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Win 98 setup


Norby Droid

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I have a Windows 98 computer (Would like to upgrade it though.  More on that later).

I upgraded the power supply from a 250W to a 400W.  WOuld tht be too much?

Here is my current setup:

Shuttle MV25 motherboard with a 1Ghz Intel Celeron processor and 512MB of RAM (Max memory for this motherboard)

The hard drive is 40GB and I have 2 DVD-ROM drives installed.  Okay that mimght be much but I have my reasons (illogical maybe :))

I upgraded the video card because the onboard wasn't up to par for runnin DirectX 9 games or anything needing accelerated graphics.

The new video card is an nvidia GeForce FX 5200 PCI with 128MB of memory.

Onboard sound was nice even has support (in BIOS even) for Legacy Sound Blaster support.  I upgraded to a Sound Blaster Live because although I could use SB in DOS with the onboard I couldn't have MIDI sound workin.  MIDI playback (for me) is a MUST.

Another upgrade was a 5port USB 2.0 PCI card.  There are only 2 USB ports (I assume USB 1.0) onboard and that for me was annoying.

Here is another (possibly considered unecessary addition) The USB card has 4 USB on the outside and 1 internal.  For the internal I put in a 128GB USB stick to have for extra room, backups and other stuff.  It works flawlessly in both DOS and Windows 98.

With all the upgrades I have done, is the 400W power supply good to have or overkill?  Also the upgrades, good or bad?  I am lookin for opinions.

Around here it is difficult to find a Windows 98 compatible system and would like to have a more powerful system because although 98 runs great on my current system, the graphics (even with the great nvidia card installed) is still a bit sluggish.  Can anyone recomend a motherboard I can buy that would be good for runnin Windows 98 on?

I really have no cares for what people say about WIn 98 bein old/outdated/useless/etc.  It will ALWAYS be my joy and as long as it is possible I will keep one around and use.

Thank y'all in advance.

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As far as I know you can't have "too large" a power supply, as the motherboard and devices will only draw as much as they need. The problems come when the devices draw more than the PSU can put out.

I would trash the Celeron (known to gamers as CelerOWNED :lol:) processor and replace it with the highest-clocked Pentium III that is compatible with that board. You will see a very significant increase in performance.

Virtually any Pentium 4 (Socket 478/some Socket 775) motherboard is great for running Windows 9x as most of them have compatible drivers and some can use over 3GHz processors and 4GB of RAM (you'll need rloew's patch for that much RAM though). Boards newer than that can be used in some cases but require more effort and more non-free patches. See the sticky thread we have devoted to motherboards for more info (I know it's a lot to read and somewhat disorganized, but we hope it will be improved in the future).

You've come to the right place for Windows 9x support. You won't find any haters here that will waste your time telling you it's old and to run something else. :)

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42 minutes ago, LoneCrusader said:

As far as I know you can't have "too large" a power supply, as the motherboard and devices will only draw as much as they need. The problems come when the devices draw more than the PSU can put out.

I would trash the Celeron (known to gamers as CelerOWNED :lol:) processor and replace it with the highest-clocked Pentium III that is compatible with that board. You will see a very significant increase in performance.

Virtually any Pentium 4 (Socket 478/some Socket 775) motherboard is great for running Windows 9x as most of them have compatible drivers and some can use over 3GHz processors and 4GB of RAM (you'll need rloew's patch for that much RAM though). Boards newer than that can be used in some cases but require more effort and more non-free patches. See the sticky thread we have devoted to motherboards for more info (I know it's a lot to read and somewhat disorganized, but we hope it will be improved in the future).

You've come to the right place for Windows 9x support. You won't find any haters here that will waste your time telling you it's old and to run something else. :)

Yeah I find this is the only website where people don't say "WHY YOU STILL RUNNING 98!? UPGRADE TO 7 HURR DURR".

But as LoneCrusader said, the power supply doesn't matter unless it doesn't have enough wattage. My 98 system has a 650W PSU that came with the case and works fine.

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It looks like the best processor for this particular system is a 'Pentium III 1.2 GHz CPU'

I can get one for 15 Free Shipping (New) so I will snag it and see how it goes.

Thank  y'all for the responses.

I am a BIG nut for 98 and will probably run it until my ashes are put away.  People, as usual, like to make their remarks but they are useless.

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