A Slot 1 mobo also opens up some other interesting options. A Via C3 Ezra CPU, ran
through a slotket, 🏵 is highly configurable from software, the speed can be set in fine
grains from 386 to early Pentium III performance. 🏵 I would go as far as to say it's a
fully equivalent option to a SS7/AMD K6-2/3 system when it 🏵 comes to flexibility.
Would
also recommend GPU combination suggested above. Anything between GF2 and GF4 will be
fine if you ask 🏵 me, even the GF4MX variants, though there are probably people who are
more sensitive to details than me that might 🏵 disagree. Since you're specifically
mentioning Diablo II, a Voodoo 2 card or two is almost a must have as a 🏵 complement in
my opinion. D2 really works best with Glide 😀
Would have used two sound cards, an ISA
card for 🏵 DOS, and a PCI card for Windows. The ESS Audiodrive (ES1869F) is a really nice
SB compatible ISA card, that 🏵 still can be had for peanuts. It's at least great to begin
with, if you happen to become interested in 🏵 the finer points of DOS sound later, you
can always try to hunt down rarer and more expensive cards then.
The 🏵 PCI sound card is
even easier. Just about anything works in my opinion. If you want a more specific
recommendation, 🏵 my personal favorites are the ESS Solo-1 (ES1938) and the TB Santa Cruz
(CS4630). But once again, just about anything 🏵 will be fine for a first build, and those
are just my favorites. Other users probably have very different opinions 🏵 on good PCI
cards for Windows.
The outputs of those cards can be connected to the same receiver
through a mixer. 🏵 A passive mixer consisting of a few resistors can be thrown together
inline in a cable in minutes if you 🏵 can handle a soldering iron, or ebayed ready to use
for 20 bucks or so.
I know you didn't ask, but 🏵 as for network cards, old 3Com cards are
my favorites for retro use. The 3c509 and 3c905 are highly reliable 🏵 cards, with drivers
included in W98. Also, Realtek has always been really good with supporting older OS:es,
wouldn't surprise me 🏵 at all if even their current lineup of Gbit cards got W98 drivers.
Haven't checked though. Their cards are budget 🏵 ones, and they tend to tax the CPU to a
higher degree than premium cards, but the drivers are small 🏵 and rock stable, and they
can be had for almost nothing. You won't however have the convenience of drivers being
🏵 included in Windows.
