DIY MS-DOS Based PC

[Ethan_Carter125]

Hey Everyone,

 

I have been thinking about building an MS-DOS based PC and I need help finding specifications for the build.

 

Specific Things I Will Need Help With:

 

1. Will I need just 3.5in Floppy Disk Drive or a 5.25in Floppy Disk Drive as well?
2. Recommended Hard Drive size?
3. CGA, VGA, or EGA graphics
4. What CPU Socket?
5. Best 16bit sound card?
6. Anything else you think would be good to have for an MS-DOS based computer?

 

Thank You for the help, and sorry for all the questions, I'm just new at this.

[Lolucoca]

You'll be fine with a 3.5" floppy drive. for the hard drive it's gonnna be difficult because MS-DOS can only adress 2GB, so you might want to go for a CF based solution. I'd go for SVGA graphics and a 3D accelerator, like an S3 based 2D card and something like a Voodoo3, for the CPU socket I'd go for socket 5 and an intel Pentium 90. For sound, go for something like a SoundBlaster 16 or an AdLib card, it doesn't really matter. But there is a real downside to building MS DOS PCs. And that is the power supply. Those old motherboards don't use the typical ATX power connector, they use an earlier one that you're not likely to find nowadays. 

[Ethan_Carter125]

10 minutes ago, Lolucoca said:

You'll be fine with a 3.5" floppy drive. for the hard drive it's gonnna be difficult because MS-DOS can only adress 2GB, so you might want to go for a CF based solution. I'd go for SVGA graphics and a 3D accelerator, like an S3 based 2D card and something like a Voodoo3, for the CPU socket I'd go for socket 5 and an intel Pentium 90. For sound, go for something like a SoundBlaster 16 or an AdLib card, it doesn't really matter. But there is a real downside to building MS DOS PCs. And that is the power supply. Those old motherboards don't use the typical ATX power connector, they use an earlier one that you're not likely to find nowadays. 

Also do you know if when I do get to the point of installing software, if I can't find a certain piece of software on a floppy disk can I just get blank disks and an external disk reader and install software that way? Also why Intel over AMD?

[Lolucoca]

@Ethan_Carter125 You can just write the games and programs to a floppy disk using an external floppy drive using RawWrite. I would go for Intel because software was generally optimized for intel CPUs back in the day as AMD basically made Intel clones. Also, they're cheaper and don't suffer from as many compatibility problems as AMD ones did.

[Ethan_Carter125]

1 minute ago, Lolucoca said:

@Ethan_Carter125 You can just write the games and programs to a floppy disk using an external floppy drive using RawWrite. I would go for Intel because software was generally optimized for intel CPUs back in the day as AMD basically made Intel clones. Also, they're cheaper and don't suffer from as many compatibility problems as AMD ones did.

Is 32mb for video memory enough?

[Lolucoca]

@Ethan_Carter125 Most DOS games are designed to run with less than 1MB of RAM, not VRAM but RAM. 32 will be plenty. 

[Ethan_Carter125]

1 minute ago, Lolucoca said:

@Ethan_Carter125 Most DOS games are designed to run with less than 1MB of RAM, not VRAM but RAM. 32 will be plenty. 

I was  talking about vram.

[Lolucoca]

@Ethan_Carter125 I know. Even 1MB of VRAM should be enough. 32MB will be totally fine. 

[Ethan_Carter125]

1 minute ago, Lolucoca said:

@Ethan_Carter125 I know. Even 1MB of VRAM should be enough. 32MB will be totally fine. 

OK, sorry I wanted to make sure we were on the same page. By the way, so we don't have to just keep talking through the forum do you have discord or steam?

[Lolucoca]

Sure. Are you on that unofficial LTT discord?

 

[Ethan_Carter125]

Just now, Lolucoca said:

Sure. Are you on that unofficial LTT discord?

 

No I'm not, didn't know that was a thing. Could you send me an invite link?

[Lolucoca]

https://discord.gg/qS42X @Ethan_Carter125 Here ya go.