Best PC for 98 SE?

[azagahl]

What's the best PC for 98 SE?

I've tried an Athlon 64 3400+ with MSI K8T Fis2R mobo, 1 GB RAM, and NVIDIA 5900 Ultra 256 MB. Result:

1. VIA drivers support >137 GB hard drives. (Good thing)

2. Various DOS programs just don't work, like UDMA (UDMA driver), and UMBPCI (upper memory block drivers). All the workaround hacks don't help here.

3. Occasional blue screens, for no clear reason, even with 98SE2ME. Doesn't happen in XP and never happened with my earlier Athlon PC.

Because of the glitches I'm thinking Via is not the way to go, and 64-bit is not helpful here. I want a faster PC and want it to work great with 98 SE. Any recommendations?

Also, I never tried SATA. Is it trustworthy with 98 SE? What about PCI eXpress?

[RJARRRPCGP]

What's the best PC for 98 SE?

I've tried an Athlon 64 3400+ with MSI K8T Fis2R mobo, 1 GB RAM, and NVIDIA 5900 Ultra 256 MB. Result:

1. VIA drivers support >137 GB hard drives. (Good thing)

2. Various DOS programs just don't work, like UDMA (UDMA driver), and UMBPCI (upper memory block drivers). All the workaround hacks don't help here.

3. Occasional blue screens, for no clear reason, even with 98SE2ME. Doesn't happen in XP and never happened with my earlier Athlon PC.

Because of the glitches I'm thinking Via is not the way to go, and 64-bit is not helpful here. I want a faster PC and want it to work great with 98 SE. Any recommendations?

Also, I never tried SATA. Is it trustworthy with 98 SE? What about PCI eXpress?

I don't think it's Via's fault. Because Windows 98 SE worked well with a Via-based Athlon motherboard, but that's with socket A and an Athlon XP. If it's Nvidia, then it's a different story.

With my nForce 1 motherboard, an Asus A7N266-VM, Windows 98 SE would crash with a black screen after installing the Catalyst drivers for my Radeon 9000 Pro.

The same video card is fine under Windows 98 SE with my Asus A7V8X-X motherboard, which uses the Via KT400 chipset.

But, believe it or not, while Windows 98 SE crashed with a black screen, Windows ME was fine with the Asus A7N266-VM!

I thought that Windows ME wasn't that much better than Windows 98 SE!

That's strange!

With my Asus A7N266-VM motherboard, I was required to use Windows ME, Windows XP or Windows 2000!

I didn't think that Windows ME was different enough for that to occur!

I don't have that strange problem with my Asus A7V8X-X motherboard.

Edited May 21, 2006 by RJARRRPCGP