After the OptiPlex 380 turned into such a strong multi-era retro PC, I wanted to see if the same trick would work on its newer sibling — the OptiPlex 760. It didn’t repeat quite as cleanly.
Project Notes
| Status | In progress |
| Goal | See whether a newer, ICH10-generation OptiPlex can match the 380’s DOS/Win98/XP retro range. |
Unlike the 380, the 760 has no BIOS “OS Install” RAM-limiting mode, so a proper Windows 98 install needs a memory patch rather than a BIOS shortcut — I initially sidestepped this by cloning over an existing Win98 drive from my Dimension E520 build to get a quick read on viability. A Radeon X600 dropped in easily with Catalyst 6.2 and full hardware Direct3D, but a Voodoo 2 refuses to work at all — constant crashes and FXMEMMAP blue screens that survive even stripping the system down to bare hardware, most likely a memory-map conflict tied to the ICH10 southbridge.
Onboard audio (an Analog Devices AD1984A HD codec) has no official Windows 98 support, and the community WDMHDA driver installs but currently doesn’t support this specific codec chip — reported on Vogons for anyone tracking that project’s progress.
DOS fares much better: the motherboard exposes a serial header, so adding a PS/2 keyboard sidesteps the USB input lag that’s a running theme on these Dell boards, and SBEMU handles sound cleanly with no drama. Windows XP is the machine’s natural home — every chipset driver installs without a fight and it’s fast — while Windows 7 boots but clearly wants an SSD and more RAM than this box has.
Still open: fixing Voodoo 2 (possibly needs a BIOS unlock via SOP8 clip to free up memory-mapping options), confirming whether 32-bit disk access needs disabling as it did on the E520, and keeping an eye on WDMHDA for AD1984A support.
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