Only thing that is required for a 1998 build is Voodoo2 in SLI

I was already worried that V2 Sli would come up 🤣. Nothing wrong with that per se. I am big fan of my Voodoo 3 and adding a V2 to my collection is a no brainer. Knowing that would just keep the costs high. But that's no problem in general. Some savings will be free soon at the end of july. So purchasing a V2 would not break a bank.

I also still have geforce 4 mx 460 in my drawer as a potential the card. The Gf4 is left over from a plannend p4 project I had to chancel because the motherboard was broken.

The only problem with the gf4 is that is not a peroid correct partner card.

Which peroid correct 1998 partner cards for the v2 would be out there in the wild?

TNT, Matrox G200, Ati Rage Pro (one of all versions), Intel 740 or S3 Virge should work fine.

TNT would be the fastest and best alternative in many ways.

My current 1998/P2V2 is a Dell xps R450.
Pentium 2 450, 256mb ram, some old disk about 40gb (to large for period correct but very useful), 3com 905, Aureal Vortex2... and voodoo2 😀

OSkar000 wrote on 2024-06-27, 07:31:

TNT, Matrox G200, Ati Rage Pro (one of all versions), Intel 740 or S3 Virge should work fine.

work yes, but only TNT would work fine 😀 the rest would be source of frustration

predator_085 wrote on 2024-06-27, 06:45:

I want to have a very high end 1998 gaming system with Win 98Se
What are your ideas of a peroid correct high end 1998 system?
Please feel free to share your thoughts.

My thoughts are: If you use this OS and build a release year system, you will get a bottom barrel gaming system for the OS.

Personally, I would pick the OS and then move the hardware slider as far up as possible, while paying attention to compatibility borders.

predator_085 wrote on 2024-06-27, 06:45:

I want to have a very high end 1998 gaming system with Win 98Se

How would the specs of system look?

I've got a list of period-correct ultimate gaming rig specs for each year in this thread: Annual specs for Ultimate Gaming Rigs from 1992 to 2000

1998 specs would include:

CPU: Pentium II 450 MHz
MB: Intel 440BX
RAM: 256MB
Primary GPU: nVidia Riva TNT
Secondary GPU: Voodoo2 SLI
Sound Card: Diamond Monster MX300 (Aureal Vortex2)
HDD: 16GB

There is also an argument to be made for using a Celeron 300A overclocked to 450MHz. It would equal or outperform the Pentium II 450 in a variety of games due to the Celeron's faster cache.

However, not all Celeron 300A processors will overclock to 450, so it's a bit of a gamble.

ux-3 wrote on 2024-06-27, 12:12:

predator_085 wrote on 2024-06-27, 06:45:

I want to have a very high end 1998 gaming system with Win 98Se
What are your ideas of a peroid correct high end 1998 system?
Please feel free to share your thoughts.

My thoughts are: If you use this OS and build a realease year system, you will get a bottom barrel gaming system for the OS.

Personally, I would pick the OS and then move the hardware slider as far up as possible, while paying attention to compatibility borders.

A Pentium II 450 is in no way a bottom of the barrel gaming system for Windows 98.

If you look at a lot of minimum requirements for games of that era, a lot of them required basic Pentium systems. A Pentium II would generally meet or exceed most games minimum if not recommended requirements for 1998-2000.

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-06-27, 11:31:

OSkar000 wrote on 2024-06-27, 07:31:

TNT, Matrox G200, Ati Rage Pro (one of all versions), Intel 740 or S3 Virge should work fine.

work yes, but only TNT would work fine 😀 the rest would be source of frustration

Thank for the info so i will aim for a TNT—card as the partner card.

@Shponglefan Thanks for posting the list. It was an exciting read.

The specs are not that off my imagination. Only the sound card was not on my radar. I thought something like the sound blaster live! would be the way to go. But an aureal vortex card is worth considering for sure.

Getting Celeron 300 and then overclocking it was also not on my radar. Also worth thinking about.

The idea of ux-3 to max out things also do not sound that bad.

You can get quite far with an intel 440bx chip seat in the 100 MHz fsb range. Up to P3 800mhz if I read the cpu list right.

But in that mhz range I already have my athlon system.

A high-end PII system is what I want.

I think I have got very clear idea of what I want.

I will get PII 450 MHz (an overclockable Celeron is not of the table)

A Voodoo 2 plus Riva TNT a graphics card

128 mb for the ram

and for the sound card, I will try to get an Aureal vortex card.

I think it sounds like a neat package for a high-end 1998 system.

The difference between a 1996 gaming rig and an 2000 gaming rig was huge. Things changed a lot every year during that period.

Why 1998?

predator_085 wrote on 2024-06-27, 13:09:

The specs are not that off my imagination. Only the sound card was not on my radar. I thought something like the sound blaster live! would be the way to go. But an aureal vortex card is worth considering for sure.

A Sound Blaster Live would also be a period correct choice for a 1998 build. It really comes down to which games you want to play and which 3D audio options they support.

The period from 1998 to 2000 just happens to be a good period for Aureal / A3D supported games, hence it's my preference for that time.

Of course, there is always the option to include an SB Live and an Aureal Vortex-based card. 😉

douglar wrote on 2024-06-27, 14:56:

The difference between a 1996 gaming rig and an 2000 gaming rig was huge. Things changed a lot every year during that period.

Why 1998?

I am interested in getting a high end slot 1 pentium II system. and I though 1998 would be a good reference point??

uote=Shponglefan post_id=1272950 time=1719507165 user_id=34232]

predator_085 wrote on 2024-06-27, 13:09:

The specs are not that off my imagination. Only the sound card was not on my radar. I thought something like the sound blaster live! would be the way to go. But an aureal vortex card is worth considering for sure.

A Sound Blaster Live would also be a period correct choice for a 1998 build. It really comes down to which games you want to play and which 3D audio options they support.

The period from 1998 to 2000 just happens to be a good period for Aureal / A3D supported games, hence it's my preference for that time.

Of course, there is always the option to include an SB Live and an Aureal Vortex-based card. 😉
[/quote]

Actually after using EAX for quite some ( I have used my audigy 1 already in my first V3 system, socket 370 with P3 800 mhz before the Aus mobo broke ) and now it is working well in the above mentioned Athlon build trying out A3d for a change might be nice idea.

According to this neat list

https://www.dosdays.co.uk/topics/3daudio_games.php

there are lots of games I want to try out that would support A3d. So getting a A3d card would be a good investment.

As you say your Athlon 700 is covering the same era as this P2.

What I do when I have double ups is build with alternative hardware. this gives me a reason to use the PC, otherwise more often then not you'll just use the faster one.

What GPU/Audio do you have in the Athlon?
If it's some Nvidia/ATI card and Creative, then build the P2 with 3dfx and Vortex 2
That way if you want to play a D3d or EAX title you do it on the Athlon but if you want glide or A3d your kind of forced to use the P2

This also give you a choice or either keeping it period correct or maxing out the build to better suit the 3dfx/A3d games.

chinny22 wrote on 2024-06-28, 05:36:

As you say your Athlon 700 is covering the same era as this P2. […]
Show full quote

As you say your Athlon 700 is covering the same era as this P2.

What I do when I have double ups is build with alternative hardware. this gives me a reason to use the PC, otherwise more often then not you'll just use the faster one.

What GPU/Audio do you have in the Athlon?
If it's some Nvidia/ATI card and Creative, then build the P2 with 3dfx and Vortex 2
That way if you want to play a D3d or EAX title you do it on the Athlon but if you want glide or A3d your kind of forced to use the P2

This also give you a choice or either keeping it period correct or maxing out the build to better suit the 3dfx/A3d games.

At the moment a Voodoo 3 3000 agp and Audigy 1 card are doing a great job in my Athlon.

I have been interested in trying out a Aureal Vortex chip for quite some time so I think I will get a A3d card for the upcoming PII.

Putting the Voodoo 3 in the PII is something I have not considered yet. It is a interesting though putting the V3 into the PII and then get another card for the Athlon 700.

There are some ATI and Nvidia cards I would love to own to be honest.

The first card that would cross my mind would be the Riva TNT 2.

Do you think a TN2 Pro would be a nice match for my Athlon?

rasz_pl wrote on 2024-06-27, 11:31:

OSkar000 wrote on 2024-06-27, 07:31:

TNT, Matrox G200, Ati Rage Pro (one of all versions), Intel 740 or S3 Virge should work fine.

work yes, but only TNT would work fine 😀 the rest would be source of frustration

TNT - Fast and good drivers
Matrox G200 - excellent 2D and good support for windows 3.11. Not perfect in Dos but works fine in newer games
Ati Rage - super common and cheap. Not good at anything
Intel 740 - odd, quirky and weird. Performs better then what I remembered.
S3 Virge - cheap and great in Dos/Win 3.11. Ok for 2D in Windows 98

Anything else... if its fun and shiny, give it a try 😀

predator_085 wrote on 2024-06-28, 06:41:

Do you think a TN2 Pro would be a nice match for my Athlon?

TNT2 predates Athlon by over a year iirc.

Depends on what you want to do with this.

ux-3 wrote on 2024-06-28, 12:21:

predator_085 wrote on 2024-06-28, 06:41:

Do you think a TN2 Pro would be a nice match for my Athlon?

TNT2 predates Athlon by over a year iirc.

Depends on what you want to do with this.

The main purpose of Build 1 is to have a rather powerful 1997 to 1999 gaming system. I am happy how the System works with the Voodoo 3 3000 agp, but if I put the Voodoo 3 in upcoming intel 440bx PII system, I would not mind maxing out the athlon GPU wise.

Have not though about it yet which gpu would be he most powerful but still reasonable video card that could still work the Athlon 700.

Fastest period correct card for 1999 would be a GeForce 256 DDR. It would be a step up from a TNT2.

If it was me I'd put your existing GF4 in the Athlon. Not technically period correct but if you think of it as a GF2 MX then in the early 00's I upgraded my PII 400 with a 16MB TNT to a GF2 MX, so is kind of in the ball park?

what no Savage3D or Rage128?

ux-3 wrote on 2024-06-28, 12:21:

TNT2 predates Athlon by over a year iirc.

Months apart. (Mar 1999 - Aug 1999)