RC 2021/10 – Windows 98 Gaming PC Build

Hello world! I’m back for another Retrochallenge! Gosh, it’s been a while.

As luck would have it, about 2 weeks before the start of RC21/10, I picked up a lovely Gateway 2000 GP6-400 PC. It seems that, in vintage computing, I’ve come to adore all the brands that I hated before (Compaq, IBM, Crappard-Hell, etc.) but Gateway 2000 is a brand I’ve always loved. I acquired a “Gateway” (post-rebrand) P4 tower a few years ago, but this one, being a proper bovine-bearing “Gateway 2000” I could not pass up. I mean…. Cowbox!

The 1998 Gateway 2000 logo with the word "Gateway" in green and an abstract cow-print isometric box above it.

The machine powers up, and doesn’t sound too rough. Looks like it’s been picked over for cards already — all they left in was an AGP ATI 3D Rage Pro Turbo. The hard drive had been pulled as well, but I threw in my old WD Caviar 4GB for the time being.

Luckily, I have a pretty good selection of cards that can probably find a good home in this machine.

Plastic tub containing lots of PC expansion cards in anti-static bags.
ACME Tub-o-Expansion-Cards™

So – yeah, I’m ready to build me a solid Windows 98 Gaming PC again! Through my college days, I started with a Pentium 133, then upgraded annually to a K6, K6-2, and K6-3 – with appropriate improvements in RAM and HDD as well. Eventually, I would up w/ a giant tower sporting a Voodoo Banshee (which I sadly, did not keep) and a Creative Sound Blaster AWE32 (which I did keep). I’m excited to play some Unreal, Winquake, and Final Fantasy 7 (yes, I had the PC port) again. My plans for this machine so far are:

  • A good cleaning
  • Video card upgrade
  • Compact Flash storage
  • Network card (on-board LAN still wasn’t a thing in 1998)
  • Sound Blaster AWE-32 (this one has on-board sound, but I love my AWE-32)
  • SCSI controller (not so much for gaming, but imaging some of my old SCSI drives)
  • Improved cooling (this one only has the PSU fan)
  • Maybe even an OEM Win98 install? (I have a few restore CDs lying around)

We’ll see what eventually becomes of this machine. Stay tuned!

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