PC gaming contempt

[gamevet]

VirtualBox can't run Win9x, only NT4/2000 and newer. Not sure how many games that affects, but VirtualBox sure doesn't seem like an easy program to just pick up and start using.

Windows 7 Professional has an "XP mode" that I haven't actually tried yet.

The XP Mode isn't really there for gaming. It's there for businesses that have older applications that will only run on XP.

http://arstechnica.com/information-t...ows-xp-mode/4/

it's important to remember what the target market is: line-of-business applications. It's not for games, it's not for anything that's too performance sensitive, it's not for anything that needs hardware access; it's for all those crappy applications I talked about before. So... there's no 3D acceleration; no OpenGL or Direct3D in the Virtual Machine. I wouldn't want to run any graphically intensive DOS applications either....

[j_factor]

Ah, well, that sucks.

[Jeckidy]

I've mentioned it before but ReactOS seems to be a very promising solution to compatability of pre-XP software. It's a Windows open source clone in production that works without including any copyrighted code. Progress has been rather slow but then again, Linux wasn't made in one day either. I hope this thing gets released and that Microsoft doesn't succeed in banishing it forthwith, because I believe it will be a viable savior of pre-XP gaming.

[madcrow]

I like PC games. But only when they don't have DRM and other annoying crap. GOG.com has been a godsend: awesome games with no DRM at good prices.

[sheath]

The thing about virtual XP in Windows 7, and with Oracle's virtual OS software, is that they wouldn't, or I couldn't get them to, install actual drivers for my video card or sound card(s). If I wanted to make sure I was getting the true audio and video of an older game with certain hardware I couldn't because the virtual XP installation would only use virtual drivers, which I suppose are mappers to the real drivers in Windows 7. That and I didn't have any more luck running games in the virtual OS than I did in Windows 7 64-bit's compatibility options or Dosbox. All of this led me to keep a dual boot into XP and eventually build some Windows 98SE machines with appropriately aged hardware.

[Jeckidy]

How do I get one of these ages Win98 machines online? How much do they go for? We threw out our first PC with Win98 years ago but if I could get a reliable one I'd use it for classic gaming.

[sheath]

I had one Gateway 500 donated to me and then I used an old i440BX based motherboard I kept from college to build another. The Gateway 500 can be bought for $100 or so if you look around, but I would go for a non-proprietary build with Asus parts if I had to buy anything. Then I bought a lot of video cards for $60 to play with, and Bel from WAG forums sent me a bunch of spare PC100-133 RAM, and some soundcards and whatnot. Really, if you don't try to get too specific, a Win98 machine is still easy and inexpensive to build. Just don't try to get anything PowerVR, or whatever was considered the best card of any particular year, and it should be cheap. The biggest hangup for me was that all modern desktop cases are MicroATX or smaller, I had to wait for a mid tower to break down to justify gutting it.

[Michael Helgeson]

Given I build and sell legacy computers on the side, my advice would be for a Win 98 machine, if you plan to run games from 1995 on up to 2002 or so, to go with a cpu/motherboard combo in the 750-1400mhz range if you want access to the most titles with consistent stability. You can go higher on the AMD Socket A side fairly easy, though you will just bleed power needlessly after a certain point. If you are a Intel fan, keep in mind that later Socket 478B platforms used some junky Intel hybrid sata/ide chip that has issues with Windows 95-98 and Me. Everything will look fine until after the install finishes, then you will end up with non-working cd-drives and a missing ide channel. Graphics card wise you can go with a Geforce 2-4 series card and that will give you a lot of umph for that generation of gaming. 256mb is more then enough ram wise, and 20gb to 40gb harddrive size is fine, as games had much smaller installs back then.

Soundcard wise I would recommend a Aureal Vortex 1 or 2, due to its great quality and excellent Dos support, but if you cant get one of them going then go for a legit SoundBlaster Live (avoid the OEM versions with the garbage stripped down chip). If you have any titles that don't like the fact that you are running higher then a 400-500mhz cpu, you can use cpugrab to slow things down to get the game going correctly. This is all given that you know how to put said items together, and set up Windows 98 correctly, including editing autoexec and config.sys to get the best Dos support, and you have all the Windows 98 updates and drivers on hand.

Also, if all you plan to run are games from mid 1999 and prior, you can get away with 3DFX cards and either a AMD K6-III 400mhz or a Pentium II 400mhz cpu wise. 2000 on up became a real deal breaker for these cpus though, because pc gaming took a drastic change performance and hardware requirement wise when the last Direct X 6 titles were being released and everyone was transitioning to support Direct X 7 features like Hardware TnL.

[cloudk1ll]

It's probably going to be easier to search for someone's old pc that they are looking to trash rather than build your own. It will be very difficult to find individual components.

[Psy]

The thing about virtual XP in Windows 7, and with Oracle's virtual OS software, is that they wouldn't, or I couldn't get them to, install actual drivers for my video card or sound card(s). If I wanted to make sure I was getting the true audio and video of an older game with certain hardware I couldn't because the virtual XP installation would only use virtual drivers, which I suppose are mappers to the real drivers in Windows 7. That and I didn't have any more luck running games in the virtual OS than I did in Windows 7 64-bit's compatibility options or Dosbox. All of this led me to keep a dual boot into XP and eventually build some Windows 98SE machines with appropriately aged hardware.

In Virtual Box you need to install Guest Additions onto the OS you are emulating to get better video support.

[sheath]

In Virtual Box you need to install Guest Additions onto the OS you are emulating to get better video support.

I'd have to check my installation again, but I think I might have gotten it to "share" my video driver and version, just not my sound card.

Also, ebay always has older tech available for fairly reasonable prices. It just depends on how "high end" for any particular year you want to go. An AWE 64 is cheap, an AWE 64 Gold is expensive, etc. Complete systems with operating systems are probably pricey though.

[Knuckle Duster]

Sony raised the PS4 price in Canada. I now have an overclocked 290.

[16-bit]

Sony raised the PS4 price in Canada. I now have an overclocked 290.

Thinking about spending extra on a water cooler right now to overclock my i7 950 instead of redoing my entire rig. I got mine used and the guy I got it from said he'd been running at 4 ghz. Should be enough for watchdogs, combined with my gtx 660 and 18gb of ram

[Knuckle Duster]

Thinking about spending extra on a water cooler right now to overclock my i7 950 instead of redoing my entire rig. I got mine used and the guy I got it from said he'd been running at 4 ghz. Should be enough for watchdogs, combined with my gtx 660 and 18gb of ram

Can't go wrong with a watercooler like the Corsair Hydro. Just make sure it is made for the older socket and can be mounted in your case. I would try to get one that's also ready for Haswell or the AM3+ socket, in case the rig does get an overhaul. Shit happens, and parts can be salvaged.

[sandplasma]

That's too bad. Playing around with config files, drivers, settings, was so much fun for me. It was always a challenge to get Quake 2 to work well with my 386sx. Buying more memory or a better video card was never an option for me at 14 years old so I had to make due. After all the hard work, it would finally pay off when I could extract an extra 3 frames per second. To this day I am mostly a PC Gamer and my PS3/DS/Vita collect dust. My fondest memories on consoles come from the Genesis/Super Nintendo which is why you will find me here . : )