Building a Pentium II Windows 95 PC

I build a 300mhz Pentium II pc with Windows 95 OSR2.5 while taking some design inspiration from an old ACER 500LB desktop I grew up with for the overall look.
End Result:
Case: APEVIA X-MASTER
Motherboard: INTEL AL440LX
Processor: 300MHz INTEL Pentium II MMX
RAM: 3x PC66 32mb - 96mb Total
Graphics Card: ASUS 16mb NVidia TNT2 Combat Edition
Sound Card: Onboard OPL3 (YMF715-S + YMF721-S)
Storage Device: Hyperdisk DOM 4gb
3.5" Floppy Drive: SONY MPF920
5.25" Floppy Drive: TEAC FD-55GFR
Optical Drive: LG DVD-RAM GH22NP30
(Case Badges) Geekenspiel's eBay store page:
www.ebay.com/str/geekenspiel
Games shown throughout the video: Hover, Planet X3, Civil War General, Jazz Jackrabbit, Descent, Tyrian 2000, Wolfenstein 3-D, DOOM, STUNTS, The Secret of Monkey Island
Music:
Kinetics by | e s c p | escp-music.bandcamp.com
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Calm System by Schematist | www.schematistmusic.com
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
creativecommons.org/licenses/...
neon samurai by sakura Hz | / sakurahertz
Music promoted by www.free-stock-music.com
Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported (CC BY-ND 3.0)
creativecommons.org/licenses/...

[@andiarrohnds5163]

i miss my old computers more than my ex girlfriends

[@SpeedHunter_9]

That was my first PC when I was 5 years old. Was fascinated by Pentium II CPU slot form factor too. Always had a special place in my heart.

[@erichkohl9317]

Nice. I also built a Pentium II system a couple years ago… sourced all the parts and a really awesome old-style tower case. My favorite thing to do with it is play the original Quake. I have Windows 98 on it however.

[@GabiFish]

I have a similar system but with an 233mhz Pentium 2, tnt2 M64 32 MB of ram and a generic case from 99. I have 128 mb of ram on it, windows 95, and the amount of ram it's not causing any problems. Keep on with the good work, I really like the editing, it's very well done.

[@DS08]

Sounds like a fun machine you have there! Glad to hear there aren't any issues with more RAM in win95. Thank you for the kind words :)

[@MidnightGeek99]

I love video cards with few to none caps, smaller chances of dying :)

[@DS08]

definitely a plus :)

[@InfinitiesLoop]

Great video! It was a nice trip down memory lane, thank you!

[@janithcooray5546]

"hover", used to love that game

[@toronado455]

Wow General MIDI on a chip!

[@PROSTO4Tabal]

Interesting parts selection and affordable, good looking outcome

[@Constantin314]

i can't believe that he's out of case badges like yours. great build

[@DS08]

Hopefully he makes some more, his case badges are fantastic! And thank you! :)

[@KevinSills]

I would pair the TNT2 with a 3dfx Voodoo 1, or a Voodoo 2. I would have installed Windows 98se as it has all the updates with drivers to cover more peripherals than Windows 95. Also, SoundBlaster Live was the gold standard of the time, it includes EAX. I have a Windows 98se Micro ATX desktop with a K6-2/500mhz processor, 256mb of PC100 memory, SoundBlaster Live, Nvidia Geforce 2 MX400 (32mb) paired with a 3dfx Voodoo 1(4mb), and 42 90's era games, all are Windows based, no DOS. All in all this was a beautiful build, the case looks gorgeous, well done, you should be very proud!

[@jimjammy9359]

Thx for video, the install part reminded me just how much of a pain getting drivers was using w95/98. Hence Xp is the oldest retro PC I have.

[@mOddEdLiKeHeLL]

Awesome video! Subbing

[@fra4455]

Great video

[@aunabreslingaming3279]

That board is cool with the daughterboard slots for everything

[@oldhuntersu]

Great video, it's a pity the topic of Yamaha chips is not disclosed. We need more retro buddy!!! I give a like!

[@jeohsmithyuson4972]

NICE!

[@barowt]

Ohhh shiney, I want one!

[@3dfxvoodoocards6]

Nice retro system, like!

[@janithcooray5546]

man, games back them were just built different. now i cant even open them without checking for updates.

[@janithcooray5546]

"phoenixBios" haven't heard that name in decades. i had a Pentium 1 with 16MB ram. thinking of buying it again now

[@Nabilphysics]

Thanks

[@DS08]

You're welcome!

[@SOU6900]

I didn't know there was a 95 install disk that had usb drivers too. I wish the 98SE os I put on my retro system had USB support from the get-go.

[@DS08]

It wasn't around for long before windows 98 came out. I think it was something like 7 or 8 months?

[@SOU6900]

@@DS08 You'd think Microsoft would have carried the USB support over to 98 then.

[@dim0n1]

@ch-tc4ctyep, i want to say same

[@mtunayucer]

That motherboard is definitely interesting, never seen yamaha sound chip on a motherboard

[@DS08]

When I got it I was expecting it to be AC'97 but was pleasantly surprised that it basically had an on board sound blaster.

[@mtunayucer]

@@DS08 yeah man, legit

[@kev3226]

I had a P1 75 mhz and was slow. I oc'ed it to 100 mhz and notice it was faster. Then I added 64 MB ram to it and made a lot faster. After that i put in a Winchip 233 mhz and everything was snappy. I missed my old computer.

[@upgrade1373]

Very nice machine!

[@DS08]

Thank you!

[@metalworksmachineshop]

Nice build. I have an Asus p3bf slot 1 board , I want to do a win95 gaming pc

[@celioazevedoofficial]

Very good!

[@DS08]

Thank you!

[@K.J.S.est1994]

For a sound card, you could put in a Soundblaster AWE64 card in it!

[@DS08]

I'm actually pretty happy with the onboard Yamaha OPL3, but I do have a bunch of Sound Blaster cards if I ever want to experiment or do comparisons :)

[@kevinhansford3929]

You want a voodoo 2 card in there aswell for that late 90s glide goodness as direct x was the poor man's glide back in the win 95 days

[@DS08]

For sure, one day I'll have one.

[@MotownBatman]

New Sub! Dryden, MI Nice Job! I Loved my Pentium (OG) 233-MMX I Swore it was Faster & better than Everyones Newer PII & PIII's (Cuz I was Broke) LOL

[@DS08]

Thank you! 😁

[@CyberdriveAutomotive]

I've always associated p2's with 98 as my p2 machine came with 98 installed Was my first brand new pc, p2 350 with a 7gb hard drive, good old IBM Aptiva I remember being really sad when my parents bought me a Voodoo 3 2000 AGP when I realized I didn't have an AGP slot, ended up returning it for the PCI version

[@kennethober6626]

I had both PCI and AGP version. AGP made no difference on Voodoo 3 2000. I’m pretty sure it was just a selling point. AGP was more for GeForce 2 and later since they actually benefited from that slot. The ONLY difference it made for the Voodoo 3 2000 is it wasn’t on a shared bus.

[@TheYoungestCollector]

One of the most demanding Windows 95 games is Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. This will run it but barely

[@DS08]

I might have to give that a shot and see how well it does... or doesn't. lol

[@RetroTinkerer]

Ok that is one interesting case first time I see that PSU location, it seems way more compact than cases that put it besides the motherboard. It was difficult to get it/find it?

[@DS08]

Yeah it's an interesting case. Finding it was a bit of a challenge, they don't really make horizontal PC cases with multiple drive bays anymore. This case was labeled as a media center case which is why it's laid out the way it is.

[@user-uz9yn2ob4f]

and same win 95 in and ibm os/2 warp 4 combo

[@yakovkhalip9714]

nice ! Stunts, Monkey Island and Wolf 3d - cool games, but they can be played on a fast 16 bit 286)

[@DS08]

Yup, but they're good examples of the on-board soundcard working.

[@yakovkhalip9714]

@@DS08agree ! I use Wolf 3d for quick test of soundcards, especcially on 286 systems)

[@dim0n1]

typical error, when installing win95 after copying files, after reboot (first part), win95 installation cant see cdrom, you can continue. but with errors... solution: copy win95 folder from cd to c drive, and start install from here... if you need, before fdisk and format c: /s... and here im not sure, but i think your yamaha sound card have quite good general midi support, so you can enjoy more brilliant music ;)

[@altbeetle1998]

even for a 486 computer it would be possible not to install a 5.25 disk drive, why is it on a Pentium 2?

[@DS08]

I wanted a PC that has 3.5, 5.25, CD/DVD, and USB. I've been using it to back up 5.25 floppies and then transfer them to my main PC using USB flash drives. I'm happy with it.

[@tennickjestzajety69]

no network card for quicker transferring data between your retro build and daily pc? seems weird, but it is your choice. but... just 4 gb of storage? meh, even it is win95 rig, you should add second hard disk 20gb+. but generally nice setup :)

[@DS08]

I honestly didn't think of transferring things over network, but so far transferring things over with a USB flash drive has been working just fine :) And yes, I'm running out of space pretty quickly and I'm currently looking into getting more storage :D

[@EyeSooGuy]

Did you update everything in Windows 95C? DirectX 8.0a, IE 5.5 SP2, Windows Media Player 7.1, etc etc.

[@DS08]

This is the latest version of w95 which came out in 1997, so most updates were already there. I didn't install directx8 and used dx6 instead since the tnt2 card can't take advantage of anything higher.

[@EyeSooGuy]

@@DS08 I see. Alright cool. :)

[@user-uz9yn2ob4f]

one voodoo 3 3000 better like a tnt 2 3800v combat :) my pc version this home my coolection a ibm 300x originaly p2 300mhz with 192mb ram 30gb hdd and voodoo 3 3500 :) best combo

[@ramiallan525]

where did u get the drivers of pc?

[@DS08]

I used the install CDs for most of the drivers, but I don't remember where I got the motherboard drivers, I just searched the Internet for INTEL AL440LX drivers until I found something, everything else was from archive.org or vogons

[@fabricatedego]

Where did you find that case?

[@DS08]

Discovered the old listing on neweggs site when I was searching for HTPC cases that had floppy drive bays. Then bought it from eBay, there were about 3 of these left when I got it.

[@fabricatedego]

@@DS08 Gotcha thank you, been looking for an older case to make a sleeper PC in. My Dream would be a Micron Case from the 90's like my grandpa had

[@DS08]

@@fabricatedego good luck! They're getting harder to find.

[@Lofote]

"A robust machine"... and "Windows 95" definitely do not together in one sentence ;)... NT 4.0 would run fantastic on this machine, but of course not all games will, but Win2000 should run perfect as well, so that would be the "robust" machine, unless you want to also run DOS games ;)...

[@kinkykane0607]

Can someone let me know if you can overclock with this motherboard. I have this motherboard but It does not have overclocking options in the bios so I'm wondering if I update it it will allow me to do so ?? Thanks in advance :)

[@kinkykane0607]

Also Amazing Video :)

[@DS08]

@@kinkykane0607 I honestly don't know if this board can overclock, I don't have the option either. There might be a software option similar to RivaTuner (which can overclock the GPU) for the CPU instead.

[@DS08]

@@kinkykane0607 Also, Thank you! :)

[@jbaroli]

I can tell you, there's no way. I had this setup from 98 till late 2002 and only got upgraded to a 333 MHz PII. Only CPUCool could detect the mobo/PLL and overclock but no more than 69 MHz of FSB.

[@CrocoDylianVT]

2:20 Jesus Christ just say Nvidia TNT 2

[@DS08]

Nah, that's no fun.

[@mpower1226]

Would you be interested in selling this pc? 😊

[@DS08]

No, sorry. I actually use this PC a lot.

[@mittemot4949]

Windows NT 4.0 is better for this setup