Reply 20 of 29, by SirNickity
The Gateway DX2 tower I have is fantastic. But I don’t see much advantage to a 486 if you already have a Pentium.
I have a Dell Dimension 386SX/25 which is a perfect sweet spot for older DOS stuff. It’s perfect for Wing Commander, for example. The case is nice - a little business-like, but with a style that suits an early 386. It’s fairly small, the inside layout is good (not too cramped), and looks like even the motherboard is fairly standard AT. Speaking of which, the motherboard is well built - coin cell RTC battery, FPU socket, onboard I/O and video with expandable video memory, sensible jumpers with adequate documentation online, etc. I’ve thought about selling it before since I have a PS/2 286, a 386DX and a 486SX - but I decided I like it too much to let it go.
My 486SX is an AST, which is also really nice, but a little more proprietary - it’s picky about RAM and I would not be able to swap the motherboard. I think the BIOS is Phoenix.
The nice thing about OEM systems pre-Pentium is you are way more likely to get onboard PS2 ports. Both of the above has PS2 mouse interfaces. My homebuilt 386 and 486 do not.