theulticobia

After another weekend of work and research, I have decided to go with the Pentium 3 1400S Tualatin. Are there any known problems I should be aware of with this CPU? I know I can research it, but I would like the experience of others to be directly shared to/with me. To continue... I. I know motherboards of this era suffered from the dreaded capacitor plague. II. I want to know if modern PSUs can work with the PIII or if I have to get one from the era. III. I want to know if there are are good CPU coolers/fans that won't risk cracking the CPU itself. IV. Inferring none of these are the issue, how difficult is it to find a motherboard of this era in a good workable condition? Any advice for me here regarding these?

In between work, rest, and research, I have wondered if I was being way to picky and choosy with what I want. I realized I need to be more flexible and open-minded in regards to what I am getting myself into. I also acknowledge I have way more research to do to make up for my lack of knowledge from this era. I just think my avoidance of P4 stems from this. Is the slow pipeline seen in the P4 lineup really that much to scoff about? In regards to this, I have decided to go with W98SE. I have also found a case of a more modern day design I may use in my build (link below). Additionally, I know I said I don't need a motherboard with a ISA slot. Most of my games are launched from within Windows whether they require MS-DOS or not. I have heard some MS-DOS games may require a sound card connected to the ISA slot. So what were some of the best sound cards of the era? The slot type can be ISA or PCI. What were the standards of the era? https://www.amazon.com/Fractal-Design-FD-CA-Focus-BU-W-Computer-Petrol/dp/B071G4KDKG/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8&th=1 My next decision is settling on a CPU. I was thinking about going with the P3 1.4 Ghz. I remembered that win32 (MSFN forum poster, not OS) mentioned the Pentium M is a successor to the P3 via laptops (mainly). I was curious if it had a successor as early in my research I remember someone (not in this forum) mentioned to me about the Core 2 lineup. I know Intel had some official support for W98 for the CPU and chip sets from this lineup. I just do not know which ones (CPU/socket/chip set). I know the Core 2 is overkill above overkill for the OS. After a little more research, I found the Core 2 follows the Core from the PM from the P3. Could anyone tell me what the biggest differences between the Core 2 Duo/Quad is from the P3? Yes, I know they are big, and yes I know W98 only supports one core/zero threads. I know the FPU is restored to the same way it was from the P3 days (mostly). Any other differences?

I would love this! I am still on the fence by a few bits on whether to use W98SE or ME, but I am leaning more toward W98. I heard some people have not been able to get sound cards working when they restored the real time mode to MS-DOS. Goodmaneuver said that MS-DOS with ME is faster, but I don't remember how. I know the RTM was skipped in the boot process for ME to make it faster, but restoring the RTM would make the faster boot redundant, right? Anyways...from my research, I am leaning more toward a P3 or P4. I now know to stay away from the early P4s as the later P3s had an edge over them. With that being said and barring all the features W98 will not be able to take advantage of with the P4, I have read the later P4s are more "intelligent" than their early counterparts. Could anyone define how. Never knew this. I love learning new stuff like this!

A big thank you to everyone for their knowledge and feedback! So my goal should be to build a PC that is efficient as possible rather than focusing on building a mega all powerful one eh? Makes sense. I was talking a co-worker at work who used to be the field making CPUs. He helped out both Intel and AMD CPUs. He mentioned that I go with AMD (can't remember his reason for why at the moment), until I countered (learned from this thread) with those CPUs often running very hot. He said yesterday if you put an AMD CPU in a closed case with no ventilation (yes, with fan), it can run up to a couple hundred degrees Fahrenheit. He did warn the fan can burn out, too. This next inspiration comes from my Meshify C case for my Windows 10 PC. Here is a question I posed for him: What about a more "modern" case that has proper air flow? Air flowing out from the front/top out the back/bottom through the PSU. Would that make any difference? I found it is hard to find a case where I can have a CD/DVD-ROM Drive, 3.5" Floppy disk drive (with or without a proper bay enclosure to match the dimensions of a CD/DVD-ROM drive), and a hard drive bay I can cold swap. If we are still talking efficiency, would AMD CPUs still be in the picture at all (not assuming how costly they are depending on the AMD CPU)? Because from all the information I am getting from everyone, it makes me learn toward Pentium 3/4 CPUs. P3 may be more efficient than P4 is, but I also know the high end P3s are also more costly from the way people have been buying them in the last several years. From my research, if i got an Athlon 64 or Pentium 4, they will be fast yes, but I understand that W98/WME will not use all the features of the CPU because the OS is unable to. There also may more errors in hardware from what I understand too yes? From the perspective of the motherboard, it matters not to me if I have an ISA slot or not.

I just went back over everyones' posts so to get a better feeling of what my next post is. @Goodmaneuver My Pentium 4 is my Test PC. I have the Windows 98 OS and drivers ready to go when I decide to reinstall the system. The original hardware from the system is still in the PC. The system was originally meant for XP. I just want to see what errors or problems I run into with the system in order to increase my experience and knowledge with the OS and PC. In this way, when I have a better hardware for this computer or a completely new one built from the ground up, I have better idea of what to do and not to do. Yes, I know the hardware and drivers will be different, but I can't argue that I won't be more prepared. @ ZaPbUzZ Yes, a have a game or two which used the MMX technology. I managed to get one working on my Ryzen 2700 PC the other day. Now it won't work. Ha! I have researched that the instruction set in not as complicated in the P3 CPUs than they are in their P4 counterparts. Why do you say what you did about AMD CPUs? Does this apply up to CPUs like the Athlon XP or 64? I know these are more suited to WXP, but have wondered if they can work with W98.

I am looking into whether I should stay with my CPU and/or motherboard or go with a completely new build. First, I need to decide what OS I want: 98SE or ME. Outrun 2006 Coast to Coast (2006) is really more of an outlier just like the original Outrun (1989). Both do not represent the scale of games I want to run. The bulk of my games start from 1994 and end at 2003, with the exception of the outliers. My list begins as such - 1994: Panzer General & Raiden I 1995: 3D Pinball, Jumpstart 1st Grade, and Transport Tycoon Deluxe 1996: Disney's Animated Storybook: Toy Story, DX-Ball, JS 2nd & 3rd Grade, JS Kindergarten Reading, JS Pre-K, JS Toddlers, RATS, and Toy Story Activity Center 1997: Virtual-On, Daytona USA Deluxe, Demonstar, JS Typing, Nebula Fighter, Panzer Dragoon, and Raiden II 1998: DX-Ball 2, Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver, and Lego Logo 1999: Arkanoid for Win 32 and Star Miner 2000: Backyard Baseball 2001, Colors of Wars, HW Crash, HW Micro Racers, HW ST Driver 2, and Mickey Mouse Preschool 2001: Disney's Extremely Goofy Skateboarding, D's Magic Artist Deluxe, Galaxy of Games Gold Deluxe, HW Jetz, Monopoly Tycoon, Planet HW, Rival Ball, Speedy Eggbert 2, and Zoo Tycoon 2002: DS Secret Missions 1 and HW Velocity X 2003: DS SM 2 and HW World Race My list is incomplete at the moment, but it will expand. This is what I have at the moment. I also want to test other games I have in the future; games that are more "modern," like To the Moon and some other GOG games. Right now I have made a list of titles which I have played in my childhood, titles which are very obscure, or games which in I am interested in, but have played little of. The hardware I have (my Pentium 4) will serve to test out if I can get everything working on the PC. I am just researching all options. You are right though, I do want go to the trouble-free route when possible as I am setting up.

I have heard AMD CPUs can perform better than Intel CPUs in some cases. I am not against using my Pentium 4. I just want to research the best CPUs W98/Me can perform with. For now, I am researching whether I should use Windows 98 SE or ME. How is MS-DOS 8.0 faster than 7.1? I know 8.0 was stripped down (I know it can be restored) to make ME faster and Microsoft at the time thought many people would not use the real-time DOS for games and such. I have also been researching and some people have reported that some sound cards do not work in pure-dos mode in 8.0.

Yep, I found out these facts as I was researching the card. There are so many G/CPUs from this era to research! I might have to look for another powerful GPU. I know this AMD CPU is pricey, but do you have any experience of the Super Socket 7? I have considered using Windows ME with the re-enabling of real-time mode of MS-DOS. I have considered using Windows 98SE & 98SE2ME just to increase stability of the OS. What is the biggest difference between MS-DOS 7.0 & 8.0 in your experience? I do not believe there is much of a difference between the two, but I am not 100% sure. @Wunderbar98 Thanks for the information. I wasn't sure if something that old would run. Now I am curious if Outrun 2006 Coast-2-Coast will run nicely. I have now transitioned to researching hardware to build my W98 system. Do you have any recommendations? The more opinions, knowledge, and experience I can have from everyone the better I can reflect on them. Everyone here has been helpful, especially Goodmaneuver.

I appreciate the time, experience, and knowledge you have shared with me Goodmaneuver. Funny, I thought the GF 6200 was AGP. Yeah, I discovered I need to go with AGP anyways. I came across a couple graphics cards which may be of interest to me: the Radeon 9700 Pro and I don't remember the other one. I have not come down to any choices regarding the CPUs yet. I know I want to stick with single core at least to minimize any problems. I do have a question though that occurred to me during my research. Does MS-DOS and W98SE need their own set of drivers each since they are essentially two separate but interconnected systems unlike dual-boot system of today?

Excellent. My mistake on PCI-X; have not heard of that format in a long time. Although my board may be good with games up to 2004, all my games go up to 2003 with the exception of one 2006 game. One game I have goes all the way back to 1989 - Outrun! It is more of a curiosity and not required to get working because of its age. I know I have a good board by what you say, but I want to consider all hardware options. First, I started back at the beginning: what CPU brand to consider? AMD or Intel? Have not decided yet. I don't want to go so far into the future with my hardware that my early games have problems. Along the way, I have come across the EVGA Geforce 6200 for a graphics card and the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS (recommended by a Youtuber PhilsComputerLab). More research is needed to be done in my opinion before I settle on my options. I am trying to find a motherboard which has support for 2 - 4 GB of RAM in case I want to do a dual boot. I also want it to have on board video with as many USB 2.0 ports as possible. I just need to first decide on my brand of CPU, its socket type, and the best CPU available in its class. I think taking your advice on installing a test system for all the hardware is an excellent idea. Will Windows XP 64-bit suffice?

So you are saying I should stick with the motherboard I have? I wasn't sure if it was good enough for everything I needed. If I recall the computer was released in 2001/2002-ish. I do not think this board has any PCI Express slots in it. Why do you recommend I test games on something like a 32-bit W. Vista or WXP? Is it because of the "modern age" of some of my games or because of the limitations of the 32-bit architecture? All I have is just that one graphics card. What should I upgrade or change my graphics card to? Any recommendations for a sound cards? Most of my games will open in Windows, but I have a few MS-DOS games.

I have an old Windows XP system a family member bought back in the day. I tried converting it to a W98 machine, but it had problems with games not working right. It also wanted constant access to the CABS files for drivers. Don't remember much about the errors, but they were weird. I have a list here for the hardware. Motherboard: Intel D845BG CPU: Pentium 4 (don't recall which one) GPU: Geforce MX4000 at 128 MB on PCI RAM type and amount: 1 GB DDR Has a 3.5" floppy drive (don't think it works), CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives. Hard Drive Size and Speed: 60 GB EIDE Drive Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 SB0100 PSU: 300 W Case: Big, Metallic, and Beige I also took a look a the games I have. One game, Outrun (yes, I own the Sega Saturn & Switch versions), is outside my range of games (1994 - 2003) released in 1989. Don't think I can get it to run. What I truly desire is to run everything on one computer instead of two. If I stick with this computer, I will want to upgrade the components in it. See, the bulk of my games have been released in 1996 and 2001 with other scattered in between. I acknowledge what Goodmaneuver has said on finding working hardware in 2020 being a challenge. My question is should I stick with the hardware I have or go with a completely new build?

What CPU is the best for this time period, Intel or AMD? I have been recommended the Pentium 4 or the Coro Duo/Core 2 Duo. I would like to have 512 MB minimum while increasing the amount of RAM later. I have downloaded Rloew's RAM patch. I want to have DVD-ROM and 3.5 floppy drives. Want the DVD and HDD to be SATA if possible. May upgrade to an SSD later. The OS will be on a removable drive in the front or back, so as to back it up every time I make a change to the system.all games and applications will be on the main H/SSD. I know support for Windows 98 ended in 2006. Should I go with a GPU from the early 2000's or mid 2000's? What slot type? Also, what is the best recommended sound card and PSU to work with? Also, may I ask what setup /p i does? I have seen it before, but do not remember what it is for. Not the best person in terms of DOS commands and remembrance.

Hello all. I've been coming to this part of MSFN.org since about high school (about 6 to 8 years). This website has inspired me on wanting to build my own W98 PC for years ever since. My interest has picked up significantly in the last month and I have been researching everything I could look up. I don't have a hardware list yet. Still trying to figure out what to get. Main reason is for retro games. My games list is from '94 to '04 , but most are dated in the middle. Going to use W98SE as the main OS. Don't know about a dual boot yet. Thought about using ME with MS-DOS restoration briefly until I came across 98SE2ME. I read through the guide and it is dated to 2013 from the last update. I know the Unofficial Service Pack 3.64 went to 2018. The guide recommends a fresh install of the OS first. So would installing this on top of the Unattended Boot CD install be a bad idea? Next, it recommends all the "latest" updates (in the following order) for DirectX 9.0c, IE6 SP1, WMP9, system add-ons, 98SE patches, USP 3.64, and finally 98SE2ME. If I took it further, there is the 98MP10, the NUSB (USB drivers), Revolutions & KernelEX (found more recent versions of both), and all PC drivers. To add to the drivers, I came across Rloew's history and his patches. Massive respect to him for pushing the OS! I got 12 drivers I believe I will need. I plan to get a form of memory I can cold-swap to save the entire OS to my laptop if something goes wrong. 1. Is this overkill? Yes, but I love the concept of doing it. 2. Which should I install 98SE2ME on top of: a fresh install or the UBCD? Should I install it at all? 3. Since the USP 3.64 continued to be updated long after 98SE2ME, are there any known conflicts at all? 4. Does the USP 3.64 have every official and unofficial update need to make 98SE more stable? Trust me in my lack of understanding of looking at the website's list of files. 5. If not, is there a central source where I can download every single update needed for W98SE? Is this even needed? 6. Is the recommendation of the order of how everything should be installed for 98SE2ME still relevant for today? Again, I do not have the yet the hardware to test this with. Do be aware there is still so much I do not know from this era! If you have any recommendations, let me know!