I'm with oerk. Can't see myself spending that much on retro gear. What I would buy are tons of spare parts for my 486 and Pentium (old hdds, VLB peripherals, spare motherboards, etc) and maybe some spare parts for my P2 and P3. Perfectly happy with those 4 systems and would just like to maintain them rather than collect hardware I won't use.

King_Corduroy wrote:

I'm with you on the Roland MT-32, wouldn't mind owning a few different midi units, but I'd be pretty boring and just collect mor […]
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I'm with you on the Roland MT-32, wouldn't mind owning a few different midi units, but I'd be pretty boring and just collect more Packard Bell gear, mainly I'd throw it all at whoever I could in order to get a Spectria. 🤣

That’s the first pc that I’ve ever used as a kid, my dad bought it somewhere in ‘94. Ours eventually got a defective hard disk and we got rid of it in 2003 or so. Some years later I saw another one for sale on a local craigslist equivalent. Since then I have never seen one again: they must be incredibly rare by now (the Compaq all-in-ones are pretty common though). But is it worth 5k? Lol, certainly not.

I've got that Packard Bell (or one that looks just like it - it's the Multimedia C110). It came with a P120 and I replaced with a POD200. It's my main retro PC. I've got the monitor, speakers and keyboard too, but they suck so bad that I don't use them. 😉

I'd probably go for a really odd build:

- IBM 5160 because to me that's the most beautiful and iconic retro PC ever made. It looks like 5150, but it has 8 expansion slots (more on in a minute);

- a full AT 386 motherboard with Intel 386DX-33 and Intel 387DX-33 and a cache chip (forgot what it's called). And I mean full AT. Something like this, but preferably with SIMM slots:

- upgrade the IBM with the 386 board. That might sound like blasphemy to some people, but I just can't do much with anything slower. I'm not a huge fan of CGA/EGA and PC speaker music, sorry. And I've definitely seen "upgraded" IBM PCs online — this actually happened in real life;
- get an original IBM 5170 keyboard (since we've already moved from XT to AT);
- find a new old stock IBM 5175 screen. Modify it to take regular VGA signal. As far as I understand, this is the only way I can get VGA if I want a 5151-style IBM screen;
- get an original SoundBlaster with CMS chips;
- get an original Roland MPU card with breakout box. I already have an MT-32;
- get a Gravis Ultrasound Classic;
- get a Tseng ET4000 ISA VGA card. Or maybe something fancier (not big on ISA videocards);
- get a Realtek MPEG decoder card;
- get an analogue Gravis joystick;
- get a SCSI controller and HDD;
- get a Genius GM-6000 mouse. It's nothing special, but I can't afford to add another expansion card at this point, so I need regular serial mouse;
- add an ISA network card and a multi I/O and all 8 ISA slots are filled.

So in the end this is a kind of a "reverse sleeper" build — a maxed-out Intel 386 machine with VGA and all the sound you can ever want, but inside a classic IBM PC case.

$5000 is wayyyy too much. If I didn't already own them, I'd probably drop like $1000 on an LAPC-I and an SCC-1. That's really what gives you the most out of the old games. CPUs/mainboards/cases/cards you can still get cheap if you keep your eyes open.

V5 6000.

24" CRTs/486s/P60s/Silicon Graphics "Nostalgia"/original Doom registered/custom pcbs

Probably a Diamond Edge 3d, Voodoo 5500, some rarer socket 7 stuff like a K5 pr200. Maybe also an Amiga computer to see what all the hype is about.

Limited space would be a factor, so I wouldn't buy much. What I would buy would be primarily portable computers and laptops, or small(er) form factor desktop systems.

First, I'd finish off my Toshiba plasma-screen portable collection with the few models I don't yet have (T3100e, a working T3100SX, T4400SX and working T6400, plus any others I have yet to learn about). I don't feel an absolute need to have every single variation of specific models though, just one representative from each model line is sufficient (For example, I already have a T5200 with a 40MB hard drive, thus I don't feel a pressing need or desire to get a T5200 with a 100MB drive).

Next, I'd try to get myself a Mac Color Classic, perhaps even a Color Classic II, preferably a system that has already been recapped and restored so it's ready to go once I receive it. I'd also want an original keyboard, mouse and external SCSI CD-ROM to go along with it.

Then, I would try to get myself an original Macintosh Portable...again preferably one that has already been restored and had the battery rebuilt, or at the very least has been modded so it can run off external power.

Lastly, I'd try to get all of the parts needed to do an as-close-to-exact recreation of my first ever custom build from 2002...of which the case would naturally be the most difficult part to get. 😜

Same as oerk, I don't need all that much anymore. Maybe one thing or two like a ppro system, but I have most things I wanted now ... However I still want to collect the software ^^

Munx wrote:

Probably a Diamond Edge 3d, Voodoo 5500, some rarer socket 7 stuff like a K5 pr200. Maybe also an Amiga computer to see what all the hype is about.

I got an amiga, completely upgraded with all kinds of software and extras recently and I gotta say it was cool for about 5 seconds. Doesn't really live up to the hype as much as the C64 sadly.

clueless1 wrote:

I've got that Packard Bell (or one that looks just like it - it's the Multimedia C110). It came with a P120 and I replaced with a POD200. It's my main retro PC. I've got the monitor, speakers and keyboard too, but they suck so bad that I don't use them. 😉

Nice! I'm a big collector but if I'm not mistaken yours is a 3x3 style case with a separate monitor, this is an all in one unit. Very rare, I'd kill to have one. 🤣

I probably wouldn't spend that much, but a couple of nice pieces like a Tandy and maybe some SGI or Sun gear would be nice. Aside from that, my priority would probably be more tools for my work bench.

I'd buy a few boxed items I'm looking for (early 3D accelerators), a V5 6000 and a NexGen system. Other than that I don't really have so many more things I'd spend money on.

King_Corduroy wrote:

clueless1 wrote:

I've got that Packard Bell (or one that looks just like it - it's the Multimedia C110). It came with a P120 and I replaced with a POD200. It's my main retro PC. I've got the monitor, speakers and keyboard too, but they suck so bad that I don't use them. 😉

Nice! I'm a big collector but if I'm not mistaken yours is a 3x3 style case with a separate monitor, this is an all in one unit. Very rare, I'd kill to have one. 🤣

Ah! I just noticed that the pic is of an all-in-one. Sorry about that, that IS super cool! Yeah, mine is not like that.

I'd probably buy a bunch of CRT monitors, as these are always the most annoying to obtain and get shipped. Two Sony Trinitron CRTs, 24" 16:9 GDM-FW900 and 21" 4:3 F520. Maybe a large Mitsubishi Diamondtron as well.

a pair of voodoo 5 6000's

SpectriaForce wrote:

King_Corduroy wrote:

I'm with you on the Roland MT-32, wouldn't mind owning a few different midi units, but I'd be pretty boring and just collect mor […]
Show full quote

I'm with you on the Roland MT-32, wouldn't mind owning a few different midi units, but I'd be pretty boring and just collect more Packard Bell gear, mainly I'd throw it all at whoever I could in order to get a Spectria. 🤣

That’s the first pc that I’ve ever used as a kid, my dad bought it somewhere in ‘94. Ours eventually got a defective hard disk and we got rid of it in 2003 or so. Some years later I saw another one for sale on a local craigslist equivalent. Since then I have never seen one again: they must be incredibly rare by now (the Compaq all-in-ones are pretty common though). But is it worth 5k? Lol, certainly not.

They are indeed incredibly rare but no I was mostly joking they go for much less when they come up.

I'd get me a spare T5200.
A 486 motherboard/cpu/memory with PCI and ISA slots.
An IBM 5160 with matching CGA monitor (and an NE2000 network card to put in it).
An Apple IIGS with matching monitor and drives, plus hard drive (CF or SD card) and memory expansion.
An IBM 8513 VGA monitor
An SGI O2 with video kit
A CBM PET 8032
An Amiga 1200 with 68030 accelerator and tower case mod with video and network adapters
The parts for the XT SBC project I read about.
OPL2LPT kit

(that would about eat up the $5k, I suspect)
Anything left I would spend on spares parts like AT power supplies and cases and adapter cables.

Cga.8086 wrote:

hahahhahhaah you know, desoldering gun is one of those things that i always wanted but could not buy because of its price. I fe […]
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hahahhahhaah
you know, desoldering gun is one of those things that i always wanted but could not buy because of its price. I feel the pain of trying to replace capacitors, i completely feel the pain.
to take out the capacitor is actually very simple and easy, you have to put extra solder touch both legs, and on the back you pull the old cap away.

But once the holes are covered with solder...... pain, its just pain and more pain to get it out.
there has been times that i did extreme and risky measures like inserting a needle on the hole while it has been heated (you can risk on ruining the pad or lifting the pad), because the desoldering wire did not work to take it all out.

There are alternatives to a desoldering gun. I want one as well, but can't justify the price for a good one.

With desoldering wick, it helps a lot if you use some solder flux paste. Just put some flux on the desoldering wick before using it to remove the solder and it helps suck up the solder a lot better.

The other cheap option is a solder sucker. It is basically a spring loaded plunger. You press the lever down till it clicks and then when you want to remove the solder, you melt it with the iron, and then put the solder sucker there, press the button and it sucks the solder away.

I also have a super cheapo desoldering iron. It has a bulb on it that you squeeze and then release to suck the solder away. Works ok for certain stuff but I basically never use it.

For through the hole capacitor removal, I just melt the solder on one leg, tilt the capacitor to pull the one leg out as much as I can and then do the other side. A couple repititions like this and they come out pretty easily.

And I have found that it always helps to use solder paste/flux no matter what. Stuff comes out so much cleaner. Doesn't matter if the solder has flux built-in. It just isn't the same.

As for what I would get.. hmmmmmmm
Some good AT cases.
A few more sound modules.
An 8 or so port KVM.
Good speakers for my retro systems.
A few different controllers and keyboards I would like to have.

Probably have quite a bit left over after that.. so a few sound cards I would like that I don't yet have.