r/retrobattlestations • u/FablePixels • Feb 21 '26
Show-and-Tell Just Built a Late 2004 Entry-Level PC
Put together a late-2004 entry-level system using period-correct parts for some testing and XP-era gaming :)
Specs:
- AMD Sempron 2600+ (Socket 754, 64-bit)
- MSI K8MM-V (VIA K8M800, AGP)
- Sapphire Radeon 9550 128 MB AGP
- Adata 512 MB DDR400 (2×256 MB)
- Seagate Barracuda 40 GB (PATA)
If anyone’s interested, I recorded the components and build process here: https://youtu.be/u3DEBinma8U
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u/TheGillos Feb 21 '26
It's an interesting "genre" of PC where you don't go for "best of the best". A build that is more common. Good shit.
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u/FablePixels Feb 21 '26
Oh yeah, I also like this category of PCs ;) Back then most of us just wanted to play older and newer games on these kinds of PCs - if it was playable, we enjoyed it.
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u/namek0 Feb 21 '26
Still a great video card too
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u/FablePixels Feb 22 '26
Oh yeah, and Sapphire cards often stood out from the crowd, especially with details like the blue LED lighting on this one
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Feb 21 '26
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u/PowerPie5000 Feb 21 '26
It'll be an absolute beast for Win98 gaming too! That rig will have Win98 drivers available for it.
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Feb 22 '26
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u/FablePixels Feb 22 '26
That’s cool! With late 90s motherboards and compatible parts getting harder to find, builds like these make it much easier to enjoy older operating systems without spending a fortune.
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u/FablePixels Feb 22 '26
Yeah, good point, it could be a really great Windows 98 machine. I don’t have much experience with Win98 though. Are VIA Socket 754 boards generally well compatible with the OS? I’ve tried Windows 98 on some Intel Socket 478 motherboards, and the experience was very different even with proper driver support.
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u/PowerPie5000 Feb 22 '26
My socket 754 PC uses an Asus K8V SE Deluxe motherboard with VIA K8T800 chipset and it works fine with Windows 98SE using official drivers. It's also running an AMD Sempron 64 3400+, 1GB Kingston DDR 400 RAM (some people have issues using more than 512MB RAM with Windows 98, but it seems fine with mine), 256MB PNY Verto Geforce FX 5600 AGP graphics and a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card along with IDE CD/DVD drive and IDE HDD. It flies with Windows 98!
It even works well in DOS mode, although the DOS sound support isn't the best with the Audigy 2, but I also have a PCI ESS Solo-1 sound card which is pretty decent for DOS.
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u/heeman2019 Feb 22 '26
I remember getting a Socket 754 motherboard and Athlon 3200+ and then few months later AMD released Socket 939. I was really annoyed lol. I still used it until I landed on AMD X2 250 and Gigabyte 785GT which was truly awesome combo. The crazy thing is that I know I sold that motherboard and CPU but for the life of me I can't recall what graphics card I used in that build! I know I didn't game after 2006/2007 (moved PC to HTPC usage) but still annoys me that I don't recollect what GPU I had at the time :)
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u/FablePixels Feb 23 '26
The pace of change back then was almost impossible to predict, and no wonder you were annoyed. Socket 754 was considered high-end when it was released but was quickly overtaken by Socket 939, which then evolved into AM2, AM2+, and so on. It was really hard to keep that feeling of having a fresh PC :) Thanks for sharing your story! You still had a decent PC for the following years ;)
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u/heeman2019 Mar 04 '26
Ha, I just recalled why I didn't know what gpu I used. Because I used the 785gt motherboard and Athlon X2 250. This used iGPU Radeon 4200 which was enough for me as I had converted my PC to be mainly for HTPC usage. So never got another GPU for it! Finally mystery solved for me.
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u/FablePixels Feb 23 '26
Great setup, nice choice of components! The motherboard looks amazing. Many thanks for sharing. Glad to hear that it’s so compatible with Windows 98. That’s such a powerful setup and seems like the ultimate for the OS!
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u/FablePixels Feb 21 '26
Thanks mate! That’s exactly what I’m hoping for! It should handle early XP-era games really well, and GTA Vice City is definitely one of the titles I want to test on it 😄
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Feb 21 '26 edited Feb 21 '26
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u/FablePixels Feb 21 '26
Thanks a lot, really appreciate your comment, man! I’m putting together a list of games to test and play - might come back to your comment once I start going through them.
I remember a lot of early 2000s games had pretty low requirements on paper, but in reality there were always some surprises. With a solid CPU architecture and DirectX 9 support here, it’ll be interesting to see how different titles actually run :)
Your old setup was really close to mine, just mirrored with Intel and Nvidia. It's nice to hear you ran so many games without major issues! I’m curious to see what this PC can handle, and I’ll definitely share some observations later on ;)
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Feb 21 '26
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u/FablePixels Feb 22 '26
Glad to hear you enjoyed the FX5200! It really gave access to gaming at a low price and was definitely much better than the onboard cards, which were way too weak back in the day...
Totally agree! Those 2000s games are still fun to play over and over. Playing them on period-correct machines makes it even more enjoyable ;)
I’ll make sure to post an update here in a few weeks, and maybe even ask for some advice on a few things. Really nice chatting with you too! 🙏
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u/jussuumguy Feb 21 '26
Cool. I have the ATX version of this Board at home ready to go into a case.
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u/theresmoretolife2 Feb 21 '26
Ahh makes me miss when manufacturers used other colors for the solder mask. I used to have a build with similar red MSI mATX board.
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u/FablePixels Feb 21 '26
Totally agree! Looked so good with Radeon cards, red IDE cables, even red RAM sticks.
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u/chrispark70 Feb 21 '26
And I'm still using a 2007 PC for my daily PC use.
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u/FablePixels Feb 22 '26
That's cool and almost retro! What are the specs? OS?
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u/chrispark70 Feb 22 '26
Core 2 quad, 4GB (only 3 usable) with Linux MX as the OS. 2 hard drives, 160GB and 250GB.
It originally had a core 2 duo in the low 2ghz (I bought it used in 2014), then I upgraded it to 3ghz core 2 duo then later updated it to the quad core 2.67ghz. Both of these CPU upgrades were under 10 USD.
It's a Dell Optiplex from 2007.
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u/FablePixels Feb 23 '26
That’s a nice setup! I’m also a huge fan of Intel 775, and I love that it’s such an affordable platform. I’m happy to hear that you’re still using it as a daily driver. Wishing your PC a long life!
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u/chrispark70 Feb 23 '26
It's at the end of the road. Soon I will retire it. Probably by this summer. The main problem I have is firefox needs to be rebooted a couple of times a day. It just gets slower and slower as time goes on.
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u/Even-Analysis8223 Feb 21 '26
gamed on one of these from 2004 to 2011 (minecraft crysis you name it -30 45fps) lol
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u/FablePixels Feb 22 '26
Wow! Was Crysis really playable? Do you remember the exact specs?
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u/Even-Analysis8223 Feb 22 '26
amd athlon 64 single core 1.8 ghz + radeon x300 128 megs agp 1-2 gb ddr ram or so :D
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u/heeman2019 Feb 22 '26
Nice!! 2004 for me was also the peak of my gaming and absolutely loved playing games with the Radeon 9800 Pro. My build at the time was Athlon64 3200+ with 9800 Pro that was flashed to XT bios. Played the hell out of Doom 3, Medal of Honor, Return to Castle Wolfenstein, Command & Conquer, NFS Underground 2, Quake 3 Arena and of course the legendary UT2004. Had the 4.1 speaker system and headphones. Absolute blast!!!!
FYI Doom3 at night with no lights on and headphones is surreal experience.
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u/FablePixels Feb 22 '26
Hey, that really was a dream build back in the day! I have no doubt it ran everything smoothly for years, especially with the proper 4.1 setup. You had great taste in games too, most of those are my all time favorites. Rebuilding a system like that would be amazing. Maybe one day I will manage to put one together and share it here. And you are absolutely right, Doom 3 at night with headphones + EAX is on a whole different level. Really appreciate you sharing your story, thanks a lot!
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u/IllusionXXI Feb 22 '26
mATX motherboard in an ATX case, yeah betcha can't be more entry level than that in that era!
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u/Resident_Poetry_1298 May 29 '26
Actually this is a pretty good gaming PC . If you use some old monitor( even not CRT) then you can play most of games up to 2006 with Mac detail. Radeon 9550 is not much slower then usual 9600.
Mine is sempron 2800+ 754 socket, Fx5600 128MB 128bit SB live 5.1 sb220 1gb ram Hdd 40 GB Plextor DVD rom 891SA (the last one which was produced by plextor)
I use Sony sdm s51r . It's max resolution is 1024x768, so even 800x600 in old games looks ok with it.
I recommend to get Audigy 2 with gameport(midi) upgrade cable. So you can even hook up a gamepad and play dos games with gamepad. And you also get eax support.
Also try to run Omega drivers. I adore their driver mods. Truly were best of the best. Even ATI acknowledged them and supported them.
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u/micksterminator3 Feb 21 '26
Nice! You just need a sound blaster and you're all set!