It depends on what you want them for. There are the Win9x era games that don't like modern Windows. For some, there is a nostalgia factor with the old hardware. It also depends on external factors, like do you have enough space to justify the extra clutter, etc. You just have to decide what is important to you.

To many of us building these computers is the fun part.

But if you have little space and want to play a few games then absolutely go with DOSBox.

With old computers you have to build for a range of games and it is always a compromise. In DOSBox you simply edit a file and you have a totally different computer 😀

DOSBox rocks, but honestly there's a charm in building a machine and playing your games under Real DOS. And a lot of hassle though, unless you know what you're doing.
It does make a few things simpler though, like using a DB-15 joystick or a Daughterboard for music. Not to mention, CRT monitors.
So it really depends on what you want to do.

I admit I have only briefly looked at dosbox. It did appear to run some of my favourite games well but its just not the same for me. I much prefer original hardware.

Pick up those systems for sure or pass them to me 😀

Hard to say. In one word, almost. It's the most dos games friendly program in terms of compatibility and ease of use. With D-Fend Reloaded, it's even easier.

I can find more good points with Dosbox than the actual machines:

1. Covers everything from XT to 486 well enough, especially in fast systems.

2. Ability to emulate different sound hardwares. Easy sound card setups - you can change the IRQ and DMA without problems to suit your gaming needs.

3. Ability to choose Tandy graphics and Tandy sound emulation. You need a real Tandy system otherwise.

4. No need of MPU-401 compatible ISA card to use a LA synth modules properly like the MT-32, MT-100 CM-32L/CM-64 and CM-500. In addition to all other modules. Can use all these on current hardware with a USB-MIDI cable.

5. Space management. Doesn't take additional machines for each setup, no wires, no mess.

6. No need to maintain all these machines. Dusting, cleaning, etc.

7. Hardwares can fail. Softwares can fail too, but how many times did we loose our savegames due to power failure?

8. No, memory management woes. No need to struggle to get the most from the 640kb conventional memory. Can easily adjust available memory.

9. Can easily change available hard drive space.

10. In-built image mounter. No need to depend on CD drives or floppy drives. No need to put up with CD read noises, CD errors, etc. Actual dos also has image mounting tool, but the process of making the image in a dos machine or the process of transferring to it, and the hard drive limitations in older systems, and the TSR for this tool which takes up memory are all a hassle.

11. You can install Dosbox in the smallest laptop and take dos gaming anywhere, anytime. You can play Dos games in a bus, train, plane or while on vacation. Heck, some of us play them even while working!

12. Mix and match PC "components" to your hearts' content.

13. No need to struggle with the now rare components. It's a sad truth that these components may not work later.

As for actual hardware, :

1. Some swear that Dosbox is not the real thing. No matter how close is the emulation, even if it's 100%, it's just that - emulation. So they are not happy.

2. Some will argue that the sound (esp. FM sounds) is not close to the real thing.

3. They say the adventure and fun of putting up with a real machine is lost.

4. Real 3Dfx hardware, Real SoundBlaster/GUS/MPU-401, Real Yamaha OPL, etc.

5. Basically it's all nostalgia to have the actual machines.

6. More choices and configurations with selection of hardwares - sound cards, graphics cards, etc.

7. Actual later systems are more powerful in handling demanding DOS games. Pentium I, II and III era machines are powerful and come with ISA slots, which also enable them to install Win9x and run Win9x games, which cannot be emulated properly in Dosbox. But we must remember that Dosbox is just meant to run Dos games and not anything else.

8. Some just cannot accept that Dosbox emulation is great! 🤣

Saying all that I have built quite a number of systems and still maintain my 486DX2-66 and a Pentium II 400 Voodoo 2 SLI.

There is that nostalgic factor and the feel of listening to the actual hardware sounds.

I like Dosbox as much as I like using my 486. Dosbox is my preferred "machine" to run dos games in these times, simply because of it's flexibility and it's ability to run Dos games anytime, anywhere.

Many, especially newcomers, do not know that Vogons started out as a helping forum for Dosbox and Dos-based emulation and not for actual classic machines and components. The discussion of emulating old hardwares was popular enough to imminently spill over onto the actual machines category, that the Marvin section was created later.

Theres also precise CPU/Instruction timing required by some pre-386 games to produce special effect, currently this Hit&Miss state in current DOSBox with its flexible configs.

i'll admit my 486 and pentiums have been gathering dust since that CRT shader rolled around.

Until we have something that can emulate Win9X era computing with VooDoo graphic and early OpenGl/D3D acceleration we will need actual hardware.

I keep a BX chipset P3 computer with dual voodoo2 cards for this very reason.

don't some full on dos games like the wing commander games lag and not run right in dosbox work great on actual hardware?

cdoublejj wrote:

don't some full on dos games like the wing commander games lag and not run right in dosbox work great on actual hardware?

Once you Emulate SVGA and demanding 3D graphics you need a very fast Computer to keep up. So yes, this can be an issue!

Emulation will always be slower than actual hardware.

No.

yahma wrote:

Emulation will always be slower than actual hardware.

Today's PCs can emulate beyond the speeds appropriate for the DOS era which DOSbox covers, so this is a non-issue.

yahma wrote:

Emulation will always be slower than actual hardware.

This is not even true now. DOSBox can run some 386/486 era games fast enough to expose speed bugs that you never saw on the original 386/486 hardware.

For me it kinda has. Thanks to DOSBox it now been maybe half a decade since I last touched my DOS computers.

There are a few games that doesn't really run quite well in DOSBox though, like Fade to Black and Redguard. Both games suffer from inverted audio (left/right played wrongly) and Redguard got some other issues too. And Battlespire complain about the lack of RAM even if you use 63mb, but still run fairly well with a swapfile.

I do miss my Yamaha DB50XG daughterboard while playing DOS games though.

yahma wrote:

Emulation will always be slower than actual hardware.

To further my short NO:
For example emulation of an early 386 is not slower than the real hardware and most likely requires less power (with todays more power efficient hardware) than back then. So there is no always... Or emulation of old consoles is also not slower than actual hardware.

If you were to say "emulation of almost new hardware is always slower" I'd say you are right, though...

Dosbox is WAY faster than my actual 486 (with reasonably good hardware), as evident while playing games. I can play Daggerfall smoothly even in my 3-year old i7 notebook under dosbox. Playing high-res SVGA games is possible and smooth in Dosbox running in current hardware.

I mentioned early 386 to be on the safe side 😉

I can play games meant for a Pentium on a 2002-dating Pentium 4. That's how ridiculously fast it is now.