It has been discussed so many times...
It's good to know your CPU socket...
Any variation of ASUS CUSL2 or Intel D815E. Another option is the i820 with RDRAM.
3Dfx VooDoo 3/4/5 or GeForce 2/3/4. Anything you can get from it. Glide or OpenGL depends on games that you want to play.
Aureal A3D or Creative Sound Blaster Live! or Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 1/2. It also depends on games that you want to play.

Voodoo 3 PCI + GeForce2 Ti or GeForce3 Ti 200 AGP + A3D Vortex2 or Turtle Beach Santa Cruz.

P3 800? 100-MHz FSB or 133-MHz FSB?

If it is 100-MHz FSB then I would do:

Intel SE440BX-2 motherboard (have to check revision for Coppermine support)
Nvidia Quadro4 380 XGL video card
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card

I have built several of these and they are sweet for the following reasons

The SE440BX-2 won't get you any cool points for overclocking features, because there aren't any. This was a high end business class board and it was Intel's flagship slot one board. Rock stable... period.

The Quadro4 380 XGL because it is a high quality board built for business use and what you are basically getting is a 'better' GeForce2 but it does require newer drivers. I never had any issues with this board and is by far my favorite DirectX 7 video card. It uses same GPU as GeForce4 MX440 8x but only comes in one configuration (non-gimped) and high quality only (no POS boards).

The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is a really good sounding Windows card, lots of features, good drivers and Sensaura 3D sound. Honestly my favorite sound card for Thief 1 and 2, even over the Vortex 2.

My 2-Cents.

Thanks for the info!!

- if your CPU is socket 370 stay away from the 440bx as it's slower then newer socket 370 boards and it will require a slotket to run a socket 370 cpu - to big a pain in the ass. Any late model socket 370 board will do. If you want something nice find an Abit ST6 or Asus CUV4-X or Asus CUSL2, but any socket 370 mainboard will do. If your CPU is slot 1 try to find an Abit BE6 or BH6 - these are the nicest slot 1 boards you can get.

- video card wise I'd say a voodoo 3 3000 AGP is the best fitting card for your system. A geforce 2 PRO/GTS, Geforce 3 Ti or Radeon 8500 will also do great but you'll miss out on glide. Another good combination is all the aforementioned non-3dfx cards + a pair of voodoo 2 cards in SLi.

- sound card - if you plan to play dos games under win9x (expecially glide ports of Descent, Blood, Hexen and alike) you might want good midi support. The cheapest card with great midi is the Yamaha DS-XG (YMF724, 744, etc). If you want 3d audio go for a aureal vortex card (but I consider A3D gimmicky at best). If you want pure dos go for an ISA card - although a 800MHz P3 is a bit fast for pure dos and you'll have issues in some games.

squareguy wrote:

P3 800? 100-MHz FSB or 133-MHz FSB? […]
Show full quote

P3 800? 100-MHz FSB or 133-MHz FSB?

If it is 100-MHz FSB then I would do:

Intel SE440BX-2 motherboard (have to check revision for Coppermine support)
Nvidia Quadro4 380 XGL video card
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card

I have built several of these and they are sweet for the following reasons

The SE440BX-2 won't get you any cool points for overclocking features, because there aren't any. This was a high end business class board and it was Intel's flagship slot one board. Rock stable... period.

The Quadro4 380 XGL because it is a high quality board built for business use and what you are basically getting is a 'better' GeForce2 but it does require newer drivers. I never had any issues with this board and is by far my favorite DirectX 7 video card. It uses same GPU as GeForce4 MX440 8x but only comes in one configuration (non-gimped) and high quality only (no POS boards).

The Turtle Beach Santa Cruz is a really good sounding Windows card, lots of features, good drivers and Sensaura 3D sound. Honestly my favorite sound card for Thief 1 and 2, even over the Vortex 2.

My 2-Cents.

I'd rather use a proper Geforce 2 - preferably a GTS/PRO. The qudro is a "work" card and it feels (for me) to put it in a gaming system. Yes, the quadro is cheap, but so is a Geforce 4 MX440. As for the turtle beach card - they're VERY expensive. I'd rather use a Yamaha DX-XG witch is a lot cheaper, supports Sensaura 3d audio as well and use the leftover cash for a pair of Voodoo 2 cards. - but that's just me.

kanecvr wrote:

As for the turtle beach card - they're VERY expensive. I'd rather use a Yamaha DX-XG witch is a lot cheaper, supports Sensaura 3d audio as well and use the leftover cash for a pair of Voodoo 2 cards. - but that's just me.

VERY expensive? What? There is one in Amibay for 15 euros. If you have a Yamaha and a couple of Voodoo2 I'll trade one with you.
Come on...

sprcorreia wrote:

kanecvr wrote:

As for the turtle beach card - they're VERY expensive. I'd rather use a Yamaha DX-XG witch is a lot cheaper, supports Sensaura 3d audio as well and use the leftover cash for a pair of Voodoo 2 cards. - but that's just me.

VERY expensive? What? There is one in Amibay for 15 euros. If you have a Yamaha and a couple of Voodoo2 I'll trade one with you.
Come on...

EDITED - I mistook it for the rarer more expensive ISA turtle beach cards... my bad.

The reason I like the Quadro4 380 XGL is that it really is an improved Geforce 2 core. With the Quadro you know you are getting a non-gimped bus and gpu, the quality of board construction and the VGA output are high. And it doesn't hurt that it's faster and cheaper.

I don't think GF2MX or GF4MX are bad choices, but they are a bit boring perhaps. GF4MX is perhaps a bit out of spec when it comes to fitting the era, but lots of people upgraded their graphics card at a later date.

I've run a Coppermine 800MHz (133MHz FSB variant s370) with a TNT2 (non-M64 Diamond v770) and it performed alright. The graphics card was perhaps a bit underpowered for the 800MHz, but it worked perfectly fine otherwise.
Also ran a couple other Coppermines with various graphics cards, including Voodoo 3 and Geforce MX, and I ran Tualatin with a Geforce 3

If you want Glide, then Voodoo 3 or Voodoo 2 SLI + AGP-whateverbasicallyfloatsyourboat would also be my pick.

Think I will go the Voodoo3 route.....but gotta source one first in a few weeks once I am done with the two retro machines I am starting on