*** Recommendation needed *** Which desktop or motherboard supports fast CPU and Windows 98

[SeeNoEvil]

Please tell which desktop computer models of selected brands, or ASUS
motherboards support INTEL CPU with Windows 98 drivers.

My favorite desktop brands are: Dell, HP, Lenovo.
The INTEL CPU should be 3 GHz or faster, or dual core at 2 GHz or faster.
It should supports at least 2 GB of RAM memory.
Small format factor, small footprint is definitively a big plus.

It MUST be QUIET.

Due to the need to run a special audio PCI card having only Windows 98, I
cannot use laptop computer.

I did use the special audio PCI with a Toshiba laptop attached to a Toshiba
PCI extension box, but the Toshiba's LCD is at the end of its life!!!!
Very tempted to buy a used Dell laptop with PCI Dock, but afraid of soon
getting the same LCD problem.
If you know a Dell laptop model having PCI dock as fast as stated above,
please let me know (in desperate case).

Your help is MUCH APPRECIATED!!!!

[Axel Berger]

Post by SeeNoEvil
I did use the special audio PCI with a Toshiba laptop attached to a Toshiba
PCI extension box, but the Toshiba's LCD is at the end of its life!!!!

You are looking for a desktop computer to replace a perfectly
satisfactory laptop whose screen is dying. Why not just get an external
screen?

Axel

[SeeNoEvil]

Post by SeeNoEvil
I did use the special audio PCI with a Toshiba laptop attached to a Toshiba
PCI extension box, but the Toshiba's LCD is at the end of its life!!!!

You are looking for a desktop computer to replace a perfectly
satisfactory laptop whose screen is dying. Why not just get an external
screen?

Axel
------------------------------
Instead of using an external LCD monitor. I did use a virtual terminal
program from a XP laptop.

The limit of RAM, the slow CPU (386) make the Windows 98 laptop quite
marginal in usage.
The Toshiba laptop's fan starts to be quite noisy. Instead of buying the
same model of laptop and soon facing the same problem (aging hardware), I
rather use a small format desktop (with virtual terminal program) so the
choice of replacement hardware (CPU, RAM, IDE hard drive,...) will be around
for another 10 year!!!

[98 Guy]

Post by SeeNoEvil
Please tell which desktop computer models of selected brands
or ASUS motherboards support INTEL CPU with Windows 98 drivers.

Any computer / motherboard with an Intel 8xx series chipset will have
windows-98 drivers. This includes 845, 865 and 875.

There is some evidence that the 910/915 chipset also has win-98 drivers.

Quite a few VIA chipsets will also have win-98 drivers. The Via PT880
(pro and ultra) is still in production and has win-98 drivers. This
chipset supports socket 478 and socket 775 cpu's.

Generally speaking, if the motherboard takes a socket 478 CPU and has an
AGP slot, you will be able to get win-98 drivers for it.

Post by SeeNoEvil
My favorite desktop brands are: Dell, HP, Lenovo.

Branding is irrelevant in my opinion. I build my own PC's from scratch.

Post by SeeNoEvil
The INTEL CPU should be 3 GHz or faster, or dual core at 2 GHz or faster.

Windows-98 can only use a single core, regardless if you have a
dual-core cpu. So for best power (lowest heat) you're better off to go
with single core or even celeron.

The best PC that I've built (and ever likely to build) with the best
performance and most complete win-98 driver support is based on the
Asrock 4core DUAL-VSTA motherboard. It has Via PT880 ultra chipset, has
both PCIe and AGP slots, can accept both DDR and DDR2 ram. I have 3.46
ghz Celeron-D CPU and 1 gb ram, and a mix of large SATA hard drives
attached to it (1 and 1.5 TB in size). I have Nvidia 6200 video card
(AGP) with 256 mb ram.

The only part of that motherboard that does not function under win-98
(no drivers) is the sound chip. So I have Creative sound card plugged
in.

Post by SeeNoEvil
It should supports at least 2 GB of RAM memory.
Small format factor, small footprint is definitively a big plus.

Do you intend to run XP also?

Is that why you're spec'ing dual-core and more than 1 gb ram?

Post by SeeNoEvil
It MUST be QUIET.
Your help is MUCH APPRECIATED!!!!

If you want quiet, then either you have to build your own PC (with
custom heat-sink and high-end power supply) or you have to use low-power
CPU.

There are LOTS of 5 to 7-year-old IBM Thinkcenter PC's that have come
off-lease and are being sold in discount electronics retailers for $50
to $100 each. You might want to look at those. They have a small
foot-print for a desktop PC.