i am trying to build high end older gaming desktop that can play diablo 2 starcraft/broodwar warcraft tides of darkness shog

[robertgwoodward88]

Help building new computer but older parts for older games

 

[cirdecus]

What kind of old parts do you have? I'm guessing you plan on buying older parts on ebay? It could possibly cost more than a new computer. You could simply install an old operating system on a new computer or maybe create a VM running 98 or XP

 

[bliq]

not sure exactly what you're asking. do you have older parts or are you looking for older parts?

 

[plywrlw]

What about something like a Pentium 4, a Northwood on socket 478 or an Athlon 64 on socket 754? Bet you can pick them up on eBay for less than the price of a takeaway!

You could install Win 98 SE on the machine too and go proper retro!

I built a similar machine for my brother a couple of years ago and he loves it, he finds it easier than using emulators and virtual machines.

You could also just look around for an old, used office PC with an AGP slot and get a suitable graphics card like a Radeon X800 or something, probably want an extra stick of RAM too, again off eBay.

EDIT Though the old, used office PC would probably need a bigger Power Supply if you were going to add a graphics card!

 

[LostAlone]

You won't have a problem running these things on modern machines. You may have to go back to windows XP but otherwise you should be fine with all of those games. I still have Diablo 2 on my netbook with XP on it - Works like a charm.

Remember - These old games weren't built on some weird implementation of a specific 3D engine. They were made using DirectX, and while they were all for old versions (8?) the instruction sets still work.

All of these old games still have plenty of fans and people have been very keen to get them up and running on modern machines. For some you can just go grab them from GOG.com, to get them running with basically no work on your part, or through reading a tutorial for dosbox. At the absolute worst you'd have to set up a VMWare old windows box, but that's about it.

 

[Eximo]

For a good while I used an AMD e350 running Windows 7 as an 'old' games and media PC. From scratch I think I spent only 300 or so dollars, and I paid a lot for the motherboard with onboard wifi and passive cooling. But that is the average price of a low end desktop or laptop, which can easily run older games. Install Windows XP (Or 2000) and, if you need it, DOS, or just use DOSBox.

Recently upgraded it to an i3-4130T when the e350 alone stopped being able to handle modern web browsing. Flash player would peg the CPU, basically had to stick to a single tab.