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General discussion (archive)Need advice on building a 2000 PC(28 posts)(28 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted February 09, 2011
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HoneyBakedHam: Why?

I'm just curious? Is it for history? For classic games? Just because it is cool?

I think it's a great idea. I was considering a similar idea just to play Carmageddon 2: Carpocolypse Now :-)
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RUSBoris: Mainly for Glide. Lots of the older games had this Glide mode (like Direct3D and OpenGL) that was exclusive to 3dfx cards that provided cool effects, better textures, optimizations, etc. Today you can emulate that with nGlide and such on modern hardware, but I want the original :) And to just be able to shove a disc in the drive and install the game on Win 98 without any issues or compatibility worries.
And there are a good number of games that I know of that as of right now (not being on GoG yet) can only be played on older computers. I know for sure that Star Trek Borg can only be played on Windows 95 computers with no exceptions and I don't think it uses Dos mode either.
Posted February 09, 2011
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michaelleung: Will you have the dial up experience as well?
Someday I will open an Internet themed amusement park and The Dial-Up Experience will be a featured attraction.
Posted February 09, 2011
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RUSBoris: Hi all.

I'm looking to build a gaming PC centered around a Voodoo 5 5500 AGP card and Windows 98SE.

But I have a couple of questions about the rest of the hardware:

First, I remember 98 has a limit for RAM. Is it 256 or 512MB?

Second, should I go with a P3 800MHz-1GHz or an AMD processor? I'm kind of leaning towards the P3 for some reason. Is 3DNow! something worth considering? Any recommendations?

Third, what PSU wattage should I get for this computer?

P.S if anyone has a 5500 AGP or PCI for sale, let me know! I'm still searching. We can discuss things over GoGPM
I would opt for a P3 ( although the Amd Athlon Thunderbird was more powerful, it wasn't exempt from heat/electrical issues. I personnaly had a very bad experience with one of them. After a bit more than one year, I had to reinstall my old PII and do with it for another 3 years till I had the money to buy a new rig... ) with 256 Mb of memory

for the PSU, 250/300w should do the job
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Miaghstir: Windows 95, 98, 98SE, and Me all do allow for more than 512 MB, but might not handle it very well.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/253912
Windows Me ... that (in)famous thing didn't handle well anything, be it more or less than 512 MB. It's a shame MS never got properly rewarded for that infamy...
Post edited February 09, 2011 by Phc7006
Posted February 09, 2011
Pure nostalgia. This is a great idea, but getting the parts will prove to be difficult.
There's a bid on ebay for a Voodoo 5500 AGP, that baby will be difficult to catch.
Post edited February 09, 2011 by pops117
Posted February 09, 2011
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michaelleung: Will you have the dial up experience as well?
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HoneyBakedHam: Someday I will open an Internet themed amusement park and The Dial-Up Experience will be a featured attraction.
Other parks already have them - they're called "queues".

I imagine the only difference in the Dial up experience is that sometimes a big guy comes and "disconnects" you, kicking you to the back of the queue.
Posted February 10, 2011
Bumping one last time to see if anyone has a 5500 for sale
Posted February 11, 2011
Why this 3dfx 5500 important to you? I understand lust for playing Glide games on 3dfx hardware (I myself have Voodoo3 in my PC for that purpose :-) but this is the hardest/most expensive 3dfx card to buy. As far as I remember it appeared on the market when Direct3D was already predominant and this card was designed to compete with NVidia/ATI cards in Direct3D. So the only advantage of using 3dfx hardware is to play DOS Glide games or early Windows Glide games that a) didn’t have Direct3D support or 2) looked in Glide better.
But for that reason I don’t think there was a game that Voodoo2 SLI can’t handle – and that is cheaper and easier to get option.
Apart from that – with later 3dfx cards (starting from Voodoo3) you will encounter some compability issues with games designed for Voodoo/Voodoo2 (I myself wasn’t able to play Myth1 Glide on Voodoo3 without textures flickering).
Posted February 11, 2011
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tburger: Why this 3dfx 5500 important to you? I understand lust for playing Glide games on 3dfx hardware (I myself have Voodoo3 in my PC for that purpose :-) but this is the hardest/most expensive 3dfx card to buy. As far as I remember it appeared on the market when Direct3D was already predominant and this card was designed to compete with NVidia/ATI cards in Direct3D. So the only advantage of using 3dfx hardware is to play DOS Glide games or early Windows Glide games that a) didn’t have Direct3D support or 2) looked in Glide better.
But for that reason I don’t think there was a game that Voodoo2 SLI can’t handle – and that is cheaper and easier to get option.
Apart from that – with later 3dfx cards (starting from Voodoo3) you will encounter some compability issues with games designed for Voodoo/Voodoo2 (I myself wasn’t able to play Myth1 Glide on Voodoo3 without textures flickering).
Oh interesting info.

Will Voodoo2 be able to handle games such as Carmageddon 2, Unreal Tournament, Blood 2, Diablo 2 etc at max settings? Most of the games I'm interested in are from just about 2000, and that's when 5500 came out. Voodoo2 came out in 1998. So I think maybe Voodoo2 will not be powerful enough?

I also don't plan on playing ANY DOS games

Edit: Ah, nevermind. Actually I'm better off with 5500 after all. Because I really want to play in 32-bit. Besides, with Voodoo 2 I'd need to buy two cards, a SLI cable, a third card for 2D, and not to mention the 3x chance of one of the cards failing (since there are three cards vs one 5500). If buying one 2D card and 2x V2's, the price comes out to if not more than the 5500, but I get higher chance of fail, no 32-bit, and much lower performance
Post edited February 11, 2011 by RUSBoris
Posted February 11, 2011
May I suggest using virtualization before building the actual thing?
Posted February 11, 2011
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RUSBoris: Hi all.

I'm looking to build a gaming PC centered around a Voodoo 5 5500 AGP card and Windows 98SE.

But I have a couple of questions about the rest of the hardware:

First, I remember 98 has a limit for RAM. Is it 256 or 512MB?

Second, should I go with a P3 800MHz-1GHz or an AMD processor? I'm kind of leaning towards the P3 for some reason. Is 3DNow! something worth considering? Any recommendations?

Third, what PSU wattage should I get for this computer?

P.S if anyone has a 5500 AGP or PCI for sale, let me know! I'm still searching. We can discuss things over GoGPM
I don't really understand your desire for a Voodoo 5500. The era of Glide games essentially ended after the Voodoo 3 3000. Every game later than Ultima 9 in 1999 ran faster under DirectX or Open GL on a Nvidia card, and there was almost no performance boost over the Voodoo 3 if the game wasn't glide native.
If you want a glide card, I would get a Voodoo 3 AGP card instead. They are far more common and cheaper. And don't opt for the PCI version of any card!! AGP will be twice as fast.
Posted February 12, 2011
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RUSBoris: Most of the games I'm interested in are from just about 2000
Well in that case I really can't understand why you insist on 3dfx.. Year 2000 is DirectX 7 time - so there were NO games exclusively written for Glide. All games that you mentioned will run in Direct3D with the same visual effects and performance as in Glide. So isn’t it better to buy GF3 blow $10 – it will beat Voodoo5 in every aspect.
Posted February 12, 2011
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RUSBoris: Most of the games I'm interested in are from just about 2000
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tburger: Well in that case I really can't understand why you insist on 3dfx.. Year 2000 is DirectX 7 time - so there were NO games exclusively written for Glide. All games that you mentioned will run in Direct3D with the same visual effects and performance as in Glide. So isn’t it better to buy GF3 blow $10 – it will beat Voodoo5 in every aspect.
Divine Divinity
Deus Ex
Clive Barker's Undying
Serious Sam
Requiem
Grim Fandango
Unreal Tournament
Kingpin
Rainbow Six
Diablo 2
Carmageddon 2

:) Just some games I really want to play again that have Glide. I have a big list of games I used to play as a kid that are also from around the same time but are D3D. 5500 is a good mix for both D3D and Glide. GF3 can't do Glide and doesn't have nostalgia to me
Post edited February 12, 2011 by RUSBoris
Posted February 12, 2011
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RUSBoris: :) Just some games I really want to play again that have Glide. I have a big list of games I used to play as a kid that are also from around the same time but are D3D. 5500 is a good mix for both D3D and Glide. GF3 can't do Glide and doesn't have nostalgia to me
So if a game could be played in Glide or in D3D – even if it looks/performs the same in both APIs – your choice is Glide. Bizarre but…I can understand you my fellow retrogamer :-). I bought 3dfx that sits now in my PC under Win98SE as a second OS just to play one game only: Archimedean Dynasty. Well…good luck man!
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This is my favourite topic
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General discussion (archive)Need advice on building a 2000 PC(28 posts)(28 posts)
(28 posts)