Plucky little underdog combos, "The little engine that could" just to have fun with...

Any of the "barely enough board to fit 6 ISA slots and SIMMs" tiny 386 boards, often with Ali 1429 but other single chip solutions used, with a SX33 or better, great fun, much 386, much DOS.
One of the stalwart 486 chipsets, 495, umc 8881, etc VLB, with a UMC U5S chip... intel, we don't need no intel... serious "goers" for their clockspeed.
Cyrix 6x86, or IBM or ST on Via VP series chipset, VP1, VPx etc, we don't need no intel part II.
PCChips M571, any socket 7 CPU but an Intel MMX, or it will be like every MMX ever, quirky board with a bit to fiddle with, but when it goes well it goes well.
Duron Morgan 900-1300 on any board that will take it, it's cheap and it still beats PIII of same clock, lovely.
ECS K7S5A and an Athlon XP, or two or three of them, 1 to beat Willamette P4s with SDRAM, 1 to beat Northwood P4s with DDR, and a third to beat Willamette P4s again because it's funny.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-09-20, 23:21:

Major Jackyl wrote on 2024-09-20, 22:37:

Hmmm.... I think everyone should at LEAST have the computer they grew up with, whether or not it is the original or a replica, it is usually the most flavourful build in any collection. Lots of generations here, so it really could be ANYTHING. I grew up with many computers in the house; us kids had a 286, 386 and 486 and the parents had a 486 and K6.

Funny thing is having built a recreation of our original family computer (a 12 MHz 286), once the nostalgic itch was scratched, it's not really a system I'd want to use on a regular basis.

What fuels my modern day interest in retro hardware and nostalgia is the opposite of what we owned: collecting and building systems that I didn't have growing up. Just to see what I was missing. 😀

I agree with this - I have no interest in ever seeing again the first three computers from my youth. Learned the hard way all their limitations, still have the trauma, etc.

In my view, what's a lot more appealing would be the systems I wished I could have afforded, i.e. the nice dreamy systems from the same period that would have run the same software dramatically better than the systems I had. And the magic of time is such that sometimes, the system that cost $8000 and the one that cost $2000 are now... effectively the same price. If you can find survivors.

(That being said, I think I've lost most hope of finding those systems. Vintage hardware going back to about ~2000-2001 is relatively easy to find in good condition; stuff from the 90s, not so much. And I don't have the skill set to go and recap vintage early-1990s beige Macs or repair damaged logic boards.)

To answer the original question, my view would be:
1) DOS machine. Maybe a 486, maybe a Pentium/Pentium MMX, maybe you can squeeze your DOS machine into a PII/PIII. (By far the hardest to find today...)
2) Windows 98 machine. If it doesn't need ISA for DOS, that could be an i815/P3, an AGP P4, a socket 462 Athlon, or something a little more exotic (my 98SE setup is an AM2/K8M800, I'm not completely sure if it was a great idea to this day..., or i865 C2 if you can somehow find a motherboard).
3) XP machine. Ideally, an Ivy Bridge, or you could go with a 45nm C2Q, there are plenty of great, plentiful options out there. Many, many people may already have one in a closet somewhere that just needs an SSD and a CR2032 battery to be ready to go. And I really, really think that anyone looking for a good XP machine should keep their eyes open in the next year - the great Windows 11 disaster is going to cause a lot of Sandy/Ivy Bridge machines (and matching GPUs, etc) to be tossed out.

And then add some vintage Macs to the collection 😀

VivienM wrote on 2024-09-21, 22:55:

And I really, really think that anyone looking for a good XP machine should keep their eyes open in the next year - the great Windows 11 disaster is going to cause a lot of Sandy/Ivy Bridge machines (and matching GPUs, etc) to be tossed out.

Already saw a Haswell H81 in e-waste last week. Heck, my "newest" i7-8700 will be six years old next month; most companies, schools, government agencies, etc. in Taiwan have "5-year retirement" rules i.e. a functioning computer has to stay in company's assets for at least five years, so I wouldn't be surprised to see the first generation of Win11-capable computers start appearing in e-waste. Most of them will be refurbished and resold by recyclers though.

andre_6 wrote on 2024-09-21, 17:06:

Couldn't tell you, as a nonenthusiast it's just what I imagine an enthusiast would do! I tend to associate the gradual hobby curve being inversely proportional to a lack of reasoning!

That's a fair assessment. 😅

FWIW, my main interest in building one was ever since CGW recommended the Pentium Pro in one of their Ultimate Gaming Rig guides. I was curious to see how it would perform, so I built a Pentium Pro and Pentium 200 system to compare.

I liked the Pentium 200 better.

My Win95 build is a Pentium Pro funny enough, but in my defense it used to be my grandad's computer (HP Vectra VA6) and it just came with it!

For Win 95, a Pentium Pro isn't a bad choice. Should run most things better than a regular Pentium.

Under DOS, it's more of a toss-up.

I might adopt one of those Compaq or Dell systems that came with a pro if I tripped over one for cheap, but I don't feel a compulsion to build one from parts.

andre_6 wrote on 2024-09-21, 16:38:

On the other hand, I didn't rest until I had my hands again on the exact case model of that computer, along with the exact CD-R drive and CD-R burner.

Yeah, I'm with this one. I'm still hunting for the case of my first PC.

Shponglefan wrote on 2024-09-21, 15:58:

Ask this question at a European centric forum like Amibay, and a lot of people will probably recommend various Amiga computers. Where as on VOGONS, things tend to be more PC focused.

For Europe, it's more complex than that. Remember, from the start of home computers up until to mid-DOS era, Europe was divided into two with fundamentally different lifestyles and relationships with tech.

You can do a lot with a Pentium 3 laptop w/ openGL video card. Pentium M as well.

TDP's are low ~25w. So the fan rarely comes on.

An Intel Pentium powered PC.

On an Opti Viper of course /troll

Yes,
In combination with a:
1mb ISA or VLB card
PCI Video card S3 trio64 3D
Voodoo card
Nvidia or Riva TNT

Sound blaster 16 Pro or compatible
Sound blaster Live
Sound Blaster Audigy

8x CDROM or Faster

I am aiming for:

- XT machine, a 5160 or a clone with an 8088 or some NEC variant -MFM hard disk - DOS 3.0
- 286 early board with lots of chips (low integration) - DOS 3.0
- 386 DX with a math copro - DOS 5 and Win 3.1
-486 with VLB - DOS 6.2 and Win 3.1
-486 with PCI and a 133mhz AMD proc - DOS 6.2 and Win 95
- socket 5 with an early pentium (75mhz or 90mhz) - Win 95
- Super socket 7 with a AMD K6-2 or K6-III - Win 98
- slot one motherboard with a fast P2 - Win 98 and/or Windows Me
-socket 370 with a 3000mhz P3 or a Tualatin ready Mobo - Win 98 and/or Windows XP
- YES CRAZY I KNOW a Pentium 4 of the latest 3.2 or 3.4 mhz with 8x AGP - Win 98 and/or Windows XP

Very humble indeed no ? Well I'm only missing the XT 😉

Happy retroing !

Nuno

Minimum for playing as many games as possible, for me, would be 3 builds I think:

Pentium MMX 233Mhz + Voodoo 1 + SB16 for DOS
Pentium 4, 3.4Ghz Cedarmill, Aureal Vortex 2, Geforce 4600 for Win9x
i7 3770k, GTX 970, SB X-FI for Windows XP

But for a single machine that gives the most fun, I'd say the last one. It can span that widest period of time for PC gaming, and most games should just work with minimal fuss. DOS and Win9x games can be fussier.

It seems like the reason that many are choosing their retro hardware is for gaming.

For me, it's just about the enjoyment and nostalgia of messing with the hardware. I've always enjoyed the hardware side of computer tech and do enjoy collecting and owning some pretty cool stuff as a reminder of the good old days. (Voodoo cards, SS7 and AMD. K6-III as my favourite)
As a kid, I started with a 386 but my enthusiasm really started with my 486 PC's where I wanted to play specific games or run specific apps and I spent many hours trying to squeeze out the most performance via overclocking and whatever else I could do.
I frequently upgraded my PC's as a kid and went through many generations of hardware until eventually I got bored with the options available as AMD couldn't complete anymore and Intel was just boring as they had no real competition. (Last PC for a long while was a Phenom II X6 1075T until I got back into retro a couple of years ago.)

The point is, the enthusiasm is about the hardware so having a single i7 3770 that covers the whole spectrum doesn't fulfil my desires and enjoyment for retro tech.

I'm still looking for some retro hardware but I currently have hardware covering:

486 DX4 100
SS7 AMD K6-II+. and K6-III+
Pentium 3 slot 1 and Socket 370
Athlon Thunderbird
P4 (AGP and PCIe boards)
Athlon XP
Phenom II
Athlon FX
Socket 775 systems ranging from P4 to Core 2 Quad
i7 920 / Xeon 5690
i7 3rd and 4th Gen

I also have newer hardware but that doesn't really classify as retro.

I also collect graphics cards and have would like to own the flagship models of each generation from Nvidia and ATI/AMD as well as some other brands like Matrox, 3Dfx, and others.

Many earlier (mid 80's) games won't be playable on a slowed down machine no matter what (e.g. Might & Magic 1). So I must always include a TurboXT to cover that era. After that any 486 (90's adventure games), then any Pentium 3 with an ISA slot (DOS FPS games, Voodoo, and beyond). After that I think any machine that runs Win7 32-bit should be able to cover 3D Windows games (WinXP-era games and beyond).

The only reason I leave a 486 in the list is for games that require instruction prefetch (e.g. Terminator 2029), otherwise the Pentium 3 can take its place with slowdown tools.

IMO Pentium 4 doesn't stand out being special compared to later processors. Almost all its mobos dropped ISA, so it's not able to replace a Pentium 3. And it was followed by more powerful CPUs that can do all the retro stuff a P4 can do and more. My HP Z400 Xeon machine is one such example.

If I was to give a generic recommendation for a practical retro gaming PC, with my assumption that this means the 1990s, especially DOS VGA and Win9x up until the 3D craze:

Socket 7 motherboard
Pentium
S3 Trio64V+ or Virge

that'll run almost anything in the VGA era up until 3D.
Older stuff also unless there's a speed issue, and sometimes that can be dealt with.

Improve the specs and you can expand the range. There's plenty of great CPUs for Socket 7.
If you get a "Super" socket 7 board you can also use AGP cards for better 3D.