 4 supports DX7. I would assume that the older cards will work fine with it installed.
If you are too concerned you can always use something like Direct X Buster to strip out the later version and reinstall and older version.
I've done this, don't really like doing it though, 98 can be temperamental.

Jasin Natael wrote on 2025-12-18, 18:53:

Firstly, are you running a patch for the 768MB ram size? 512MB is the max supported by vanilla 98SE. More can cause issues. Wi […]
Show full quote

Firstly, are you running a patch for the 768MB ram size? 512MB is the max supported by vanilla 98SE. More can cause issues.
With that hardware there really is no point in running more that 128MB, maybe 256MB if you ever upgrade the CPU/GPU.
Secondly, do you intend on running any video cards that support later version of Direct X? Personally I run whatever the latest version my video card supports.
For 98SE DX7-8.1 is all I would bother with, unless I'm needing NGlide or something to work with DX9 hardware.

My main 98 retro PC for example has a Radeon 8500, and thusly uses DX 8.1
I think (could be wrong) that Savage 4 supports DX7. I would assume that the older cards will work fine with it installed.
If you are too concerned you can always use something like Direct X Buster to strip out the later version and reinstall and older version.
I've done this, don't really like doing it though, 98 can be temperamental.

1. thank you very much for the advices + I really like your WoT logo ; - )
2. I have pulled out the 3x 256 MB and installed a single 64 MB RAM stick to avoid installing any patches (I want a quick Win98SE install and then benchmark)
3. I made a mistake in thinking that installing DirectX 8.1 would "upgrade" my graphics card. This would mean that instead of refusing to launch, a game would at least start with missing textures or reduced 3D features. But when I see Deus Ex 1 running in OpenGL or D3D Renderer on my Permedia 2, it's a disaster without textures, so DirectX 7.0 is ultimately useless to me. Sorry for asking this question, my assumptions were wrong! Thx a lot for your efforts ; - )

eliot_new wrote on 2025-12-22, 19:37:

1. thank you very much for the advices + I really like your WoT logo ; - ) 2. I have pulled out the 3x 256 MB and installed a si […]
Show full quote

Jasin Natael wrote on 2025-12-18, 18:53:

Firstly, are you running a patch for the 768MB ram size? 512MB is the max supported by vanilla 98SE. More can cause issues. Wi […]
Show full quote

Firstly, are you running a patch for the 768MB ram size? 512MB is the max supported by vanilla 98SE. More can cause issues.
With that hardware there really is no point in running more that 128MB, maybe 256MB if you ever upgrade the CPU/GPU.
Secondly, do you intend on running any video cards that support later version of Direct X? Personally I run whatever the latest version my video card supports.
For 98SE DX7-8.1 is all I would bother with, unless I'm needing NGlide or something to work with DX9 hardware.

My main 98 retro PC for example has a Radeon 8500, and thusly uses DX 8.1
I think (could be wrong) that Savage 4 supports DX7. I would assume that the older cards will work fine with it installed.
If you are too concerned you can always use something like Direct X Buster to strip out the later version and reinstall and older version.
I've done this, don't really like doing it though, 98 can be temperamental.

1. thank you very much for the advices + I really like your WoT logo ; - )
2. I have pulled out the 3x 256 MB and installed a single 64 MB RAM stick to avoid installing any patches (I want a quick Win98SE install and then benchmark)
3. I made a mistake in thinking that installing DirectX 8.1 would "upgrade" my graphics card. This would mean that instead of refusing to launch, a game would at least start with missing textures or reduced 3D features. But when I see Deus Ex 1 running in OpenGL or D3D Renderer on my Permedia 2, it's a disaster without textures, so DirectX 7.0 is ultimately useless to me. Sorry for asking this question, my assumptions were wrong! Thx a lot for your efforts ; - )

Awesome that you recognized it, you are the first member that has.
We welcome questions here, very friendly forum I have found. We have all been there with no being sure about something.
Glad that you have it sorted out. The Permedia 2 card is a very interesting one, I had one for a few years but wasn't ever able to get it to work so I sold it on for parts.

I like to install the DirectX version supported by the card installed. If I install a DX6 card then I leave stock DX6. DX7 card gets DX7, etc.

On fast hardware it seems to matter less. Your P3-450 is pretty speedy for a lot of Windows 98 software and probably won't mind if you install the latest DX9.

But on older hardware I felt higher DX versions were a little slower. My "early" 98 system is a Pentium MMX 233 with an ATI Rage Pro turbo which is a DX6 card. Higher DX wouldn't provide much benefit and would probably slow it down, so I leave it stock.

If you want to test for yourself, you could try benchmarking each card on each DX version using 3DMark 99, 00, and 01. That should reveal differences between the cards and the DX (and potentially also driver) versions. It's also kinda fun to collect and see the data and verifies your hardware is good.