Very well.
It's never going to be as accurate as the real thing of course, but owning 3dfx cards (voodoo, voodoo 2, voodoo 3) and Soundblaster in the past (16, AWE32 and SB live!) its does a perfectly good job. It emulates the hardware so you get all the good and bad issues still like IRQ conflicts.
Im sure some of the reverb on the AWE32 isnt quite right but playing Duke Nukem 3D and Rise of the Triad sounds great and as I remember it on SB16 and AWE32.
PCem uses single core only though, so emulating much past a PII 266 is impossible at least on my 5800X. 6Ghz might be able to run PII 300Mhz at 100%
Couple more screenshots of config layout and on the desktop, its ran everything I have thrown at it so far including filling the emulated AWE32 RAM slots and loading a 28MB sound font and playing midi
Winimage program shown is used to open the HDD file to copy files onto the system from the host. Copying things out from PCem config to host is done using a virtual zip drive
I appear to have shows 2x display. Mouse emulated is a Microsoft Intellimouse PS2
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Hi
@Zaf - Our second PC was a Compaq Presario P75 which at the time was great coming from a 386 SX20 but in hindsight the P75 chip wasn't that brilliant due to its 25mhz bus.
@cee-S-dee - That a really nice clean looking system, I do have a Riva TNT2 Vanta PCI card I can use but was having some weird issues every so often with it, so reverted back to the S3 Virge DX, I would love an original Riva TNT PCI card but they are very difficult to get hold of now.
@Guest2 - Thanks for putting up your PCem setup it's really interesting and something I may well look at, as there are a few weird and wonderful setups I'd like to have a play with
Cheers Chris
@Zaf - Our second PC was a Compaq Presario P75 which at the time was great coming from a 386 SX20 but in hindsight the P75 chip wasn't that brilliant due to its 25mhz bus.
@cee-S-dee - That a really nice clean looking system, I do have a Riva TNT2 Vanta PCI card I can use but was having some weird issues every so often with it, so reverted back to the S3 Virge DX, I would love an original Riva TNT PCI card but they are very difficult to get hold of now.
@Guest2 - Thanks for putting up your PCem setup it's really interesting and something I may well look at, as there are a few weird and wonderful setups I'd like to have a play with
Cheers Chris
No problem. There's loads of other hardware that can be selected too, 8088, 8086, 286, 386, 486, socket 4, socket 5, socket 7, socket 8 and slot 1.
There are even guides and pre-built systems available if you search around. I did find a scripted install for a GUS system with drivers but I prefer installing my own drivers so I know what's what
I only just realised they do bluetooth controllers and receivers for the original Mega Drive! They were on offer on Amazon so I snapped a couple up. My original controllers were getting a bit dodgy and I'm now now longer tethered to the console by a metre cable.Forgot I pre ordered this so about to give it a try.
Which ones? 8bitdo are supposed to be really good.I only just realised they do bluetooth controllers and receivers for the original Mega Drive! They were on offer on Amazon so I snapped a couple up. My original controllers were getting a bit dodgy and I'm now now longer tethered to the console by a metre cable.
I would highly recommend the Krikzz Mega Everdrive X7 or Mega Everdrive pro if you own an original Megadrive.
Easy to use and hold their value
Np. I would be interested in knowing how different a ‘real’ hardware setup compares to PCem too.
Maybe Sandra and/or 3d mark to measure 233MMX speed of each.
The in build games speed detection all were correct at detected PCem as a 233Mhz mmx. If anything it might be a little fast. That or my memory is rubbish and i had a 200Mhz mmx instead of 233Mhz
That's the ones! The clear blue version are on Amazon for a tenner so it was about £35 all in for two with receivers. Definitely a step up from the old battered ones I had.
The controllers had already set me on the slippery slope towards the Everdrive!
I didn't realise all these things were available!X7 minimum for save/load states. Those things are a god send for some of the impossible megadrive games.That's the ones! The clear blue version are on Amazon for a tenner so it was about £35 all in for two with receivers. Definitely a step up from the old battered ones I had.
The controllers had already set me on the slippery slope towards the Everdrive!
Feels a bit like cheating compared to 3 lives and thats it but makes it more enjoyable
@Chris There a link to a Win98 benchmark archive here, should be good for Win95 - https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=37982
I'll run a few tests on PCem and report back. It'll be interesting how accurate it is compared to real hardware.
Edit - sandra 99 and 3d mark do not open on Win95, expect they are 98 only apps. WinBench 99 tests are running fine - nope, just needs patching (at least 3dmark does) - https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=51587
Voodoo 1 233MMX
Voodoo 3 PII 266
I'll run a few tests on PCem and report back. It'll be interesting how accurate it is compared to real hardware.
Edit - sandra 99 and 3d mark do not open on Win95, expect they are 98 only apps. WinBench 99 tests are running fine - nope, just needs patching (at least 3dmark does) - https://www.vogons.org/viewtopic.php?t=51587
Voodoo 1 233MMX
Voodoo 3 PII 266
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Associate
Happy to have found you folks here.
This week, I got a wild hair to recreate the first real PC I built. It was a Socket 939 beauty that I messed with nonstop.
I'm on the lookout for a beige box case (even though my old system was in a monstrous "futuristic" looking case, so picked up a mining/test bench to build on while I search.
So far, my front porch has seen motherboard, CPU, and RAM arrive. NEW Power supply arrives today. Just waiting on the CPU heatsink to arrive before I build and start messing with the 14 old GPUs I bought this week (8 have arrived already).
Although I really want to go back to the old days and play some BF2 on this thing, I am leaning towards running Linux on it for a little added fun factor. BF2 can be played on my actual daily driver.
Thanks for the inspiration!
This week, I got a wild hair to recreate the first real PC I built. It was a Socket 939 beauty that I messed with nonstop.
I'm on the lookout for a beige box case (even though my old system was in a monstrous "futuristic" looking case, so picked up a mining/test bench to build on while I search.
So far, my front porch has seen motherboard, CPU, and RAM arrive. NEW Power supply arrives today. Just waiting on the CPU heatsink to arrive before I build and start messing with the 14 old GPUs I bought this week (8 have arrived already).
Although I really want to go back to the old days and play some BF2 on this thing, I am leaning towards running Linux on it for a little added fun factor. BF2 can be played on my actual daily driver.
Thanks for the inspiration!
@Guest2 - I've tried to do some benchmarks for you but im struggling with 3DMark 99 as I don't think it likes the DirectX 5 drivers im currently using for the Voodoo 1
I did manage to get Sisoft Sandra 99 working by updating the VCRedist version
I've got a P2-450 with a Voodoo 3 running Windows 98 if you want me to do some benchmarks on that as well?
Chris
I did manage to get Sisoft Sandra 99 working by updating the VCRedist version
I've got a P2-450 with a Voodoo 3 running Windows 98 if you want me to do some benchmarks on that as well?
Chris
Looks fantastic.
I had a similar system so decided to recreate it in PCem. Not quite the same but it works really well and certainly is the most stable and plays games without needing needing patches or anything.
CPU - Pentium MMX233
Motherboard - Intel i430VX
RAM - 64MB RAM
VGA - S3 Virge DX
3D - 3DFX Voodoo 1 4MB
Soundcard - AWE32 28MB
OS - Win 95 OSR2.5
The DB50XG is definately the icing on the cake
PCem 17
That's beautiful and takes me instantly back. Those icons.
- I know Operating Systems are ten-fold more powerful and UI focused today but even after all this time I could jump right back into that and instantly do what I need. I swear I still second guess my Windows 11 every time I boot it up.
I'm with Chris and not heard of PCem but going to look it up now. Take it you have set that up on a socket-7 system (looking at title bar) - so the hardware is emulated as well? If so that's impressive.
Thanks Chris@Guest2 - I've tried to do some benchmarks for you but im struggling with 3DMark 99 as I don't think it likes the DirectX 5 drivers im currently using for the Voodoo 1
I did manage to get Sisoft Sandra 99 working by updating the VCRedist version
I've got a P2-450 with a Voodoo 3 running Windows 98 if you want me to do some benchmarks on that as well?
Chris
I'll try installing updating VCRedist now to run Sandra 99.
Direct X wise, I would recommend 7.0
No doubt the PII-450 Voodoo 3 is way quicker. Give it a shot anyway, would be good to see how much quicker it is in 3D Mark 99
ThanksThat's beautiful and takes me instantly back. Those icons.
- I know Operating Systems are ten-fold more powerful and UI focused today but even after all this time I could jump right back into that and instantly do what I need. I swear I still second guess my Windows 11 every time I boot it up.
I'm with Chris and not heard of PCem but going to look it up now. Take it you have set that up on a socket-7 system (looking at title bar) - so the hardware is emulated as well? If so that's impressive.
I do prefer the old icons, maybe its just nostalgia.
It's an older version of PCem in this guide but not too different. Fantastic guide - https://olistutorials.wordpress.com/2017/02/25/setting-up-pcem-for-windows-95-games/
Driver wise, the same goes for real hardware - I use Phils computer lab pages - e.g. https://www.philscomputerlab.com/sound-blaster-awe-32.html
Use ImgBurn or other program to create and ISO of software, which can be mounted in PCem and appears as a CD
Yep, that's a Socket 7.
All the hardware is emulated, down to the joystick, mouse, network card and soundcard. You even configure the IRQ settings, soundfont in RAM on soundcard if you want in AWE Control and graphics settings as you would on real hardware.
You can connect real hardware peripherals (CD/DVD drives, floppy drives and tape drives) to the host which are available inside PCem configured environment
Where it get's really interesting (and slightly over my head) is mixing PCem with other real hardware. Example here, he's using PCem to emulate the main system but using a real ISA video card connected over USB to host.
Sandra re-installed and VC6Redist updated (from below if anyone needs it)
VC6RedistSetup_enu.exe
glizda.wordpress.com
Or just install full blown IE4 - https://archive.org/details/Msie401
I did installed IE4 and it worked, but then reverted and installed just the VD6Redist as didnt want IE installed
All seems about right, except memory benchmark is way too high. No idea how its emulating the RAM hardware as you simply select X amount of RAM on the machine config
Tried this, really brings the MMX233 emulation to its knees. I had to set 133Mhz non MMX for it to be playable. Great FPS for 1995! Probably the best looking game of 1995 (think it was also called 'Skynet')
VC6RedistSetup_enu.exe
Compiling programs for Windows 95 and Pentium in 2021
I’ve recently wanted to get some programs compiled for Windows 95 running on a Pentium and faced the typical challenge of finding a compiler that will emit an executable suitable for a 25-yea…
glizda.wordpress.com
Or just install full blown IE4 - https://archive.org/details/Msie401
I did installed IE4 and it worked, but then reverted and installed just the VD6Redist as didnt want IE installed
All seems about right, except memory benchmark is way too high. No idea how its emulating the RAM hardware as you simply select X amount of RAM on the machine config
Tried this, really brings the MMX233 emulation to its knees. I had to set 133Mhz non MMX for it to be playable. Great FPS for 1995! Probably the best looking game of 1995 (think it was also called 'Skynet')
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Soldato
Been thinking about rebuilding what I used to call my "main" retro machine for a while which had been mostly sidelined because it was getting unstable and unreliable..
Stripped it down today and think I might have found the cause of that reliability issue:
Now to go shopping for one of those desoldering pumps.
Stripped it down today and think I might have found the cause of that reliability issue:
Now to go shopping for one of those desoldering pumps.
Caporegime
Been thinking about rebuilding what I used to call my "main" retro machine for a while which had been mostly sidelined because it was getting unstable and unreliable..
Stripped it down today and think I might have found the cause of that reliability issue:
Now to go shopping for one of those desoldering pumps.
Am in the same boat but this time with an Abit BP6, ordered all the caps already but a vacuum desoldering gun is looking mighty tempting at £90.
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Soldato
Im just going to replace those 2 smaller ones for now. The larger ones do look OK and probably be hard to remove with my cheap soldering iron.