Is now the right time to build a Windows 98 / XP gaming pc?
With graphic card stock almost non-existent it has got me thinking recently about building a retro PC. If you pick your time period right you can get hold of something extremely capable (for the time) for not much money at all. Instead of paying high prices for existing technology you can get something from the early 2000s that would have been considered high end for under £100.
Prices of graphics cards from the late XP era are still really cheap. The PC you dreamed of having, with an SLI setup of 8800GTs is now actually affordable.
Here’s an idea of some builds you could put together:
Pentium 4 3.0GHZ with a 8800GT (or two), a gig or two of ram.
An AMD 64 3000+ with X1950, a gig or two of ram.
If you want to step up to a dual core or quad core the core 2 duo and core 2 quad CPUs and readily available and really cheap. On the AMD front the 4400+ was always a popular choice.
These PCs won’t play anything nowadays beyond low settings, but they will play the majority of old games from the XP and Windows 98 era at high details. They may struggle a bit with Crysis but if you play at a 2006 style resolution and don’t max out two many details you should alright.
Now is the perfect time to go back and play all those games you missed or never got around to completing. If you have any recommendations for builds, graphics card and the like, leave a comment. I am genuinely interested in building something soon.
