PC DOS Games box - for free!

Bloodwych · 30 August 2006, 17:57

I didn't put this in Market place as it's not Amiga hardware, so off-topic it is!

What we have here is a P233 MMX base unit, but possibly one of the best examples you'll find these days! I built it as a project years ago with the idea of putting together a DOS games box. Rest of the hardware:

Intel motherboard and chipset
Matrox Millenium II (considered the best card for DOS games)
Sound Blaster AWE32 ISA with 8MB onboard memory (very rare with the mem and more compatible than the later AWE64)
64MB RAM (P1's can't cache anything over 64MB so adding more reduces performance)
6GB Hard Disk
CDRW (plus a batch of 10 4x CDRWs I bought with the drive)
Install CDs with Win95b, Win98 drivers etc
Windows 98 and DOS support through a boot menu (I'm sure I setup several boot menu DOS configs that work with nearly all games)

The case and CPU cooler are brand new, there isn't a spot of dust anywhere in the case. Can throw in a keyboard and mouse as well, but these are a little used.

I really don't want to throw this PC away as it's too good! Wish I could keep it but room is an issue. I thought I'd offer it for free to EABers first, then give ebay a go, before finally seeing if I can find a charity that takes old PCs.

Be aware however that you'll need to pay for the postage, which will be a fair bit. Parcel Force is reasonable and will pick up from my gaff and deliver to anywhere in the UK.

So, anyone have a good home for this?

keropi · 30 August 2006, 18:02

wow, I would like to get my hands on the matrox + awe32 card...

keropi · 30 August 2006, 18:05

oh, and why do u say matrox is best for dos???
I have a Diamond Stealth 3D PRO 4MB on my 166mmx dosbox...

Bloodwych · 30 August 2006, 18:11

Just going on picture quality and the very fast VESA modes. Should have said "one of the best".

Obviously it isn't a 3d accelerated card, but it rocks for the older games that didn't require such features.

I know you're a PC legend Keropi, so I'll down grade it to the second best.

keropi · 30 August 2006, 18:18

LOL, no need to downgrade it really... only had experience with mystique, but it was not better than S3 in 2D...
and don't forget, for proper VESA modes support UNIVBE (former Scitech Display Doctor) is essential... it is a software TSR VESA 2/3 driver that takes advantage of each chip's individual acceleration features...

Retro-Nerd · 30 August 2006, 18:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by keropi

and don't forget, for proper VESA modes support UNIVBE (former Scitech Display Doctor) is essential... it is a software TSR VESA 2/3 driver that takes advantage of each chip's individual acceleration features...

Yep, an old Dos classic like Discworld 2 runs well under XP with UNIVBE & VDMSound too.

Paul · 30 August 2006, 18:59

I’m moving this thread to Retrogaming General Discussion as some members may have Off Topic in ignore list.

Unknown_K · 30 August 2006, 21:13

The best Pentium era DOS video cards were the Tseng et6000 based cards with full 4MB of RAM, and the Nvidia Riva cards (PCI only, the AGP had issues). There are quite a few runner ups also.

For older machines using the ISA or VLB bus you have the TSENG, ARK, and a few other chipsets.

gimbal · 30 August 2006, 21:15

Dos

*sigh*

Conquest of the New World (deluxe), Crusader: No Remorse, Redneck Rampage 1 & 2, Daggerfall... all classics that I enjoyed a lot and simply will not boot under Windows XP with VDMSound and any kind of compatibility mode (on my system)

And to emulate them with Dosbox will probably take an AMD64 with 8 cores...

Damn Microsoft for not supporting direct memory vesa modes in a fullscreen Command prompt

adolescent · 30 August 2006, 22:23

Add a pair of Voodoo2 boards in there for some good ol' SLI GLide goodness...

Bloodwych · 30 August 2006, 22:27

Thanks Paul.

Gimbal, yeah I had loads of fun playing many of those DOS games and others that I missed during my Amiga years. Never will replace my favouritism for my A1200 however - back then the PC had a powerful CPU, while the Amiga had a unique class.

And Unknown, you are the PC daddy! The PC scene was really slow to take off in the UK compared to America. I'll defer to your PC knowledge any day.

Unknown_K · 30 August 2006, 23:08

I grew up gaming on the PC (had to sell my C64 back in 1990 or so to buy a 286 for college). Over the last 3 years or so I went about reconstructing the best DOS gaming rigs I could to finish up some of the games I never finished and to play some of the games I never had. It is nice being able to afford the cards I might have wanted back then but did not have the money to buy (like the Dual Voodoo 2 SLI I have now but could only afford one when they were $300 each).

keropi · 30 August 2006, 23:41

lol, I had SLI voodoo2's from creative... they where almost at the same speed as voodoo3 and faster than TNT2_M64 ...
3dfx rocked!

Unknown_K · 30 August 2006, 23:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by keropi

lol, I had SLI voodoo2's from creative... they where almost at the same speed as voodoo3 and faster than TNT2_M64 ...
3dfx rocked!

The SLI setup gave you 1024x768 while the single boards limited you to 800x600 so having 2 was nice (but if you look close enough you can see some distortion where one cards scan line stopped and the other cards started).

The M64 version of the TNT2 was crippled for OEM cards (64 bit memory instead of the 128Bit used on the performance cards).

keropi · 30 August 2006, 23:57

yes I am aware of that, but they rocked

BlaCkAdDa · 31 August 2006, 04:16

the tseng et6000's were alright but had lots of driver issues if i remember rightly, but were better than the real cheap alternatives.
The matrox cards were a lot better, but cost as much as current 3d Cards (ie near $300!) compared to $60 or so for an et6000.

Unknown_K · 31 August 2006, 04:24

The ET6000 had some funky MDRAM and if you had the full 4.25MB (yes not a clean 4MB) the RAM was interleaved and was faster. I find the Riva to be a bit faster and has more VESA modes for games in ROM.

$300 for a Matrox Millenium is about what I paid for mine back when it was hot (still have it).

I was planning on doing some benchmarks with my cards but never got around to it.

keropi · 31 August 2006, 07:12

the rivaZX was good for DOS? wow... never actually bothered with it, I had a Diamond Stealth 3D (and later a speedstarA55) + voodoo2 SLI combo... though I doubt that a pentium1 would benefit from it or the Millenium card...

nice looking p1 Bloodwych !

Zetr0 · 31 August 2006, 11:00

i HAVE 2 voodoo 2's ready and waiting for what ever reasons lol...

I would love to bolt 'em onto an amiga, but i doubt theres any drivers

secondaraly i have a voodoo 5500 pci....

Unknown_K · 31 August 2006, 21:41

I have a Voodoo 5500 also (AGP) used it a few years and retired it for a Kyro 2 which was retired for my present ATI 9000 in this relic of a game machine.

The 5500 was placed back in its original box with all packing incase I need it someday.

30 August 2006, 17:57	#1
Bloodwych Moderator Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: I'm behind you! Posts: 3,763	PC DOS Games box - for free! I didn't put this in Market place as it's not Amiga hardware, so off-topic it is! What we have here is a P233 MMX base unit, but possibly one of the best examples you'll find these days! I built it as a project years ago with the idea of putting together a DOS games box. Rest of the hardware: Intel motherboard and chipset Matrox Millenium II (considered the best card for DOS games) Sound Blaster AWE32 ISA with 8MB onboard memory (very rare with the mem and more compatible than the later AWE64) 64MB RAM (P1's can't cache anything over 64MB so adding more reduces performance) 6GB Hard Disk CDRW (plus a batch of 10 4x CDRWs I bought with the drive) Install CDs with Win95b, Win98 drivers etc Windows 98 and DOS support through a boot menu (I'm sure I setup several boot menu DOS configs that work with nearly all games) The case and CPU cooler are brand new, there isn't a spot of dust anywhere in the case. Can throw in a keyboard and mouse as well, but these are a little used. I really don't want to throw this PC away as it's too good! Wish I could keep it but room is an issue. I thought I'd offer it for free to EABers first, then give ebay a go, before finally seeing if I can find a charity that takes old PCs. Be aware however that you'll need to pay for the postage, which will be a fair bit. Parcel Force is reasonable and will pick up from my gaff and deliver to anywhere in the UK. So, anyone have a good home for this? Attached Thumbnails Last edited by Bloodwych; 30 August 2006 at 22:19.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
MS Dos Games equal or better than Amiga games	Fred the Fop	Retrogaming General Discussion	133	06 February 2022 05:30
Where to get old DOS games?	Fingerlickin_B	Retrogaming General Discussion	7	11 June 2008 15:20
DOS games	JohnnyBeGood	project.SPS (was CAPS)	5	08 April 2008 19:48
For those of you that must run old MS-DOS games, DOS Box has been ported	Pyromania	Amiga scene	19	06 June 2003 11:44
DOS Fellow problems with my Athlon TB box	andreas	support.WinFellow	10	17 January 2002 13:46

30 August 2006, 18:02	#2
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	wow, I would like to get my hands on the matrox + awe32 card...

30 August 2006, 18:05	#3
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	oh, and why do u say matrox is best for dos??? I have a Diamond Stealth 3D PRO 4MB on my 166mmx dosbox...

30 August 2006, 18:11	#4
Bloodwych Moderator Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: I'm behind you! Posts: 3,763	Just going on picture quality and the very fast VESA modes. Should have said "one of the best". Obviously it isn't a 3d accelerated card, but it rocks for the older games that didn't require such features. I know you're a PC legend Keropi, so I'll down grade it to the second best.

30 August 2006, 18:18	#5
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	LOL, no need to downgrade it really... only had experience with mystique, but it was not better than S3 in 2D... and don't forget, for proper VESA modes support UNIVBE (former Scitech Display Doctor) is essential... it is a software TSR VESA 2/3 driver that takes advantage of each chip's individual acceleration features...

30 August 2006, 18:59	#7
Paul RIP Friends Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: UK Posts: 2,157	I’m moving this thread to Retrogaming General Discussion as some members may have Off Topic in ignore list.

30 August 2006, 21:13	#8
Unknown_K Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio/USA Age: 55 Posts: 1,380	The best Pentium era DOS video cards were the Tseng et6000 based cards with full 4MB of RAM, and the Nvidia Riva cards (PCI only, the AGP had issues). There are quite a few runner ups also. For older machines using the ISA or VLB bus you have the TSENG, ARK, and a few other chipsets.

30 August 2006, 21:15	#9
gimbal cheeky scoundrel Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Spijkenisse/Netherlands Age: 43 Posts: 6,983	Dos sigh Conquest of the New World (deluxe), Crusader: No Remorse, Redneck Rampage 1 & 2, Daggerfall... all classics that I enjoyed a lot and simply will not boot under Windows XP with VDMSound and any kind of compatibility mode (on my system) And to emulate them with Dosbox will probably take an AMD64 with 8 cores... Damn Microsoft for not supporting direct memory vesa modes in a fullscreen Command prompt

30 August 2006, 22:23	#10
adolescent Powered by Motorola Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Redondo Beach, CA Age: 52 Posts: 1,065	Add a pair of Voodoo2 boards in there for some good ol' SLI GLide goodness...

30 August 2006, 22:27	#11
Bloodwych Moderator Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: I'm behind you! Posts: 3,763	Thanks Paul. Gimbal, yeah I had loads of fun playing many of those DOS games and others that I missed during my Amiga years. Never will replace my favouritism for my A1200 however - back then the PC had a powerful CPU, while the Amiga had a unique class. And Unknown, you are the PC daddy! The PC scene was really slow to take off in the UK compared to America. I'll defer to your PC knowledge any day.

30 August 2006, 23:08	#12
Unknown_K Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio/USA Age: 55 Posts: 1,380	I grew up gaming on the PC (had to sell my C64 back in 1990 or so to buy a 286 for college). Over the last 3 years or so I went about reconstructing the best DOS gaming rigs I could to finish up some of the games I never finished and to play some of the games I never had. It is nice being able to afford the cards I might have wanted back then but did not have the money to buy (like the Dual Voodoo 2 SLI I have now but could only afford one when they were $300 each).

30 August 2006, 23:41	#13
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	lol, I had SLI voodoo2's from creative... they where almost at the same speed as voodoo3 and faster than TNT2_M64 ... 3dfx rocked!

30 August 2006, 23:57	#15
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	yes I am aware of that, but they rocked

31 August 2006, 04:16	#16
BlaCkAdDa Zone Friend Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: Adelaide / Australia Age: 47 Posts: 214	the tseng et6000's were alright but had lots of driver issues if i remember rightly, but were better than the real cheap alternatives. The matrox cards were a lot better, but cost as much as current 3d Cards (ie near $300!) compared to $60 or so for an et6000.

31 August 2006, 04:24	#17
Unknown_K Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio/USA Age: 55 Posts: 1,380	The ET6000 had some funky MDRAM and if you had the full 4.25MB (yes not a clean 4MB) the RAM was interleaved and was faster. I find the Riva to be a bit faster and has more VESA modes for games in ROM. $300 for a Matrox Millenium is about what I paid for mine back when it was hot (still have it). I was planning on doing some benchmarks with my cards but never got around to it.

31 August 2006, 07:12	#18
keropi . Join Date: Oct 2004 Location: Ioannina/Greece Posts: 5,040	the rivaZX was good for DOS? wow... never actually bothered with it, I had a Diamond Stealth 3D (and later a speedstarA55) + voodoo2 SLI combo... though I doubt that a pentium1 would benefit from it or the Millenium card... nice looking p1 Bloodwych !

31 August 2006, 11:00	#19
Zetr0 Ya' like it Retr0? Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: United Kingdom Age: 49 Posts: 9,768	i HAVE 2 voodoo 2's ready and waiting for what ever reasons lol... I would love to bolt 'em onto an amiga, but i doubt theres any drivers secondaraly i have a voodoo 5500 pci....

31 August 2006, 21:41	#20
Unknown_K Registered User Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio/USA Age: 55 Posts: 1,380	I have a Voodoo 5500 also (AGP) used it a few years and retired it for a Kyro 2 which was retired for my present ATI 9000 in this relic of a game machine. The 5500 was placed back in its original box with all packing incase I need it someday.

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)