Need help with upgrading Windows 9x/ME Gaming Rig

[jm764]

Hello everyone my name's Jason and I have a question.

 

I currently own an old Pentium 4/HT based rig with the following setup:

 

Specs- Current

Case: Athenatech A4224BB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811190051

 

Psu: Antec 300w (Model: PP-303XP)

http://www.antec.com/specs/p303xp_spe.html

 

Mobo: ECS L4VXA2 (V1.0A? Not sure as there isn't any indication of revision A, B, or C labeled anywhere on the board; therefore I'll assume it's rev A.) with Socket 478. Bios rev. 1.1e

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Product/Product_Detail.aspx?CategoryID=1&DetailID=44&DetailName=Feature&MenuID=24&LanID=0

 

Cpu: Celeron 2.4 ghz (North Wood, no HT, no OC)

 

Gpu: Nvidia Geforce 2 MX/MX 400 with 32mb or on-board ram (I think it’s just the mx version, not sure though).

 

Ram: 768mb = 3x256mb of DDR1 ram at 333mhz

 

Drives- 1 Maxtor 80gb ide HDD, 1 Zip Disk 100 ide drive, 2 Floppy drives (3.5 inch/1.44mb), 1 CD-RW drive, and 1 DVD-RW drive.

 

OS: Windows Millennium Edition Ver. 4.90.30000

 

 

I wish to upgrade this rig to the following:

 

Specs- Potential

Case:  Same (if possible).

 

Psu: Same (if possible).

 

Mobo: Same.

 

Cpu: Pentium 4 3.06ghz (HT disabled).

 

Gpu: Ati Radeon 9800 Pro/AIW or Geforce 6800 GT or better if possible.

 

Ram: 3gb = 3x1gb of DDR1 ram at 333 or 400mhz

 

Drives: Same.

 

OS: Same.

 

Audio: SoundBlaster Live! Or better.

 

 

Will this set up work and what will I need to do to modify WinME to work with it properly?

 

 

A few points of concern on my part I hope you might know how to fix/suggest a better method:

 

Hardware Issues- Current

1. Psu seems to hate my Molex to floppy power adaptors and will not start at all unless I use the two original floppy power cables. This also means that most of my molex cables are really close to the drives and I can’t extend them further to reach a gpu if it needs a molex power plug.

 

1. The case I have isn’t very accommodating to large gpu’s and my Geforce 2 MX already takes up most of the space between the hard drives and it’s AGPslot.

 

1. ACPI is completely broken and I had to disable it on this board as it causes random shutdowns and Windows Me can’t shut down normally with it enabled or it hangs on a black screen with a blinking dos cursor.

 

Software/OS issues:

I don’t have any software/OS issues yet but I’ll post them here if any should arise.

 

Thank you for your time in reading this and replying.

 

P.S.: If I posted this to the wrong forum section, just feel free to tell me where it should be or move it there if possible.

[pangoomis]

To obtain maximum performance, and have the best support, use 98SE, not Millenium.

 

9x don't run on more than 1.15GB of RAM, so either buy the RAM Limiter Patch by rloew, or search Google for other solutions, which sadly are not as great as the Patch.

You don't need 3GB of RAM, unless you multiboot with other systems on the rig. If not, 1.5GB is more than enough, and causes less problems.

 

On 98SE ACPI might run better than on WIndows Me, but if it doesn't do "setup /p i" when installing.

 

6600/6800 AGP cards do require a molex connector, so bear that in mind.

 

Radeon cards are not recommended for 9x, they have bad drivers just like today.

Stick with NVIDIA, now that there is the Shutdown patch recently released 6800GT is a good choice, just like the Pentium 4.

Edited July 22, 2015 by MrMateczko

[jm764]

To obtain maximum performance, and have the best support, use 98SE, not Millenium.

 

9x don't run on more than 1.15GB of RAM, so either buy the RAM Limiter Patch by rloew, or search Google for other solutions, which sadly are not as great as the Patch.

You don't need 3GB of RAM, unless you multiboot with other systems on the rig. If not, 1.5GB is more than enough, and causes less problems.

 

On 98SE ACPI might run better than on WIndows Me, but if it doesn't do "setup /p i" when installing.

 

6600/6800 AGP cards do require a molex connector, so bear that in mind.

 

Radeon cards are not recommended for 9x, they have bad drivers just like today.

Stick with NVIDIA, now that there is the Shutdown patch recently released 6800GT is a good choice, just like the Pentium 4.

To be honest I like ME over 98SE on this rig for the man fact it far stabler and is "shinier" than 98SE.

 

I'll take that into consideration.

 

Ok.

 

Looks like some re-wiring for me! XD

 

Personally I've had better experience with Ati in my rigs than nvidia gpus (my laptops especially) but I'll look into both you suggested.

 

Thanks for the information MrMateczko! ^_^

[LoneCrusader]

Definitely trash the Celeron. Celerons are garbage. But be sure that you do not need to update the BIOS on your motherboard in order to have support for the P4 3.06GHz before you attempt to change the processor out.

 

I would highly recommend rloew's RAM patch, and by all means either max out the RAM on the board to 3GB (or use 2GB if you want it to run in Dual-Channel mode). You can never have too much RAM.

 

If you plan on playing any games that run in DOS or in a DOS Box inside Windows and use more than 2GB of RAM be sure to mention this to rloew when and if you get the patch, because an additional fix is needed to limit DOS Box DPMI memory to 2GB in order to run certain games, especially those that launch with DOS4GW.EXE, such as WarCraft I and II.

 

I've always been partial to ATI cards over NVidia, although I have been experimenting with NVidia lately. The 9800 XT is a very good card that can handle anything that was ever made to run under 9x. There is also the X850 XT Platinum Edition, although this card sometimes does not get along with WarCraft II and possibly other DOS games. A GeForce 6800GS is supposedly better than a Radeon 9800 XT, but a Radeon X850 XT PE is supposedly better than the 6800GS. Later 7xxx NVidia cards will work with the 82.69 driver found here, but many of them may not play well in your small case.

 

There is no need to disable Hyper-Threading in order to run 9x, but unless you plan to multi-boot with another OS that can use it it will make no difference.

Edited July 23, 2015 by LoneCrusader

[jm764]

Definitely trash the Celeron. Celerons are garbage. But be sure that you do not need to update the BIOS on your motherboard in order to have support for the P4 3.06GHz before you attempt to change the processor out.

 

I would highly recommend rloew's RAM patch, and by all means either max out the RAM on the board to 3GB (or use 2GB if you want it to run in Dual-Channel mode). You can never have too much RAM.

 

If you plan on playing any games that run in DOS or in a DOS Box inside Windows and use more than 2GB of RAM be sure to mention this to rloew when and if you get the patch, because an additional fix is needed to limit DOS Box DPMI memory to 2GB in order to run certain games, especially those that launch with DOS4GW.EXE, such as WarCraft I and II.

 

I've always been partial to ATI cards over NVidia, although I have been experimenting with NVidia lately. The 9800 XT is a very good card that can handle anything that was ever made to run under 9x. There is also the X850 XT Platinum Edition, although this card sometimes does not get along with WarCraft II and possibly other DOS games. A GeForce 6800GS is supposedly better than a Radeon 9800 XT, but a Radeon X850 XT PE is supposedly better than the 6800GS. Later 7xxx NVidia cards will work with the 82.69 driver found here, but many of them may not play well in your small case.

 

There is no need to disable Hyper-Threading in order to run 9x, but unless you plan to multi-boot with another OS that can use it it will make no difference.

Lol, yeah they're pretty bad (except the Pentium 2 era Mendocino Celerons) but fine for everyday task. Looks like the bios is already the last version and supports it, I just hope it works with out any issues on my mobo.

 

That is soo true! XD

 

Ok, I don't usually use Dos too much but just in case I'll mention it.

 

 

Well I prefer Ati for mid-high end to low end cards over nvidia especially on older rigs. I'll go for the 9800XT or X850 XT first and the 6800GS if it's cheaper.

 

Ah ok.

 

Thanks for the help LoneCrusader! ^_^