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RetroGaming Win98 Build

S

Spartan468

n00b
Joined
Jun 13, 2013
Messages
40
Alright, let me make this clear. I am one of the "old" guys.
I played my first PC Video Games in a system running Win98 more than a decade ago.
(I played my first ever Video Games on a Commodore 64.)

Now i am using only Win7, but i have many components from older systems that i want use to build a Win98 system for the sake of RetroGaming and a little bit of nostalgy.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Only gaming.
I plan to play only old PC games like Fallout 1/2/Tactics, AOE 1/2, Command & Conquer games and other games that are not compatible with Win7 or have no Widescreen Support/Patches/Hacks or look bad in Widescreen.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I hope to build it with components i have, but you can say 100$ without tax.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Greece.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
None actually, unless i found later that i need something.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I hope to reuse all parts. I will have to dig them out to provide more info.
Chassis (The case of my first PC that i would like to "rescue")
CPU (Intel 3.06GHz with HyperThreading, other inferior CPUs also available)
Motherboard (i have half a dozen of them, don't remember brands an names)
Memory (Lots of sticks, i will use 4GB of the best ones)
Cooler (also half a dozen of them available, all of them are standard cooles)
GPU (Sapphire RADEON X1300 512MB, also an 128MB older card )
PSU (A cheap Chinese, about 300W, and a Greek one, made in China, 650W )
Optical Drive (An assortment of CD RW and CD RW/DVD RW optical drives)
Sound Card (Old card. Also available)
Floppy Drive (Two in working condition, one in the box, factory sealed)
Cables (An asorted pile of all sorts of cables)

6) Will you be overclocking?
No.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I have a trusty 5 year old, LG monitor with 1280x1024. The monitor is currently stored in a closet somewhere and i have to dig it out as well. I used for about 3 years.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
When i find time to dig out the components.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Win98 compatibility.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I have Win98 somewhere, i guess 32bit version.



Alright, i answered the questions.
My main concern is about the drivers. I do have the CDs, but these are the drivers from the box. I want the last drivers.
My Sapphire RADEON X1300 can play even CoD:MW. It would be great if i can use it and make a PC that can play all the good old games.

That is all for now.
 
Just google for the drivers. Though many manufacturers still have their older drivers online somewhere.

If you truly don't care if the system lives or not, then reuse everything. Otherwise, get a new PSU like the Corsair CX430.
 
Thanks for the info about the drivers.

Will a New PSU be compatible with an 8-10 year old Motherboard?
 
Update

Modern PSU do work with old Motherboards.

Both of my old PSU didn't work.
The Greek/Made in China one was just dead, while the Chinese one leaked power.

I tested with my new Corsair TX650 from my another build and everything works fine now. I will get another PSU for the Retro system, i just used this one to check.


Bad news...
My GPU is fried.

Now where do i find a good Win98 compatible GPU?
I want something over 512MB.
 
Most games from the Win 98 era don't use that much RAM. So 512MB will be fine. As for which GPU, no clue.
 
only issue with the PSU, the old boards relied on the 5V line more heavily than newer systems, which regulate most of their power from 12V.

I recap old Antec SLs for my retro systems, you might want to compare 5V capacities among current production supplies.
 
Thanks for the replies.

I will be using this system to play other incompatible with win7 games, like Need for Speed Underground 1/2/Most Wanted (they are incompatible for my system) and i would really like to be able max these out.

Also i would try to run games like Painkiller, which does not work for me even when i set it to run in one CPU core (i cannot load games, it crashes).


The TX650 worked well, i guess Corsair PSUs will work, but the motherboard i am using was made in 2003...

As for the RAM, i will try to make the Win98 run with 2GB of RAM, just in case.

I will ask tomorrow for a PSU and GPU and i will let you know.
 
Isn't a 3ghz P4 going to be overkill / too fast for all of the good win95/98 stuff that won't run on WinXP? Although I've heard you can disable cache and such on some of the old Athlon CPUs to de-speed them enough for old games.

I had a win98 box for similiar reasons for a while too. Except a lot lower power - a Celery 333mhz, my old Voodoo3 2000, and some PC100/133 RAM.
 
GreenMonkey said:
Isn't a 3ghz P4 going to be overkill / too fast for all of the good win95/98 stuff that won't run on WinXP? Although I've heard you can disable cache and such on some of the old Athlon CPUs to de-speed them enough for old games.

I had a win98 box for similiar reasons for a while too. Except a lot lower power - a Celery 333mhz, my old Voodoo3 2000, and some PC100/133 RAM.
Click to expand...

Yes, but you see, i do not have a WinXP system, so i will try and build a sytem using a Win98 OS to run both Win98 and WinXP games (the ones that cannot run on Win7 and/or newer systems).


As for the RAM, it is going to be 2GB, not 4GB.
The Motherboard can handle it since it is 4GB max.
 
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