# Want to build retro gaming PC (Win 98) suggestions/ideas for hardware



## NdMk2o1o (Jan 25, 2018)

As the title suggest I am going to be building a retro gaming pc and would like some suggestions for what components to buy. I'll be looking to run Windows 98 so the hardware must be compatible for that era, my general consensus is something along the lines of a pentium 3/AMD K6 processor around the 500-700mhz area? maybe 256MB-512MB SD RAM, 20GB??? HDD, not really sure on GPU so could need some suggestions with this, sound card, I'm thinking a sound blaster pci card should be the ticket here. I'll hopefully get a nice beige case to put it all in, an early 00's windowed case would be amazing. 

I'll be sourcing predominantly from ebay as I think this is my best bet to get all the neccessary parts, I gues it's just a case of making sure that whatever processor I get there are enough compatible motherboards available. 

So just looking for some help from people who've built a retro machine on any caveats or suggestions that will likely help me make this go as smooth as possible. 

P.S I'm hoping a 15" LCD with VGA shouldn't be an issue as I can then put this on my main computer desk beside my current 24" monitor


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## FreedomEclipse (Jan 25, 2018)

GPU, Without a doubt it has to be a ATi 9800 Pro if not a 9700Pro. Depending how retro youre going, you can even opt for an Nvidia Rage 3D Pro -- I might have one of these somewhere....
Soundwise, hmmmm... Creative Sound Blaster Live! or Audigy

256GB ram sounds fine to me.


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## NdMk2o1o (Jan 25, 2018)

FreedomEclipse said:


> GPU, Without a doubt it has to be a ATi 9800 Pro if not a 9700Pro. Depending how retro youre going, you can even opt for an Nvidia Rage 3D Pro -- I might have one of these somewhere....
> Soundwise, hmmmm... Creative Sound Blaster Live! or Audigy
> 
> 256GB ram sounds fine to me.


is the 9800 pro/9700 maybe not a bit too new for such a system? I was maybe thinking along the lines of a geforce 3/4 class of GPU but what would be a comparible ATI card from the time? and yea, I'm with you on the sound card a pci sound blaster should be ideal


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## FreedomEclipse (Jan 26, 2018)

Well. Geforce 3 was released in 2001. In 2001 ATi had the Radeon 7000 series of cards and i dont remember ANY of them being hugely popular. Push for a Rage Fury or Rage 128 Pro/Ultra if Rage Pro is too weak. Next series up would be the 8000 and 9000 series - again neither of which were super popular if i remember correctly. 

Geforce 4 was 2002'ish and the ATi 9000 series was in 2002 as well. If youre not going for iconic or memorable GPus then take your pick i guess.


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## NdMk2o1o (Jan 26, 2018)

Any ideas/suggestions on CPU/motherboard type?


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## FreedomEclipse (Jan 26, 2018)

Hard to say, It was around this time I was really getting into PC hardware and stuff but id say Abit NF7-S V2.0, nForce2. If you're looking for pre-nforce2 then someone else will have to jump in for recommendations. Its hard to find anything pre nforce2 on ebay.

Im not super knowledgeable about what sorta chipsets were around back then so I cant really make any suggestions other than the nforce. Though K6 was socket 7 so the nforce2 might be too advanced for your build.


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## Bones (Jan 26, 2018)

You can browse through the archives of CPU World to see what existed back then by socket and dates of the CPUs used to have a decent to good idea of what to look for. That was back when you had more brands of board makers around than you could shake a stick at but Abit does stand out along with Soyo, both were considered hot items back in the day. Asus and Gigabyte were in there as well so one of those would be nice for it too.

Do the research and once you know what your board will be, it's CPU socket type will determine what CPU to look for to get the most from it of course, CPU World is helpful with that too. As for a GPU, GeForce 2 and older is what to look for since GeForce 3 and newer will be after that time, the really popular cards were obviously made by VooDoo but good luck finding a good one for cheap. If I"m not mistaken even a GeForce 2 card is kinda "Too New" but close.
The first system I ever owned was built back in 2000 and it came with a GeForce 2 card.


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## NdMk2o1o (Jan 26, 2018)

How's this looking so far? 







I'm thinking the RAM is wrong.... looks like ddr isntead of SDRAM


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## natr0n (Jan 26, 2018)

Google the ram model # to be sure.


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## Hood (Jan 26, 2018)

This thread brought back fond memories of my first desktop PC, an HP Pentium 3 850 MHz.  I don't remember how much RAM, or if it even had a video card.  I learned a lot on that thing, most of it the hard way (by totally losing all my data and making it unbootable, more than once).  I eventually installed Windows 2000, and it was much more stable, and was how I learned the importance of finding the right  drivers for my hardware.  I also remember my disappointment when I discovered that I needed a 1GHz or better CPU to run a DVD-ROM drive.  Thanks for the rewind back to a simpler time...


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## Zyll Goliat (Jan 26, 2018)

If you want some unique&quality GPU from that era try to find Matrox Millenium or 3DFX Voodoo card.......my 2 cents


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## StrayKAT (Jan 26, 2018)

I could actually give you my old computer's similar specs near that time

Athlon XP 2200+
A whopping 40GB WD HDD
ASUS A7N8X
Geforce Ti 4200

Of course, this is a bit newer, but it would run Win 98 fine. And you could run newer games if you wanted too.


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## dorsetknob (Jan 26, 2018)

NdMk2o1o said:


> I'm thinking the RAM is wrong.... looks like ddr isntead of SDRAM



Its a Shame and don't want to upset you but
I just have had to move from a 4 bed house to a one bed flat
i ended up junking loads of stuff all working from this era because i did not have time to unload it or the space to keep it all
Some stuff i kept and i will look out what i kept
I know i have still got some P111 Cpu's  some AMD Durons even a couple of Cyrex  some SD Ram ( and Earlier )
Some AGP Graphics Cards ATI 7500 Hercules AIW Powercolor 9800se AIW
some 3DFX AGP2 inc a 3500AIW and a plain 3DFX 3000
Even got a PCI Diamond Stelth riva 128
I'm Still in the process of unpacking so not sure what i did keep


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jan 26, 2018)

Not Win 98 PC

Wine from '96 PC


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## Deleted member 67555 (Jan 26, 2018)

Last time I had win 98 I had a Pentium 333mhz, 128mb of ram, a 1gb HDD, Sound Blaster 16 and a 32mb ATI something....
It played WC IV and Privateer 2 like a champ.
I would stick to the Pentium 2 era...
I still have a Windows 95 with USB support CD....3.5" disks have long since gone bad...
I also still have a thick everything you need to know about 98se book... LoL


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## phill (Jan 26, 2018)

Something like this 



http://imgur.com/KVM3ema


Still works a treat


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## mobiuus (Jan 26, 2018)

if its retro go for style----voodoo graphics
few weeks ago found on the attic still functional voodoo rush agp 6mb lol


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## NdMk2o1o (Jan 26, 2018)

dorsetknob said:


> Its a Shame and don't want to upset you but
> I just have had to move from a 4 bed house to a one bed flat
> i ended up junking loads of stuff all working from this era because i did not have time to unload it or the space to keep it all
> Some stuff i kept and i will look out what i kept
> ...



That's quite the downsize, hope alls well. If you have some things you'd be willing to part with shoot me a pm with what you have when your settled mate 



DarkStalker said:


> if its retro go for style----voodoo graphics
> few weeks ago found on the attic still functional voodoo rush agp 6mb lol



Not likely due to the prices of voodoo cards now £70+

how does "PIII 733, 256MB SD RAM, 20GB IDE HDD and geforce 2 mx200 64MB" sound? all seems to go quite well without being mismatched or any one part bottlenecking the others etc so far including motherboard these items are about £33 in my basket 

EDIT: Basket now consists of:

*Biostar M7VKD motherboard with Athlon 1200MHz CPU*
*20gb seagate ide hdd 3.5*
*Infineon 128MB SD-RAM (128mb also included in CPU bundle) *
*GeForce2 MX200 64MB AGP*
*HP 326773-001 FX48B1M 176135-QD0 IDE CD-ROM*
*CODEGEN 300W ATX 2.03 P4 300X *

 All I'm missing is a case and a CPU cooler if I'm not mistaken  this lot's about £40


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## NdMk2o1o (Jan 28, 2018)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112740679419

Got this motherboard and CPU bundle, is it worth buying a seperate soundcard even though there is onboard sound? something to do with soundblasters supporting DOS games properly or should the onboard suffice?


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## NdMk2o1o (Jan 29, 2018)

Motherboard came and I must say it is in pristine condition for the age, not a spec of dust on it also came in the original box with driver CD, can't wait to fire it up  also got my IDE HDD, PSU/RAM/CD-Rom and GPU en-route, need to find a lovely beige case and I should be good to go, I may have a look at a reclaimation place near me to see if thry have one and possibly a monitor


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## StrayKAT (Jan 29, 2018)

NdMk2o1o said:


> Motherboard came and I must say it is in pristine condition for the age, not a spec of dust on it also came in the original box with driver CD, can't wait to fire it up  also got my IDE HDD, PSU/RAM/CD-Rom and GPU en-route, need to find a lovely beige case and I should be good to go, I may have a look at a reclaimation place near me to see if thry have one and possibly a monitor
> View attachment 96530



Bah. You can forgo the beige at least.  Back then, UNIX workstations were the best looking PCs and came in many designs. Mimic that. I suppose modern PC case designs have finally caught up to that at least.


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## NdMk2o1o (Jan 29, 2018)

StrayKAT said:


> Bah. You can forgo the beige at least.  Back then, UNIX workstations were the best looking PCs and came in many designs. Mimic that. I suppose modern PC case designs have finally caught up to that at least.


I guess I mean something along the lines of the ones below, I used to rock similar ones in the mid 00's though it's just being able to find one I like enough. Though some of the older proper beige boxes are quite nice/retro looking.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silver-m...805940?hash=item4414352f34:g:-ooAAOSwOt9ZfJJX

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/black-bl...805938?hash=item4414352f32:g:6rsAAOSwRJ9Xgm55


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## StrayKAT (Jan 29, 2018)

NdMk2o1o said:


> I guess I mean something along the lines of the ones below, I used to rock similar ones in the mid 00's though it's just being able to find one I like enough. Though some of the older proper beige boxes are quite nice/retro looking.
> 
> https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Silver-m...805940?hash=item4414352f34:g:-ooAAOSwOt9ZfJJX
> 
> https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/black-bl...805938?hash=item4414352f32:g:6rsAAOSwRJ9Xgm55



Heh. I'm kinda kidding. Those are really affordable though. Can't go wrong with that.


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## Kissamies (Feb 1, 2018)

I had Athlon 1GHz (@ 1.4GHz), Abit KT7A, 512MB, GF4 Ti4200 back in the day.


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## xBruce88x (Feb 1, 2018)

You should really check out this site if you're wanting to get into a retro build. There are a lot of useful tips and tricks there.

https://www.philscomputerlab.com/


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## phill (Feb 1, 2018)

Must have been a different Phil.....


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## OlderSchool (May 10, 2019)

I have Windows 98 and Windows XP computers with keyboards and monitors.
I am the original owner and only used for personal use.   All have factory Windows installed.
All in working condition.
In Houston, Texas metro area.


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## dorsetknob (May 10, 2019)

OlderSchool said:


> I have Windows 98 and Windows XP computers with keyboards and monitors.
> I am the original owner and only used for personal use. All have factory Windows installed.
> All in working condition.


Welcome to the Forums of TPU
whats the spec's on those PC's


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## eidairaman1 (May 11, 2019)

OlderSchool said:


> I have Windows 98 and Windows XP computers with keyboards and monitors.
> I am the original owner and only used for personal use.   All have factory Windows installed.
> All in working condition.
> In Houston, Texas metro area.



He lives in the UK


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## argon (May 11, 2019)

why dont just use virtualbox and windows 98 ?


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## eidairaman1 (May 11, 2019)

argon said:


> why dont just use virtualbox and windows 98 ?



Because virtualization is slower


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## NoJuan999 (May 11, 2019)

argon said:


> why dont just use virtualbox and windows 98 ?


Building a retro PC is definely more fun and way cooler.


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## silentbogo (May 11, 2019)

For a monitor you should definitely get a SyncMaster 710N. They are unkillable (some just need capacitor replacement). And you can probably get one for like $10-15 used in a decent condition.
I'd give you one for free, but shipping from Ukraine to UK is gonna cost more than a few of those in mint condition )))
I had one 710N which my cousin bought for school back in 2003, retired to my workshop 10 years later, and now it's still kicking at my friend's house.


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## mashie (May 11, 2019)

If you are looking at what hardware was available which year I did some research years ago when I was planning on building a "Time Machine" mod holding 10 systems where a KVM switch would let me switch between the years. I never got around to collect all the hardware in the end, nor assemble it. The idea was to get the highest spec released hardware for each year between 1997 and 2004, this was the list I built up:

Gaming box 1997:

CPU: P2 300
Mobo: Abit BX6
RAM: 128 MB Azzo Cas 2 SDRAM
HDD: 6.4 GB
Video 3D: Canopus Pure3D (Voodoo1 6MB)
Video 2D: ???
Soundcard: AWE64 Gold?


Gaming box 1998: 

CPU: Celeron 300A @ 450 
Mobo: Asus P2B
RAM: 196MB PC100 
HDD: 6.4 GB 
Video 3D: Diamond Monster 3D2 (Voodoo2 12MB SLI) 
Video 2D: Diamond Monster FireGL 1000 Pro AGP 
Soundcard: Diamond Monster Sound MX300 


Gaming box 1999: 

CPU: P3 733/800EB 
Mobo: Abit BE6 
RAM: 256MB PC133 
HDD: ~20GB 
Video 3D: Diamond TNT2 Ultra 32MB 
Soundcard: Diamond Monster Sound MX300 


Gaming box 2000: 

CPU: Athlon4 1.2Ghz 
Mobo: ?? 
RAM: 512MB PC133 
HDD: ~40GB 
Video 3D: Visiontek GeForce2 Ultra 
Soundcard: Diamond Monster Sound MX400 


Gaming box 2001: 

CPU: XP1800 
Mobo: Epox 8K7A 
RAM: 2 x 256 Corsair XMS PC2400 
HDD: Western Digital Caviar WD1000JB
Video 3D: GeForce 3 Titanium 500
Soundcard: SB Live! 


Gaming box 2002: 

CPU: P4 3.06B 
Mobo: Intel D850EMV2 (D850EMR)
RAM: 1GB PC1066 -32P
HDD: Western Digital Caviar WD2000JB 
Video 3D: 9700Pro 128MB
Soundcard: SB Audigy 


Gaming box 2003:

CPU: AMD FX51 (940)
Mobo: Asus SK8N
RAM: 1GB PC3200 ECC
HDD: RAID0 2 x Western Digital Raptor WD360GD 
Video 3D: 9800XT
Soundcard: SB Audigy 2


Gaming box 2004:

CPU: AMD FX55
Mobo: Asus A8N-SLI
RAM: 1GB PC3200
HDD: RAID0 2 x Western Digital Raptor WD740GD
Video 3D: 2 x BFG 6800 Ultra (256MB SLI)
Soundcard: SB Audigy 4 Pro


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## argon (May 11, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> Because virtualization is slower


defenitely not, i use virtualization for mac os and its more heavy than win 98, or why dont just use old game on windows 10 ? lots of old games, are on gog.com


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## Susquehannock (Jun 6, 2019)

argon said:


> defenitely not, i use virtualization for mac os and its more heavy than win 98, or why dont just use old game on windows 10 ? lots of old games, are on gog.com


Either you feel the nostalgia factor using old hardware or you don't. Simple as that. Some people may not understand me driving a 50+ year old classic when my modern car will do 100-mph too. To each their own.


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## Grog6 (Jun 7, 2019)

I have a Win98 machine running now. 

I don't use it for gaming, it's running a set of Tennelec PCA3 Multichannel Analyzer cards.
(It's a Gamma Spectroscopy system)

It's a Socket 7 system with a K6-III/450 processor, which was pretty nice for playing Q2 back in the day.

The biggest problem you run into with old mobos is the capacitors are all dead by now, or will die soon.

I had to go thru and replace all of the electrolytics on the board and the video card; a TNT2.

I did find that in the days of the cache memory being on the mobo, only the first 128MB is cached, so it doesn't help to load it full with all 768MB, lol.

The Athlon system mentioned above is actually faster; I also have an A7N8X mobo, and an Athlon XP-2500M processor will run on it with a 400MHz FS bus and 2700MHz clock (Real clock, stock on that processor is 1800), and run very cool.
(200MHz *13.5, chip seems picky on which multipliers it will run.)

The fan on the processor failed, as it was a very buried TV server at the time; it wouldn't do 1080p in MP4 files fast enough to run video anymore, so it had to be replaced.
I noticed the fan had been dead for years, and it never gave me any issues, lol. 

It ran WinXP for many years with no issues at all.


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## RichF (Jun 11, 2019)

How about most notorious? 

Pentium III 1.13 GHz
AOpen AX6C
IBM Deskstar 75GXP 75 GB hard drive
Matrox Parhelia-512 GPU
Windows ME
Generic PSU

— so unreliable it was recalled
— for PC-800 RDRAM which was overpriced and underperforming
— "deathstar"
— didn't actually have Shader Model 2 support, so not true DX 9 compatibility, among other problems
— unstable
— literal flames



			
				Anandtech said:
			
		

> If you are planning on spending the money on RDRAM, then the AX6C is a perfect combination for the $500 - $1000 you would spend on a single stick of RDRAM at the time of publication.





			
				Thomas Pabst said:
			
		

> Intel kept completely quiet after the release of my second article. I finally received the special VC820 motherboard that was tailored for the Pentium III 1.13 GHz and the testing on this platform confirmed my accusations. My Pentium III sample was still flaky on this platform as well. Obviously I decided against publishing another article about this dreadful CPU, since I didn't want to upset even more of my unbelieving readers. In the meantime Intel had asked me to send my processor sample back, so that they could scrutinize it. Unfortunately my faith in Intel's words wasn't big enough to dare giving away the one and only proof I had. I decided to hang on to it and asked Intel to send me a working sample instead.
> 
> In a crazy act of retaliation against my article about the faulty Pentium III 1.13 GHz processor, an Intel official had decided to suddenly take Tom's Hardware out of the loop. Almost any other hardware website reported about the Pentium 4 architecture except of us, because we had never received the information.


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## Grog6 (Jun 11, 2019)

I can throw one of those out there, lol. 

P4 3.06GHz with hyperthreading.  Ran 80C with stock cooler, 60C at idle with a thermatake heat pipe cooler. 
P4T533 RAMBUS 32-bit memory  (Only 256MB sticks available, and only fits 2, $300 each)
Maxtor 200GB hard drive (When patches not installed, would overwrite from the beginning after ~128GB, lol.)
MS Bob, then Windows 2000
Thermatake PurePower power supply, that dripped goo put of the caps all over the GPU and killed it.

Worst computer I ever had, bar none. 
MS Bob lasted about 10 minutes before it got replaced with Win2k, and it took 3 reinstalls, with 23 reboots to get it working on the last reload.
(The process was so frustrating, I put hashmarks on the side of my filing cabinet to keep track of how pissed off I was. They're still there, 20 years later, lol.)


I love Win7; I've never had to reinstall it on anything that wasn't a drive fail.


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## RichF (Jun 11, 2019)

Grog6 said:


> Maxtor 200GB hard drive (When patches not installed, would overwrite from the beginning after ~128GB, lol.)
> MS Bob, then Windows 2000


How could I forget Microsoft Bob? I bow to you, sir.

I forgot about the Maxtor problem, too. Lol.


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## Tartaros (Jun 21, 2019)

I would go for the best thing you can get with compatible drivers, probably an Athon or Athlon XP with an ati 9800 pro would be the best for DX games, late PIII are fine too but avoid P4, specially early williamette, because it was hot garbage. If you want to get more specific with 3dfx games, probably a k6 II with a Vodoo.

Abit boards used to be the rage back then, with nforce chipsets.


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## NoJuan999 (Sep 26, 2019)

LMAO @ MS Bob
I Never ran that POS.


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