Getting one, maybe two retro PCs to play old PC games, what should I get?

[IkusaTakuma]

Alright, so, my uncle just gave me his collection of over 200 PC games, one problem, they're all DOS, MS-DOS, and old disc games like Battlefield 1942. And that'd be fine and all, except my GTX 1060 Core i7-6700k rig runs off Windows 10 Pro... And they cut off support for disc-run games, and also Windows 10 doesn't have support for MS-DOS. So, obviously, I need a retro gaming PC to run these!

So, for disc games, like a physical copy of Half-Life Classic or Battlefield 1942, what will I need?

Also, any good MS-DOS PC's out there I should consider getting?

[Hatman]

If you wanna try the floppy games, you can get an external USB floppy drive for about 10$. That's not too much of an investment. And then you should look at Dosbox to actually run them. It's really the most convenient way, though you do have to know your way around a few DOS commands (and oddities of the old times..)

[IkusaTakuma]

引用自 rotNdude：

引用自 IkusaTakuma：

what about the discs? such as the physical copy of Half-Life and Battlefielf 1942, which by the way, is only two of several. those ones are like the discs for Xbox or PS2.

The disks/discs your uncle gave you are exactly what I'm talking about. The physical copies of the games that he purchased and gave to you.

They're in great condition, and clearly have had maintenance, and I've had physical copies of games for over 20 years without problems over time.... (because I'm also a console gamer/have been console gaming ever since the SNES came out, in fact, I got every console except for Sega Master System, Atari Jaguar, PS4, and Switch)

[Viper]

引用自 IkusaTakuma：

引用自 rotNdude：

The disks/discs your uncle gave you are exactly what I'm talking about. The physical copies of the games that he purchased and gave to you.

They're in great condition, and clearly have had maintenance, and I've had physical copies of games for over 20 years without problems over time.... (because I'm also a console gamer/have been console gaming ever since the SNES came out, in fact, I got every console except for Sega Master System, Atari Jaguar, PS4, and Switch)

He is referring to floppy disks..not CDs or DVDs. They are magnetically witten and go bad over time regardless of how well they are cared for.

[IkusaTakuma]

引用自 Viper：

引用自 IkusaTakuma：

They're in great condition, and clearly have had maintenance, and I've had physical copies of games for over 20 years without problems over time.... (because I'm also a console gamer/have been console gaming ever since the SNES came out, in fact, I got every console except for Sega Master System, Atari Jaguar, PS4, and Switch)

He is referring to floppy disks..not CDs or DVDs. They are magnetically witten and go bad over time regardless of how well they are cared for.

ah, yeah, those ones probably won't work, I'm wondering about the CD's and DVD's which should work.

[Anhkrehg]

I'd bet a lot (most) of them still work, I have VIC-20 games on cassette tape that still work fine let alone floppies.

[Viper]

引用自 IkusaTakuma：

引用自 Viper：

He is referring to floppy disks..not CDs or DVDs. They are magnetically witten and go bad over time regardless of how well they are cared for.

ah, yeah, those ones probably won't work, I'm wondering about the CD's and DVD's which should work.

Yes they are permanent. Those should be fine unless they have deep scratches on the surface of the disc. .

[IkusaTakuma]

引用自 Viper：

引用自 IkusaTakuma：

ah, yeah, those ones probably won't work, I'm wondering about the CD's and DVD's which should work.

Yes they are permanent. Those should be fine unless they have deep scratches on the surface of the disc. .

yeah, though Windows 10 doesn't support them... so what is the latest OS which completely supports them?

[Hatman]

引用自 IkusaTakuma：

引用自 Viper：

Yes they are permanent. Those should be fine unless they have deep scratches on the surface of the disc. .

yeah, though Windows 10 doesn't support them... so what is the latest OS which completely supports them?

That's different for every game.

[Anhkrehg]

Of the two you mentioned XP is the way to go BF1942, HL, Cod, FarCry era etc.

[IkusaTakuma]

引用自 Anhkrehg - en.war2.ru：

Of the two you mentioned XP is the way to go BF1942, HL, Cod, FarCry era etc.

Alright, now just need an emulator for it, and a DVD/CD drive upgrade for my computer!

[Anhkrehg]

I don't know how well emulating XP to play those games would work... I'd think not well but I've never tried, not a fan of emulation in general.

[Revelene]

Which game are you trying to run? I have ran many games, ranging a span of many years, and they all work on Windows 10 just fine.

It may not be as simple as "put disk in and play" but you don't need to go install XP...

[xSOSxHawkens]

引用自 Anhkrehg - en.war2.ru：

Get a 486 for the DOS stuff, an Athlon XP-M rig is really fun too for the "newer" stuff. All of it is kind of expensive so you might have to settle for what you can get your hands on. PII/PIII's are nice too. Athlon 64 is definitely too new for a retro rig IMO though :p

I have a lot of nice retro cards from ISA to Voodoo up to 9800Pros/XT I'm always up for trading for cards I'm missing or interesting bits of hardware if you really get into it.

We need to talk...

My pentium mmx rig is still running an S3 ViRGE 325...

Historical peice of tech, being the worlds first modern gpu and all (first single card hardware implementation of a 2d and 3d core) but it was also nototeiously known as abgraphocs decelerator gor veing so slow...

Sadly my Abit Baby AT board on ab Intel 430tx chipset has issues with mote modern gpus.

I have tried pci versions of cards ranging from the radeon 7k cards, 9k cards and even a more modern pci version of an hd2400 pro.

No go. No boot or post.

I think its a memory adressing limitation as I have already over maxed the ram. The chipset has a limit of 256mb. :(

Have been unable to source anything in the 8 to 64mv catagory locally. Parts that old just arent around much anymore.

引用自 Anhkrehg - en.war2.ru：

I don't know how well emulating XP to play those games would work... I'd think not well but I've never tried, not a fan of emulation in general.

You wouldnt use am emulator. XP is still new enough you would run the full OS in a passthrough virtual machine.

As long as your motherboad, cpu, and gpu supprt it you will want to have VTx and VTd turned on. You will also want to turn on your IGP and set windows 10 to use it as main to free up your main gpu for the virtual machine.

You should be able to then install xp to a vitural machine. Give it 2 core and 4 threads, 3.75gb ram, and direct acess to your main gpu.

With VTd/x on the virtual machine will have straight passthrough to the main gpu.