I do too, and there is nothing wrong with that 🤣

That describes me. I get a lot of satisfaction out of putting a build together with interesting components and getting it to run optimally.

Sedrosken wrote:

Who else here has more fun building the machines and testing software on them than playing the games they were built to play?

Computer games don't often hold my attention for more than an hour at a time anymore.

^+1

Great! I'm the odd man out again 🤣

I build retro PCs for two reasons: old games and software. Yes, I do tinker with my small hardware collection from time to time, but it's mostly to test something out and see if that makes a significant difference; if it does the hardware stays, if not back they go in storage. Sometimes the results are so good that the test PC actually becomes a keeper (my Slot 1/Win98SE build came about this way 😀 ).

It's interesting that related topics seem to come up here every now and then:

The Natural Evolution of the Retrogamer.

Retro gaming: truth or fiction? :-)

All in all, I get a lot more enjoyment out of using my retro PCs they way I want instead of just keep on building them one after the other. Different strokes for different folks, I guess ^^.

Same here. Most systems I build have Windows installed just so I can run SuperPi and then they go back into storage, awaiting some unknown future 🤣!

But quite many did see service 😀

It is nice to be able to find a lot of stuff for not too much money. Problem is you'll become a hoarder pretty quickly 🤣

I downsized my collection a few times and am almost at the point where i don't need any more parts and am downsizing one more time now. Building systems and finding parts is the most fun part for me, but running a museum was not on my list....

I am mostly glad that all this stuff doen't need food or drinks 🤣

I think for me games provide the context. Running an old version of Excel doesn't do it for me 🤣

I did try hard to play and finish some games. I got the furthest with Splinter Cell. Unreal was awesome with the mighty V5 and Glide. I built a machine just for that game. But I have so many projects going on that I can never finish a game because of lack of time...

One of the greatest thing of having a retro PC nowadays is that you can try out almost every piece of app and game you couldn't afford/find or didn't even know about back then. There are some games that still grab my attention for hours/days like Constructor.

Snayperskaya wrote:

One of the greatest thing of having a retro PC nowadays is that you can try out almost every piece of app and game you couldn't afford/find or didn't even know about back then. There are some games that still grab my attention for hours/days like Constructor.

That idea works for hardware too.
I'm putting together a P-Pro just because I never had one of my own.
The thing is I have no idea what to do with it when I'm done. But I'll have had one.
.

Sort of connected, but there are people who enjoy modding games (adding fan-made modifications) to games rather than actually playing the games/mods themselves. These people will transform Skyrim, or Oblivion, or Morrowing, or GTA: San Andreas, or GTA V or GTA IV, etc but never play them much. If it makes them happy, then great, but it's not me. I do love some mods, but playing them, and playing unmodded games. And I don't enjoy messing about with PC hardware (I do it at work, and when I get home I just want the games to work!).

Tetrium wrote:

Same here. Most systems I build have Windows installed just so I can run SuperPi and then they go back into storage, awaiting some unknown future 🤣!

But quite many did see service 😀

PhilsComputerLab wrote:

I think for me games provide the context. Running an old version of Excel doesn't do it for me 🤣

I did try hard to play and finish some games. I got the furthest with Splinter Cell. Unreal was awesome with the mighty V5 and Glide. I built a machine just for that game. But I have so many projects going on that I can never finish a game because of lack of time...

Lol! Unreal was the one and only real reason I build my K6-III/400 rig a couple years ago! 😁
Actually completed it once or twice even, but then Windows stopped working 🤣

Kerr Avon wrote:

Sort of connected, but there are people who enjoy modding games (adding fan-made modifications) to games rather than actually playing the games/mods themselves. These people will transform Skyrim, or Oblivion, or Morrowing, or GTA: San Andreas, or GTA V or GTA IV, etc but never play them much. If it makes them happy, then great, but it's not me. I do love some mods, but playing them, and playing unmodded games. And I don't enjoy messing about with PC hardware (I do it at work, and when I get home I just want the games to work!).

I've messed around modifying existing content of games since I started creating tracks for Stunts and even made missions for C&C, including custom maps/missions 😁

All was lost when one morning my IBM deathstar decided to to a click-of-death on me 🙁

Sedrosken wrote:

Who else here has more fun building the machines and testing software on them than playing the games they were built to play?

Computer games don't often hold my attention for more than an hour at a time anymore.

I, for one, have more computers than I have games to play on them. Finding working copies of old games in good condition can be a much more expensive pursuit than buying the hardware.

For me, the point is mostly the build process.
From selecting the parts, doing the build and the basic software install (OS + Drivers).
Testing/benchmarking is part of that too.

-1
I just play games and use OEM desktops.

I once was actively shopping at ebay for old parts. I was tinkering with many motherboards and parts then.

I've discarded many parts - either sold or dumped, and now focus on making the old games run on the built machines.

Right now have 4 machines -

1. 486DX2-66 for MS-DOS 6.22 + Win 3.1 (8MB RAM, Diamond Stealth 3D S3 ViRGE DX 4MB, VOODOO 1, SB AWE32 2760, LAPC-I)

2. PII 400MHz for MS-DOS 6.22 + Windows 95, on separate HDDs (128MB RAM, Diamond Viper Riva 128, Diamond Voodoo 2 x2 SLI, SB AWE64 Gold, MPU-401 + MT-32 + SC-55 MKII daisy chained)

3. P4 3.6GHz for Windows 98SE + Win2K/XP (512MB RAM, Geforce Ti 4200, SB Live 5.1 Platinum)

4. And current i7 4970K + GTX 980 Ti with Win10 for latest games.

I think I can cover most of the generation of games now. The 486 can be made to play speed sensitive very old games by disabling the cache, but then, there is also DOSBOX to take care of that in my current main desktop.

So, tinkering with parts have really slowed down, but I still like to exchange the parts and play with them - like swapping the ViRGE with a Millenium II card, checking out the PowerVR card, etc..

I tend to always install DOS in all my retro machines upto PIII. I once installed DOS on a P4 and was using actively, but prefer to use it on a PIII with ISA slots.
Some games are too much hassle to make them run on newer machines.

Since my aim was to make old games run comfortably, and now that I can make this happen, I guess hardware tinkering is not as much as before. And I believe there are certain very compatible parts, that just makes you want to avoid headaches with others....for example S3 Virge or Trio64V+ graphic cards that are known for compatibility (but not necessarily for speed). And once you have setups based on those that just work without problems, you tend to start exploring the games or software on them.

I once have successfully built a machine with

SB16 CT1740 + Yamaha DB50XG,
AWE32 CT2760 + Wave Blaster II,
MPU-401
Edit : In addition to SB Live! 5.1 PCI

All in a single machine.... which was a nightmare configuring them -especially when pointing a game to use certain card or a daughterboard and all the interrupts, I/O ports and config.sys and autoexec.bat crazy stuff.... they work.... after the headaches...

But no more... just keeping them simple

I just play with hardware 😁

But last few months I barley touched anything retro... no spare time in RL 🙁

+1.

I think it has a lot to do with your person... if you are creative and have some imagination as to how you would like a certain system to be. Hardware through the 80's and early 90's is both beautiful and logical... to understand and be able to optimize performance is very rewarding indeed.

I often think about and look forward to the various systems I could build... before, during, and after I've built them. I rarely look forward to playing a game. I admit though... it has turned me into a bit of a hoarder. There are some systems I will never part with... I guess the same could be said for most people here, anonymous vintage computer museum owners, that we are.

kixs wrote:

I just play with hardware 😁

It's basically electronical lego 😁

Tetrium wrote:

kixs wrote:

I just play with hardware 😁

It's basically electronical lego 😁

I play with both 🤣 (i.e. normal Lego and old computers)