Pentium ? for a Real Machine Win98/Dos 6.22
 

Hi,

I intend to build or modify a box for windows 98 and Dos 6.22. I had a 486dx 25, years ago and I have upgraded that machine over the years to my current dual core blah blah blah PC.

The problem I have is that I cannot remember what a decent spec is for the box. I would like to have at least one Voodoo 2 card in there and a Sound Blaster AWE 16 or similar.

I can't find anywhere online to buy old kit because I am not sure what I want, like a Dell xxx or some other brand name basic box to start with. That is why am asking you, I need some help on deciding what the basic platform wants to be.

I will play mostly games like M1 Tank Platoon 2, V4Victory, maybe Aces over Europe and Nascar. I will play 'math hungry' strategy games most but games like M1TP2 look best with Glide Wrappers so any ideas are welcome, even better if you have a box to sell.

Hanx!

Let's start from the obvious. Since you intend to run primarily several specific games, what are the minimum specs for each of them?

Where do you live??

the minimum for M1TP2 says 'system speed of at least 133mhz, 200mhz for optimum play'

Now that suggested to me that a Pentium class box is required. The game says 256 colour 640x480 SVGA about graphics, and 16mb RAM (system memory I guess). It does also mention 'Glide' and '3-d Acceleration'.

I think I may look at Falcon 4's requirements, I recall that playing inside windows 98 any I could still use a Dos Boot disk to play the 640k hungry games.


I live in England.

Ok, then. You'll need 200 to 300 mhz, definitely.
The RAM spec is most definitely system memory. Are you going for Windows 95 or 98? In the former case, get 16 to 32 MB. In the latter, 64 is definitely recommended.

Glide was an API proprietary to 3dfx's Voodoo series, so there is no question that you'll need one of those.
Voodoo 2's require a separate 2D graphics card. 640x480 @ 8-bit is hardly amazing. Almost any old 1 - 2 MB graphics card will do that; I've got one dating back to early '95, and it can get to 1024x768 @ 8-bit no problem.
Unless you're going for Voodoo 3's. Those were proper accelerated cards, and as such do not need a separate 2D card.

Far away.

I have some old boxes that I don't need.

Well I guess a Pentium II 400 Mhz with 64-128 MB RAM should be an optimum for those needs. As for the brand, doesn't really matter that much. Just browse through eBay and see what's there for "Pentium 2 400".