First post, by Retrojanusz
Hello friends,
As you probably know, there's a lot of old gems that aren't on GoG, and just refuse to work on modern PCs except virtual machines - which are usually unplayable anyway (stutter).
I'm referring mostly to the Win98 era here which is generally the hardest to get to work on modern systems, though some Win-XP games may also fall into that category.
However, the not-too-fun practice of slapping silly prices on retro hardware that got somewhat popular due to influencer activity is really hard to stomach and I am looking for components that are still "kinda" under the radar.
Thus, I ask you for recommendations on:
- Processors (pentium 3 has been recommended to me);
- Motherboards (looking for reliable ones, old MOBOs are notorious for breaking down)
- RAM - not much expectations here, also RAM is mostly cheap even if it's retro, but would like to know the optimal route
- GPU - I've been told to look for Geforce 4 or 5, such as 4200Ti, but those are unfortunately plagued by retro tax and are priced similar to cards like geforce 1050Ti (before the mining crisis, that is) which I find ridiculous.
I'd be grateful for any tips.
I live in Poland ; I have access to parts cheaper than on ebay on polish trading portals (allegro, olx), it's easier to find underpriced gems there. Ebay, I haven't opened in years regarding retro items; the price hike has been ridiculous 10 years ago and nowadays it's not even worth checking.
The only thing I sorta can't get in Poland are 19-21" CRTs that aren't basically junk - I got a somewhat good 17" SONY monitor with good brightness that turns on quickly, but pretty much all remaining stock in Poland is spent junk and some extreme luck/every day fishing is required to buy anything better.
Fortunately buying old PC hardware is still less ridiculous than buying Amiga 1200, or - even worse - a Neo Geo console.
Cheers!