Just be sure to either get a mmx or k5/6+ (socket7) or via c3 (s370) so you can play early speed sensitive dos games. An awe64 with ram expansion is ideal for this build, combined with a Sb Live!, but if you are looking for uniqueness maybe try something else.

"Unique" is pretty subjective, but if you ask me...

- Uncommon non-Creative ISA sound cards (ISA for maximum DOS potential here) with NO YMF262 chip (but avoid analog devices cards)
- an unusual mix of video cards, like a non-nVidia/ATI/3dfx host AGP video card, paired with a PowerVR card AND a 3dfx card from a vendor you don't see enough of i.e. not Creative/Diamond
- Windows 98 non-SE, to be contrarian. Me's also a good choice if you want to piss off IT smartasses (and not minding the lack of booting to dos and just DOS gaming through the prompts instead)
- Slots-permitting, a TV tuner card that can't get anything anymore, but hey, unique! And if it's good enough for input options, you'd be able to pipe a console system through it.

leileilol wrote on 2020-10-09, 05:22:

- a TV tuner card that can't get anything anymore, but hey, unique! And if it's good enough for input options, you'd be able to pipe a console system through it.

Those can be used in case you want to connect your SNES or VHS to your PC using coaxial cable 😁

aha2940 wrote on 2020-10-09, 05:27:

leileilol wrote on 2020-10-09, 05:22:

- a TV tuner card that can't get anything anymore, but hey, unique! And if it's good enough for input options, you'd be able to pipe a console system through it.

Those can be used in case you want to connect your SNES or VHS to your PC using coaxial cable 😁

Now THIS is the kind of crazy crap I was looking for! 😁

How about one of the older CD-ROM drives that still has a headphone jack, a volume control, and Previous/Next buttons, i.e. as mentioned in this thread? That's unique, vaguely practical, and won't cause any weird compatibility problems. (Well, except that it might be tricky to find one in working order, and really old ones might not be able to read recordable discs very well.)

And maybe one of those fancy drive bays that lets you easily swap in and out an IDE hard drive - but you would need to put an equivalent dock in another PC in order to get any use out of it.