Project Old School

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

I have enough win xp systems. I also don't have a good win2k disc so 2k is out. I do have a Win me disc. So that may be an option.

[Red_Machine]

Hey, don't knock ME. It's a good OS provided it's on a fast enough system and you don't screw around with it. Crashed on me a helluva lot less than 98 ever did.

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

I may give it a whirl then.

[Red_Machine]

As with 98, ME can't be updated anymore, so make sure you grab the unofficial service pack to get it up-to-date. You gotta turn off system restore and system file protection though.

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

Oh yeah I have the links for the down loads for the sp and such.

[eidairaman1]

Originally Posted by Red_Machine

Hey, don't knock ME. It's a good OS provided it's on a fast enough system and you don't screw around with it. Crashed on me a helluva lot less than 98 ever did.

98SE didnt give me any headaches like ME did.

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

I have read that and back when it was released there where alot of bad reviews for it is why I never actually upgraded to it. I went from 98 to Xp.

[TRWOV]

ME drivers are similar to 98's but not entirely so there are fewer drivers for ME although 98 drivers can be ported to ME.

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

Project old school might get a new os for awhile.

Okay so for my polls ( now there will be 2 for this)
You can vote on a a mobo and a os.

[Norton]

:d

Originally Posted by the_mad_shot

project old school might get a new os for awhile.

Okay so for my polls ( now there will be 2 for this)

poll 1
socket a = 1 vote
slot a = 1 vote


poll 2
win 98 se = 0
win me = 0

cast your votes. I myself will not count my vote.

98se

[xBruce88x]

+1 for the socket A and Win98 SE.

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

Well I have a slot A board on the way, but the poll will dictate what board I use for this build. The socket A is winning so far and win Me has got no love out there.

[Fitseries3]

i have an athlon xp 2400+ if you want it.

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

pm'd

[t_ski]

One more vote for Win 98 SE. I bought ME and thought I was doing the right thing, but had the weirdest networking issue. I was at a friends house for my first LAN party and realized my NIC was turned off in the BIOS. I turned it on, then was prompted to install the drivers for it. I was asked for the OS disc, but did not have it with me. I went through the setup anyway, skipping files as needed. Turns out the NIC worked, and was fine. About a month later I decided to upgrade my hard drive, and did a reinstall of the OS. I figured I'd install the NIC drivers the right way this time, but that was a huge mistake. The dang thing never worked at our LAN parties right again. Always lagged behind the other guys on laps and had issues where my car would disappear or pass through other objects like they were ghosts.

[Norton]

I haz want to see project.... can I haz?

[Norton]

I'm digging this thread out of the archives for you Buddy

Gonna blow the dust off and run some classics on it?

Starting to do some planning for my classic alienware hydraulic case project

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

Actually I was thinking about it today. I think within the next couple weeks I will get it done and play some. I am done with the cruncher builds for a long while so I haz time for a retro build.

[Iceni]

If your going with ME try updating Win98 to ME, rather than a direct install of ME. Your ME disc should be capable of doing this.

You retain the 98 registry and loose a lot of the bugs, while gaining ME's utterly awesome network speeds. You also gain generic USB support, something that's hard to live without.

You will loose real mode DOS, so you better have something downloaded if you plan to game on DOS the same as a XP+ system.

ME also sorts out a lot of the problems that 2K has in regard to game compatibility. 2K doesn't have a compatibility mode, so you may find games don't run, ME or XP can both reduce these problems with an older system. ME will have far fewer problem and less overheads on the system so it's probably the better option.

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

The system may take yet another route. I am thinking of either
A: going with the slot A system
B: using the Slot 1 combo
C: Using my Kt7a with either the Axp 2100+ or the Axp 2400+
I am gathering the drivers for all three right now and will gather all the parts together later today and get thing in order to finally get this build complete.

I was thinking of using my nf2 based board for it but decided I really don't need that much for win 98. I will put it back up and run win xp with it for some or the other games.


Both systems are going to be purley gaming systems. First game I will run will be either Myst or Unreal Tournament Creative Gold edition. Leaning toward Unreal because that game did cause me many sleepless night of pure fraggin' fun.



Also what video card should I use?

A: Ati Rage Fury Pro
B: Nvidia Geforce Fx 5700

[Norton]

Go with the one with the best supported drivers (the Axp probably has the best support but I really don't know)

My vote is C

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

I do have drivers for all three combos but like you said the kt7a has the best support. And hell win 98 will just fly on it. I also think I am going to use the Fx5700 with it also. Sound will be either a SB Live! gamer 5.1 or a SB Audigy 1. When I make the final choice of Hardware I will post it up with pics.






Early evening edit.


Okay I went through a got all the hardware together for the build. I am still on the fence on which combo to use. I have everything for all three combos out now.

Why I am on the fence is there is one game I want to install and play on the win98 box. It can only be played on a win98 or lower machine. You can't play it in virtual mode under win7 either. It needs 16 bit support. So the system requirements aren't high at all for it. It was made for win 95. Hell all my other old games will probably run under Xp except this one. There is a newer version of the same game that is supposed to run under Xp and possibly Vista, but why pay for another copy when I have the original. I can also get it on Steam and they say it has unofficial win7 support but I am not going down that road. Oh the Game is Myst.


So the build will go as follow's

Motherboard:

A: Lucky Star 6VA693A Slot 1
B: Msi MS-6167 Slot A
C: Abit Kt7a V1.3

Processor:

A: Pent iii 600 Eb Stock Intel cooler
B: Athlon 750 mhz Thermaltake Golden Orb
C: I have a few Socket A procs I can use on the Kt7a. I have from a 900 Duron to a Athlon xp 2400+ and about 10 to 15 in between. Thermaltake Volcano 11+ xaser

Memory:

I have 2 x 128 mb pc133 and a 256 mb pc133 I also have 3x 512 pc133 chips if I decide to patch win 98 to use more memory.

Video card:

A: Ati Rage Fury Pro
B: Gainward Geforce Fx 5700

Sound card:

A: Aureal Vortex 2 SQ2500
B: Creative Soundblaster Live! Gamer 5.1
C: Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 1 w/ live drive

Drives:

Sony 52x cdrw
Maxtor 40 gb ide hdd
Generic floppy drive

[Iceni]

Full retro for me would be the slot A system. It represents a big change in the way CPU's were sold, and the speed gains that those cpu's offered. For me this is the golden age of the modern pc.

Pre slot A the best thing was pretty much any PII system for games, PII 400mhz were something of a industry standard for a long time. AMD pushed out of the box and after the K6's we got athlon. The first modern cpu. It took intel a while to catch up with the P3 and the P3 never had the impact of the athlon. Added to that Intel then lost the consumer crown for a very long time through the thunderbird, palamino, TB-a, TB-b, barton, S939, Am2. Amd messed up after this point.

With that in mind i would base a retro system from the thing that kicked it all off, The slot A.

Failing that the Next best chip in my eyes would be the athlon XP 1700 TB-b. Those chips represent the first real consumer gains from overclocking. Clocking up to far far greater speeds than the industry liked. Up to then 10% gains was considered overclocking. Once those chips hit the market 20-40% overclocking became a real possibility Even more so when matched to a fast chipset like the nforce2. KT7 was always regarded as been slower, and not having the capability to push those chips as far.


Video card wise i think you have 2 bad choices. The big deal in Gpu's in the slot A era was 3DFX V/S Nvidia, Voodoo 3 4 or 5, or a geforce 2 would be the ideal partners.

For the 1700xp the card of choice is the ATI 9700 pro, It represent the largest gain in performance, and the biggest leap technologically of its time. The Nvidia card of this era for me would be the Geforce 4 ti 4800. The ATI card dominated the benchmarks for a long time and also offers DX9. The GF4 is only DX8.1


With that in mind and the choices you have listed i would make this system for Myst. B, B, A, B.

For an xp based system i would choose C, C, B, C

[ThE_MaD_ShOt]

You know I was leaning towards the ol' slot A for some reason. I think that is the way I am going with the build. Thanks man.

I have a nf2 board and all I am going to put together and get my win xp rig going again. But that will be another project build.

[stinger608]

Ya might have some issues with the Nvidia FX5700 with Windows 98 Mad. Not sure there would even be any drivers for that man. Riva TNT yes, but a FX5700 may be a bit hard to find..........Of course unless ya found some LOL.

Also in your poll, why don't you include Windows 3.11?

Can you say "out and back?"