wondering about the ideal dos computer

abyss · Post by **abyss** » Tue Nov 28, 2006 6:11 pm

What computer is best for dos. Keep in mind that i own a lot of games from 1987 and older for Atari so i am not going to install games that are from 1987 and earlier except for text games and strategy games. I want to know what would work best for dos. I like dos games from 1994-1998 and HATE most games from 2001-2006.

Post by **Larry Laffer** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 1:15 am

The best configuration:
486 Processor at 100 MHz
16 Mbs RAM
video... it doesn't really matter but say... 2 Mbs

Windows 95 or pure DOS
You truly don't need a HDD that has more than 1.5 Gbs

And a CD-ROM drive would be great with this system

Vangar · Post by **Vangar** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 6:36 am

"486 Processor at 100 MHz" ?

Why not a nice 166Mhz running pure dos. That will give you the power to play games such as lighthouse or rise of the robots then.

Post by **Larry Laffer** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 2:51 pm

I had no problem running ANY dos games on my 100MHz 486er

And it had win 95 too

abyss · Post by **abyss** » Wed Nov 29, 2006 3:47 pm

I would like a computer with windows 95 and a 486 dx seems to be a great computer. I am playing some dos games with high reqirements though so i think a 166 mhz is the ideal computer. I love lighthouse. Lighthouse has recently became my favourite game.My favourite game changes every day. 1 day i may love a game and the next day i may hate it. Lighthouse is not one of those games though.

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 3:41 am

Forget Win 95.

66 MHZ, 32 Mb Ram, Sound Blaster 16 and Local Bus video.

Post by **Larry Laffer** » Fri Dec 01, 2006 5:14 am

Why 32 Megs of RAM???

Unknown_K · Post by **Unknown_K** » Sat Dec 02, 2006 4:48 am

There is no single perfect DOS machine, but a simple Pentium 166-233 with a soundblaster 16, 2GB HD, CDROM, and 16MB RAM should be enough for most people.

I you look for my old posts you will see what gaming rigs I put together (and still have).

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Sun Dec 03, 2006 6:17 am

Makes 8 Mb requirers as fast as 4 Mbers 1n 16 Mb includer.

AdamN · Post by **AdamN** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 7:30 am

I believe any PC is capable of running a DOS game, nobody said that new computers can't run DOS, you could make a new computer with all the nuts and bolts, buy an External Floppy Drive insert a Windows 98 start-up disk, and create a 30 GB Fat32 partition. Once created change BIOS settings to start using CD, insert a Windows 98 CD and install. (of course Windows 98, does support dual monitors or some graphics accelerators, so I would preferably use onboard (most motherboards come with this except ones with PCIe.)

abyss · Post by **abyss** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 3:27 pm

I had a crazy idea for a dos computer what if i installed windows 98 on my xp and used virtual pc tp run windows 98. I could use dos box, windows 98 and virtual pc and even moslo. I can always buy a soundblaster pro or use vmd sound. I would probaly be able to run every last dos game ever.

Post by **Larry Laffer** » Tue Dec 05, 2006 4:30 pm

[duh] Of course... As I said before, should I own a 5GHz PC with 1.5-2 GBs RAM and 1 GB video(thus high-end) I'd give 30 Gigs of my HDD just for Virtual PC and the win 98 games.

486 player · Post by **486 player** » Fri Dec 08, 2006 2:46 am

It wouldn't be a real thing, Hulk. And, after startup files setup, there's less work to play.

Roger · Post by **Roger** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:29 am

The problem with new generation computers (post - 2000) is the way they allocate Address, IRQ's and DMA for the onboard or PCI soundcards - in PURE DOS. You don't get the "standard" values required by DOS games.
A few years ago I gave up on using my new computer for DOS games. In pure Dos the onboard sound was unusable, a PCI Ensonique had poor perfomance, and emulating in XP was hust to damn slow.
So, I dedicated a DOS-only machine (PI233, 64RAM, SB AWE32) to dos gaming.