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90's PC Gaming Appreciation Thread: From Boot Disks to 3dfx Voodoo cards
- Thread starter blast processed
- Start date
So back at Christmas time i was going through all the GPUs i had owned, my first PC was a 486 DX2 66Mhz so didn't have a dedicated GPU, that PC lasted me like 2-3 years but my next PC was at the start of the dedicated graphics card moment.......
ATi Rage Pro (1997)
Voodoo Banshee (1998)
GeForce 2MX (2000)
Radeon 9700 Pro (2002)
GeForce FX 5500 (2004)
GeForce 7800 GT (2006)
GeForce 8800 GT (2007)
Radeon 4870 (2008)
GeForce GTS 250 (2009)
GeForce GTX 260 (2010)
Radeon HD6950 (2011)
Radeon HD7970 (2013)
Nvidia GTX 970 (2015)
For some reason its always Dark Forces 2 and the first Unreal game that stand out in my mind in early PC dedicated graphics cards
ATi Rage Pro (1997)
Voodoo Banshee (1998)
GeForce 2MX (2000)
Radeon 9700 Pro (2002)
GeForce FX 5500 (2004)
GeForce 7800 GT (2006)
GeForce 8800 GT (2007)
Radeon 4870 (2008)
GeForce GTS 250 (2009)
GeForce GTX 260 (2010)
Radeon HD6950 (2011)
Radeon HD7970 (2013)
Nvidia GTX 970 (2015)
For some reason its always Dark Forces 2 and the first Unreal game that stand out in my mind in early PC dedicated graphics cards
doctorcdcs
Member
oh god, the amount of nostalgia i'm having right now going through this thread. i just wish i still had my original Pc with my Voodoo 1 still in it. 
Shadow Hog
Member
It still kind of blows my mind that in a scant 10 years, 3D gaming went from Hovertank 3D's flat-shaded EGA graphics to Quake 3's polygonal models, curved surfaces and colored lighting.
I actually still like the look of late '90s 3D. It's really low-poly, sure, but most of those games, if they work on modern hardware at all (a surprisingly large chunk do), benefit from features of modern cards like anisotropic filtering, more-advanced anti-aliasing techniques, proper perspective correction and all that jazz, so it still looks pretty presentable in comparison to the PS1's 3D. Plus, you'll get rock-solid framerates since modern graphics cards are built for games exponentially more intensive, so all those niceties mentioned in the previous paragraph, ones that'd potentially be framerate killers in a modern game (other than perspective correction, obviously), are practically gimmes.
If I weren't regularly playing Final Fantasy XIV right now, most of my PC gaming would be spent on Doom and Quake source ports (although I turned texture filtering off for those two, beyond mip-mapping - they honestly look better with chunky pixels).
...though it's always a shame when one doesn't. For instance, Tomb Raider 2 decided to stop working on my PC, even though I was in the middle of a playthrough (which was admittedly started years ago, but still). I suppose things like that are why I bought a Windows 98 machine last year (it's pretty nifty!), but since TR2 was bought off GOG, that's not exactly an option.
I actually still like the look of late '90s 3D. It's really low-poly, sure, but most of those games, if they work on modern hardware at all (a surprisingly large chunk do), benefit from features of modern cards like anisotropic filtering, more-advanced anti-aliasing techniques, proper perspective correction and all that jazz, so it still looks pretty presentable in comparison to the PS1's 3D. Plus, you'll get rock-solid framerates since modern graphics cards are built for games exponentially more intensive, so all those niceties mentioned in the previous paragraph, ones that'd potentially be framerate killers in a modern game (other than perspective correction, obviously), are practically gimmes.
If I weren't regularly playing Final Fantasy XIV right now, most of my PC gaming would be spent on Doom and Quake source ports (although I turned texture filtering off for those two, beyond mip-mapping - they honestly look better with chunky pixels).
...though it's always a shame when one doesn't. For instance, Tomb Raider 2 decided to stop working on my PC, even though I was in the middle of a playthrough (which was admittedly started years ago, but still). I suppose things like that are why I bought a Windows 98 machine last year (it's pretty nifty!), but since TR2 was bought off GOG, that's not exactly an option.
blast processed
Member
I had these exact specs for Packard Bell with MMX technology lol. Came bundled with a Cannon 210 bubble jet printer and a 15' monitor. Great deal, but was obsolete when the pentiums were released 6 months later.
You should be able to get the original game data from the GOG version and run it on your Windows 98 machine.
Cant remember what make mine was i bought it 2nd hand from a classifieds ad in the local Sunday paper (yes it was that long ago when they were still a thing)
Also does anyone remember these games.....
never gets enough mentions but remember loving them!!!
IrishNinja
Member
awesome OP, awesome thread. i didn't PC game until i got my own in like '98 or so, but stuff like Quake 2, Diablo, Grim Fandango & the like were huge eye-openers, the most i'd seen (besides Radio Shack Tany system demos...) of PC gaming before was a friend's dad had Monkey Island, but never let us play =/
looking back, we were absolutely spoiled with Planescape: Torment & the like
*edit think we should link this one from Retro-GAF!
looking back, we were absolutely spoiled with Planescape: Torment & the like
*edit think we should link this one from Retro-GAF!
Awful OP, no mention of Crusader No Regret or No Remorse
I can't believe Raven Software is stuck making shit for Call of Duty...
Best Star Trek game ever.
Also does anyone remember these games.....
never gets enough mentions but remember loving them!!!
I can't believe Raven Software is stuck making shit for Call of Duty...
Best Star Trek game ever.
coughlanio
Member
LGR is easily the most prolific MS-DOS and early PC gaming YouTuber. A great watch.
Glass Shark
Banned
I was a PC gamer in the 90's and I don't appreciate anything about it. Things are so much easier and better now. To the future!
qa_engineer
Member
Kids these days don't know the struggle of a 66mhz processor and inserting disc 1 of 13.
blast processed
Member
Really? Everything moved so fast it was hard to keep up. It seemed every 6 months something new and exciting was releasing, whether is was hardware or software.
Shadow Hog
Member
Yes and yes.Cant remember what make mine was i bought it 2nd hand from a classifieds ad in the local Sunday paper (yes it was that long ago when they were still a thing)
Also does anyone remember these games.....
never gets enough mentions but remember loving them!!!
Dad got the latter, Elite Force, for himself, and I sort of borrowed it off of him after he stopped playing PC games; wound up finishing the whole game. Its Holomatches against bots were my introduction to arena FPS, too (which I followed up shortly thereafter with Unreal Tournament 2004).
The former, Gunman Chronicles, I picked up last year, after getting the Windows 98 machine. Need to play more of that 'un. Kinda want to finish it on that rig, though I also slapped it into my Steam Half-Life install, and applied that mod that slips in the content from the game's demo in the earliest part of the game; that'd have all the benefits of that version of GoldSrc going for it, like playing it at 2560x1440 at a solid 144Hz.
Captain Zyrain
Member
Getting your mind blown every couple months (it seemed) was awesome. Things changed so much so fast.. it was amazing.
I think it also had to do with being a teenager during that time frame.. PC's were a way to avoid my parents, they had NO idea what I was doing either (cue evil laugh).
MP3s, IRC #TeenChat, Starcraft online.. ahhh.. good times.
alf717
Member
I miss the days of my Compaq 5150 with an AMD K6-2 and my Rockwell v92 56K modem. I remember spending all day downloading CS Beta 7.1 and hoping the connection didn't drop out. I was rocking a Voodoo 3 3000 PCI card in it and then later a Voodoo 4 4500 PCI. Played so many games on it like Half-Life, Deus Ex, Incoming and Tribes.
90s were a strange time for me on PC. I started a job at a games publisher as phone tech support, and most of my calls were about people not being able to get enough main memory to run our games. Didn't help that we were doing games like mega race that needed CD rom drivers. Editing peoples autoexec.bat and config.sys files over the phone was horrible. You can imagine the sort of horrific 'which is the enter key?' types of conversations would have me constantly banging my head on the table.
I then switched to testing and had fun working on one of the launch games for Windows 95 which was interesting because it was all new. It was also nice to see the DOS stuff become less of an issue with games running in Windows. First half of the 90s might have been fun for some, but it was not fun to work in customer support..
I then switched to testing and had fun working on one of the launch games for Windows 95 which was interesting because it was all new. It was also nice to see the DOS stuff become less of an issue with games running in Windows. First half of the 90s might have been fun for some, but it was not fun to work in customer support..
The Build editor was great, I had the unofficial guide to making Duke3D levels and now I want to know what secrets you learned that I didn't.
petran79
Banned
Things today are easier but also more tightly controlled. Early 90s especially were like the Wild West of PC gaming. A boot sector virus could lurk in any floppy!
Whats that about the content from the Demo??
AHHHHHHH, just remembered IRQ conflicts!!, just what did that D-Lock shaped lock & 'Turbo' button do on the front of my 486 DX2 case!? (i swear that turbo did crap all!)
blast processed
Member
this thing right here. my parents got this for me, this was my ascendance into being a huge dork
I had this one for Doom.
Loved making levels for Doom. Build engine was pretty flexible as well.
My First computer was a 486 DX4 100 with no sound card or CD-ROM when i was 15. I loved that machine to bits. I fitted a SB compatible sound card and a samsung 4x cd rom.
Just this month I got back into retro PC gaming and hardware meaning i've spent about £80 on bits of hardware. I bought a new old stock 17" CRT monitor for £10 and an old MESH pc for £10. It was a AMD Athlon XP 1700+, 512 mb ram and a Geforce 4 MX400 64mb GFX and SB Live.
I upgraded it a week later with a box of parts I bought for £20. It now has a AMD Athlon Barton 3000+, Asus A7N8X-e motherboard, 1gig DDR3200 and a BFG 7800GS OC and SB Audigy 2 ZS.
I also bought a Voodoo 3 3000 16mb AGP for £15 and got given a Voodoo Banshee PCI lol.
Rocking some DOOM
Just this month I got back into retro PC gaming and hardware meaning i've spent about £80 on bits of hardware. I bought a new old stock 17" CRT monitor for £10 and an old MESH pc for £10. It was a AMD Athlon XP 1700+, 512 mb ram and a Geforce 4 MX400 64mb GFX and SB Live.
I upgraded it a week later with a box of parts I bought for £20. It now has a AMD Athlon Barton 3000+, Asus A7N8X-e motherboard, 1gig DDR3200 and a BFG 7800GS OC and SB Audigy 2 ZS.
I also bought a Voodoo 3 3000 16mb AGP for £15 and got given a Voodoo Banshee PCI lol.
Rocking some DOOM
@Lettuce
Because i wanted to? Bit of a nostalgia trip. Becuase it was cheap? Plenty of reasons. Yeah i could just load dosbox on my PC and play games that way but that's boring. Plus i can put win98 and play that era of games also.
Nothing bait about that post at all. Just coincidence this post popped up as i bout some old hardware.
Because i wanted to? Bit of a nostalgia trip. Becuase it was cheap? Plenty of reasons. Yeah i could just load dosbox on my PC and play games that way but that's boring. Plus i can put win98 and play that era of games also.
Nothing bait about that post at all. Just coincidence this post popped up as i bout some old hardware.
Small Mailman
Member
Subbed. OP gave me chills of years long gone. Makes me feel warm and fuzzy, but also sad.
I didnt mean the gif in a bad way, more so baiting people into going down the same route. I didnt know if buying retro PC hardware is an actual 'thing' or not thats all.....im seriously intrigued
It's probably the best way to play win95 and win98 games that you can't really do in dosbox. You might be able to get away with it in a virtual machine or wine, but that's a lot more headache.
Edit: There are a lot of early direct x games that can be really finicky on the OS they were meant for let alone modern hardware. Take Hell Cab or Evel Knievel (Some shitty budget game) for instance.
This was definitely "a moment" for me. When those big cats started talking, I couldn't even believe it was happening.
I'm pretty sure I remember it taking 2 hours to install from 12 5.25 floppies too, lol...
Thing is, its kinda cheap to go down the older PC hardware. Lots of people want shot of old hardware and you can get it very cheap. Compatibility is a big issue with the older games running on current hardware. The box of bits i got for £20 included 3 motherboards, with CPUs and 1gig of ram each. graphics cards, sound cards. I could build 3 systems out of it and it was local.
Check out Vogons mate. Its a great site for old games and hardware
Shadow Hog
Member
It's a thing, alright, though mostly for those Windows 95 and 98 games that are too new to work in DOSBox but too old to work natively on modern Windows OSes.
So, things like Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire, for instance. CD quality music and much nicer control schemes/resolutions than the N64 version, but a bear to get working on modern operating systems. Also have more luck with Time Warp of Dr. Brain on the native Windows 98 machine than I do trying to run it in Windows XP Mode on Win 7 Pro x64.
So, things like Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire, for instance. CD quality music and much nicer control schemes/resolutions than the N64 version, but a bear to get working on modern operating systems. Also have more luck with Time Warp of Dr. Brain on the native Windows 98 machine than I do trying to run it in Windows XP Mode on Win 7 Pro x64.
thelongestj
Member
I spent a lot of time playing computer games in the 90's. Basically from the time I was 5. I spent hours playing the educational game Treehouse and Commander Keen. Then we got the shareware disks of Apogee games and CD's of 250 games and Hugo's House of Horrors and that was my introduction to adventure games.
For my birthday in 1998 I got an issue of PC Gamer and it had reviews for Blade Runner, Curse of Monkey Island and Broken Sword II. I remember looking at how amazing Curse of Monkey Island looked and I wanted it so bad. I then found about the earlier games I had missed and discovered the whole LucasArts back catalog and playing Monkey Island by "Abandonware" although technically it wasn't abandoned at all.
This year I am way more excited about classics coming to GOG than I am most of the new games coming out (except for point and click adventure games of course, and also No Man's Sky).
For my birthday in 1998 I got an issue of PC Gamer and it had reviews for Blade Runner, Curse of Monkey Island and Broken Sword II. I remember looking at how amazing Curse of Monkey Island looked and I wanted it so bad. I then found about the earlier games I had missed and discovered the whole LucasArts back catalog and playing Monkey Island by "Abandonware" although technically it wasn't abandoned at all.
This year I am way more excited about classics coming to GOG than I am most of the new games coming out (except for point and click adventure games of course, and also No Man's Sky).
Where do you grab this stuff from, eBay???
Captain_Reasonable
Neo Member
PC Gaming was the weirdest thing. I had a friend up the road with all the consoles but we weren't allowed any in out house so my own introduction was pc gaming.
I remember Dark Forces vividly. I'd just been introduced to star wars by a mate and then we got this new computer so he brought it over. It was mind blowing ("You're not authorised to be in this area!" Etc). Then came X-Wing, Rebel Assault. Windows 95 so never suffered the DOS pains.
Rollercoaster Tycoon! There were so many absolute classics from this era. A real pain too, neither of my parents knew how computers worked, beyond their limited use for work, and no internet so figuring out stuff was tough. But like any kid with large amounts of free time we figured it out. Although sure we broke some stuff too....
It absolutely massively influenced my tastes. PC gaming was such a wildly different place compared to the console space.
Oh and PCZone was the single greatest game mag to ever exist.
Gunman! Picked that up from a charity shop a few years back for 50p. Was a bit of a mess getting it to work on my laptop but what a game. Even had the manual with the CD key, tried it on steam for a lark and it gave me the half life gold collection or something.
I remember Dark Forces vividly. I'd just been introduced to star wars by a mate and then we got this new computer so he brought it over. It was mind blowing ("You're not authorised to be in this area!" Etc). Then came X-Wing, Rebel Assault. Windows 95 so never suffered the DOS pains.
Rollercoaster Tycoon! There were so many absolute classics from this era. A real pain too, neither of my parents knew how computers worked, beyond their limited use for work, and no internet so figuring out stuff was tough. But like any kid with large amounts of free time we figured it out. Although sure we broke some stuff too....
It absolutely massively influenced my tastes. PC gaming was such a wildly different place compared to the console space.
Oh and PCZone was the single greatest game mag to ever exist.
Cant remember what make mine was i bought it 2nd hand from a classifieds ad in the local Sunday paper (yes it was that long ago when they were still a thing)
Also does anyone remember these games.....
never gets enough mentions but remember loving them!!!
Gunman! Picked that up from a charity shop a few years back for 50p. Was a bit of a mess getting it to work on my laptop but what a game. Even had the manual with the CD key, tried it on steam for a lark and it gave me the half life gold collection or something.
Yup loads of stuff on ebay. Just get it as cheap as you can. Ask friends etc. My mate gave me a load of stuff for free.
blast processed
Member
My First computer was a 486 DX4 100 with no sound card or CD-ROM when i was 15. I loved that machine to bits. I fitted a SB compatible sound card and a samsung 4x cd rom.
Just this month I got back into retro PC gaming and hardware meaning i've spent about £80 on bits of hardware. I bought a new old stock 17" CRT monitor for £10 and an old MESH pc for £10. It was a AMD Athlon XP 1700+, 512 mb ram and a Geforce 4 MX400 64mb GFX and SB Live.
I upgraded it a week later with a box of parts I bought for £20. It now has a AMD Athlon Barton 3000+, Asus A7N8X-e motherboard, 1gig DDR3200 and a BFG 7800GS OC and SB Audigy 2 ZS.
I also bought a Voodoo 3 3000 16mb AGP for £15 and got given a Voodoo Banshee PCI lol.
Rocking some DOOM
I have had several urges recently to do the same thing. Looking at that monitor makes me want to play through Tie fighter again.
Cropduster89
Neo Member
Oh god so many bad DOS flashbacks... the hours I spent as a kid typing shit into that black screen trying to make stuff work through ignorant trial and error... getting a game to work with sound was like the holy grail. You worked for yo games back then boy!
My first game with a proper windows installer was Little Big Adventure 2, awesome game, and probably the root cause of the subsequent nerddom to follow. And I remember when I got gifted the PC port of Final Fantasy VII, the mind blowing graphics required my old man to grudgingly upgrade to the latest 3D FX Voodoo 2 hardware. And playing team fortress classic (when the weapon models were a mix from quake 2 and half life) and the OG counterstrike on a 56K modem being charged by the minute for your time.
Reading PC Zone and Computer Gaming Magazine looking at previews of Tomb Raider 2 (I first read about tomb raider 1 on the Teletext game review page) and kids bragging in the playground that their dad's new PC could play CD-roms.... and the black market of copied games being exchanged for dinner money.
ah fuck nostalgia <3
My first game with a proper windows installer was Little Big Adventure 2, awesome game, and probably the root cause of the subsequent nerddom to follow. And I remember when I got gifted the PC port of Final Fantasy VII, the mind blowing graphics required my old man to grudgingly upgrade to the latest 3D FX Voodoo 2 hardware. And playing team fortress classic (when the weapon models were a mix from quake 2 and half life) and the OG counterstrike on a 56K modem being charged by the minute for your time.
Reading PC Zone and Computer Gaming Magazine looking at previews of Tomb Raider 2 (I first read about tomb raider 1 on the Teletext game review page) and kids bragging in the playground that their dad's new PC could play CD-roms.... and the black market of copied games being exchanged for dinner money.
ah fuck nostalgia <3
SneakyStephan
Banned
My First computer was a 486 DX4 100 with no sound card or CD-ROM when i was 15. I loved that machine to bits. I fitted a SB compatible sound card and a samsung 4x cd rom.
Just this month I got back into retro PC gaming and hardware meaning i've spent about £80 on bits of hardware. I bought a new old stock 17" CRT monitor for £10 and an old MESH pc for £10. It was a AMD Athlon XP 1700+, 512 mb ram and a Geforce 4 MX400 64mb GFX and SB Live.
I upgraded it a week later with a box of parts I bought for £20. It now has a AMD Athlon Barton 3000+, Asus A7N8X-e motherboard, 1gig DDR3200 and a BFG 7800GS OC and SB Audigy 2 ZS.
I also bought a Voodoo 3 3000 16mb AGP for £15 and got given a Voodoo Banshee PCI lol.
Rocking some DOOM
You bought a 15 year old pc and immediately couldn't resist upgrading it
Maybe you should get an athlon64 compatible motherboard next
Also a 7800gs is not from the same time period as that athlon xp, back when the athlon xp first released we were still on the geforce 4 (and shortly after those awful awful geforce fxs)
Talking about racing games, anyone remember THIS:
For some reason, me and ALL of my friends had it and we all sucked at it (playing with a joystick or keyboard).
It just looked awesome and was a benchmark for our PCs (I played at ~20fps). Probably the most hardware demanding not-3D-accelerated game I can remember.
Edit: Actually some voxel-based games had higher recommended specs, but that was when 3D acceleration was already around and the average consumer CPU had gotten more powerful as well.
Lewd i lost so many hours with that game along with my friend we played so so many of this.
Such great memories of pc gaming back then..got my first 3d card a Voodoo 1 with 4mb on the video card that was something else.
You bought a 15 year old pc and immediately couldn't resist upgrading it
Maybe you should get an athlon64 compatible motherboard next
Also a 7800gs is not from the same time period as that athlon xp, back when the athlon xp first released we were still on the geforce 4 (and shortly after those awful awful geforce fxs)
Hahahaha well with the cost of the parts, i thought why not.
Your right about the 7800GS not being period correct. Thing is it was free and is quite a good AGP card. I do have a Voodoo 3 i could put it in but the 7800 is better
I also have a Asus X800 XT i picked up for £5. Parts are just too cheap.
PastorOfMuppets
Banned
Awful OP, no mention of Crusader No Regret or No Remorse
I can't believe Raven Software is stuck making shit for Call of Duty...
Best Star Trek game ever.
It's so ironic how the worst Star Trek series ended up with the best video games. I know some people argue that Enterprise was worse than Voyager but I thought Enterprise picked up in the last few seasons whereas Voyager was consistently terrible.
Cropduster89
Neo Member
Yeah Voyager was pretty bad all round, haven't seen Enterprise as Janeway and her dull crew of non-entities had killed my enthusiasm, but Enforcer was a damn good game regardless.
I guess it was prevelant at the peak of PC gaming. Currently playing a really bad 90s DS9 adventure game that wasn't so lucky.
xDUMPWEEDx
Banned
Here's my contributions:
blast processed
Member
PastorOfMuppets
Banned
Yep, forgot to mention that the best Star Trek series had completely forgettable games. I think Birth of the Federation was the only good game based on the DS9 franchise.
MrCunningham
Member
this thing right here. my parents got this for me, this was my ascendance into being a huge dork
I never had anything like this, but I used to make maps in the Build editor all the time. Duke 3D's Build had an incredibly easy to use level editor back in the day, even compared to Doom's you didn't have to recompile the level to see it in the 3D preview window, Duke 3D's Build just updated itself in real time.
And speaking of graphics card box art... This is the first videocard I bought right here:
GeForce 256 with 32mb of RAM. The box itself was hilariously bad and over the top 90s, but the card was great.
Amazing thread. I've been thinking that we needed some kind of general retro PC gaming or DOS era gaming thread. 90s PC gaming does just fine.
I'm too lazy to probe my memory for some specific thoughts right now, so I'll just leave these here!
Demo discs were the best.
Got started on one of these which my dad used for work:
I still have the 5.25" floppies with various games ranging from Bouncing Babies to Hoyle Card Games. The nice thing was we had an external EGA monitor for the Compaq which made playing games more enjoyable.
In the early 90s we also got a laptop, then in 1995 welcomed a Gateway 2000 Pentium 100 MHz. That thing was a beast. I remember doing the upgrade for Windows 95 on it later that year.
I'm too lazy to probe my memory for some specific thoughts right now, so I'll just leave these here!
Demo discs were the best.
Got started on one of these which my dad used for work:
I still have the 5.25" floppies with various games ranging from Bouncing Babies to Hoyle Card Games. The nice thing was we had an external EGA monitor for the Compaq which made playing games more enjoyable.
In the early 90s we also got a laptop, then in 1995 welcomed a Gateway 2000 Pentium 100 MHz. That thing was a beast. I remember doing the upgrade for Windows 95 on it later that year.