I downloaded DOSBOX and a few of the games on this site. You guys are the best resource for old DOS games I've found to date. The Loom, Monkey Island(s), Zak McKakren and Indiana Jones games (Hrm...I'm noticing a trend...Lucas Arts maybe? hehe) are my top favorites. Also on my list, are Wing Commander 4 and Leisure Suit Larry. Now, I own and still have the disks for Wing Commander and I can acquire the Larry game from here but with one problem. WC just does NOT perform well (if you can get it going at all) on DOSbox and Larry has some ugly problems too. Incidently, Space Quest 1 VGA also has some hang-up problems with DOSbox 0.63. I currently have a high-end gaming Windows machine and I duel boot Linux. However, I decided to build myself an old DOS machine. I'd probably just put MS-DOS 6.22 on it and call it a day (I THINK I might still have the disks...). However, I'm kinda stuck on the specifications on it and what you guys might recommend for hardware. Here is what I'm at right now:

CPU: 486DX2 66Mhz or Pentium 75-133Mhz
RAM: 640k + 16-64Megs
CD-ROM: 4x
Video Card: PCI SVGA
HDD: 20-100Megs
Sound: Sound Blaster 16 - Awe32

Any suggestions as to what I should go for would be great. I'm not wanting to spend much money either as this is just a kind of nostalgic kinda romp through memory lane. I'm looking mainly for the most bang for my buck. Meaning, I want to get the most performance out of the most compatible equipment.

Most importantly, if you guys feel that say...waiting a few months for DOSbox to be at version 1.0 (fully functional, 95-100% MS-DOS compatible) is a more viable option, then I may just do that too. Right now, I'm just looking for a system that will allow me to play old DOS games with the least ammount of grief.

Thanks in advance,

Jupiter

Pentium is better than 486 DX2-66, but not the 133 - would be too fast for some games already, better 75 or 100.
RAM should be all 64 possible MB's, the more, the better.
HDD is much too small, 600-700 MB's are more recommendable.
From which company is the the video card? Cirrus Logic is good, but S3 accelerator cards or Trident are cheap, not ok.
CD-ROM 4x is ok, but 8x or even 16x couldn't hurt, for games like Descent II.
Soundcard - Soundblaster AWE32 is better than Soundblaster 16.

Wing Commander (if you mean 4) runs perfectly under XP if you use VDMSound. No need for DOSBox.

As for the DOS Machine;

More is better. Go for the larger machine if you expect it to run the bigger games. If you want to run old games (really old) you might want to think of getting something with a little less speed but from the list you gave me that is not what you are after.

awe32 is good but some games can't detect it (namely Wolf3d)

If you are going for old DOS games then go for Soundblaster unless you want unexpected surprises.

Go for P90. DOn't get anything faster then that.

As for memory, it's not better if you got more, as old dos games don't use more then 32MB. So go for 16-32MB and you'll be able to run any DOS games.

As for CD rom goes, any CD rom with DOS driver should do it.

TrioS3 card is not that bad, or any older card. (arte you going to use win3.11 with that PC?)

For hard disk get anything that is equal or smaller then 2GB. More room, more games you can put on the PC.

Listen to Eagle of Fire and get just plain SB, if you like to be able to hear old games.

Soundblaster 16 is still better, every game supports Soundblaster 16, as it is 100% compatible to plain Soundblaster, and many support 16bit sound. And Soundblaster 16 has much better better sound quality too + stereo, which plain Soundblaster doesn't have.

as said above:
Pentium 90-120
32 MB memory is enough
4x CD can do, but a 32 won't hurt.
SB 16 is perfect
would recomend up to 2 GB HD (think Dos 6.22 can hadle that)
and... Video, well.. just get a known brand on the card, with atleast 2 MB memory.

Happy gaming..

I'll probably see if i can get my old P2 233 to boot.
Had a hardware failure after a thunderstorm.. probably the power-surply :/

I have never had any problem with Dos games on my computer. The only hitch has been when I've had to reconfigure the config.sys or autoex.bat for memory issues.

This is the system I use:

Pentium (one) 200 mhz
164 meg of ram
8 meg video card
40 speed CD rom
6 gig hard drive
Windows 98se

The advantage of using a system that is slightly more advanced than what you think you might need is that I can play some of the newer games as well. For example, Kings Quest 1 and 2 VGA, both available on Abandonia, specify a minimum of a Pentium 500. However this system (200) was one of the first to use MMX so it can still play these games without any problems. The Phantom Menace I could never play with a four meg card, but an 8 meg card has made all the difference. I'd strongly advise going with a pentium 200 and an 8 meg card as it will give you a much broader scope, and the price shouldn't be that much different.

But then again, on that fast PC you would have some games running far too fast, like Wizardry VII, for example. Or Realms of Arkania - Blade of Destiny. And even Dungeon Keeper and Descent II would run flawless with a Pentium 120...

1. Thanks Jupiter for openning such thread! :ok:
2. What programs do you use on your old computers (DOS of course...but any other)?

You mean us all?
Know Norton Commander from this site? Well, I have a slightly better, modified version of it, called Volkov Commander (don't ask me where I got it). Ideally for use in Dos as a user interface like Windows is. It is even so good that I use it in Windows XP and 98 for Dos-operations there.
Also Display, for displaying graphic files. Eventually PV for the same too, both complement each other in functions perfectly.

Well, I think before we go any farther, perhaps I should give a better idea of what games I like and play. My BIGGEST worry is having a machine that will run too fast making a game unplayable. The following list is an array of games I've either played and really like or would really like to play:

#1. Adventure Games: Lucas Arts and Sierra feature predominately on my list as you will see:

Secret of Monkey Island
Monkey Island, LeChuck's Revenge (I think that's what MI2 is called...)
Loom
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
Space Quest (never played em, REALLY WANT TO) (VGA version)
Leisure Suit Larry (VGA version)
Zak McCracken and the Alien Mind Benders
Full Throttle

#2. Space Flight Simulations: Origin is the only one to really capture my interest:

Wing Commander
Wing Commander: Secret Missions
Wing Commander 2
Wing Commander 3
Wing Commander 4 (My Favourite)

#3. First Person Shooters:

Doom
Doom2

That's about it. Not many others have as of yet, to catch my interest, which isn't to say they won't. This is the list, however, that I'm aiming my DOS machine at. The list is, of course, in order of preference. The Monkey Island games are and probably always will be my favourite computer games of all time. (Certainly adventure games anyway...Favourite of all time might be Half-Life or Half-Life 2...) My tastes on consoles are very different...RPG all the way! :ot:

It was asked also if I would be using Windows 3.x. You know, it never occured to me if I would or not. I would probably think not...maybe opting for something more akin to Norton Commander.

As I said above. I would like to make a machine that could play all of the above games flawlessly. I ran into the problem of my machine being too fast for Wing Commander Privateer 2 (a win95 game!) and Wing Commander 4 did some funny stuff for me too...I think it was running too fast too...I have a...a thing about CPU throttlers so I'm not sure I consider them an option. Whether they harm my computer or not isn't an issue. I just have a -er- thing with them. They bother me. Hehe. :D So far, the system specs have been altered to:

Pentium 75-100Mhz (probably 90)
RAM: 640k + 32-64Megs
CD-ROM: 8-32x
Video Card: Currently Unknown...going to research the Cirrus Logic...
HDD: 600Mb-2Gigs
Sound: Sound Blaster 16 (compatibility > awe midi reproduction)

:bye:

Jupiter

I have a old rig too, its specs are:

Pentium-S 133 Mhz
intel motherboard, wit pci/isa slots.
64mb EDO ram.
Trident 9680-1 pci graphic card. (Have 3 other old gfx cards, trident 1mb, cirrius logic 2mb, Tseng 4mb)
floppy drive
old Toshiba cd-rom drive, probally 2x or 4x speed.
Conner 850mb harddrive.
Sound blaster awe64 value ISA soundcard.
newer logitech mouse.

It plays my all time favorite games.

Master of magic
Colonization
Master of orion
Dune 2
Warlords 2
Cavewars
Golden Axe
Blood & Magic
Cannon Fodder 2

I do have multiple old machines, and some run old MS Dos 6.22, some never MS Dos 7.1 (it is not really Microsoft’s, it's remake of dos) or windows 98/SE. I am not sure what requirements you need to run Privater2, but if I remember good, it's dos game (that can run in windows) and it run fine on P200, but it's way to fast on P2 450MHz.

As far as disk space go, DOS 6.11 can handle up to 2GB. You can get two HD, one for OS, other for games (like I did :)).

And FreeFredy is right, it's best to get SB16, or compatible audio card.

My old pc:
p133 mhz (too fast for a few games, too slow for many more)
48mb edo ram
S3 trident (640kb)
soundblaster pro(works perfectly)
8 gb hard (WD caviar)

It plays all the great ones , with sound and them midy melodies.

I' ve had this configuration since 1995 and it was the only one until 2003!
So you could say I grew up with it, and now after 2 years of playing(dissapointing) new games i'm getting back to old games