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Win-98 + G41/ICH7 Mobo = yes or no?


Nomen

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I can pick up a new ASRock G41C-GS R2.0 (Socket 775 Intel G41 + ICH7) for $85.  It's an interesting board - it has 2 DIMM slots that will take either DDR2 or DDR3.   I don't know where it ranks in terms of socket-775 performance (if near the top I might pick it up just to make a nice XP system with the many 775 CPU's I have).  But I'm really interested if win-98 will run on this thing.  On-board audio, ethernet and graphics I can do without if necessary, but SATA and USB and DMA and other chipset stuff I'm going to want working drivers.  I haven't been paying attention to where Win-98 is at after ICH5 so I don't know what's possible and what isin't.
 

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Windows 9x can work pretty well on ICH6 and later systems provided some assumptions are made and some necessary prerequisites are accepted.

First, avoid boards using an Intel proprietary BIOS and probably AMI BIOS as well. AWARD BIOS is preferred. (Strike 1 against this ASRock board)

Second, you will either 1) need rloew's SATA patch, OR 2) you will have to verify that all SATA controllers can be set to operate in Legacy mode.

Third, you will need an add-in Sound Card that is 9x compatible and a slot to put it in.

Fourth, you will need an add-in Network card that is 9x compatible and a slot to put it in. (Realtek chip on this ASRock board MAY work with 9x.)
(Unless you are lucky enough to have an onboard one with 9x drivers; usually Realtek or Marvell based.)

The real unknown with this board is the AMI BIOS. If the BIOS is not 9x-friendly to start with it can cause all kinds of resource conflicts and other annoying issues. Probably should use SETUP /p i to disable ACPI with this system. I have very little experience with AMI BIOS but it has generally been bad. AWARD BIOS is good. Intel BIOS is trash.

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I had exactly that MoBo.
While W98SE was technically possible on it, in the end the layout made a "full" sysxtem (for playing games) impossible. Can't recall the details, but it was not fun.
I gave it back, and ordered something else (some used P35-Full-ATX-board from GigaGyte - consult the "motherboards running with more than 1 GB Ram-thread).

If you want W98SE and XP (and nothing newer) you can get the ASRock 775i65G R3.0 brand new - it uses AGP and DDR400, though, and cannot use a 1333-CPU.

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