LHN91 wrote on 2020-01-15, 02:40:
I do have an ATI X700 PCI-e running on one of those oddball Asrock boards, the 4CoreDX90-VSTA (Core2Quad compatible, PCI-e, but DDR1 and works with Win9x? Gotta love VIA chipsets) in Windows ME, actually.
I wouldn't say I stress it terribly (it's in my in-law's retro-lan setup, primarily running LucasArts' Outlaws), but it does work for at least a few other games as well.
I was researching that on old Vogon's threads, after seeing some say the simple view of 'PCIE Doesn't work on Win9X isn't purely true'. This includes someone saying they got it runnong on a Bulldozer system even.
So, I'm getting that some PCIE cards will work, but the overlap of when PCIE cards rolled out, vs when 9X drivers were discontinued, is very slim. But if you have the parts, it can work.
What confused me is storage. I know SATA drives can operate as IDE no problem, but you also need the whole IDE primary/secondary channel stuff going on, don't you? While boards like mine have that as a compatibility mode, that should be entirely abandoned in newer boards, shouldn't it? I didn't understand how someone with a more modern system even got Windows 98 to even WORK with a SATA drive, even in IDE mode, on a modern system.
I have to admit, the idea of being able to do an ITX system with PCIE graphics for Win9X would be super neat? I know there are Via boards with PCI and some super expensive industrial oddballs with AGP in ITX, but you couldn't say, just do it with a z77 board?