Rick
M'Lord, there's a knife in your head!
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So I was talking with one of my buds recently about how it would be cool to be able to get an old computer that could run some of the older games without having to use DOSBox or anything. Just a good ol' fashioned something that could play old stuff, probably all the way up to running Duke Nukem 64, Hexen, or Blood just fine.
I'm not sure what kind of a thing I'd be looking for in that regard, nor would I know how much it would cost and how to install some kind of OS to it. What would you guys recommend?
Also, I doubt that a hard drive with extra space would be out of the question for something like that, yes?
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— Bloodstar —
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I have a 233mhz (I think? not quite sure, don't feel like dragging it out) Cyrix 6x86MX machine that seems to like DOS stuff. Got 28/32 (it actually fluctuates sometimes. no idea why.) megabytes of RAM in it, and a 4GB and 20GB HD in it. Windows 98 and Damn Small Linux run well too.
I have a 550mhz Pentium 3 with 384MB of RAM as well, and a 15GB HD. Never tried to run DOS stuff on that, since the thing's fucking huge and I have nowhere to set it up.
Both of said machines I got for free, and I've sunk a total of $7 into upgrading them thanks to flea markets. Dunno how much one would be bought for, but I did pick up a Dell Optiplex GX240 with a 1.7ghz Pentium 4 for $30 from my college. Just look around, I guess...
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Rachel Mae
Creature of Chaos
Level: 141
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From: Foxglen
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 | | | | | Originally posted by Schala
...with some kind of AGP graphics card...
I don't believe there are any DOS games that can take advantage of an AGP port, since it was mainly created to help speed up 3D processing. I'd personally stick with an old PCI card and avoid any potential compatibility issues. 
My "file server" has the following:
- Windows 98 SE
- PC-CHIPS M571 motherboard
- 412 MHz AMD K6-III-P (overclocked from 380 MHz; weird multiplier)
- 192 MB PC-100 SDRAM (clocked @ 75 MHz; board does not officially support 100 MHz)
- GeForce FX 5200 PCI (was a Voodoo3 until the fan died  )
- Sound Blaster AWE32
- Promise Ultra ATA/100 PCI controller card
- Generic USB 2.0 PCI controller card
This was my main computer, the love of my life, until I bought an Athlon XP and entered the world of GIGAHERTZ COMPUTING more than half a decade ago. I know for a fact it can handle most DOS games just fine. My current plans are to copy all the files to an external hard drive and plug that into my main desktop, and then convert the old machine back into a real-life DOS box, complete with a high-quality 19" ViewSonic CRT. I dunno how well the GeForce FX handles old VGA modes (especially tweaked ones), though; I might end up putting a new heatsink on the trusty old Voodoo3 and swapping it back in.
(I could've sworn I bought a Voodoo4 at some point...)
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Lyskar
12210
-The Chaos within trumps the Chaos without-
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| Stats | Time/Date
07-07-10 02:15:29 PM
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| | Metal_Man88's Post | It's probably best to get an actual old timey Soundblaster over a Yamaha noise festival.
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Rachel Mae
Creature of Chaos
Level: 141
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From: Foxglen
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| | | | | Your best option would probably be an original AWE32, which is essentially an SB16 with an EMU8000 wavetable chip tacked on (games that natively supported it sounded niiiiiiiiice). It does have minor compatibility issues with a very small number of games, though. For maximum compatibility, you could probably install both an AWE32 and a Pro, setting each one to use its own IRQ/DMA/IO, and create a batch file that swaps between BLASTER environment variables as needed...though I suppose that solution's a bit extreme.
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Rachel Mae
Creature of Chaos
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| | | | | I mostly suggested the AWE32 because it's much easier to upgrade the memory (two ordinary SIMMs vs. a proprietary, impossible-to-find memory module) and somewhat easier to configure the resources (the AWE32 uses jumpers, whereas the AWE64 is PnP and needs to be configured via programs and settings in AUTOEXEC.BAT, which are tricky to install in later versions of Windows/DOS). I also noticed some occasional compatibility issues that weren't present with the AWE32, perhaps related to the card's PnP nature.
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Rachel Mae
Creature of Chaos
Level: 141
Posts: 3064/5929
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For next: 516062
Since: 07-03-07
Pronouns: she/her
From: Foxglen
Since last post: 21 days
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| | | | | Ah, yeah...my AWE32 is an original model, a massive beast with 3 CD-ROM interfaces.
As for the SoundFont, no DOS games ever uploaded their own samples; they all used the (rather terrible) built-in ones. I always loaded a third-party 8MB SoundFont, myself. 
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