Best set up for retro pc gaming?

[Chugster 7]

So I have been on a bit of a retro kick atm, getting nostalgic for 90s pc games. Now the pre-95 Dos games are easy with dosbox and early Win 95 games seem OK to install and run on Win 10 but I am having issues with late 90s games refusing to install or run with various compatability settings.

So I thought a dedicated Win 98, ME or XP environment would be best but I'm not sure the best way. Do a get an older pc to try and run it? Do I dual boot on my Ryzen 9/2080ti pc? Or do I try a virtual environment?

Please give me any opinions, advice, tips or trick you know of..

Thanks in advance

[Sky High 166]

I find Windows 7 to be very amenable to older games. For me, EAW, Mobil Rally Championship and Panzer Elite all work excellently in this OS.

[bazillius 1,252]

i use PCEMv13 for windows 98 instaled on it.

https://pcem-emulator.co.uk/

PS dont even try to use VirtualBox or kinda things this is a bullshit for old games

PPS i searched a way to play win95\98 games by years and i found that PCEM is the only way. Better is only to buy real Pentium II

Edited February 20, 2021 by bazillius
PPS

[bazillius 1,252]

My Scrins of PCEM  :)

 

[MigBuster 2,861]

Yes most virtual environments like Virtualbox don't give you full access to your second GPU for gaming - so if the above does allow for that then would probably the best idea.

 

As for trying to dual boot natively onto an ancient OS and modern hardware that sounds like a nightmare. I remember years back trying to put Win 1998 onto a 2006 PC - and it required a degree of hacking to get it working......not worth it. 

[bazillius 1,252]

I have installed on one HDD Windows 7 and  on another HDD Windows XP. But Windows XP is not Windows 98 and many great games dont work. And yes i tried to install  Windows 98 on my PC and its impossible. that sounds like a nightmare  as you say)