Yes it's a good era and definitely a good leap forward compared to P4 systems
What OS do you @rare & @cee-S-dee run?
Chris
What OS do you @rare & @cee-S-dee run?
Chris
Windows 7 Pro - Vista would be more authentic admittedly. I tried windows 10 before but there were some serious driver conflicts with the old Nvidia drivers. Blue screens when using SLI. Windows 7 seems OK. My main reason for using windows 7 instead of vista is being able to access all my old games off steam...
Nice machine @cee-S-dee and an utter bargain that. Trying to assemble that off eBay would have been much more expensive!
@Chris what are your temps like? My 6850 is running stock, the stock dell HSF is massive. The fan is 1.6 amp bwahaha. It does keep it nice and cool but I would like to overclock it. I need to see if dell locked down their bios or not...
Nice machine @cee-S-dee and an utter bargain that. Trying to assemble that off eBay would have been much more expensive!
@Chris what are your temps like? My 6850 is running stock, the stock dell HSF is massive. The fan is 1.6 amp bwahaha. It does keep it nice and cool but I would like to overclock it. I need to see if dell locked down their bios or not...
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@rare My qx6850 does 3.6Ghz at 1.28v and maxes out around mid 50s under load, its pretty quiet as well which is nice
Chris
I have a spare Q6600, motherboard and case left over after my upgrading my son's PC. I tend to keep these bits in case I need them. My Mame arcade machine is using a similar setup with Windows XP (Never connected to the internet so it's fine), so having a spare board, processor and RAM in case that breaks (has happened once already), is useful. Though I do wonder if it's worth going over to a more modern raspberry PI style board, or other modern low-power PC board instead. The amount of work re-setting up the UI and games puts me off that though!
Nice mate - that’s pretty awesome. I just checked the dell bios and it only lets you select from pre defined overclocks but with pretty hefty volts!! (@3.33GHz it’s 1.4v!) I will probably just leave it stock tbh...
@rare thats annoying as it wouldn't need anything like that voltage for 3.33Ghz
I think the motherboard plays a big part in overclocking socket 775, I had an Asrock N7AD-SLI originally and it would barely overclock regardless of voltage, swap over to the Asus and it overclocks like a champ
Chris
I think the motherboard plays a big part in overclocking socket 775, I had an Asrock N7AD-SLI originally and it would barely overclock regardless of voltage, swap over to the Asus and it overclocks like a champ
Chris
Caporegime
@LewisRaz, Q6600 is in the post for you!
Caporegime
I think I want to make a Windows 95 machine... Because my first PC as a kid ran Windows 95, even though I was born in 1995 so the PC was as old as me at the time!
Has anyone in this thread made a list of good parts to look out for for machines of certain eras? Or are there any good resources compiled online anywhere? Because it was a bit before my time! The earliest hardware that I actually knew what was happening with was Pentium 4 era, whereas I guess I'd be looking for a P5 Pentium 66MHz or something? Is my best bet just to find some old pre built PC like the Packard Bell I remember having?
Also where do you get your retro software from? I'd really like to find most of the stuff I remember having on there as a kid.
Has anyone in this thread made a list of good parts to look out for for machines of certain eras? Or are there any good resources compiled online anywhere? Because it was a bit before my time! The earliest hardware that I actually knew what was happening with was Pentium 4 era, whereas I guess I'd be looking for a P5 Pentium 66MHz or something? Is my best bet just to find some old pre built PC like the Packard Bell I remember having?
Also where do you get your retro software from? I'd really like to find most of the stuff I remember having on there as a kid.
Caporegime
There isn't really a definitive list of hardware for each era/OS as a lot of this hobby is centralized around nostalgia. Some of my builds for example are as-was - That is, they are what I had at the time. Some builds are best-of - Builds that would have been the cream of the crop, but usually unattainable (financially) for most.
If you want a 95/98/ME build, you could be looking anywhere from Pentium (I'd not bother with early Socket 5 stuff and go straight for Socket 7 with MMX), through AMD K6/II/III+, Pentium 2, or even early Slot-1 Pentium 3 or Slot-A Althlon.
Graphics card wise this is a particularly tricky era, as it's essentially led by either 3DFX or early nVidia, both of which command a price premium. Early 95 gaming will be heavily 2D based, so you want good image quality also (which is especially important with the likes of the 3DFX voodoo and voodoo II, as they need a base 2D card to drive them anyway). nVidia image quality was hit and miss at this time, because it was up to board partners to choose and quality control components, the better known brands (like Creative, Hercules, Canopus, etc) having decent filtering and image quality, and the cheaper stuff being a bit lacklustre.
As for a starting point, either a pre-built or individual components are viable, both have their advantages and disadvantages, a lot of pre-built of the era were built to a price point, so would lack features but typically have good compatibility and stability. Going the DIY route is (for me anyway) more enjoyable, and likely to yield better performance.
The one thing I would strive for is ATX form factor (or mATX), as AT and Baby-AT are getting harder and harder to find PSUs for, and the passive ATX to AT adapters, whilst they work, usually introduce power switch issues (unless you have an AT case), and modern PSUs aren't designed with the higher draw on the 5v rail (AT was heavily 5v biased, it rarely needed the 12v rail, that was reserved for drives etc). ATX PSUs are still available new (though these days typically don't have a -5v rail which is required by some older ISA bus devices).
As for software, I tend to own the games in either big-box or re-release formats of the time. Applications and operating systems are available from WinworldPC.
Caporegime
Thanks for the info 
That makes sense.
To be honest I'd be looking for something cheap, I don't have any interested in spending good money on old hardware. Theres a July 1995 486 based AIO PC for sale locally for £75 (I wouldn't pay that for it though) but it is probably too low end for me, though it does come with its original system disks and stuff which is cool. I'd prefer a separate PC and monitor.
I was wondering if it would be easier (maybe even cheaper?) to try and get something a bit later, like Pentium II, and just install 95 onto it so it has the same feel and retro appeal, but is better.
I'd do more playing around with applications etc than gaming, though it would be nice if I could relive some of the old games I played, if I can remember what they are! But they were the sort of things that ran on the school computers etc.
I could describe them but I've done that before and nobody has had a clue lol.
That makes sense.
To be honest I'd be looking for something cheap, I don't have any interested in spending good money on old hardware. Theres a July 1995 486 based AIO PC for sale locally for £75 (I wouldn't pay that for it though) but it is probably too low end for me, though it does come with its original system disks and stuff which is cool. I'd prefer a separate PC and monitor.
I was wondering if it would be easier (maybe even cheaper?) to try and get something a bit later, like Pentium II, and just install 95 onto it so it has the same feel and retro appeal, but is better.
I'd do more playing around with applications etc than gaming, though it would be nice if I could relive some of the old games I played, if I can remember what they are! But they were the sort of things that ran on the school computers etc.
I could describe them but I've done that before and nobody has had a clue lol.
From a cost point of view, any kind of Slot 1 system will fulfil the requirements for Win9x. My Windows 95 machine is based around a 233mmx on a Gigabyte HX board, with a Diamond Viper TNT card with a 3DFX voodoo 1.
I actually just put together a Celeron 333 system with a Geforce 2 MX which runs Win95 and games really well. There appears to be no shortage slot 1 boards on ebay currently. Pick up a nice condition BX board for as cheap as you can with some form of P3 cpu and you should be good.
I like archive.org
I actually just put together a Celeron 333 system with a Geforce 2 MX which runs Win95 and games really well. There appears to be no shortage slot 1 boards on ebay currently. Pick up a nice condition BX board for as cheap as you can with some form of P3 cpu and you should be good.
I like archive.org
Soldato
My little Slot 1 board arrived today.
It's got a Yamaha YMF715E audio chip that apparently has OPL3 support. Might be the real thing...
It also came with SECC2 clips for the SECC1 CPU bracket although I'm assuming that's more for Celerons than P3s as it has a 66MHz FSB!
It's got a Yamaha YMF715E audio chip that apparently has OPL3 support. Might be the real thing...
It also came with SECC2 clips for the SECC1 CPU bracket although I'm assuming that's more for Celerons than P3s as it has a 66MHz FSB!
Soldato
Yes it's LX. I tried my p3 450 wishfully thinking it would just boot at 66*4.5 but it didn't. The case fan spun up though so the board gets power at least.
I've got 3 fairly good sound options on this board. ISA AWE32, Sound Blaster Live Link Cable, on-board sound.
What do you think would be faster, a 266 P2 or 333 Celery?
I've got 3 fairly good sound options on this board. ISA AWE32, Sound Blaster Live Link Cable, on-board sound.
What do you think would be faster, a 266 P2 or 333 Celery?
Caporegime
Not tempted by a PPGA Celeron in a slocket? IIRC you'd be able to run a 533 PPGA Celeron.
I just picked this up off someone who said it works but they couldn’t get windows installed. It’s a XPS 730 Q9770, it has what looks like dual 9800 GX2, DDR3 based board, ceramic cooling, 1000w psu. It still has the plastic on it and came with the handbook. Wish me luck!
Caporegime
Probably, thats awesome that is!