It's a nice setup to start retro gaming without spending a lot of cash. 2 MB graphics is enough to play games at 800x600 in hi-color with double buffering, so I wouldn't worry about that much. Knowing the graphics chip would be more important, since various chips have compatibility issues with some DOS games. The sound card is very basic, but it's enough for a start, to make sure retro gaming is actually what you like to do. The CPU might be too fast for some older games, but it will be adequate for Windows games.

I am not sure, but according to this site the MMX 4000 had an Integrated S3 Trio64V2/GX.
https://www.cnet.com/products/compaq-deskpro- … or-none-series/

The Deskpro 4000 is a great PC, really well built, but is OEM.
The PC doesn't have doesn't have a standard BIOS chip. Instead you have to install it on the Hard drive or run it off a boot disk. You can still download it, it's just something to be aware of.
Onboard video wont have 3D support but really good dos compatibility and fine for 2d Win98 gaming like AOE.
But for $20 I'd get it. It'll make a great Dos SVGA/early Win9x PC

Re desktop cases you have 2 form factors, Easiest way to tell is look at the back of the PC and if the cards mount vertical or horizontal
Cards that mount horizontal are a generic design, really its just a tower on its side. So generic parts will fit
Cards that mount vertical are classified LPX and mostly used by OEM's but not an official standard so swapping motherboards in these systems usually require case modding for keyboard, serial, etc ports to fit.
Also the motherboard only has 1 I/O connector for the raiser which other ISA/PCI cards then plug into. They do accept standard sound, video, etc PCI/ISA cards though.

I have few Deskpro 4000 MMX, verry nice pc, well built, RTC battery is lithium, so no corrosion, but the original battery is soldered to the motherboard, so if it is emty, then you have to replace with a socket. Also i have never successfuly used a Sound Blaster AWE32/64 in it, it will say in the BIOS setup, that all resources are allocated and not conflicting. But the AWEUTIL just does not find it. Sound Blaster 16 functionality is untouched by it.

Buy everything with a good price 😉 You can always decide later what best suits your needs and keep or dump it 🤣

kixs wrote on 2020-10-08, 13:33:

Buy everything with a good price 😉 You can always decide later what best suits your needs and keep or dump it 🤣

Good advice. If you have space, buy it, it's worth it.

Andi, from what city are you?

kixs wrote on 2020-10-08, 13:33:

Buy everything with a good price 😉 You can always decide later what best suits your needs and keep or dump it 🤣

Be aware, I used to do this too. All of them except for a few became keepers... Now I've got over 30 computers and my wife says it's too much (I don't agree ofc).

Back to your rig: as said: for DOS fanning it's reasonably fast. Playing games at 800x600 should be doable.
In case you want more power for 3D games you could look into a PCI TNT or Voodoo1 card, but that definitely is no musthave for DOS gaming and basic Windows gaming.
For example: need for speed 2 also runs fine on my ALG2301 graphics card, which is definitely low end without any 3D support.

If you eventually want to go faster you may want a P3 with decent AGP 3D graphics card any way.

Thank you for your advice people.
I just returned home with the beauty. I will create a Journal/Diary and let you know what happens with my new project.
I will probably buy more stuff, but only what benefits the system i already have. I won't buy 386 components if i only have a Pentium MMX project.

RaverX wrote on 2020-10-08, 13:39:

kixs wrote on 2020-10-08, 13:33:

Buy everything with a good price 😉 You can always decide later what best suits your needs and keep or dump it 🤣

Good advice. If you have space, buy it, it's worth it.

Andi, from what city are you?

@RaverX, I am from Bucharest, Romania ( Eastern Europe). Old stuff is very rare here, and overpriced. That's why i went for this build, for 20$ even if it's junk i will not feel sorry.

Pajeroking wrote on 2020-10-08, 18:26:

@RaverX, I am from Bucharest, Romania ( Eastern Europe). Old stuff is very rare here, and overpriced. That's why i went for this build, for 20$ even if it's junk i will not feel sorry.

I know, I'm also from Romania, in the last years prices of old computer components have gone insane 🙁 Almost anything older than 2005 (AGP, PCI, ISA stuff) are sold as "vintage"/"retro" with high prices, even if they are common/junk. So, if you have space buy it, if you get something better in the future and you don't want it anymore, you can sell it easily.

RaverX wrote on 2020-10-08, 19:29:

Pajeroking wrote on 2020-10-08, 18:26:

@RaverX, I am from Bucharest, Romania ( Eastern Europe). Old stuff is very rare here, and overpriced. That's why i went for this build, for 20$ even if it's junk i will not feel sorry.

I know, I'm also from Romania, in the last years prices of old computer components have gone insane 🙁 Almost anything older than 2005 (AGP, PCI, ISA stuff) are sold as "vintage"/"retro" with high prices, even if they are common/junk. So, if you have space buy it, if you get something better in the future and you don't want it anymore, you can sell it easily.

Today, a guy from Bucharest sold on olx a system with a K6-2+ @500 Mhz, S3 video card, some ISA sound card for, like 20 euros(100 ron). So, if you are patient enough, you can still find good deals...

There you go:
Compaq Deskpro 4000

Closing this thread, and continuing on the one above.