I bought the base for this computer from Facebook Marketplace. Originally, it had an MSI Socket A motherboard with an Athlon XP 3200+ CPU and an Nvidia GeForce 2 GTS GPU.
Most of the hardware was fine for the Y2K build I wanted, but a few things needed to go, namely the case and the CPU.
I switched the case from the black, Windows XP-era Antec case it came in to a beige InWin case, which had the exact look I was going for.
After swapping cases, I addded a SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS, the best Widnows 98 sound card according to other enthusiasts (nerds) online. Although installing the sound card required fighting with the drivers, it is great once I got it working! I played some Half-Life and GTA III with the EAX setting turned on, experiencing these games' soundscapes as intended. It is really unfortunate that this technology as gone away.
Next, I replaced the CPU with a 1 GHz Athlon. Although the Athlon XP 3200+ was downclocked to 1.3 GHz, it was still not the right part for this build. It was 3 years newer than my target year, and it has XP in the name. Definitely not the part to use in a 98 system. The 1 GHz chip was perfect.
The motherboard is also slightly newer than my Y2K target, but I'm willing to stick with it for convenience.
Finally, I added a 250 MB Zip drive to make file transfer to my older systems easier.
A computer of this era demands beige everything.
I picked up the monitor, a Dell P991, last year from the MSU surplus store. What a find! It's a flat 19" Sony Trinitron Tube, a real beauty to use. It has no defects other than a slight convergence issue in the top right corner. It's one of those defects that isn't really noticeable unless you look for it.
The keyboard is a Dell quietkey from eBay, a model that is quite good for rubber domes. It isn't mushy like other rubber dome keyboards, instead it feels more like Cherry MX Brown switches. It's good for playing games, but it's not something I would want to use every day.
The mouse is nothing of note. It is a basic microsoft two-button mouse that doesn't even have a scroll wheel!
The speakers are Creative branded speakers to match the sound card. Again, nothing particularily interesting, but decent and usable.
The computer runs Windows 98 SE like I already mentioned.
Installed are some of my favorite late '90s games, like: Half-Life and all its expansions, Thief Gold, RCT and RCT2, Quake 3, Unreal and Unreal Tournament 99, Serious Sam, and many others.
I also have some classic late '90s software like WinAmp and Microsoft Office installed.
One unique program that I think is worth mentioning is DiscordMessenger. It's a discord client that works on almost every version of Windows - all the way back to Windows NT 3.1! Many fetures work with the major exception of voice and video calls.
I had a lot of fun transforming this computer into the Windows 98 beast I had dreamed of after watching YouTube channels like LGR for the past 10+ years. It's still a little strange to see and use a computer like this after only seeing them online. I grew up with Windows XP and Windows 7, and learning about Windows 9X and its quirks was a fun project.
I don't have anything else planned for this computer for now, besides installing more games and maybe trying dial up internet - someone in my area is trying to set up their own dial-up ISP. However, I will keep tinkering with it and if something unique catches my attention I will try it out and update this page.