Windows 98 Machine

[RyanNerd128]

So I've recently got into retro PC gaming and would like to build the "Ultimate" Windows 98 Machine to play these games on. I plan on playing games from 1995 to 2001 with the inclusion of MS-DOS games at high resolution (although not required). Sure I could just use emulation using virtual machines but I'd have much more fun building a computer. For this build I decided to go with an OEM PC mainly because I already had a computer in hand. I plan on using parts from around 1998 to 2001 to keep it more period accurate. I will list my PC specs down below.

PC - Dell Dimension 4100

CPU - Slot 1 Pentium III clocked at 800 MHz

RAM - 256 MBs of SDRAM

GRAPHICS CARD - Nvidia Riva TNT2 Pro

SOUND CARD - Sound Blaster LIVE with game port

HARD DRIVE - Quantum FireBall CX with 13.4 GBs of storage

OPERATING SYSTEM - Windows 98 Second Edition

With this build I hope to play games at high resolutions and good framrates. I would like to hear from the community what you guys think of my build.

 

[Deleted member 1898488]

looks like it may be good... the specs look good for 98, maybe down the road get a second hard drive

 

[RyanNerd128]

I have another hard drive its a 10 GBs MAXTOR hard drive. I could get something newer with more storage but I kinda like the sound of old hard drives.

 

[Deleted member 1898488]

23gb combined total would probably be good, i have two 98 machines and havent used that much on either.

 

[ragnar-gd]

Isn't the SB Live it bit too new? The rest is pretty in one line.

 

[jamesp33]

Why not get a new hard drive? 13.4 GB isn't too much. Also, Ever considered getting a PATA
SSD? You'll need a converter (3.5 to 2.5).

 

[Deleted member 1898488]

Why not get a new hard drive? 13.4 GB isn't too much. Also, Ever considered getting a PATA
SSD? You'll need a converter (3.5 to 2.5).

and i quote:

I have another hard drive its a 10 GBs MAXTOR hard drive. I could get something newer with more storage but I kinda like the sound of old hard drives.

he is probably not interested in something silent.

 

[jamesp33]

Weird... xD

 

[Deleted member 1898488]

Weird... xD

yeah, im like that too, nothing like the sound of an old seagate.

I guess it's a geek's version of loud cars.

 

[ragnar-gd]

Weird... xD

yeah, im like that too, nothing like the sound of an old seagate.

I guess it's a geek's version of loud cars.

Old [strike]men[/strike] nerds with greasy [strike]hands[/strike] hair lying under their old [strike]cars[/strike] computers, working hard... lol...

 

[Deleted member 1898488]

Weird... xD

yeah, im like that too, nothing like the sound of an old seagate.

I guess it's a geek's version of loud cars.

Old [strike]men[/strike] nerds with greasy [strike]hands[/strike] hair lying under their old [strike]cars[/strike] computers, working hard... lol...

Pretty much, yeah.

 

[Susquehannock]

Silence? Nothing like the "buzz click, buzz click" of a floppy drive.

 

[jamesp33]

Well that machine is a pretty good Windows 98 gaming rig. You might wanna install kernelEx on it for compatibility

 

[ragnar-gd]

Silence? Nothing like the "buzz click, buzz click" of a floppy drive.

I dare to post the link to some other site - nerdgasm:
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/floppy-disk-star-wars-music

 

[Susquehannock]

I dare to post the link to some other site - nerdgasm:
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/floppy-disk-star-wars-music

Outstanding!

Was joking because I too am building a Win98 era gaming rig and have heard that sound loading small games that were stored on floppys.

 

[ragnar-gd]

It's all a matter of preference.
I like perfectly silent and blazing fast hardware the most, and as hardware capable of running W9x is usually low-power, this is feasible pretty much.
Therefore, my W98SE installations use i.e.:
- 65W-octacore (Opteron 8320, 8x 2,5 GHz), passively cooled with a Silverstone NT01-Pro
- on an AM3+ MoBo like the ASRock 970 Pro3 2.0
- a SATA SSD (any 30GB one will do) on port 5 of that MoBo
- a SATA DVD on port 6 of that MoBo
- a passively cooled GPUs like the NVidia 7600 GT 256MB PCIe
- a Realtek 8111B chipset PCIe Gigabit NIC
- a Soundblaster Audigy PCI
Features:
- Runs like a charm
- uses less power than a P4 from the old times
- more silent, as in 0dB
- costs less money
- will last longer (as most hardware is newer)
- will run circles around your usual P4 hands down
- Bonus: Does multiboot with XP and Windows 10, so safe browsing is guaranteed, you just hit "reboot" and enter W10

But still to each their own, this is just how i do things.
Cheers, Ragnar G.D.