i guess its 430tx+pentium mmx+tseng et4000+sound blaster 16+scb55/sc55mk2
all widely supported 🤣

Define "Best" as it's very subjective what it means 😀

My recommendation would be a Super Socket 7 or a good 486 system. They are more flexible in terms of running games that are speed sensitive and having grunt to play some of the newer ones.

With a 386 you are are "stuck" in a very specific time period and a Pentium 2 and higher isn't flexible when it comes to running speed sensitive games.

If I had to pick one it would be based on an ATX Super Socket 7 board because then you can use a new ATX case, ATX PSU and all of that.

It's the same question as 'how long is a piece of string?' 😉

I guess it depends on what you will *mainly* be playing on it.

I have a P90 that does an admirable job with most games by toggling the cache on and off. There are still games that I can't get pegged just right.

Wing Commander games straddle that line between being too fast with cache enabled and too slow with the cache disabled.

Ultima VII also moves too fast with the cache enabled and too sluggish without it.

I think a DX4-100 would probably be ideal although your doom style games benefit from the pentium leap...

I think I'd like to have a stable with a 286-16, 486-DX4-100, Any fast Win98 machine with appropriate hardware, A modern XP machine and a modern 7 machine. So that's 5 machines to cover all the bases. I'm sure that 286 would be too fast for a limited number of very early apps but I can't justify adding an 8088 w/EGA no matter how tempting that sounds.

If you can only have one retro machine, use DOSBox on your main rig to play all the old games and build a PII machine for newer Win95/98 games.

I would think something with a hardware turbo button would give the most flexibility, but again, it depends on exactly what you'd want to run. I have the impression that there are a lot of things that the fastest machines with a turbo button would not be able to run.

A Pentium III 600

My own universal rig allso uses a Pentium III 600
GUSMAX SBAWE32 512MBRAM TNT2 VOODOO2

megatron-uk wrote:

It's the same question as 'how long is a piece of string?' 😉

I guess it depends on what you will *mainly* be playing on it.

How high is a Chinaman? (Will Hay fans will remember that one).

I'd say get a Pentium MMX, Pro, or II based system, it will run about any dos game made in the 90's. Tried a Pentium III-450 in my system once and it refused to run older games like Lotus 3.

sliderider wrote:

megatron-uk wrote:

It's the same question as 'how long is a piece of string?' 😉

I guess it depends on what you will *mainly* be playing on it.

How high is a Chinaman? (Will Hay fans will remember that one).

Then how low must be his brother.

jwt27 wrote:

I'd say get a Pentium MMX, Pro, or II based system, it will run about any dos game made in the 90's. Tried a Pentium III-450 in my system once and it refused to run older games like Lotus 3.

The reason I mentioned P3 600 is that cache disabling makes it a really 386-16esque system.

When it comes to a DOS-only flexible gaming machine, IMHO, I think a humble Pentium 133, with the availability of a turbo button will be just nice. (You can up the CPU to 166MMX or 200MMX for the "comfortable feel".)

The Pentium P54c, the Turbo Buton and the Internal Cache. And Wing Commander I is Happy!

As shown above in that thread, with the help of turbo button and ICD/ICE utility, you can bring down the speed down to that of an XT/AT and play all the old classics. And with full speed on, you can play all the latest or the last batch of DOS games, which are supposed to be demanding resource-wise, respectably. All games designed to run on a 486DX2-66 will run nicely.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Define "Best" as it's very subjective what it means :) […]
Show full quote

Define "Best" as it's very subjective what it means 😀

My recommendation would be a Super Socket 7 or a good 486 system. They are more flexible in terms of running games that are speed sensitive and having grunt to play some of the newer ones.

With a 386 you are are "stuck" in a very specific time period and a Pentium 2 and higher isn't flexible when it comes to running speed sensitive games.

If I had to pick one it would be based on an ATX Super Socket 7 board because then you can use a new ATX case, ATX PSU and all of that.

So, how well do SS7 boards work with Pentiums? I know that they're intended more for K6/K6-2 CPUs, but the idea of being able to put a lower-end Pentium system into an ATX case sounds quite tempting.

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:

So, how well do SS7 boards work with Pentiums? I know that they're intended more for K6/K6-2 CPUs, but the idea of being able to put a lower-end Pentium system into an ATX case sounds quite tempting.

They are an awesome platform for the Pentium!

Compatible with all the models (up to 233 MMX) and heaps of other chips (Cyrix, AMD).

I did heaps of testing a while ago and documented everything:

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/6906/timem … efsbscaling.png

If you have lots of time and would like to read my "whole story / journey" check this thread:

http://forums.overclockers.com.au/showthread.php?t=902342

I started off with a PIII system but quickly discovered that it's either very fast or super slow with nothing in-between.

Heaps of Retro goodies to look at (all my Roland gear) and hopefully a good read for anyone.

mr_bigmouth_502 wrote:

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

Define "Best" as it's very subjective what it means :) […]
Show full quote

Define "Best" as it's very subjective what it means 😀

My recommendation would be a Super Socket 7 or a good 486 system. They are more flexible in terms of running games that are speed sensitive and having grunt to play some of the newer ones.

With a 386 you are are "stuck" in a very specific time period and a Pentium 2 and higher isn't flexible when it comes to running speed sensitive games.

If I had to pick one it would be based on an ATX Super Socket 7 board because then you can use a new ATX case, ATX PSU and all of that.

So, how well do SS7 boards work with Pentiums? I know that they're intended more for K6/K6-2 CPUs, but the idea of being able to put a lower-end Pentium system into an ATX case sounds quite tempting.

There wouldn't be much point, though. The fastest Pentium you're going to get in there in most cases is a 233 MMX. You might get a 266 Tillamook running, but usually not without issues. Even with their relatively weaker FPU's, a fast K6-2 or III of 500mhz+ will still outperform a 233 MMX easily.

I had a Shuttle HOT-591P motherboard for a while (tossed it in one of the purges; wish I hadn't). I used it with a Pentium 133 as a DOS machine, and it was great. AT/ATX, SIMM/SDRAM, AGP/PCI/ISA, and it even had a USB connector.

I like my P3 800. It runs quite a wide variety of games. However, I mostly run Win98 games (D3D and 3DFX) on it.

DOSBox on my Linux rig is where I run anything pre-Windows. Getting native DOS hardware and software just does not feel necessary anymore IMO. Dealing with multiple boots is a pain compared to simply doing "EMS off" in DOSBox.

However, respect goes out to those willing to try. I'd rather not relive the painful parts of DOS. 😦

My rig:
Asus P2B
1GHz PIII
512MB RAM
GeForce3 Ti200
Quantum3D Voodoo2 200SBi
Gravis Ultrasound Extreme
Roland MPU401AT with OPL4
Roland SC-55
Roland CM-64
Yamaha MU50

This rig covers most of the games that were made for DOS and Win98 😀

leileilol wrote:

jwt27 wrote:

I'd say get a Pentium MMX, Pro, or II based system, it will run about any dos game made in the 90's. Tried a Pentium III-450 in my system once and it refused to run older games like Lotus 3.

The reason I mentioned P3 600 is that cache disabling makes it a really 386-16esque system.

I did try that on the P3, and it did work, but runs waay too slow then.