Oh dear! I found myself thinking about this issue too often as well! And many of us I would say.
The matter has been discussed several times and no definite conclution is to be found IMO.
It really depends on the period range where the games you want to play are found. And the sacrifices you are willing to make.

In my case I have a high end 486 (am5x86 133), I'm interested on games from 1989 earliest and 1997 latest. That is a wide range period that cannot be achived with the 486. I came to the conclusion that a low-end 486 will be good for earlier games (486DX2 66) and a Pentium 233MXX for the later. If I could I would just use 1 computer for sure. To be completely honest, I don't think I will ever be satisfied with any option! 😊

IF you give a car as a present to a man he will be the happiest man in the world.
But if instead of giving him a car, you make him decide between 2 different options, you will make him miserable. He'll go home with his new car but won't stop thinking about the "What if I chose the other..." "Advantages and disadvantages..."

Heh, I'm cuban dude. Your forum name made me snicker.

senrew wrote:

Heh, I'm cuban dude. Your forum name made me snicker.

jeje! Tranquilo muchacho que me gustan las hembras! jajaja (just kidding!)

Trying to keep the number of boxes down has been a constant headache for me. Along with keeping control of the level of "spares".

The way I'm doing it now:

- focus on the few games I really am OCD about and build boxes around them. This gives me a P4/fx5950u/sblive box and an athlonxp/voodoo5/aureal3d box. Plus two modern boxes.

- remember/realise dosbox is great for my most important dos games!

- accept that I like to tinker and that means another pc or I'll keep fiddling until I fuck up one of my main machines. I've tried killing this tinkering box but it keeps respawning...

- focusing my superfluous/spare hardware on stuff that genuinely excites me. So.. . I really liked my santa cruz, wildcat vp, ti4800se, 7800gs, dual athlons, v2's, banshees etc. I don't want to use them right now but they can stay in the cupboard. But gus's, creative isa cards, voodoo 1's, pas16's, mpu-ipc-t/mqx32s and 386/486s - they were other people's tastes I was trying on for size and mostly they disappointed me in some way, so they got sold. Sometimes tempted to re-buy but mostly haven't so far because there was a reason I sold them; I think I'll only rebuy if they are cheap and if I have a new reason.

- accepting the fact I have all the old PC hardware I actually need unless some new purpose arises.

The temptation for me has shifted to non-PCs but I'm in a similar-ish position there - I've tried plenty but found it wanting so it's gone except my current amiga 2000 [which is more or less a non-PC tinkering box].

I try to play on the system in my sig, but some games do not work well. Some do not like the high CPU speed, some do not like the low CPU speed, some demand more than a Voodoo 3 3000. Have 2 other P&P (Plug&Play) systems, one being an IBM PC 330, Pentium 200 MMX, 128 Mb EDO RAM, the other a socket A Sempron 3000+, nForce2 Ultra mainboard, GeForce 6600, 2 Gb DDR dual channel.
I tried to reduce my options to one machine, but it does not work. There is no perfect machine that will play all the games perfectly.

I plan to have 2 more builds. I have an ATX Intel HX mobo, made by Intel, with Yamaha 701 soundchip, an underclocked Pentium 233 MMX (works at 200) and 64 Mb EDO.
And a 486/VLB/SCSI, with 64 Mb RAM, a DX 2/66, 2+1 Gb SCSI HDDs, Adaptec 1542CF SCSI adapter, NEC 24x SCSI CD-ROM, S3 928 2 Mb or Tseng ET4000w32i/p 2 Mb, undecided about the soundcard, except for the GUS ACE.

But first... I want to finish my external MIDI module based on NEC XR385. Knowing how much of a procrastinator I am, I expect it done by end of the summer. I'll work on it when I have all the components and when I feel like/I am in the mood.

Well, like I said, the range of games should work just fine on this particular setup from what I've gathered from reading about other people's adventures here. My rule is that if any pure DOS games give me shit on real hardware, then fuck it, to dosbox on my main rig it goes. The main reason I'd prefer them on real hardware is so I can use my midi daughter card.

Ad to the windows games, most should be just fine on this machine, which is the reason I'm moving down to the FX5900 from the Radeon I have in there now. In this case, compatibility trumps raw power.

I may eventually get the bug to experience hardware I never got the chance to use growing up. But in that instance, I would build up another rig specifically for testing and less for actual game playing. Game play is the same no matter what is rendering the video or sound.

The only things I still want to get for this remaining machine would be a pair of voodoo 2s to complete to potential of the machine. Barring that, a PCI v5 would do nicely as well, giving me a doable alternative all in one machine for Glide vs D3D vs OpenGL up through about 2000/2001 games. Might now be all out with all the bells and whistles turned on, but good enough.