If your main goal is just to play DOS games from that era, and you are able to slow down your K6-III enough to a reasonable speed for those old speed sensitive games, then you probably don't need to obtain a real 286 or 386.
However, it's great fun to actually play around with the original hardware from that era, but this not necessarily always what people are looking for.

These days, 286 & 386 PC's are becoming more rare and some examples (on the trading sites) are becoming quite expensive. If you can find one for a reasonable price, then it's up to you as to whether you wish to invest in such a computer.

My opinion:

1. You can always use DOSBOX and skip any messing with the real hardware.

2. If you had a 286 or 386 back then, then you'll eventually want the real deal down the road. So why not get it now.

3. if you don't have the space and want only one machine, then you can probably get away with K6 and handicap it to 386 level 😉

Depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go.

Big advantage to separate systems is that you can put period-correct sound & video cards in there. For a K6-3, an SB1.0 with CMS (or clone) is underwhelming, for a 386 an AWE64 is mostly wasted. Of course you can put multiple cards into a system but there are limits. My K6-2 system has an AWE64 Gold and an GUS, my U5S-33 system has SB1.0 clone with CMS, an Innovation SSI-2001 clone and a Music Quest intelligent MIDI card, plus currently working on an internal Covox Speech Thing and if I can ever get the thing working I intend to add a Tandy sound card as well. You don't want all that crap in your K6-2 😉

My "first" of first few of computers in general all were pieces, no case for them but one that stands out is cased in tall tower consists of low quality generic 386DX 25mhz, 4MB machine with 80MB back in the day (1991ish). Finally recently went back and got 2 386DX 33 computers (needs worked on) with cache (Compaq).

Cheers,

Go for a 386DX ! I like having a slow 486 and a Turbo XT as well as my faster daily rig. Yes they take up space but are nice to have as others mentioned above.

Own a K6-III+ and from my understanding you can disable cache to make it into a 486 or 386

It all boils down to your game preferences. If you're not all that interested in CGA/EGA era games - don't bother.

The biggest benefit of having more DOS systems is more ISA slots for cool sound cards. I have multiple DOS sytems including k6-3+, Pentium mmx, 2 Via C3 systems (one is win98). This allows me to have an awe32, audician32, audiodrive cards ready to go, and a testbench where I can easily try out any other card in my collection at the drop of hat. If you don't care about that, the k6 should be able to slow down to slow386 speeds, which will allow you to almost everything back to the mid 80s. And before that you might need something even slower than a 286, I don't see much value in 286s personally.

I have a few older systems, ranging from an AMD Duron 700MHz with an SB Awe 64, to a Pentium II 166Mhz, two 486's and a partial XT and 286 system which dont' work (XT needs a case). I can slow the 486's down with the turbo button, which is pretty much good enough for all purposes. Personally, while it would be nice to have an older 286/386, I don't think it adds anything other than quaintness, even if I didn't have the 486's. If I was to get an older computer, it would be parts to build up my XT.

For me, I have an Amdex CGA monitor, green phosphor screen. I want to get THAT working more than I want to get a 286/386.

I would consider anything before a 486 to be a nuisance if you don't have some nostalgic attachment to the era. There are so many things 286 and 386 systems cannot do, that you'll find yourself wishing you had just gone for a 486 or a Pentium system. My oldest operational (as in, boot it up, get into the OS, and it's ready to make pictures, write documents, play music, and browse the web) is a 66 MHz 486. It's okay at doing anything earlier than I suppose Duke Nukem 3D, but I have a 166 MHz Pentium system right next to it that outpaces it in every aspect. A few feet from that is my first computer, resurrected from a decades long sleep in a cardboard box in my hallway. It's an AMD K6-2 500 (limited to 300) MHz system that makes the Pentium look like garbage. It goes on and on like this. In any case, as long as you have a preferred era, try to stick with that.

If you want to spend zero dollars, I recommend PCEM, being more accurate than DOSbox, in terms of simulating a whole computer composed of a specific motherboard, processor, and expansion cards. I use it to mess around in Windows 95, as that virtual computer's specs and parts closely mirror the actual Pentium system I use that's running Windows 95.

Whether it's worth it to buy/build a computer of a certain platform/hardwarereally depends on your motivation for it and what you want to do with it. If it is a performance target then you need not bother because disabling L1 and L2 will net you at 486/386/286 speeds with a K6-III. If you enjoy the 286/386 platform and would like to mess with hardware from that period then no emulation or slowdown method will be a proper fix. Decide on why you are curious about these hardware, and invest accordingly.

For example, I have zero interest in the XT/AT platforms. Why? 1. I would rather use a 386SX for anything I would do on these (16-bit x86), as it does everything I would be interested in doing with an XT/AT more conventiently, 2. The Amiga outclasses them in general 16-bit computing in pretty much every regard, so I don't bother with them. This is just an example of my thought process.

I'd say a good rule of thumb is what was your first PC?

For me it was a 486 and even to this day I will play games on this era hardware even though I have better suited systems.
Anything earlier I enjoy tinkering with the hardware from time to time but wouldn't be upset if didn't have them in my collection.
Where as others that grew up playing Sierra titles on their 386's love the things.

Mister Xiado wrote on 2020-06-16, 12:21:

I would consider anything before a 486 to be a nuisance if you don't have some nostalgic attachment to the era.

^This.

My first computer was a Pentium 133 bought in early '96. It came with DOS 6.22 and Win 3.1. The oldest games that I played on it were from early '93 or so. I don't have any attachment to stuff older than that, so I'm never going to build a 386 or something. Using throttle.exe or SetMul can slow down my KT133 based AthlonXP rig to those levels if I really need to.

However, I would totally understand if someone who grew up using a 386 would want to recreate their childhood system. Maybe even add some extra parts to make it into a top tier machine from that age.

Personally I do have some 486 boards because my first computer was a 486 DX with 33 MHz so I do occasionally start one up. For dos gaming however I mostly use Dosbox (ease of emulating various hardware, easily being able to adopt cycles, etc... ). But most of the times I'm using more modern hardware (Socket 7 and upwards) because I like optical PS/2 mice much better than the old ball mice and USB is a nice feature, especially when the system has USB 2.0.
One of my all time favorites is a Duron 750 system because it was my first self built system and I had it for a really long time. I was lucky a week ago and got the exact same board I had back then (even has isa, which is kinda nice on a socket a system) twice.

At the end of the day it really comes down to what you personally want to achieve: do you want a period correct system? Does it have to be exactly one you had in your childhood? Do you want to have the most decked out system for a certain period? For me 486 systems are really just pure nostalgia so I do have one.

Honestly. Unless your feeling curious or nostalgic towards a 486/386/286 you'd get more value just sticking with your K6 and downclocking it. I'm not familiar with AMD at this time but if theyre like other socket 7 CPUs, they should have good speed flexibility with Setmul. Good time machine potential 😀

Or just get a early Pentium if you must have something slowish. A P100-133 makes a great build!

I believe fast 286/386 PCs are good for demoscene productions or speed sensitive programs also.
Both CPU generations have the advantage that they are close relatives and very compatible to the orginal 80x86 instruction set.
And, since they have no on-board cache, are compatible with self-modifying code.

Personally, I like them because they are the "real thing" also - not because of absolute period correctnes, though.
If you're working with a generic 286/386/486 and ISA bus based AT-class PC, you experience the software in the same way as the developers of the time.
You will likely see (or not see) glitches, see animations at the right speed (due to ISA bottleneck, as seen it Space Quest 3) and so on.
You'll also have the right VGA cards (PVGA, ET4K) and serial ports (16450/16550) and a serial ball mous, of course.
That's something you can't usually get with a modern Pentium IV running at 0,5 MHz (just kidding!).. 😉

Jo22 wrote on 2020-06-16, 19:35:

I believe fast 286/386 PCs are good for demoscene productions or speed sensitive programs also. Both CPU generations have the ad […]
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I believe fast 286/386 PCs are good for demoscene productions or speed sensitive programs also.
Both CPU generations have the advantage that they are close relatives and very compatible to the orginal 80x86 instruction set.
And, since they have no on-board cache, are compatible with self-modifying code.

Personally, I like them because they are the "real thing" also - not because of absolute period correctnes, though.
If you're working with a generic 286/386/486 and ISA bus based AT-class PC, you experience the software in the same way as the developers of the time.
You will likely see (or not see) glitches, see animations at the right speed (due to ISA bottleneck, as seen it Space Quest 3) and so on.
You'll also have the right VGA cards (PVGA, ET4K) and serial ports (16450/16550) and a serial ball mous, of course.
That's something you can't usually get with a modern Pentium IV running at 0,5 MHz (just kidding!).. 😉

I hate serial ball mice..... I hated them when they were the only thing around and when optical mice came out for consumers I hated ball mice even more.

There were optical serial mice back then but they required a special gridded mouse pad.

And, now there are new serial optical mice available for pretty cheap. They still require a gridded mouse pad but they come with one. Just do an eBay search for "optical serial mouse". They are a whopping $13 shipped.

What others have said. I'm nostalgic to 286s because my first new x86 system was one and it got upgraded over the years to a Pentium P166 iirc all using other folks cast off components. I liked the flexibility of generic AT systems. A 286 cpu will run 16 bit code faster than the equivalent speed 386SX cpu. Never was a fan of XT class systems but when you are offered one free with EGA monitor you'd be a fool to pass the offer down 😀

I absolutely love the 286 as a platform. It's not really nostalgia, I never had one as a kid - we went straight from Z80 systems to a 486. The 286 doesn't really offer anything unique in the realm of DOS gaming either. It's a bit of a tweener, too fast to play XT games, too slow to play later VGA games. But a fast 15+MHz 286 really can do some impressive work with 16-bit games, and other DOS software. I find the 286 to be the most interesting DOS system - everything is real mode or protected mode but no V86 shit. In protected mode (I'm looking at you Windows 3.11 standard) the thing can really do damage. It was the most overlooked CPU of the era IMO

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-06-16, 21:02:

And, now there are new serial optical mice available for pretty cheap. They still require a gridded mouse pad but they come with one. Just do an eBay search for "optical serial mouse". They are a whopping $13 shipped.

why even bother, the vast overwhelming majority of 286/386/486 systems can be easily modded to support PS/2 mice if they don't already

maxtherabbit wrote on 2020-06-17, 00:30:

I absolutely love the 286 as a platform. It's not really nostalgia, I never had one as a kid - we went straight from Z80 systems to a 486. The 286 doesn't really offer anything unique in the realm of DOS gaming either. It's a bit of a tweener, too fast to play XT games, too slow to play later VGA games. But a fast 15+MHz 286 really can do some impressive work with 16-bit games, and other DOS software. I find the 286 to be the most interesting DOS system - everything is real mode or protected mode but no V86 shit. In protected mode (I'm looking at you Windows 3.11 standard) the thing can really do damage. It was the most overlooked CPU of the era IMO

cyclone3d wrote on 2020-06-16, 21:02:

And, now there are new serial optical mice available for pretty cheap. They still require a gridded mouse pad but they come with one. Just do an eBay search for "optical serial mouse". They are a whopping $13 shipped.

why even bother, the vast overwhelming majority of 286/386/486 systems can be easily modded to support PS/2 mice if they don't already

There's an optical serial mouse on our local auction site that doesn't need a special pad at all. I have some really great quality serial mouse that perform as well as some on the generic optical ones as well. Might start a thread on things mouse related. https://www.trademe.co.nz/computers/vintage/l … 08fdedb0c0e-033