Yeah, I can relate.

By no small margin, the hardest challenge is in keeping systems intact and actually playing games on them.

In my case, it's all about "what will be next project"... when I didn't completed testing the current one 😒

I am going to wrap this topic up this summer by finishing and perfecting my existing builds.
Who knows? Maybe I will add another one? But for the the being it's nice to be finally ready to play games 😀

unexpected motherboard chipset failures/quirks that get in the way of basic file transfer and peripheral usage, but that's less of a "retro rig" and more of a "budget" problem of building a computer in the day

The hardest part for me, is to source the components.
Mostly because I am concentrating on mid-80's to 2000/01.

No issues whatsoever: I virtually always buy OEMs: not much to upgrade. And I actually spend 85% of the time playing games.

Finding the time to do it! (Read: 8 month old kiddo).

Not going broke and running out of room.

In the early days of my hobby I used to build set PCs, but the scope also constantly changes. So I don't put things into a case any-more, just put it together on a test bench so I can change stuff easily.

I just moved to a house and have more space, so now I will have a few dedicated computers. My DOS time machine was the first to get its own spot 😀 That one isn't going to change because I have done all the experimenting and testing already.

Yeah, for me it's sourcing components. I can't bring myself to buy retro motherboards and cases online because it's hard to know about damage until you actually test, and cases are just so expensive to ship. So I rely on finding parts, which is a very slow process. I will buy video and sound cards because they are relatively cheap with low shipping so not as big a deal if it ends up not working.

1) explaining myself and others my reasons
2) hiding with stuff and post packages from my wife
3) sourcing nice clean retro PC cases

tikoellner wrote:

explaining myself and others my reasons

Screw what other people are saying. If they can't grasp what you are saying, then ignore what they say.
It's only a personal recreation, after all. So yeah. Why give a damn, what other has to say. 🤣

tikoellner wrote:

hiding with stuff and post packages from my wife

If you don't use too much money, then why hide stuff at all? 😉
If she by any chance, use a lot of money for stuff like shoes or bags or makeup or anything else.
Then tell her that you will be happy to cut down on the money you spend, if she cut's down on her's.
Better yet.... Make two bank accounts for each others hobby, or make two Paypal accounts. 😀
Don't hide stuff from her. Been there, done that, never again. I felt like a bad person. Never again.
Yeah... Being honest are the way to go. My woman do not understand this hobby, she just want
her man to be honest about money spending. 🤣

Hiding packages from wife I can relate to. It's not about money, but space. My basement is already packed up to the ceiling in boxes with my stuff, and the missus always pushes me to "clean up" the place - but there's nothing to clean up; everything is organized and "cleaning up" can only mean getting rid of stuff. Which I don't want to do. Adding more stuff there is something that I prefer doing without much publicity for that reason.

Installing/setting up software. I hate that part.

Hardest part: To find a reason. When I feel like fiddling with this stuff I take board, cards, etc from storage and fire them up on my 'test bench'. When done, the stuff goes back to storage.

I want to finish repairing/pimping this Pentium laptop some time though - will be the 'Terminal Velocity Computer'...

1 - Sourcing some parts
2 - BIOS updates with floppy (i'm running out of them)

1) resisting the urge of hoarding

I'm into Pentium/MMX era, and once I've learnt how to get these parts cheaply or for free, I've been flooded by them. I now have 6 Socket 7 motherboards, a bunch of Pentiums, about 20 Soundblaster and clones, about 30 various videocards, etc. It happens because when people want to give away these parts for free, they usually want to give them in bulk. And it's not like a lot of my parts are unique or I could call it an actual collection.

Don't get me wrong — it's really useful to have a bunch of spare parts and be able to solve any compatibility issue without doing any extra shopping. One time I've even managed to find a spare LED for my case that wouldn't show HDD activity properly. But it does feel like hoarding. I often think about getting rid of extra parts, but then I think "what if something goes bad?"

2) constant rebuilding

Some of you have mentioned that: you always want to go better, faster, etc. With early Pentiums it's not too hard to go really high-end, though, so for me it's different. I'm more concerned with the look and feel of my system: finding a desktop-style AT case, an "authentic sounding" HDD. Right now I'm thinking about a new CRT — my only 17" Samsung 757DFX looks too modern and generic to me and I want something like a curved 14" Samsung 3NE or a 15" Sony Trinitron. For me, a "classic" DOS/early Windows PC should somewhat resemble the proportions of the original IBM 5150 where a smaller screen resides on top of a horizontal case. My computer should look like this, damn it! 🤣

Now, I do play a lot of games on my systems, but it's nothing compared to the time I've spent fiddling with hardware.

For me it depends on what parts you want to use. Some parts are hard to get so you might end up waiting years before one comes up for sale. That's why I always place a monetary value on my time spent waiting. I'd rather pay a little more for something now than wait another 5+ years for another one to turn up if it's rare. You could end up waiting your entire life for the next one only to have it never appear. So for me, waiting for those hard to find parts to turn up is the worst part.

Old systems are flaky and fragile and once they work "well enough" you should leave them alone. The urge to constantly change things is more trouble than it's worth.