My P99 Green Machine -- Retro Build

[toddfx]

I present to you my ultimate Project1999 gaming machine! One of my hobbies is collecting older hardware and building machines to run period correct games and software. So with the launch of Green, I of course took that as a perfect opportunity to put together something new for my EQing pleasure.

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The original dream was to use all hardware from 1999, which meant a Pentium III based system. After two months of testing various configurations however, I was never able to defeat an apparent patch file incompatibility or achieve realistically playable performance when testing on other servers. I stepped it up to a Pentium 4 based system using hardware from 2001, which is fine with me since it's still within scope of the server's timeline. It's likely even a blessing in disguise, since maxing it out is the only way to claim ultimate P99 gaming machine status!

Here's what she's running:
Pentium 4 1.5GHz, ABIT BD7-RAID motherboard, 1GB PC2100 RAM (2x512MB), NVIDIA Quadro2 Pro (GeForce2 Ultra) graphics card, Turtle Beach Montego II Quadzilla Aureal Vortex 2 sound card, Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 80GB 7200RPM HDD, and Kenwood UCR-411 52x TrueX CD-ROM. I do use modern PSUs in all my builds though; in this case a Corsair SF450.
(specs also listed here)

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The Dell case is a slightly dated model for the hardware I've installed, but it holds a special place in my heart as it's the Dell chassis style that I first played EverQuest on back in the day. The 21" Dell Trinitron monitor is also the monitor I was EQing on in the late 90s, early 2000s. The keyboard is an IBM Model M, and the Microsoft mouse has a ball in it. The speakers are a pair of Altec Lansing ACS90s.

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The other box in the background is my Windows 98 Voodoo2 SLI machine. Under the desk is a 2006 AMD Quad FX machine and a 486 MS-DOS build which is a work in progress. There are others as well, let me tell you!

I'm running Windows XP here out of necessity, but have skinned it to look a little more like Windows 98. EverQuest needed a little company on this perfectly good P4 gaming machine, so I installed a few of my favorites that would of been right at home on a desktop in 1999. I'm tempted to install other games up through 2001, but for now I really wanted to keep it at least LOOKING like a 1999 machine would have at EverQuest's launch.

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The performance is...adequate. Certainly feels classic I'll give it that! Surviving the initial chaos of launch might be a little rough, but it (usually) gets 30(ish) FPS at 1024x768 when just walking around zones. I did some stress testing on Blue in heavily populated areas and it would definitely drop, but held up well enough (Fraps screenshot here). Definitely playable. I haven't spent much time tinkering with optimization yet either, as I only just now barely got this put together after burning so much time trying to get a Pentium III system working.

Anyway, I just wanted to share with you my latest hairbrained EQ related project. It's not practical and not particularly cheap, but as with all my builds it was a ton of fun running through all the research and treasure hunting involved in tracking down each individual component to create something specific. If you're here playing EQ for nostalgia's sake, I don't have to explain to you the nuances of computers from this era (and older). Using original hardware today for a purpose like this just adds yet another layer to that warm and fuzzy feeling when the EQ theme song plays. Thank you Nilbog, Rogean, and the entire team for this ongoing experience!

P.S. If you have the space, treat yourself to a CRT! Above all else, playing EQ at 1024x768 on a proper CRT is just perfect.

[Kapyong]

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A real sound card.
Even an awesome 21" FLAT Trinitron !

Authentic EQ heaven.

[gnomishfirework]

Haha. That’s great. A vodoo card is what I played eq on originally.

I might break out my CRT monitor, which I played eq on originally (though 2001-2002 so probably late period). It would capture the feel without the performance issues.

[Baa]

Real dedication right there!

[Madbad]

fucking awesome!

[El-Hefe]

I’m so fucking jealous.

Nice work.

[Hokojin]

This is amazing!

[toddfx]

Glad you guys are digging it

P.S. I haven't forgotten how to build an old computer but I HAVE apparently forgotten how to post images correctly. It's working fine in Firefox, but in Chrome it seems you have to right click and "Open link in new tab" to access the full res images. Left clicking won't do it, on my end anyway.

[Glasken]

This is a modern relic. I am truly jealous of your build. Good luck and godspeed in your adventures!

[Baler]

that's a beautiful pc you got there.