Retro PC build rant

Soupy

Soupy

Soupy

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Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
755
Location
N.Ireland
Well I was all fired up today to built my retro pc for some old programs and games, such fun was the plan ...

Win98SE - Check
Motherboard - Check
P2 350 CPU - Check
2 x 128meg SD Ram - Check
ATI 9700 Pro - Check
and finally
2 x Voodoo2 12meg - ??? - wait, hold on, where's my prized vintage voodoo cards for graphics loveliness ?

After tearing the house apart it looks like in my recent house move one very important box might have been put in the skip pile ... groan :( feel a bit gutted to be honest and the wife doesn't seem to care or understand my pain, been looking forward to this wee project for ages.

And now I've just realised I had a P3 500 in the same box ... good grief ... aaaaargh :mad:

What a crap day!
 
Found my old Soundblaster Live card too, that'll go well with this retro build.

Really enjoying building an old system, apart from the nostalgic memories I'd forgot how picky older hardware was, once everything is installed and happy together I'll optimise drivers etc and see how she runs with some games.

Shame about the beige coloured dell dimension case I'm using, looks awful!

D Brennen: Thanks mate, some silly prices on fleabay too.
 
d_brennen said:
Perhaps check out the Radion 7000. iirc it's a pretty solid PCI card for retro gaming (Win 98)
Click to expand...

Think I'll be ok with the Ati 9700 Pro agp, it's running fine but have a TNT 2 ready as well just in case.

After installing Win98se I then found my WinME disc and for the life of me I can't remember which one was better / stable it's been that long since using either ?
 
Games from the 2000'ish era, came across a nice sealed copy of Zax Alien Hunter for £2, I also want to race one of my favourite racing games of all time, Ultimate Race Pro. In fact it was most refreshing when Zax arrived to feel the weight of the package, ah the days when every PC game came with a decent manual and even better when you look at some of the artwork.

As much as I like Starcraft2 I'll be loading the original to play right through along with Brood Wars once again :)
 
dougal1331 said:
Hi, don't quote me on it just yet, but down in my basement I have two old sheds, a P2-233 and a P3-450. One of them, I'm pretty certain contains a Voodoo2 card.
If I'm correct, you can have it.
However I can't check til about 4 this afternoon cos I gotta leave for work as soon I as I finish typing this!
Click to expand...

Thanks mate and very generous of you :)

Win98se installed on one hard drive and now installing WinME on another, will do some tests and choose the most stable.

Dug out my old Samsung Syncmaster 151s for 'stunning' 1028 x 768 loveliness ... getting rather excited about all this ... amazing what pleasure a wee nostalgic trip creates :)

Everything just thrown together at the minute but will tidy it up later, some pics (hosted on dropbox)

winme.jpg


xpsr350.JPG


.
 
Nice setup PowerPie, interesting point regards the Voodoo quality, you've got me thinking that maybe I was remembering my voodoo2 through rose tinted memory neurons and that I'll be better of just using my ati 9700 pro with all the eye candy turned on, it should deliver plenty of AA and AF goodness on the older games, and the 1024 screen res won't tax it to much I wouldn't think.

Glad you posted friend:)
 
Thanks again mate, I have an Asus v8170 128meg card which I is an nVidia GeForce4 of sorts, I pop it in an give it a testing too.

Really enjoying this trip down pc memory lane, so far I've found WinME a bit more stable than Win98SE on this setup. I also have a slot 1 P3 600E Coppermine on the way which is as much as this old motherboard will handle and remain stable ... Oh yea :D

This project has rekindled the PC building passion I first started out with back in '97 and can certainly recommend it ... It's also a sort of therapy harhar.
 
Final retro PC update for those interested.

The system is finished and running smooth after trying different combinations and installs, the combination that runs best is the following.

Intel Seattle SE440BX M/Board (Dell board so no ability to tweak or O/C)
Pentium 3 600E Coppermine
512 meg PC100 SDram
ATI 9700 Pro
On Board Audio (Crystal)

All running on WinME smooth as butter once I removed the SoundBlaster Live, then I remembered how glitchy it was in the past without a particular set of drivers ... if I find them I'll give the card another go but the old onboard sound chip is doing fine so far.

Ran 3D Mark 2000 and scored 4760 which shows more than enough performance for the games and programs I'll be running :) and I must mention what a pleasure it was to blow the dust of Interstate '76 and get it up and running, probably one of the best intros and music to any game ... it was worth doing this project just for that alone I reckon :D

So a big thumbs-up to everyone that posted, it all helped and made it fun ... and you know I'm even starting to like the big beige case, it sorta adds to the nostalgic trip ;)

Cheers lads.
 
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