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Nosir I went from a Cyrix 686 133-166Mhz to a Celeron 300A and only went to AMD with the Sempron 2600+ (1300Mhz). I could have sworn I had a Duron in there at some point but I can't find any record of it. I currently have two different speed P4 proprietary machines that need repairs (or to be junked), and the above along with a PIII 800Mhz Slot 1 100Mhz FSB that I just snagged a motherboard for.
A PIII and P4 are great for Windows 98 / 2000 era games, like Serious Sam and Jedi Knight II, but are way too new for real MS-DOS support.
If you want Japanese games, read this to get an idea of what you do.
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/dou...ujingames2.htm
Thanks Guntz so would Win95 or Win98 be better for DOS support? I know with WIn98 I get better USB support off top.
Yes, Win95 and 98 are great for MS-DOS. Purists would say MS-DOS 6.22 is the best but running games from a desktop is pretty convenient and there's lots of great Windows games.
Windows 98 does indeed include USB support, but it's pretty spotty compared to even Windows 2000. There exists a universal stack for USB 2.0 support on Windows 98, it's probably still on the MSFN forums.
Ok so I needed a new video card in it and the guy put a shitty S3 card in it. With that being said I am looking at getting the best 3D/2D card I can get. So should I go for a RIVA 128 ZX or a Rendition Vérité V2x00. I would love to grab a PowerVR based card but those seem to be super rare and expensive. I am also trying to figure out what kind of hard drive I should get. I know it has a 10GB ide drive and I want to get something much bigger 40-60GB but I assume there are certain requirements that must be met in order for me to get a much bigger HD.
First, you need to decide what era of game you want to play. If you're building a Win 98 machine, don't expect to be able to play older DOS games. Ultima VII is a good example of this: the game has no frame limiter, so it will run as fast as your processor can go (and that's way too fast!). A lot of pre-486 games will have issues like this that make them unplayable on a Win 95/98 machine, and generally require a specific setup to run that just isn't worth it when DOSBox is available.
Sound: You can get DOS drivers for the commonly available Sound Blaster PCI 128 card. I don't know what the point is of messing with an ISA sound card on a Win 98 machine.
Video: Just get a 3dfx Voodoo 3 or equivalent. It does 2d and 3d and was the best at the time.
OS: Win 98 has superior DOS support and is better than 95 in pretty much every way. There might be a very few number of games that work better on Win 95 than 98, such as Die by the Sword, but you should be able to get them running in 98 with some minor work.
This website is great for helping to configure your DOS settings: http://winmac.mvps.org/win95dos.html
Are you using a good CRT monitor? That's probably one of the most important parts of a retro PC. DOS resolution games look like crap on an LCD.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2528/...17e4832fec.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by Guntz
guys pls... I just picked up the ultimate PC for DOS* gaming
https://scontent-a-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/...37661111_n.jpg
NEC PC-9821Cs2
Intel 486SX 33MHz (Viper MULTi 586 upgrade inbound!)
16 MB RAM
Yamaha YM2608 6-channel FM synthesizer
Which will be used to play
and
and
*system runs MS-DOS, but games are PC98 specific. It won't run commander keen...
Get one of these
Just got a Roland SC-55 so how the hell do I use this thing? I wanted an MT-32 but the prices online are fairly high, got this one for 50 bucks.
If it's anything like the MT-32, you'd normally need the hard to find MPU-401 adapter, but you can just use a Soundblaster-16 card. Again, you NEED a motherboard with an ISA slot. Don't listen to that guy up there, you will almost never get DOS level sound working properly with a PCI card. Ace found one or two that kinda work but they're probably hard to find anyway. Good ISA Soundblaster-16 cards are easy to find. I like the CT1740 myself. Strangely, it doesn't give me the hanging note bug. Maybe it has something to do with Windows 98SE?
Oh and don't forget to plug the audio output of the SC-55 into your computer's line in, not microphone.
To use an external MIDI box with DOS games, you just go into the sound settings and select Roland or General MIDI, whichever works. Anything that says MT-32 won't work with the SC-55 I think, so that rules out some older games. Of course, anything that uses General MIDI should work with your SC-55, like certain Windows programs. Now, for Windows programs, I think you go into either direct X diagnostic tool or the sound control panel and select "external MIDI device" instead of the regular soundblaster. The music data should go to the SC-55 and come back through the line in port. Try out Sonic & Knuckles Collection, it's a Windows program and uses General MIDI.
I used to have one of those giant Gateway 2000 towers. Wish i had kept it.Quote:
Originally Posted by alextheman
Thanks Guntz the SC-55 has an MT-32 module in it but it lacks the programming of the Mt-32. But what about the videocard I gotta real crappy S3 card and I want the best 2D/3D pci card I can get.
Most mid to late 90s games ran on DOS at a time when PCI soundcards were the standard. SB PCI 128 and SBLive have perfect DOS SB16 emulation and can be picked up for $3 on ebay, and they're going to offer much better Windows sound performance than an ISA SB16. The OP is interested in a machine that can run Win98 era games; a PCI soundcard is a much better option.Quote:
Originally Posted by Guntz
SBLive and SBPCI DOS drivers are available here: http://easymamecab.mameworld.info/html/snddosdr.htm
I use a PCI 128 in my retro machine and have never had any issue whatsoever with sound in DOS.
The Compaq Presario 5225 does have an ISA slot, though, so if the OP wants a more authentic DOS sound experience then a SB16 card should be fine.
Bumped.