Windows 98 PC Build - Part 1 Hardware

[@NoTySir]

awesome video and thoughtful explanations along the way … love this type of content! easy subscribe

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the video!

[@PKmuffdiver]

324 likes. Thats it? I cant wait to see the next vid! Cant wait to see what else is on offer.

[@NowUndefined]

Thanks for the in depth look at everything it was great to see why you chose each part. I can't wait to see it up and running!

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Thanks, it was a lot of fun putting this one together!

[@Inject0r]

I don’t know why I didn’t find this channel earlier. But this is definitely my jam! I’m loving the thoroughness you’ve put into the explanation. Especially with the P5A(-b) and its revisions, this could even be an item by itself. Thank you! I’m going to watch part 2 now. :)

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Thanks for the kind words, hope you enjoy part 2!

[@arphaksad01]

I loved Abit motherboards back in 98 days

[@RetroSuperhighway]

They were really solid motherboards, I don't think they produced many bad ones. I just wish they had put a tiny bit more thought into this one, could have almost been the perfect SS7 board for me.

[@312diag]

Matrox dual monitor was used in business fairly often. Esp. when a user needed a windows desktop and a full screen terminal emulator.

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Ah that makes perfect sense, I guess I was only thinking of the home/gaming side of things. It was also that time when Matrox were trying to appeal to the gaming crowd and the business crowd at the same time. Thanks for the info!

[@metalworksmachineshop]

That board model GA-5AX pinged my memory. a few months ago, I picked up a lot of 10 motherboards. mostly slot 1 and AT socket7 board's. The Gigabyte GA-5AX is in that lot. It has a K6-2+ 450 in it.

[@vswitchzero]

Great video! The K6-3s are really interesting chips with the on-die L2 and potentially large L3 cache on the board. I never used one back in the day but recently acquired a K6-3 and epox SS7 motherboard. Can't wait to give them a try!

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Thanks! I never benchmarked my K6-3 back in the day against my K6-2 as I upgraded other stuff at the same time, but it definitely felt faster, plus it's something I intend to do with this one. I hope you make a video showing us your Epox SS7 board and K6-3, it would be good to see!

[@vswitchzero]

@@RetroSuperhighway Should be very interesting to see the comparison! I'll hopefully do a video on the K6-3 one day, but I've got such a huge backlog of projects going. I should probably stop buying retro parts for a while 😆

[@RetroSuperhighway]

"I should probably stop buying retro parts for a while" Yeah, but where the fun in that!? :)

[@maxtornogood]

Heh, I like that you use similar music to LGR for the actual build segment!

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Something about that kind of music just seems to suit a laid-back PC build!

[@hidgik]

A new genre video! "Talking Hand Video"!

[@RetroSuperhighway]

The worst is when the left hand and right hand start talking to each other.

[@OCROldComputerRebuilds]

great video. you are really getting comfortable doing this more. just a little note from my ss7 video you get the best performance at 128/256mb of ram less was better

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Thank you for the tip! I'm looking forward to tweaking this system once I've used it for a while. It'll be fun to see what kind of difference that makes.

[@justinc4261]

This resonates so hard! The first PC I built myself was a K6-III on, now you've triggered the memory, a GA-5AX - with a Matrox G400! Just like you said, I kind of felt the need to go with the underdog or something different - both in choosing the AMD, and in choosing Matrox over 3Dfx or ATi. All bought from Scan or Insight, after pouring over the ads in whatever PC magazines I was buying from WHSmith ... And, exactly like you said, I also find the compact rectangular form factor of these early Super 7 ATX boards weirdly pleasing!

[@BladeRunner21577]

Does that PSU output 3.3V and 5V that the motherboard needs? I thought modern PSUs like that only pump out 12v

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Yep, 22A max on both 3.3V and 5V with a maximum combined load of 130W.

[@craigkarsten6719]

Nice informative video. I have the smaller GA-5AA board which I plan to recap as it has a couple of bulging caps. The asus and gigabyte boards were to me the pick of the bunch.

[@clintthompson4100]

Really nice build. Funny is I still have my Gigabyte 5AX MB(working) and I was amazed by the crazy price that board is going for. I also have a Epox G2 ATX and a Lucky Star boards as well that are all the Super Socket 7 with the same design look to it. I know in your Windows 98 System ini file you can put the command Pages= 40000 and that will allow Windows 98 to see and use up to 1Gig of RAM. Granted the board does not go up to a full Gig but you could max out your board with Windows 98 and because of the + version of that CPU thankfully not take that performance hit.

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Thanks, good to hear you still have your GA-5AX motherboard, its one of the more painful things I regret getting rid of all those years ago. The prices on pretty much all super socket 7 motherboards are high, but you are right in that certain favourite ones such as that are crazy high. I had thought about putting the machine up to the full 768Meg of RAM that the board supports, but I haven't found it struggling for RAM yet on anything I have done with it. Maybe a good one to revisit in future.

[@retrocomputeruser]

I am trying to find a socket 3 motherboard to fit my first purchased AMD DX4-100 processor. The original motherboard suffered with _"revenge of Varta"_ battery leak which destroyed it in storage. Like you, I am aiming for that nostalgic first build in the 90's with Dos 6.22 & Windows 3.11 but the prices for these boards are ridiculous on eBay as you have mentioned. For some reason, I have always stuck with AMD processors and always built my own PC's from scratch. Great video by the way and have subbed. 👍

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Ah thats a shame about the Varta battery, they have killed far too many motherboards. eBay prices for most retro hardware is high sadly, a few items at reasonable prices if you are lucky, but seemingly few and far between. I think I always stuck with AMD as they were cheaper than Intel at the time and younger me didn't have the cash for anything else. Good luck with your build!

[@matthewday7565]

If you fancy copying CD to CD, then you run into the old problem... 2 drives on the same cable! If that's the CD-RW and the CD-ROM, then "write and wait on busy" tends to make it hard for the CD=ROM to keep up

[@RetroSuperhighway]

I always used to put my HDD and CD-RW on the first IDE channel as master and slave respectively, and my CD-ROM as the master on the 2nd channel. I wonder how much difference the different ways of hooking them up actually made.......I feel a test coming on!

[@philipcheung2669]

G400 Max! You are lucky to have the Rev. B which runs AGP 4X! Mine's (still have it and kept it in the drawer) Rev. A and only runs AGP 2X......

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Thanks, I'm not sure that 4X mode makes much difference but it's nice to have the later revision. Hmmmm, I feel a quick benchmark here to check!

[@philipcheung2669]

@@RetroSuperhighway If I remember correctly some magazine did a comparison test between the two versions and the difference was in single digit percentage, also it's only showing on the benchmarks so it's not noticeable in real world applications. (It was done as Matrox actually acknowledged the Rev A being AGP 2X so it was a good comparison test for the interface difference as all other variables are taken out) Still it's one thing that bugs all Rev A owners.....

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Ah yes, that was it, I remember the fuss about it at the time because Matrox advertised it as 4X compatible, meaning to them that it was compatible with a 4X slot but only ran at 2X speed. I think some people thought it was a 4X speed card from the start because of the advertising. There are some old threads on the Matrox MURC forums about it if you fancy a read about it.

[@donatellalay3615]

My Windows 98 will not boot problems with the electrical part, can it be replaced?

[@Bodneyblue]

I started by buying an Advent Intel PII-350 machine in late 98....By the start of 2000 I had built an AMD Athlon 1200 machine and had my own internet site. Not bad for someone who had never even sat at a PC when I got the PII....I didn't even know how to operate the PC so had to teach myself....The PII is long gone.....But like you..would be nice to have a build made from the same parts....Though I'd think getting the same case would be pretty much impossible...I feel I have pretty much all the parts needed knocking about..expect a case...But I already have a number of PC's knocking about so I'm not sure If I should have another...Decisions/decisions...The temptation would be to upgrade it!...like stick in a PII-450.and extra ram..and better GPU (I had an ATI Xpert 98' 3D Rage back then).hahaha!..but that would defeat the object of it.

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Yeah I know what you mean, that was my dilema too, build what I had or build an upgraded version. I'm glad (RAM and CF Flash aside) I went for a build of what I had, I figure I can always upgrade it later if I want.

[@Bodneyblue]

@@RetroSuperhighway True..upgrading can always be the next option. I recall when I went from the ATI to a 16mb Voodoo 3000. Man!...what a difference..haha!...I played MS CFS (Combat Flight Simulator) back then..one of main reasons I got a PC.I love aircraft, and CFS came out and I so wanted to play it..so had to get a PC first....Also said to the other half that being able to use a PC was going to be something everyone was going to have to be able to do in the future..so we needed to get onboard..Plus having the PC meant I could get CFS...hehehe!😁...Brought alot of Flight Sim software..Still have it all...But pretty much gave up online gaming years ago...Plus I lost my partner to cancer in 2017..and have lost interest in life pretty much...I watch YT videos to pass time as such...Though a certain rock band have got my attention..and given me something to home in on so to speak...But I like watching videos about retro PC's and parts....as it takes me.

[@ibroughtaturbo-chargerfrom667]

Man your Accent is so satisfying....😅

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Haha thanks! *Yorkshireness intensifies*

[@drumboy02]

holy crap I think I have one of those gigabyte motherboards!

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Nice! Build it into a system?

[@KevinSills]

I see now why Phil of " Phil's Computer Lab" started showing himself in his videos instead of just his hands as everybody else copied what he was doing to begin with!