In somewhat chronological order, I have:
1. Hewitt-Rand 8088 (currently not working)
2. GRID 286 portable computer (arrived dead, haven't figured out why yet)
3. TI TravelMate win486SLC notebook
4. IBM PS/1 (current 486 gaming rig)
5. Pentium 75
6. Pentium 233MMX (current Pentium gaming rig)
7. Mac Powerbook G3
8. First gen iMac
9. HP Vectra Pentium II
10. IBM Pentium 4 (can't recall the model # right now)

Still have to build or acquire a P3, then it's some more exotic stuff like a DEC Alpha box, SPARC, SGI workstation...etc.

Edit, I have two thinkpads, both are P3's, one has 98SE on it, the other Win2K, but I have no P3 desktops at this moment.

Since I'm a hoarder I don't know the exact number...

I'd guess around 50 complete (from 286 to Core2Duo/Phenom) and parts for at least another 50... but probably more 🤣 I will need to cut it down and stop hoarding eventually, maybe 😉

Not counting laptops and pre-PC era.

Wayyyy too many.

Its a personal thing. I think you can get away with very few but there will be some software that won't run.

I have only two that are currently built. Those are my "ultimate" Win98 and WinXP PCs. Honestly they can handle most games that I throw at them with ease:

Ultimate DOS/Win98
Core 2 Duo X6800 @2.93Ghz
Intel 865 Chipset
512mb DDR RAM
Geforce 5900 Ultra
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
10k RPM HDD

Ultimate Win XP / Linux Web Browsing
16Gb DDR3 RAM
ASUS P8Z77-M with i7 3770k @3.9Ghz (April 2012)
Geforce GTX 980 Ti 6Gb (June 2015)
Creative Sound Blaster X-FI (Low profile)

I also have this for experimentation and for older games:

XT / Turbo XT Class Machine
Pocket 8086 Mini laptop
CPU replaced with 10Mhz 8088
VGA Graphics
OPL3 sound

But, I have been gathering parts, and testing on my test bench a series of other machines for my retro PC cupboard: 7 PCs to cover 1985-2010

So that is 12. Plus I have my Modern Gaming PC (admitedly not that modern any more). I am considering whether or not I want to dual boot my modern PC to be an "Ultimate Windows 7" PC. It has Ryzen 5800X3D and RTX 3080 Ti. Motherboard chipset is X470. I believe Windows 7 is supported.

I stopped counting, but there must be more than 100 complete systems, and the collection is still increasing.
Allmost half of them are dual or more CPU socketed.
Yes, I have to strip down the collection, but where to start?
I own 2 or more of some systems, but they are all unique of their kind.

eisapc wrote on 2025-02-28, 07:12:

I stopped counting, but there must be more than 100 complete systems, and the collection is still increasing.

100+ machines? Sounds like a museum! Haha.

Too many?
At least 10 working, lan-ready systems. Add to that a couple towers, a 486, half a dozen motherboards with cpu and ram. Oh and half a dozen or so laptops. Wayyy too many and I try to get rid of some. Seems the market is stale at the moment

22 machines so far. All fully built, LAN ready (IPX network) from 386 to Q9650. Some connected to multiple KVMs and some have their own monitors. The slowest machine can play Warcraft 1 with the fastest machine. Went down the midi rabbit hole so almost all the machine have some sort of midi device attached or installed inside. The biggest problem is how do you know when to say “enough” and stop collecting 🤣

What I find strange is that a lot of people on Vogons (that have a large amount of machines fully built), don’t list the their machines publicly. I find it fascinating reading the specs of other machines. Really wish more people would provide a link to the list of their machines in their signature. My list is coming soon ☺️

I have four main retro rigs (in signature) which handle most of my DOS/Win9x/WinXP/Win7 gaming needs. Additionally, I have three more fully working systems which I occasionally use for specialized tasks, or as testing platforms.

I also have enough components in storage to build maybe 3-4 additional retro rigs, but some of those need recapping and such. It's good to have spares, but I'll probably sell most of these extra parts at some point.

I always oscillate between 3 to 6. When I hit the latter number I begin to feel guilty that I have too many computers and sell some 😁. Currently I have a complete 486, Pentium 1, Pentium 3 (Slot 1) and Core 2 Duo systems. But I probably won't sell any of them, if not necessary. I'd like to build an EGA 286 system with Adlib sound card. Tandy system would be even better but since I live in Europe it's hard to get one.

I think the number is proportional to the space available, initially I had a PC, then later I started upgrading motherboards, and having to change everything (RAM CPU video cards etc...), I had the old PC left, until one day I bought a case to put it on, the PCs became two (with a monitor), and later I arrived at seven eight around the mid-2000s, currently I don't know how many are, because the favorite hobby is testing and repairing the motherboards (you can find them here:
Re: Test and troubleshoot PC@LIVE motherboards
)

Brawndo wrote on 2025-02-28, 04:26:

I've gone back and forth on whether I want to slim down my collection of older PCs or just hang on to them all. I go through phases of thinking I don't really need them all, but I sure have a hard time thinking about letting any of them go. I like them too much! I honestly couldn't give you an exact number, but I probably have about 12-15 complete PCs from the 486 era through windows 7, which does not include my current modern desktop. Not to mention the piles of spare components I have laying around. I'm just curious about how many the average hobbyist has laying around.

i think you have answered your own question as to whether you want to keep them 😀

15 is a fair few, i don't have as many as some but it must be about 40 if i include laptops. I have some virtually the same though, a number of lga775 era for instance. Having a spread across 16, 32 and 64 bit periods is probably better.

However i am minded to let some go, i already let some lga775 dells go where the cases aren't really suited to other motherboards. I don't often use any of the 32 bit systems now either, just about everything can be done on a modest win 7 64 bit system.

in the end i can only really use one pc at a time, if i see one i haven't used in years then what is it for (spares of course! 😀 )

I got my main PC, but you're not asking about that and 2 others.

An XP/10 dual boot machines for most of my gaming.
And far more recently I put together a DOS/WfW311, Windows 98, XP triple boot system for some earlier games.

Classic systems? Three is my max, with two up and running right now (DOS 6.22 and Win95 - Can be seen in my blog link below), and a Win98SE build in the works. I just don't have room for anything else.

I have 5 modern systems up and running as well, so space in our little apartment is very limited. The 3 primary systems my family and I use daily, a "server", and my workbench PC.

Unless you want to count my Z80-MBC2 build, PicoMite build, Pentium 4 NUC system I built, and all the Raspberry Pi's I own as well. 😜

Would love to know how many PC’s this guy has https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8gqgybDLD8

Must be one of the top collectors in the world.

zuldan wrote on 2025-02-28, 11:01:

Would love to know how many PC’s this guy has https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8gqgybDLD8

Must be one of the top collectors in the world.

Damn!

350+ Motherboards..
1200+ CPUs..
40+ KG RAM..
500+ Graphic Cards..
100+ Sound cards..
etc etc..

About 25 working retro computers from 8088 up to Athlon XP /p4-478. Including the computer I started with as a young kid.
And about 3 or 4 not working correctly but fixable.
And nother 25 in storage, moet a bit too modern for me, with PCIe (my current limit). Lots of HP and Fujitsu workstations.

waterbeesje wrote on 2025-02-28, 13:53:

About 25 working retro computers from 8088 up to Athlon XP /p4-478. Including the computer I started with as a young kid.
And about 3 or 4 not working correctly but fixable.
And nother 25 in storage, moet a bit too modern for me, with PCIe (my current limit). Lots of HP and Fujitsu workstations.

That's basically how I started. The 8088 was my first PC, the PS/1 was the first computer I bought myself. The 486SLC was my dad's first laptop. So lots of sentimental value.

At the moment I have:

• 3 active setups (complete working systems with keyboard, monitor, speakers, etc.)
• 12 additional fully working PCs
• 6 laptops / portables
• 6 parts assemblies waiting to be built
• parts for at least another 24+ systems

The above doesn't include my modern PCs (2) or work computer.