Old School Gaming

[Crewbusta]

Budget (including currency): Unsure

Country: Australia

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: Gaming, Gaming, and more Gaming

Other details (existing parts lists, whether any peripherals are needed, what you're upgrading from, when you're going to buy, what resolution and refresh rate you want to play at, etc): I already have an AM5 system.

 

https://au.pcpartpicker.com/user/Crewbusta/saved/#view=tZcbCJ

 

I like old school gaming set-ups. Will the build be quick, well no, but I am not after that at all. My aim is for the old school look and feel while being able to complete all games and things I throw at the build. Yes, I have a quick AM5 system, but I like old school also. Call it a hobby build if you like.

[Needfuldoer]

What era are you aiming for? Just running plain old Windows 10 or 11 64-bit on it will give you the same software compatibility as your AM5 machine. 

 

If you're looking to cover that late-90s to mid-2000s gap, where games are too new for emulators but too old for modern Windows compatibility, you might want think about building a period-correct 32-bit Vista or XP machine instead.

 

Or if you want a real time machine, you could build a modern system in a 90s case and run several virtual machines with tools like VirtualBox and 86box. (The ATX standard hasn't physically changed all that much, so parts still fit.) Then you could boot it up "as" an early Pentium machine running Windows 98, an IBM 5150 running DOS 5, or an XP machine, each with all the goodies that shot up in price when the real hardware aged out of "obsolete" and into "old school cool". (Your Pentium 98 VM could have a Voodoo3 and a Gravis UltraSound, for example.) 

 

 

[Timme]

You can also just run a VM with Win95 or whatever. About the look, I'd your best bet is to go to the nearest big(important,mb) govt building and ask if they have some old PC in the basement storage. Don't look conspicuous. HW utilization dumps are also nice, or eBay.

But, yeah, you actually want to go for the "true old" in looks only, maybe CRT. Get this baby, and throw it a case from eBay, or add SNES decals.

 

edit: watching LGR before nightsleep may relieve some of the "midlife crisis". Or read an old PC Magazine of your choice.

[Mark Kaine]

Wrong case.

 

Get this instead!

 

 

 

[OddOod]

Are you dead set on those 120mm AIOs? You'll get vastly superior cooling for significantly less money with a tower cooler, even if you do have to do some work to get the mounting hardware to fit

[thrasher_565]

xp pc can go up to like a x79 with gtx 960 but this mods to drivers you can do 980/titan 

dont no what the fastest windows 2000 pc is...

 

1080ti has drivers for windows 7

Edited October 17, 2025 by thrasher_565

[Crewbusta]

31 minutes ago, OddOod said:

Are you dead set on those 120mm AIOs? You'll get vastly superior cooling for significantly less money with a tower cooler, even if you do have to do some work to get the mounting hardware to fit

Not at all, was just keeping the Kolink theme going

If I keep the towers to a single fan (or go back to original) it should not be an issue.

15 minutes ago, thrasher_565 said:

xp pc can go up to like a x79 with gtx 960 but this mods to drivers you can do 980/titan 

dont no what the fastest windows 2000 pc is...

 

1080ti has drivers for windows 7

SLI 980/Titan's would look beastly.

[thrasher_565]

36 minutes ago, Crewbusta said:

Not at all, was just keeping the Kolink theme going

If I keep the towers to a single fan (or go back to original) it should not be an issue.

SLI 980/Titan's would look beastly.

ya i have a x79 water cooled with a titan having problems with the tubing thow so its on the back burner.

 

sounds like x58 ish mb some support 2000 and people saying geforce 400 gpus

maybe be some z170 that support it too. for amd i dont no r9 270x/r9 290x/hd 8970 . sounds like there un offal gpu driver for 2000 that can use 980ti. amd un offal sound like rd 390x.

 

https://www.betaarchive.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40054

 

if you want newer then that its kinda like what will install and run with out drivers... 2000 is way more stable then 98. i attempted a 98 build and i don't no i should have just gone with a p3. or just be happy with the agp 6800 ultra build i have. i was trying the pcie with ddr3 ramp and a 771 cpu...

Edited October 17, 2025 by thrasher_565

[Crewbusta]

5 hours ago, Mark Kaine said:

Wrong case.

 

Get this instead!

 

 

 

I prefer this one

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, Crewbusta said:

I prefer this one

Do it!