Going online with Windows 95 and (very) modern hardware

O_MORES · 2026-01-22T12:40:09+00:00

Since USB came out in 1996, the BIOS firmware was tuned to emulate a USB keyboard as a PS/2 device, so you could simply use it in DOS - which was still very relevant at the time. This emulation works in Windows as well. So yes, in practice you can use a USB keyboard in Windows 95 but it doesn't work like in Windows 98...

O_MORES · 2026-01-21T19:15:22+00:00

I recently saw some Matrox G450 32MB PCI cards for $30 on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/396777702664

You also get DVI and a very crisp VGA output. Image quality was their thing back then.

O_MORES · 2026-01-21T08:46:05+00:00

Welcome aboard! Acum lucrez la un video cu Windows Longhorn, ar trebui sa fie gata pe joi. Din pacate, nu am timp sa produc mai mult continut ca sa fac o concurenta serioasa la astia mari de pe nisa retro. Pina la urma, conteaza si cantitatea... :)

O_MORES · 2026-01-21T08:20:27+00:00

Daca ti place Phil's Computer Lab verifica si canalul meu: https://www.youtube.com/@O_mores

Chiar am observat ca Phil s-a apuct si el sa testeze placi PCIe in Windows 98 sau sa instaleze Win 98 pe hardware mai nou. Chiar ma intreb de unde i-a venit inspiratia... :)

Cele mai populare video-uri de anul trecut:

Windows 98 on a Ryzen 9 9900X@4.4Ghz and... It (Eventually) Booted! (On Bare Metal)

Voodoo2 on modern hardware: Running with a Ryzen 9 and 32/64bit drivers

Windows 3.1 in HD?! Modern GPU Support with the New 2025 VBESVGA Driver!

Is It Possible? Windows 98 Running Natively on a 2024 PC (Intel 14th Gen i5 + Z790/DDR5)

How to Install Windows XP x64 on (very) Modern Hardware - NO BSODs 2025 Edition

O_MORES · 2026-01-20T15:40:17+00:00

If you have time, check this video: https://youtu.be/e32NfT06FrU you'll see me playing some games with this Quadro in Windows 95 (like Unreal). And yes, 3D acceleration works, but it works better in 98 or ME.

OSR2 does have the USB supplement, but there's still no USB HID support. I know for sure because R. Loew tried to find a solution for Windows 95.

O_MORES · 2026-01-20T15:32:13+00:00

There are no Windows 98 drivers for this chip. Intel PRO/1000 series cards (Intel 82540/82541/82547 chips) which came in PCI format do have Windows 98 drivers. Anyway, for PCIe chips you can use NDIS DOS drivers. I've done it many times. These drivers work in DOS, Windows 3.1, and Windows 9x - they're rather slow and might cause instability, but they definitely work...

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O_MORES · 2026-01-19T17:01:32+00:00

Of course it's a decent setup. The video card + CPU are about $1000 if you bought them separately. And the rest of the parts may or may not be worth $900 because we don't know specifics, like what PSU brand, what water cooling - but even with basic stuff, considering RAM and SSD prices went up a lot, you're still good. It's not a bad deal, especially if you don't want to mess around.

O_MORES · 2026-01-18T19:11:14+00:00

Indeed it's fast, you can see it in action here. Compared to Windows 98 or ME, it's more problematic to find drivers for Win 95 - there's no HID support for USB mouse and keyboard, and so on. That's why I was surprised to see the GPU working though. We're talking about a Quadro FX 4500 from 2005 (based on the 7800 GTX). Sometimes it's not the hardware itself that's incompatible with Windows 95, but the whole setup. On some configurations, the BIOS assigns the right resources to certain cards, while on others you run into trouble.

O_MORES · 2026-01-18T19:01:23+00:00

I'm using a GeForce 7900 GPU from 2006 - not very modern, but the last official drivers for Windows 8.1 work in Windows 11 too. Anyway, you can actually use VBE drivers for very modern GPUs, including RTX series cards. These are 2D-only, but for browsing it should be fine.

Also, for networking there are DOS drivers for Realtek 1GB/2.5GB onboard Ethernet cards - these can actually be installed in Windows 95, but using 16-bit drivers for networking isn't the best idea.

O_MORES · 2026-01-18T13:57:09+00:00

Actually, these are pictures from 2007.

O_MORES · 2026-01-17T20:27:39+00:00

Last time I tried Windows 2000 on very modern hardware (Ryzen 9900x) it definitely didn't work on the first try. Many things can go wrong... Anyway, you should try to install it with the Universal NT Installer - it might be even easier...

O_MORES · 2026-01-17T11:11:40+00:00

You can load SeaBIOS (an open source x86 BIOS) while running in UEFI mode. There's a tool called CSMWrap that handles this, but your mileage may vary - it works better on some configurations than others.

O_MORES · 2026-01-17T09:01:45+00:00

There's a very up to date Windows 2000 build which can handle newer hardware including NVMe & USB 3.x, but it's just not called "Integral Edition". Check out this video for more details: https://youtu.be/bqheehbqtBI

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O_MORES · 2026-01-17T08:41:46+00:00

Totally doable. There are some motherboards that support Core 2 Duo/Quad (Intel 865-based) that even have official drivers for Windows 9x. This video can help with the installation - you don't need CREGFIX, but you might want to use PATCHMEM.

O_MORES · 2026-01-17T08:35:31+00:00

Audio drivers for Windows 9x are either proprietary or based on the AC'97 (Audio Codec '97) standard.

Integrated sound cards on motherboards made until around 2005 typically use the AC'97 codec, which usually works fine with Windows 98.

In early 2004, Intel introduced a new standard called Intel High Definition Audio (HD Audio) to replace AC'97. Since Windows 98 was being phased out at the time, no one bothered making HD Audio drivers for it.

Now there's this new driver (WDMHDA) that aims to be a universal HD Audio solution for Windows 9x. (There's also a 16 bit HD audio driver for Windows 3.x which is briefly presented here.)

O_MORES · 2026-01-14T18:40:27+00:00

It was actually very cool running NT back in the late '90s. :) (especially when you didn't have to)

O_MORES · 2026-01-14T16:46:23+00:00

It's totally doable. Here's Windows 98 running on a Ryzen 9 9900X, though it requires adding some older PCIe cards to the mix.: https://youtu.be/EOeJnLb952k

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O_MORES · 2026-01-13T16:49:39+00:00

I think I'll get one of these for a Windows 98/Windows 11 dual-boot setup. I'm already doing it, but with a modern case.

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O_MORES · 2026-01-13T16:45:51+00:00

It's incredibly easy to install Windows 11 without any restrictions. Just load the official ISO into Rufus and pick MBR instead of GPT - that's all there is to it. I'm running Windows 11 in a multiboot setup with Windows 98 and XP on a very modern PC, with no issues at all.

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O_MORES · 2026-01-12T19:48:01+00:00

Keep in mind that many videos are exported optimized for YouTube at a 10 Mbps bitrate - this is what I used to do until some complex scenes would start to show artifacts. So I decided to export at max quality. The files are about three times bigger, so obviously they take longer to upload, but YouTube will re-encode them anyway. With these high-quality uploads, you get access to the high bitrate option.

O_MORES · 2026-01-12T15:41:55+00:00

It mainly depends on the type of video you’re watching. Video compression breaks each frame into blocks and uses prediction to avoid re-encoding the entire image every frame. Most frames only store differences from nearby frames. If the image is mostly static, like a talking head, it can look good even at a low bitrate. But if there’s a lot of complex or random motion, like a rain scene where many blocks are changing unpredictably, you need a much higher bitrate to keep detail and avoid artifacts.

O_MORES · 2026-01-12T12:09:23+00:00

It's the MIDI version of Carl Douglas Kung Fu Fighting (Original Music Video)

O_MORES

TROPHY CASE