Specs:
Industrial Board with 512kb L2 cache
AMD K6-3 450 MHz
256 MB RAM
ESS Soundblaster compatible onboard chip
Voodoo 4 4500 PCI with HDMI output
64GB CF card that is easily accessible from the back

It doesn't seem suitable for commercialisation.
You said the parts are hard to find.
That's always going to mean either disappointed customers, high prices, and low margins once you factor your time in.
Probably all 3.
Then there's software. Presumably if it's a kit, it will be working out of the box.
Finding licenses will be necessary.

I built something similar using a hpt5720 thin client, the expansion bay, and a voodoo1.
The gpu was much slower, but the cpu/platform was at least double.
Probably around 300usd all up - and it was a pain to find the expansion bay.

What's your target price?

This is very cool. Sounds like it would be difficult to affordably make multiples of due to parts scarcity though.

The small transparent case reminds me of raspberry pis, which makes it seem ultra modern and cheapens it in a way for me. Some kind of beige retro inspired design would be preferable for me personally, but people like me are not necessarily the market.

Presumably you have a supply of these rare boards if you are thinking of commercialising it?

Whilst the clear case does show off what's inside and makes it a bit of a display piece, I am in agreement with DukeOfEarl. A beige design would be more to my taste.

I think an optical drive and floppy drive would be nice also. But I guess you could just use games from GOG.com on it.

Thanks for your replies. Yes I have supply on almost all parts, except the CPU. The K6-3 (without +) is not an easy find. The + version is very VRM sensitive and I am not getting it to a high clock on this board, that is why it has to be a K6-3.

Great input on the case, thanks for letting me know. I will think about a beige retro case for it, potentially 3d printed. There is a big disadvantage with the current case, scratches are nearly impossible to avoid.

From a price perspective, we are looking somewhere in the 2000 USD range. I can heavily reduce the price by removing the acrylic case, lower spec CPU and the Voodoo 4 as those are the main cost driver.

I don't suppose the reduced price reduced spec version would ever be around 2-300? You might find a 4 digit price or high 3 digit price to be a tough sell.

2000USD? I can't imagine you will find many buyers in that price range. Even 500USD would be too much for me. I don't want a Voodoo 4 that much. Haha. IMHO Voodoo 3 was the last one worth having. After that I think most games supported D3D or OpenGL, and there are much cheaper cards that can do that better than the Voodoo 4500.

For a collector a 4500 may make sense though. I guess your creation will be targeting collectors with deep pockets. Also, isn't a Voodoo 4 a bit of a mismatch with that CPU?

Yes, the Voodoo 4 is a mismatch, no doubt. However, the re-engineered V4 that I am using is ultra low profile, that is why it has been used. I will offer a V3 version as well, that will increase the height of the case by a few centimeters.

If I would remove Voodoo and just onboard graphics (2MB), a Pentium 233 MMX and 128 MB RAM but still in the acrylic case, it would be somewhere in the $1000 range. Then you have an amazing early 90s gaming machine. I will buy a 3d printer in the next few weeks and see how much a beige, retro looking case would cost me. That would again decrease the overall costs and it seems like the beige retro style case is more desirable then the current acrylic case.

$1000 for a basic Pentium MMX system sounds very unrealistic to me. Would be interesting to see other people's thoughts though.

Thank you for your comment. I understand your perspective. A basic Pentium 233 MMX in a standard AT case + a standard graphics card will be cheaper, no doubt. My target group are enthusiasts who want the exact same retro experience as back in the late 90s / early 2000s with original hardware but without the burden of an inconvenient size and impractical weight. My retro computer is just 9.5cm in height, that is approx. 80% smaller than a standard AT tower. Its light like a feather and robust like a tank because of its industrial grade fabrication.

My take aways so far:
* Think about a different case type, ideally a retro beige case
* Think about different CPUs and GPUs in order to reduce the price

Thank you all

Yeah, I get that your system will have unique characteristics. For me, this has some similarities to the NuXT PC project. Basically a micro ATX board that allows you to get much of the functionality of a IBM 5150 in a modern small package. However, like your design, it's not quite the same experience, and it's expensive ($300). Most comments I have seen are complaints about the cost. But some people have bought it. So, maybe there will be a market for yours.

Aubricks wrote on 2025-12-09, 16:06:

Thanks for your replies. Yes I have supply on almost all parts, except the CPU. The K6-3 (without +) is not an easy find. The + version is very VRM sensitive and I am not getting it to a high clock on this board, that is why it has to be a K6-3.

Don't use that chip /board combo then.
Hp made thousands of thin clients like the one I used.
Standard athlon, standard mini itx, and standard laptop brick psu.
https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/hp/t5720/

Ran 98 very well.

Nice 🙂 Call me an idiot, but how does this even power on without a psu?

myne wrote on 2025-12-10, 00:06:

and standard laptop brick psu.

Unless you mean OP.
Looks like one side has a port for an external brick

Where are you finding these Vo0doo 3/4's? probably easier and more profitable selling these somewhere like eBay for a fair price.

I really like your computer and think its great for you but not mass market, for me it has too many compromises.

CPU is towards the slower end for Win9x but also overpowered for dos, (P200 is enough)
Onboard Video is probably fine for dos, but very limiting for Win9x
The onboard sound is good for dos but I'd be wanting something better for Win9x games
Copying files over network is fine but would want FDD/Optical as an option. (maybe external breakout cables)
Small size is great but is it worth the price difference from a standard PC. or emulation which is free if limited space is available.

I can see a market for this but would be very limited and as you say more of a 1 off per customer with individual hardware/price choices.
You could also sell without a case to keep costs down, especially if you were willing to give out the files for people to 3d print themselves (maybe with the purchase if not publicly)

chinny22 wrote on 2025-12-10, 02:08:

Where are you finding these Vo0doo 3/4's? probably easier and more profitable selling these somewhere like eBay for a fair price […]
Show full quote

Where are you finding these Vo0doo 3/4's? probably easier and more profitable selling these somewhere like eBay for a fair price.

I really like your computer and think its great for you but not mass market, for me it has too many compromises.

CPU is towards the slower end for Win9x but also overpowered for dos, (P200 is enough)
Onboard Video is probably fine for dos, but very limiting for Win9x
The onboard sound is good for dos but I'd be wanting something better for Win9x games
Copying files over network is fine but would want FDD/Optical as an option. (maybe external breakout cables)
Small size is great but is it worth the price difference from a standard PC. or emulation which is free if limited space is available.

I can see a market for this but would be very limited and as you say more of a 1 off per customer with individual hardware/price choices.
You could also sell without a case to keep costs down, especially if you were willing to give out the files for people to 3d print themselves (maybe with the purchase if not publicly)

Great input, thanks for sharing your thoughts. The V3 / V4 would be sourced from a reliable developer : https://www.zxc64.com/

He uses original chips from back then.

It has an ISA extension, which means you could potentially install a better sound card if the onboard ESS Audiodrive is not sufficient.

The CF card is exposed to the back, which makes file transfer super easy. The board has also an onboard Ethernet chip, which means an RJ45 plug could be exposed to the back without any problems.

To me, the K6-3 was the strongest Super Socket 7 CPU and it covers dozens of awesome games. When disabling the CPU and board cache, the system runs like a 486. That means games from that area can be covered too.

There is a secondary IDE port on the board, I could potentially route the IDE port to the outside. Good point.

Either way, I hear you on all your points 🙂

Well, how reliable he is ?
You may read : "No functions were implemented for buying/ordering and so on due to lack of existing fund collecting methods."
or : "To Receive Warranty Service: Send you claim to *******@gmail.com" in a manual.

Not to talk about USPS story, instead legal notices.

Nice cards though 😉