Dell Latitude C600: Possible Win98SE Gaming Laptop? \ VOGONS

Dell Latitude C600: Possible Win98SE Gaming Laptop?

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First post, by KT7AGuy

Posted on 2015-08-28, 01:57

KT7AGuy Offline

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I just inherited a Dell Latitude C600. It's got a P3 850 CPU, ATI Mobility M3 8MB video, ESS Maestro 3i sound, and 256MB RAM.

The video card looks like it might be the weak spot in making this into a Win98SE gaming laptop. I'm not familiar with that model of ATI for gaming, but with only 8MB RAM it can't be good. Or maybe it is? What do you all think? What games can I reasonably expect to be able to run?

How about that ESS Maestro 3i? What is its compatibility like? If the video card is crap for gaming, maybe it can still make a decent machine for DOS games if the sound card will cooperate?

(Something tells me not to bother with this one, but the laptop is in fine shape. I'm just wondering if it would be worth the time & effort involved.)

Reply 1 of 3, by Maraakate

Posted on 2015-08-28, 05:16

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I couldn't tell you if the card is no good, but I've had some P2 Dell laptops that had no real practical use and the sound cards sound blaster support only worked in Win98 and it was buggy so I ended up throwing it on ebay for 99 cents with a $20 buy it now and amazingly someone bought it now...

Reply 2 of 3, by Marquzz

Posted on 2015-08-28, 07:30

Marquzz Offline

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I actually have a C600 with a P3 933 and the hi res screen (1920x1200). I cannot remember what grahpics card it has, can check after work. I have WinXP on it now.

Reply 3 of 3, by idspispopd

Posted on 2015-08-28, 08:20

idspispopd Offline

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ATI Mobility M3 should be based on Rage 128 so not too bad for a solution with only 8MB RAM (which is integrated into the chip in this case). For 1024x768x16bpp texture memory might get a bit tight (3,5MB), 1024x768x32bpp shouldn't work in 3D at all. I suppose it will be OK (but not great) for games up to DirectX 6 or maybe Quake3. The CPU should be more than enough for the GPU.
The sound should be fine for Win98, also the 256MB RAM (which can be upgraded to 512MB, but that shouldn't be necessary).
I suppose for DOS an earlier model with better SB compatibility in DOS would be preferable.

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