So I been collecting older parts and thinking about a vintage build but am a bit stuck on what specs would work best. It's an oe Gateway 2000 mobo slot 1. I have a 266mmx slot one and 32mb pc66 ram. But what would a decent video card size be for this build? I cant use 100mhz ram since the board can only use 66mhz...and the cpu is a nice middle ground of the 66fsb slot1 cpu's. I have quite a few 4mb pci and agp 3d cards (1 might be an 8mb agp) and a 32mb pci. Should I tracl down a 8-16mb vid card?...or keep with the plan to use a 4mb?
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Pentium 2 build question
- Thread starter New2vtgpc
- Start date
krebizfan
Veteran Member
Try both the 32MB PCI and an AGP card. See which one works best for you. Though it would help to know which cards are available; a faster chip was often but not always paired with more memory. I have a 128MB card in my Pentium-II 300 which is overkill but it was surplus to another system about 15 years ago.
Also, if you have any 100 MHz RAM lying around, much of it will work happily at 66 MHz. Getting to 256 MB is convenient with most Pentium II systems. Some of the Win 98 games that would run on a Pentium II need more than 32 MB and the rest of the RAM is handy for caching.
Also, if you have any 100 MHz RAM lying around, much of it will work happily at 66 MHz. Getting to 256 MB is convenient with most Pentium II systems. Some of the Win 98 games that would run on a Pentium II need more than 32 MB and the rest of the RAM is handy for caching.
Um an ati rage pro turbo agp...stb velocity 128 agp...tnt2 m64 pci (32mb pci), diamond stealth 2000 pro pci...and a few others at 4mb I cant remember right off but know they popular cards
And I tried everystick of pc100 ram I have...no post. I had to orser a stick of pc66 to get it to post and go to bios. Thats where I found its a gateway 2000 mobo and from the number on board its stuck at using 66mhz ram. Which sucks but oh well no building an ultimate win98 tower.
Riva128, Matrox Millenium I or II, late model S3, etc. Don't expect to do Win98 3D gaming on it without something like a Voodoo 1 attached.
The board you have is great for 2D Win95/98 gaming so the video card should reflect that.
The board you have is great for 2D Win95/98 gaming so the video card should reflect that.
resman
Veteran Member
The STB Velocity 128 would be a good match. It will run many Win98 3D games just fine.
That STB is the Riva 128 chip I meantioned. Anyway here are some Quake benchmarks:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/13/3
Accelerated GL Quake 2 Performance
Video Card STB Velocity 128 (AGP)
Frame Rate (higher is better)
Processor DEMO1 (640 x 480) DEMO2(640 x 480)
Pentium II - 300 18.5 16.6
Pentium MMX - 233 13.7 11.8
K6 - 233 12.0 10.5
6x86MX-PR2/200+ (166/66) 9.0 7.3
CPU dependent and under 20FPS not exactly playable for 640x480. Stick to 2D games.
resman
Veteran Member
Quake 2 isn't the only Win98 game, and more demanding than most of that era. Later drivers also improved the frame rate (that test was using an early alpha release of the OpenGL driver). There are plenty of D3D games that are playable with that setup. Memory will probably be the limiting factor as to how well they play, though.
Also, the 32 MB TNT2 PCI card would be pretty rare, IIRC. Even TNT PCI cards were uncommon.
Also, the 32 MB TNT2 PCI card would be pretty rare, IIRC. Even TNT PCI cards were uncommon.
The original AGP TNT had very buggy drivers, I snagged the card when it came out and it took a while to get drivers that didn't have major graphics glitches. Later releases might have been slightly faster.
Most 3D games of the time used GLIDE while the rest used D3D so a Voodoo 1 PCI will help quite a bit if you want 3D gaming. Most games were still 2D at the time anyway.
Most 3D games of the time used GLIDE while the rest used D3D so a Voodoo 1 PCI will help quite a bit if you want 3D gaming. Most games were still 2D at the time anyway.
Well... I'll increase the memory once I get it all put together...i just have the 1 32mb pc66 stick since thats all i had from a junker. And ...idk where I picked the tnt2 up at..its an m64 pny variant if that helps.
I have a few late s3 (virge dx, gx), riva 128 and velocity 128. No matrox in the collection nor voodoo. They all pricey at this point. Maybe down the line I'll get a 3dfx card(s) but for now if I can get this to run and play some older titles (that run on a 266) id be fine
resman
Veteran Member
The m64 was the budget model. By the time it came out, AGP had been the default for some time. When you get your machine built up, it would be interesting to see if the larger memory would help, even with the slower bus interface. The TNT2 chip was a large improvement over the 128, but a little later than your MB.
Ive got it up and running. 32mb ram and a 4mb ati rage pro ultra with a 1gb cf card and sb live sound card. Plays older win95 awesome, but strugglea with sims and a few others. If it call for a 266 or slower runs great...but any higher cpu speed games stutrer a bit (obviously but still a neat test) def going to try some of thr other bigger vid cards and more ram to see what this can do