Thin Client for Windows XP and 98 SE Retro PC Gaming

Power consumption tests?

Revisiting this, it's worth pointing out that Phil now has a community-updated BIOS for this on his website, which fixes the integrated graphics issue. I've never seen one of these on eBay in the UK, but it might be relevant in your region.

Thank you I enjoyed that. I don't think a Thin Client for Gaming is for me but you never know what the future holds. Thank you again.

It is decent, I'm thinking about a similar thin client for W98 gaming, but if I can I would use a Sound Blaster in the PCI slot but I'm worried about the compatibility of the on-board S3 graphics processor. So lately I'm leaning more towards the Thinkpad T40/41/42 with Radeon 7500 or 9000.

lol you should try a lightweight linux distro like debian (or even puppy linux, bad name, decent os)

Picking a system that has GPU drivers for XP and 98 SE is extremely important for getting a retro gaming system up and running.

Why not use the 6200 with 98SE?

Atom X5 Z8300 is cool for simple projects, but maybe don't have drivers for Windows 98 or XP.

This looks like exactly what I need for my old DOS / old Windows retro gaming machine. I wish you would have tested some older games though like Lemmings.

I bought a PCI riser that looks like yours, but it's quite short (2-3mm shorter) 🙁 can you share a link or size of your riser? Thank you! (Edit: Oh! you have the same problem, I watched in other video ^^')

Lucky. My HP T5540 has no expansion slots, so onboard hell graphics it is. It's got:
– VIA Eden 1-Core CPU
– VIA VX800 North/Southbridge
– VIA Chrome9 HC3 iGPU
– 2GB DDR2 667(?) from 512MB DDR2 533(?)
 – DVI-D, VGA, Parallel, Serial Male, USB 2.0, PS/2, IDE
– No storage, and undecided on the cheapest storage with decent performance (either USB or IDE Laptop HDD, SATA SSD makes no sense with cost of adapters + drive)

I'll TRY game emulation and/or DOS games.

Get an IDE Disk On Module (DOM) drive.

Great video as always! I would just like to say thanks for putting the time and effort into your videos, I really enjoy your retro gaming pc builds and have build my own windows 2000 gaming pc, when searching for the drivers for my raid controller your website was the only one with drivers that worked,. thank you so much for having drivers on your website as I find it harder everyday to find drivers for old hardware. I am having trouble with this pc as it keeps randomly crashing, it doesn't bluescreen it just totaly locks up the system during games do you have any suggestions how to fix it?
Thanks again!
-Izzy

hmm so no videos of w98 game benchmarks? i'd be interested in putting win 98 on it and not win xp

I bought TK-3770 (VIA Eden 1GHz CPU, rest looks pretty similar) for really cheap after watching your video, and guess what? I managed to get that Integrated GPU working under Windows 98 SE. It took me a few tries, but finally I have full color Windows desktop in 1280×1024. All it takes to make GPU run correctly is to install UniChrome Pro IGP drivers version 4.14.10.0068 AND select CRT only option in BIOS. I noticed with various drivers I had different types of glitches after boot on DVI, one type indicates drivers that won't work even with CRT only, and other apparently do work. I never managed it to boot correctly with DVI screen attached. Let me know if you need the drivers, I don't remember where I found them, but I can upload them somewhere.

I have a GeForce 6200 lol

i'm tempted to grab one of these for a mini 98SE PC, https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ITOX-G4V101-050G-R-AD0-Socket-478-Mini-ITX-Board-w-Pentium-4-2-8GHz-LVDS-1GB-RAM/372427094214?hash=item56b66278c6:g:WYYAAOSwA-NbpO1g:rk:8:pf:0  the problem being while relatively cheap, the P&P makes it a bit risky price wise if it won't work in 98 and I can't find one locally, or nothing similar that isn't massively overpriced. I can't seem to find anything on them online other than being industrial and military hardware (which means they must be pretty robust).PCI only but that's not a problem as I would only use a Voodoo 5 5500 PCI. The Via C3 1.33GHZ mini ITX system I have is pretty slow making it seem more in line with a sub 500mhz Intel or AMD chip performance wise. I figured a mini P4 based system would more than max out my Voodoo 5 and still let me use the mini itx case that fits nicely on top of my XP PC.

I mentioned it on another of your thin client vids, but if you want to use CF cards with XP or newer, try getting your hands on an industrial CF card.

What do you think about NEOWARE CA10 ?

I found a 90 degrees riser adapter that fits the PCI card perfectly in the case: the Delock 89087.

How many of you grabbed your desk to stop the monitor from shaking like I did? Lmao

Thanks for making a video on this. My bf has talked about wanting a Win98/XP and I think this might be the perfect budget option, especially if it can fit something like a TNT2 in there. I would consider my spare V3, but unfortunately my last one died and I still have no clue if it was a capacitor problem, or if the card just overheated and died, so I don't like using them without fans anymore, heh.

Ram is cheap? WTF? My 16GB ddr4 was 159….now it is 189

I'm listening to your voice without watching the video..

Oh man this makes me regret throwing out an old ibm thinclient with a first gen Pentium in it, might have made a cool retro gamer, had the same c.f. card interface and pci riser

If I were to run XP in a Virtual Machine to play Mechwarrior 4, what PCI video card would you recommend that I get as a pass through. The board I am thinking of using is M-ATX and has only 1 PCI-E x16 slot, 1 PCI-E x1 slot, and 1 PCI slot. The board also has an amd 3000hd integrated graphics chip. Do I use the on board graphics chip as a pass through or do I get a PCI video card?

Guys how are you installing Windows XP on this PC everytime I install I get the blue screen of death on the first reboot no matter how I try to install it whether its usb or from CD, do I need to disable an option in the bios? Very frustrating as Dos was smooth to install.

hi phil,

where are the driver for Win 98se and Win XP?

thank you

Hi Phil can you use a normal IDE hard driver or only SSD?

I wonder if the onboard graphics driver issue would be there with Windows ME instead of 98. I've found that newer hardware was better supported in ME. Anything intended to be done with 98 should give the same results in ME.

how many win9x drivers for the integrated gpu were tested out? I did find a couple of alternate drivers from MSI, ASUS and GIGABYTE, there is a chance they could get the gpu going, but I have no time to test them myself.

https://www.asus.com/us/supportonly/A7V8X-MX%20SE/HelpDesk_Download/
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/PM8PMV
https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/GA-7VM400MF-rev-10#support-dl-driver-vga

Thank you for your work and your time

confirming that a regular STB Voodoo3 fits fine – wiggling it in is slightly annoying so you'll probably won't want to swap it around too often, and I would recommend putting a bit of iso tape on the cap near the CMOS battery as the V3 J2 connector is just maybe 1.5mm away. the important thing is that if you are serious about this, you'll definitely want a Terra unit that includes the original pci riser – the one I got from the seller is a 3rdparty unit that moves the card about 2mm away from the backplate, so it's not possible to screw it to the place (first picture). the computer also accepts ide flash drives, and they fit nicely right under the Voodoo3 (second picture).

https://i.imgur.com/ADhod02.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/4huIDWE.jpg

Phil: does the Windows 98SE's DOS work WITH sound? I noticed there were no "legacy" section in control panel, but did you get that working? If it would work, one could possibly use that machine as a DOS&Windows with graphics card (otherwise one would need to change between sound card and graphics card: dos <-> win98).

Excellent video and interesting retro pc !
Is the windows 98 you used the very first edition or the second edition (98SE) ? (edit: i saw it in the title just now, SE)
And would there be a difference in getting things to work in the second edition or first edition ?

Is it used?

Hi, I would like to get in contact with you because I need a new gaming pc for under $600 AUD if you could help me that would be amazing

For Windows 98 and integrated S3 AGP Video card, try to change AGP aperture size in BIOS, if there is such option there.

Lego Rock Raiders FTW XD

i know you probably couldn't help it 😀 but when i see the screen wobble, i thought it was mine and reached to stop it lol.

I had the idea of using a Thin Client for retro gaming, but never had the chance to do it! Glad to see you made a video on it.