Hello, and welcome!

The thing with Compaq and other large OEM's is that with a bit of unluck, you'll find the board to be very inflexible.
Better is to find a retail board (a motherboard that used to be sold in the shops) as those tend to have more options.

I can highly recommend to do some reading, IF you're curious, but not really savvy in this retro computer stuff yet 😉
Anyway, I'll go dig up some nice links 😉

One thing, around 98 you had the choice of either getting an AT board, or the much more modern ATX.

Edit:Redhill's always a good read, especially since it covers a lot of the pre-pentium stuff as well.
http://www.redhill.net.au/ig.html

Yea I figured as much. Thanks for the awesome guide 😳! Considering how cheap most parts are, I can probably build a good DOS machine for not too much. Thanks Tetrium 😁!

OEM machines can be interesting if they offer something special. E.g. a few of these models are very small for example. There is a 486 from Unisys and it's tiny and comes with PS/2 ports and a network adapter.

The downside is that it only has a single ISA lot and the on-board video card can't be upgraded. Still I have a soft spot for OEM machines. HP and Compaq did some cute 386s machines back in the day.

Regarding $$$, just make sure you compare buying all the parts vs. getting a complete PC!

PS: OEM machines are also very stable / reliable / well built and the BIOS has limited / no options which I do like. I prefer stuff that "just works" and doesn't let me down.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

OEM machines can be interesting if they offer something special. E.g. a few of these models are very small for example. There is […]
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OEM machines can be interesting if they offer something special. E.g. a few of these models are very small for example. There is a 486 from Unisys and it's tiny and comes with PS/2 ports and a network adapter.

The downside is that it only has a single ISA lot and the on-board video card can't be upgraded. Still I have a soft spot for OEM machines. HP and Compaq did some cute 386s machines back in the day.

Regarding $$$, just make sure you compare buying all the parts vs. getting a complete PC!

PS: OEM machines are also very stable / reliable / well built and the BIOS has limited / no options which I do like. I prefer stuff that "just works" and doesn't let me down.

Hmm, interesting point. The entire box is $20, which is pretty good I think. I'm wondering if I could dual boot 98 and Dos6.22 on it and ,maybe with a software solution like MoSlo or Throttle, slow it down enough to run early stuff like Wizardry, Wing Commander, or Secret of Monkey Island. I'm trying to go for a single rig setup since I honestly don't have room for anything more 😅

There are so many angles to this topic, it's hard to cover in a single thread.

Honestly if you just want to play Wing Commander or Monkey Island, stick with DOSBox, maybe purchase a Roland MT-32 and you will not regret it.

A nice USB joystick, a clear LCD image, DOSBOx cycles set to 4500 and you have the perfect Wing Commander experience.

Most of us however enjoy playing with hardware a lot more or just as much as actually playing games. A single machine won't cut it either. There are simply too many compromises and standards.

e.g. a 386 is perfect for Wing Commander but you can't play Doom or later games.

A 486 is great for Doom or Descent, but struggles with games that use 3D accelerators or Pentium optimized code.

A Pentium is great for Voodoo 3DFX games, but once you get into TNT and more powerful cards you need a Pentium 3.

You can't go wrong with 20 bucks, but it would be nice to get more information...

Once it's light outside I'll likely go take a look. Perhaps I can turn it into something of a mid-range machine. Anything in particular I should be on the lookout for?

Yea, I've already surmissed that in the end, one box won't do it all. Besides, why would I want to pass up on the chance to turn a pile of cables and chips into a running, clicking beast 😈!

Update: Scratch that it's sold. But it reminded me that my grandma had a REAL old compie before she moved up closer to us. Might pop by and see if she still gots it 😁.