Windows 98 Gaming PC: The Beige Build

No need to run a 2D card with the Voodoo 3. It's a fully integrated card.

I think the 3000 and 3500 are identical bar clock speed... 166 vs 183MHz IIRC whereas I think the 2000 had a few architecture differences.

I have fond memories of my old K6-2 400 clocked to 475MHz and Voodoo 3 3000 at 183MHz.
 
Voodoo 3 2000 was the same just clocked lower at 143mhz iirc.

3DFX and S3 are probably the best for DOS support, Matrox aren't bad either. For Windows 98 NVidia (speed) and Matrox (image quality) are probably the best choices, I'd avoid ATI their drivers were shocking in those days.
 
Another graphics card to consider was the Videologic PowerVR which had a higher resolution than the competing 3Dfx at the time.
 
I always remember lusting after a 4200ti when battlefield 1942 came out. Think I was using a nasty mx420 which struggled like mad.

Fond memories :)
 
BF1942 should run ok, I had it first on a P3 with a Riva TNT2.. and I had that no one lives for ever... I must have thrown it out :(
 
My drugs CPUs and TNT2 arrived today :)

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The CPU, which I guess was retail rather than an OEM, fits in the Slot 1's clips perfectly:)

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But will it POST? Yes!

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Great Success! I see that I have an IRQ conflict between the ethernet card and sound card... Also I'm trying to do the auto set up for my HDD, but it presents three options...

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Which is the correct one?
 
almoststew1990 said:
8.4 sodding GB, is that it?! I thought Windows 98 could support up to 160GB, so I assumed the motherboards could do the same :(
Click to expand...

I think I might be wrong - I know there was an 8GB BIOS limit, but there was also a 137GB. Such a long time ago, I can't remember which will apply. Still needs to be set to LBA though.
 
The next dumb problem- I can't seem to access the two floppies I bought. Not sure if it is the drive or the floppies? I put the disk in and double click on the floppy icon (in XP) and it just says insert floppy into A:. It makes some soft clicking noises and the LED comes on but can't seem to read disks :(
 
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Both drives configured in the bios as 1.44mb? Also are the floppy connectors plugged in the right way up as think they fit either way dispute being keyed? Think the red stripe goes towards the power connector (although now you are really stretching my memory!)

The cable should also have a couple of pins twisted before the B: connector iirc.
 
Hmm...

1) I only have one floppy drive, but it is configured as a 3.5" 1.44mb drive in the bios (Bios doesn't mention a B drive).
2)the red is on the power connector side (not that I knew it has to be that way around!)
3)the cable does have a twisted few pins before the end connector. I was using that end connector for the floppy drive A: ...

...Having tried it with the floppy connector half way down the cable, it still comes up with the error boo :(
 
Sorry thought you meant you were using two drives.

Might be wrong - might need the cable the other way round if it fits (like I said can't really remember) but should be the end connector.
 
I had a google and it is red stripe towards the power connector. I think I'll just use a CD as I have two cd drives, I'll need to grab a CD from work tomorrow. Thanks for your help!
 
The floppy drive might be faulty, if you plug the cable in the wrong way usually the light just stays on. Otherwise it'll be the motherboard (floppy controller).
 
I've flipped the cable and the light stays illuminated on the drive. I'm using a relatively late G31M3 V2 S775 motherboard to write the disks.

I've noticed that the floppy cable can fit into the motherboard the other way up, it was partially obscured by the GPU. I'll give it one last try...

That's nuts, it worked! Now the right click menu is nearly instantaneous and when I open A I see an empty floppy disk with 1.38mb of pure storage power! Very strange that Windows sees a floppy drive with the cable the wrong way up :/
 
There's usually a notch on the cable so you can't plug it in the wrong way on the motherboard, perhaps in the 90s they hadn't yet introduced it - it's been a long time. :p
 
mmj_uk said:
There's usually a notch on the cable so you can't plug it in the wrong way on the motherboard, perhaps in the 90s they hadn't yet introduced it - it's been a long time. :p
Click to expand...

you that far back, and lot of things can be plugged in the wrong way.. I believe the stripe on the cables always goes nearest Pin 1, which is usually labelled , at least on the motherboard.

I Still have a fully working 5.25" floppy drive, and an Iomega Zip Drive, both in a P4 running windows xP
 
As you plug the IDE and floppy cables into the motherboard, the red strip of the ribbon cable should go towards the battery on that motherboard.

If you google image search pictures of IDE cables and floppy cables, you'll notice that there is notch, which is on one side of the cable - this aligns with the gap on the socket. So looking at a cable as if you were behind the plug with the notch on the bottom, you'll see the red strip is on the left hand side.

I have to say it's nice to see somebody build an older PC.
 
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