Windows 98 Retro Gaming PC Build

[@ReverendMantis]

For those wondering why I used component instead of dvi or vga for the video output - it was due do port availability in my home setup. I'm aware that there is an unnecessary digital > analog > digital conversion going on. I plan on changing this in the future once I free up some space. For now, I'm happy with it and the image looks fine.

[@jonnyOysters]

I was about to ask why not just use a simple DVI to HDMI adaptor. But I guess that answered it.

[@ReverendMantis]

@@jonnyOysters yep, i finally recently made some room in my setup. i have since switched over to a dvi to hdmi cable. works like a charm - looks great too!

[@thpe9607]

@@ReverendMantis One advantage of routing everything into the OSSC is that it combines the soundcard audio with the video signal for just a HDMI connection. Did you find a way to "inject" the analog audio of the sound card with the digital DVI signal when going to HDMI?

[@ReverendMantis]

@@thpe9607 It is nice having everything on one cable, but the DVI to HDMI looks much better and is less of a mess to route. As for the audio, my sound bar has analog inputs. I just run a cable from the sound card directly to that. My TV also has an analog input, but it wont let me use HDMI video from one input and analog audio from a different input. Soundbar works great though.

[@anelhovermale2317]

My inner child says thank you! I used to play Max Payne and GTA II back in the ol' 98'. Keep the videos coming!

[@KitKatOsugame]

Honestly, retro tech always is nice to watch! Also i have to say, the quality of your videos is amazing.

[@hamada3ido125]

19:53 thats my nostalgia, right here, i used to see that one boot screen every time I turn on the pc.

[@heyitszim6359]

Fantastic build. It looks like every PC builder's dream in the late 90s - early 2000s, especially with the clean cable management. Would've added more transparent blue LED fans if I were you.

[@walter_46-p7l]

I recently set up a machine with a core2quad q6600 with windows 7, nice video friend

[@lachlanwilliams5818]

If only PCs back in 98 looked this sweet!

[@dmtd2388]

that's not a windows 98 era pc but 2005

[@llynxfyremusic]

I live how chill this video is

[@НемањаСтарчевић]

Great video! Surely deserves much more views and your channel much more subs! Keep up the good work!

[@ReverendMantis]

Thank you, I appreciate it! 🙂

[@kennadod2080]

Good video. These sort of builds will be worth a fortune in years to come. Think this is before I got into PC gaming. Love it

[@matthewday7565]

A reverse sleeper, modern case with retro innards

[@RedFeather_Gaming]

Gotta love that intro

[@zachariah74]

Remarkably high quality video considering your subscriber count, I hope you continue to grow

[@mutemiz]

You showed this build love

[@MRL676]

everybody is a retro PC builder. Such a new and exiting video content.... lol

[@livingretro79]

great build, i hope to something like this soon. much love

[@pjpleiss]

Ahhh this video was fun. Reminded me of my favorite abomination build. A 2007 Dell Vostro that I had to load with Windows 3.1, running on a MSDOS 7.x core (extracted from Win98SE) Then the customer threw a tantrum because the cards bounced too fast when she finished a game of solitaire

[@ReverendMantis]

🤣I forgot about the card animations at the end. Awesome!

[@bitterman1619]

Here's a tip! I've used (on some old builds) dental stainless steel wire to secure those north-bridge, gpu and cpu's heatsinks, instead of using paper clips... It is kind of elastic enough to apply pressure and to bend it in any shape you want using a simple pair of long nose pliers and it is tough enough to withstand any wrong bend and etc... It is cheap and easy to find also.... Btw, it can be used for jewelry and some repairs! Good Luck!

[@devilzuser0050]

With that red case, I would pick an Abit NF7 for that, otherwise nice job!

[@BuffShamans]

here before this blows up in the algo !!!! great video

[@carltonleboss]

Nice video.

[@RetroGPUsandBuilds]

Nice build ! I also enjoyed your video style, really relaxing 😌

[@upgrade1373]

A very nice machine!

[@BareMetalGamer]

nice build, subbed!

[@Kdot98]

i was born in 98 and the first os i ever used was windows xp( was a hamy down because my older sisters unded up getting their own windows vista laptops) all though my dad did have a windows 98 computer at his auto shop i used to use it to play games on like demonstar which was my favorite. for some reason im obsessed with legacy hardware that came before me. i know alot of things about from games to hardware it and it wasnt even my era lol. i still cant get over the fact that now a days motherboards come with a on board sound card but back then you needed to buy a soundcard to hear any type of sound.

[@ReverendMantis]

Ain't it the truth!? These days you can have a decent rig with Dolby 7.1 with essentially just a motherboard, cpu, and some memory. However for me, nothing can beat going into a CompUSA back in the day and exploring all of the components available. Researching and selecting the perfect parts... it made each component feel special. I still love building computers, but I just don't get the same vibe from modern tech. I think that's just life and getting older though lol.

[@Kdot98]

@@ReverendMantis yeah man I get it, I’d probably be just like you if I was around during your time. Now a days there isn’t much hardware leaps unfortunately so it does get boring. For me in my days I remember going from the ps2 and Xbox 360 and being blown away by the progression in graphics. I’m pretty sure it was the same way with you and a lot of others going from 2D MS-dos games and seeing 3d enhanced games.

[@robertchamberlin2362]

Sweet Retro Build !!!

[@rawnuhld]

You’ve just earned yourself a sub! Great video!

[@goldenyoshi924]

Great Video! All that's missing is a beige tower case, but it still looks awesome! :)

[@johnwiesen4440]

I did a Windows 98SE Pc. I used a Asrock K7VT6 with a XP3200+, I use 1gb DDR3 , 6600GT, SB Live and a 3GD hard drive. I use all my drives in SATA mode whit I did was in the BIOS if you can set the SATA ports to IDE install Windows 98SE,then install the SATA driver reboot then set it in BIOS back to SATA. For me to works very nice. So I can run old software.

[@ReverendMantis]

Nice. Yes, the bios does have the option to switch the sata mode to ide. I did fiddle with it and It sorta worked, but in between reboots or randomly during partitioning, formatting, installing, it would just lock up. I tried singling out other parts (cards, memory, another ssd) to eliminate the possibility of faulty hardware, but nothing worked. Finally, I just tried the sata to ide adapter and it all worked first boot. At that point, I was like F it lol. It may work now that windows is installed with drivers and such, but Ima just leave it for now.

[@RETROMachines]

Super video...

[@philbjackson]

I loves these retro builds , I remember the cost was extremely high, I still have my tiger direct books from back then, a 4x dvd burner was 300.00 from nec. geforce ti 4400 cost me 350.00 thats only 2 parts.

[@davejones1621]

Need a isa slot on that win98 build.

[@JDLMCLOW]

Hell yeah, the joy of IDE floppy and hardrives.........🤨 OK, no one ever loved IDE drives, cable management sucked. But clean build over all. Nicely done! 👍👍

[@Den-nd6xn]

I really like the case... 👍

[@MrSeba835]

If the chipset supports ISA try looking for a header on the board called "sb_link". You can use it with a supported PCI sound card like the ess 1938 solo which has that header. What this allows to do is it can basically act like an ISA card.

[@ReverendMantis]

Nice, I did not know that. I did some inspecting and compared the header from that sound card, but unfortunately does not look like this board supports it. I checked the manual as well... no luck. I will keep that in mind for the future. Thanks for the info, great tip!

[@37Kilo2]

Unfortunate that Abit went under. I still have my IP35 Pro with Q6600 from 2007. Such a great motherboard.

[@ReverendMantis]

Definitely a bummer! I had to look up your model - that's that one with the cool looking heat pipe connecting the heatsinks. Awesome!

[@ja.935g67]

In the bios you should be able to change SATA from AHCI to Compatible and Windows 98 will install just fine on an SSD. Also check out Windows 98IF, it's most up to date

[@ReverendMantis]

It's possible I missed something, but trust me, I tried. I'm happy with it for now though.

[@dim0n1]

nope, it doesnt work correctly, you will not get thru win 98 install

[@ja.935g67]

@@dim0n1 You will I've done it on a 2004 Asus motherboard within a 128gb SSD connected through SATA and in BIOS set to compatible.

[@dim0n1]

@@ja.935g67 without any problems during install of windows 98?

[@ja.935g67]

Yes it works! 👊

[@phillycheesetake]

If I'm not mistaken the hook spacing on those northbridge heatsinks is standard, you don't need the Abit one, you can just use any. I think the Thermaltake Tiger should work if you can find one.

[@Paar86]

I hope you found a proper bracket for that north bridge as the solution demonstrated in the video is a time bomb :D.

[@robloxian1585]

I have an abit ic7-max3 that im using with a xp build and that cooler looks just like the one im using too.

[@aydenzgamer]

I actually did this same thing about a year ago, but I wanted windows 98 to run modern games, so i watched a tutorial and forced windows 98 to run on 8GB of ram, it was a difficult process, messing around with the bios, installing drivers, changing the motherboard, actually at one point i even corrupted windows by installing a driver so I had to reinstall windows.

[@yyzttr6306]

You built my current setup, if it was a 98 PC, Same case, same PSU.

[@jayhardway23]

I've been going deep dive on a maxed out Windows XP build, only requirement is readily available drivers and I'm shocked how much CPU and GPU you can easily get working (on X79: 4960X, 4930K; on Z87/Z97: i7-4790K; GTX Titan Black 6GB or 780 Ti 3Gb or 780 6GB or GTX 960 (even 980 Ti with a tiny edit to include it with the GTX 960 driver) ...if your insane, the Quadro M6000 12GB & 24GB?! are supported via same driver edit. The Quadro P6000 24GB was supported by Nvidia on Windows 2000 r2 and could potentially work as well!!

[@ReverendMantis]

That sounds awesome! Are you building one now? It sounds like XP builds can be quite elaborate these days. I don't really have the need for one, but it sounds like it could be a really fun bulid 🤔

[@jayhardway23]

@@ReverendMantis just researching for now.. many of the used parts have dropped significantly. I I'm also wanting to preserve some data and have what I need for when the time comes

[@BeautifulAngelBlossom]

small heatsink on that prescott them has built in space heater tach they never ran cool

[@Junkyard_Dawg]

Thank you for removing all the old thermal epoxy off the chipset. I cannot stand seeing old thermal material left on chips, like the stuff in the hole of your Pentium 4.😆

[@ReverendMantis]

😂Let's not worry about that little guy.

[@jim-me2hi]

very cool build ,, i bought the same case but in white ,, like how you ran the power suplly cables ,, iam going to do the same ,,,, i built another with nvidia fx 5950 256mb double slot video card like the one in your video ,, its a little loud thow,,

[@ReverendMantis]

Nice! Yea, it's a pretty decent little case. Nice gpu you have too. I think these days most of those old cards are gonna sound a little rough lol.

[@Synthematix]

I owned the DFI Lanparty Pro875B and Abit IC7 Max3 both excellent boards but i preferred the DFI board as it had all UV reactive parts

[@BushidoBrownSama]

Zalmon has a copper chipset heatsink with that kind of bracket as an option

[@rul644]

Very pleasant video😊 I liked It so much. I have a couple of questions for you. I want to make a retro pc build to but, think i need ps2 ports keyboard and mouse. How did you configured It by USB? Did it recognize it automatically for you, or you had to set It Up first? And another question IS, i saw the nice northbrige ( chipset ) fan and heatsink replacement and I loved It. The substance you'd added It, IS like a glue or something? Because It hasn't no brackets. Thanks for that relaxing video.😊

[@ReverendMantis]

Hi, glad you liked it! I actually use a ps2 mouse and keyboard, so no need for USB. You can use usb keys and mice, but i think you need to find the drivers first before you can use them. As for the northbridge heatsink/fan, i used what's called a "thermal conductive glue" - here's the link www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07L7WFSJ2 (out of stock right now - but there's other options on amazon). It takes a little while to dry, but it turns pretty hard and keeps the heatsink in place. It's held up nicely so far without a clamp or bracket, but I can't say if it will hold up forever. Temps seem to be ok.

[@rul644]

@ReverendMantis Thanks for the reply, but the HD IS clean, so no os IS in, because of that I can't install any drivers first. I should get ps2 keyboard and mouse or look for an os like msdos to install USB drivers or something like that. I don't know. Got It about special glue. Thanks I Will look for it

[@emperorarasaka]

This is a peak Windows Vista case but with Windows 98 era internals

[@itsdeonlol]

EXCLELLENT!

[@loc12345pro]

Great video! 128GB storage is a little bit overkill for Win 98 :D

[@skynetcybersystem3tech]

Super

[@archer201977]

Thanks, brings back memories.. Would you do a an Windows XP gaming pc?

[@ReverendMantis]

Maybe in the future. Right now, I've got a lot of games to play!

[@Xpun3414]

Nice video & great retro/mod build. Did you not install the chipset drivers ? As I saw you had errors in the device manager.

[@ReverendMantis]

Thanks! The drivers that had errors were onboard features that I was not going to be using (noted in the video), so I didn't install them. At 23:11 you can see the actual chipset drivers installed.

[@Xpun3414]

@@ReverendMantis LOL Oh, no shit. Didn't catch that.

[@AcidGamesYT]

Im looking to do an xp build cause it will run most all 98 games aswell as the xp era i have a whole garage of retro pc parts ive salvaged in the past year or so and figured why not.

[@achealeaurelliusisrael7883]

2:52 I'm surprised that there's is a processor that name in our country

[@abx42]

Ah the good old days when you didn't have 9 million wires running through a case. Although I don't miss playing around with irqs and requests.

[@Fahrenheit38]

Your BIOS should have a SATA mode option, if you set it to IDE Win98 will see it as a regular IDE drive. It's how my P4 98 machine is setup

[@eidolusgad]

I had to get the same CPU cooler for my P4, but I replaced the wimpy fan with a Noctua 60mm fan.

[@ReverendMantis]

I'm noticing the thermals are bit toasty just idling. I've tried re-seating the heatsink and using more/less/different pastes, but it's not getting much better. It doesn't seem like the most efficient heatsink either. It's possibly just the CPU I got, but was wondering about throwing a Noctua on there instead. Did the Noctua fan improve your thermals significantly? Do you mind me asking what the temps were/are?

[@erroneoushyphen]

This is an extremely similar build to mine that I did a couple years ago, even down to the case (albeit, mine is in black). I'm running the same CPU, with a Zalman cooler on it, managed to OC it to 3.3Ghz. GPU as well, I'm running the Asus 9800 Pro (256MB, 256Bit model). Sb Live! 5.1, Hynix RAM (2x256Mb DDR400, so same spec). Main difference is the motherboard - Im running the AsRock P4i65G, so very very similar spec, just slightly different northbridge and southbridge chipsets. (but still supporting 800 FSB). SSD mine is a Western Digital, but also 120GB. I did manage to install Win98 to it with just some BIOS setting to be adjusted. Did you run any benchmarks? I'd be really keen to compare what your results were to what I got.

[@schnitzelsamy]

Why no Noczua fan for the cpu cooler?

[@hovant6666]

high-key mad you didn't populate the other front + rear fan mounts

[@ItIsNot1984]

I have your chipset's heatsink. I got one of the ic7 boards in a parts lot years ago. The seller shipped everything poorly. The board was cracked in half, but I took the heatsink because I figure its aluminum whatever. You want it?

[@claimhsolais3466]

Just saying, there's a brand new SSD IDE, which natively works with Windows 98, check it out on youtube

[@TechTokOffical]

Would have like to see the actual install times. I've personally NEVER seen a windows 98 game that didn't take FOREVER and then run at 10fps cuz I NEVER owned a computer with enough punch

[@CherryColaWizard]

The ATX form factor has not changed much at all over the years.

[@Spazilton1]

Wierd, I have this exact same board, and was able to get windows 98 to install on as SSD in IDE Mode directly attached to the ICH5.

[@bokexd3173]

Footage in Windows 98 looked very dark

[@SMlFFY85]

Would this build not be too fast for certain older games? I have some games that run uncontrollably fast on newer CPUs to what would have been around during Win 98's lifetime.

[@ReverendMantis]

It's never TOO fast haha. It runs period titles great and older ones even better. Tbh, I really only break this thing out if I can't get a game to run on a more modern rig. Plus it just looks cool on display - like having an artifact from the old days.

[@davidwiley4953]

Now that windows is install, have you tried switching back to sata?

[@ReverendMantis]

I have not. I think what I'm going to do is keep this drive the way it is (boot/os) and add a secondary "game" drive and run that sata. The ssd in there is PLENTY big enough for the games I want to play, but I like keeping games and such separate from OS drives. For now however, I'm DONE with this build lol - it was a long journey and I just wanna play games now! If I get around to testing it, ill let you know.

[@Levy_Wilson]

That heatsink on the chipset is going to vibrate itself loose because of the fan.

[@denis2381]

The ram has a german Word "geil" is something like "cool" (cool like 😎, not like cold).

[@dison513]

The case is worth more than half of the componenetz

[@TechGamer64960]

nice retro pc but can it run DOOM?

[@nukemansvk142]

what is the exact case model?

[@ReverendMantis]

www.newegg.com/mystic-red-fractal-design-focus-g-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811352074?Item=N82E16811352074

[@EtaYorius]

I wouldn't use a modern case on a retro PC... but to each their own. Still a great build tho. I built mine with a Win98-SE with a Pentium3 at 1GHZ, 512MB PC100, GeForce FX 5200 and a really nice Lenovo Beige retro case coupled with a beige 24" inch CRT Monitor.

[@ReverendMantis]

Haha, thanks. I still have a soft spot for the old beige cases too ;)

[@dim0n1]

If you don't use on board lan and sound card, it better to disable them in bios, no stupid questions in device manager and free resources,, dvi to hdmi or dvi to displayport kabel or reduction? Copy win98 to c after format c: /s, and most important, where are games, we don't want to see games installation :). Maybe some benchmarks may be nice too, overall nice setup, I have same with p4 3.2 ghz :) EDIT: did you or somebody before you repaste gpu?

[@ReverendMantis]

Thanks for the info. To be honest, I don't use it very often, but if I ever decide to dig back into it, I'll keep it in mind 🙂

[@dim0n1]

​@@ReverendMantisto be honest I also dont use my p4 pc so often, few times per year, to be sure it still works and enjoy it little, but my biggest problem is space, because it's crazy how big it us with my 19" crt monitor 🙂but holy moly how fluent are games with this combination, did tried with my modern high refresh lcd but it is not same, thanks to one guy, he will know, he is also youtuber 🙂

[@BRBTechTalk]

You have a few more subs than I do. I had a look around your channel. I wanted to sub if you were a retro PC guy ... your videos are all over the map. I am guilty of the same, your video is a little over produced with lots of graphics sliding into frame. I know you work hard on your videos but to some degree you are over working a good video. Please do more retro PC videos your attention to detail is very good.

[@seankyriefuentes]

UUY PILIPINSSSSS!!! AHHAHAA

[@blearanimal]

gotta love the porn music

[@arnox4554]

You were right. Not the best build, but a pretty good 98 build nonetheless. Good video! By the way, you might be interested in this massive Windows video. lol kzbin.info/www/bejne/gHaQl55pmMxqgrM

[@mister_milkman]

What kind of dumb chipset needs a cooling fan?

[@austinstitzel]

I'm going to guess that you are an Aquarius.

[@danteblake9701]

No networked games for you!

[@ReverendMantis]

Haha, nope. I want it to be offline. Perhaps down the road I'll install the nic driver if i need it.

[@catvaska1627]

case with USB 3.0??? This is not a proper retro build! Ahaha

[@Jalex0021]

SSD & modern PSU too!! WTF? In all seriousness, a little cable management is far more preferable to the sharp, spaghetti infested tin cans of old, even if I am still fond of beige.

[@zoemeow7677]

Is perfect! I love pc games is reason 🪸🐬🐠🐟🦭🐋🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦖🦖🦖🦎🦖🦖🐠🐠🐠🐠🐠🐠🐟🐟🐟🐬🐬🐬🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦑🦐🦞🦀🐙🐆🦓🐫🐪🦛🦏🐂🐃🐈‍⬛🐈🐓🦢🐇🦜🦜🎋✨