VOGONS


First post, by jheronimus

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Hi, all

I'm thinking about building a DOS machine for playing mid-90s games (mostly adventures and space/flight sims) that would support as many hardware options (2D & 3D cards, sound cards, etc) as possible.

Naturally, since I was a kid in DOS times and never built such a machine myself, I don't know much about picking hardware parts. While the CPU, GPU, sound and input options are covered extensively everywhere, I can't really find enough info about cases, motherboards, PSU, cooling, RAM and HDD. So I'm looking for a place like vogonswiki.com, just more comprehensive. E.g., I think that it's highly unlikely that I will be able to find a PSU by a particular model name, so I just need to know what features to look for.

Before you start going all LMGTFY on me, let me say that I did spend some time just googling =) However, it only led me to articles about very particular setups, that are not exactly what I want. For instance, I want a Pentium 166 in a horizontal desktop case, and most people only do such builds for 386/486 for some reason.

Any help would be really appreciated!

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Reply 2 of 13, by jheronimus

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vetz wrote:

You have http://www.philscomputerlab.com which has some excellent videos 😀

Cool! I have seen his 4-in-1 video around here, didn't realise he had a whole site on this topic.

vetz wrote:

If you're looking for info on 3D cards, then you can go to this website: http://www.vintage3d.com

Seems like the site isn't up anymore. Well, picking a 3D card would be the least of my concerns. People definitely seem to enjoy talking about video much more than PSUs =)

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Reply 3 of 13, by PeterLI

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No need to build: buy OEM.

Reply 5 of 13, by PhilsComputerLab

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PeterLI wrote:

No need to build: buy OEM.

A good start and many have desktop machines. Many horizontal machines have riser cards, something you can't really do in a custom built machine. And a full size horizontal case might seem a bit odd with a Pentium inside, but I don't enough about these old cases to be honest.

VOGONS wiki is definitely worth checking out, very good information there. And people here will be helping you out as well.

My videos focus on mixing old and new, so not for everyone, but you might find them educational regardless 😊

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Reply 6 of 13, by jheronimus

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philscomputerlab wrote:

And a full size horizontal case might seem a bit odd with a Pentium inside, but I don't enough about these old cases to be honest.

Could you explain though? My thinking was that if there is an IBM computer with such specs (350 series, to be exact), it should be quite common, but looks like it's not.

Also I still can't understand whether a horizontal desktop will limit my expansion options. It seem like I'll need at least 4-5 PCI/ISA slots just for sound and video (eventually), and I'm sure there are things I don't know yet — like I've seen photos of computers with serial ports on a dedicated card. Though I imagine that Pentium motherboards should have more ports.

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Reply 7 of 13, by jheronimus

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PeterLI wrote:

No need to build: buy OEM.

I'm a bit concerned that OEM builds might have their own quirks and design decisions that might limit compatibility. Like I've read somewhere that late Pentium III computers from Dell had modified CPU sockets. Is that a thing?

On the other hand, it looks to me like building PCs was not as widespread back then, so I might end up with components from OEM systems anyway.

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Reply 8 of 13, by gdjacobs

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jheronimus wrote:

Also I still can't understand whether a horizontal desktop will limit my expansion options.

It almost certainly will limit your options. Desktop cases usually only have around 3 expansion slots when they use a riser. They usually integrate video which you can use, and they sometimes have sound which you likely will not use. It's possible they will also include networking, although this was not common before later in the 90s.

OEM machines usually don't have non-standard cpu sockets, but they will often have an unusual motherboard form factor or PSU connection.

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Reply 9 of 13, by alexanrs

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You could go OEM... A Compaq Deskpro 5200MMX like the one I have is a pretty nifty late DOS machine: 2 ISA slots, 2 PCI slots, 1 shared ISA+PCI slot, good onboard video (1MB Trio64 + decent output quality), high cacheable memory limit (256MB) and its a trully solid machine. The caveats are the proprietary PSU connector and no support for non-MMX processors (no jumpers to select voltage or P54C processors).

Regardless, if you find any OEM Pentium with a Trio64 video, you are pretty much set. As long as you have 1 ISA slot + 1 PCI + another one of either type, you can cram into the machine a good ISA sound card, a Voodoo for early 3D games, and an ethernet NIC if you want.

Reply 10 of 13, by jheronimus

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alexanrs wrote:

You could go OEM... A Compaq Deskpro 5200MMX like the one I have is a pretty nifty late DOS machine

Whoa, thank you! This one actually looks like exactly something that I want.

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Reply 11 of 13, by jheronimus

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Also, a weird question. One of the main reasons I want a horizontal desktop is the idea that I can place a monitor on top of it. Is that safe though, considering that a 17 inch CRT screen can weigh anywhere around 20 kgs?

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Reply 12 of 13, by PhilsComputerLab

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jheronimus wrote:

Could you explain though? My thinking was that if there is an IBM computer with such specs (350 series, to be exact), it should be quite common, but looks like it's not.

Also I still can't understand whether a horizontal desktop will limit my expansion options. It seem like I'll need at least 4-5 PCI/ISA slots just for sound and video (eventually), and I'm sure there are things I don't know yet — like I've seen photos of computers with serial ports on a dedicated card. Though I imagine that Pentium motherboards should have more ports.

It's just that back in the day, when me and friends got Pentiums, all I remember seeing was towers. OEMs had desktops, but I can't remember seeing desktop cases anymore around that era.

Regarding riser cards, I have an Acer OEM 486 and it has 3 expansion slots. That might be enough, but it's less than half of what you get in a tower 😀

If you can grab a Compaq I would go for it. It's a very nice machine.

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