Is It Feasable/Worth It to Buy a Retro Computer?

[RIBob 38]

I have loads of old games that are unavailable elsewhere, like GoG and Steam.  Most of them playable in Win 95/98, but hopefully OK with Win XP.  A few might be worth playing.  I have looked at tower computers with Win XP installed (plenty of internal room) as an alternative to my more modern computers.  More than adequate CPU speed, and more than adequate RAM, at least for older games.  Most of these computers were made toward the tail end of Win XP availability, so they are fairly capable, as-is, and upgradeable to a point which ought to greatly exceed what the games initially required.   I have some older, single-slot GFX cards that presumably will fit.  I have an LED monitor with the proper VGA connection.

EAW runs fine on Win 7, but still struggling with Win 10.  Hopefully, that problem will be overcome in time.  This is mostly aside from all that.

Nevertheless, there might be some utility on going Retro, at least as far as other games go, which do not have the level of support that EAW has--as in zero support.  Price for a Win XP tower computer, refurb, is about $180, or so, with recovery disk.  Some $ will need to be spent on it, of course, namely upgrading it (RAM, SSD, faster CD), and so forth.

Was wondering what the consensus might be.  Even if I spent $400 on this computer,  with upgrades, and it allowed me to run some older, but very good games, it might be worth it. 

Your comments are welcome.

[MarkEAW 62]

Wrong forum, a computer / hardware forum would be better to get a good response.

But tail end of winxp wont have support for win95/98 os , like software and drivers for chipsets and hardware peices.

Alot of people have winxp, for xp games not win95 games.

 

[+russouk2004 6,951]

I have a lot of older games that I run on my old spare Q660 pc...with a zotac geforce 8800 on win10 with an emulatior of win95....try an emulator...

no need to spend cash on a pc

google win95\98 emulators

 

here for example https://www.myabandonware.com/howto/windows

Edited September 18, 2019 by russouk2004

[+guuruu 5,580]

Old PC for old games isn't bad idea, much better than emulation I think. They are very cheap or even free, so why not ? ;-)

[jeanba 1,915]

I did not "buy" a retro computer, but I still have some old configuartion I can setup quickly

So far, I did not need it

[+gerwin 449]

The usual return question is: Which games exactly?

I have quite a stash of old hardware. 486, Pentium 1 / K6, Pentium II/III and even some AMD Athlon / Pentium IV. But just because I find it interesting at times. Windows XP can run very well on intel 6-series motherboards (Z68 etc) with Sandy- or Ivy Bridge processors, this is 2011/2012 hardware, which also works well with SATA SSD drives. But some games just don't cooperate with multi-core CPUs and later Graphics cards / drivers.

One would expect that when GoG or Steam sells these game that they 'made' it work with modernish OS/Hardware. Though sometimes this means they reverted to software renderer or lesser DOS-versions with DosBox.

[RIBob 38]

Well, I sure do need to do some looking and studying.  Oddly enough, the thoroughly re-furbished Win 98 (SE) computers, all maxxed-out with  Pentium IV CPU, Max RAM, big HD, CD burner,  USB capability,  and so forth are more expensive than the similar Win XP Pro computers.  Perhaps this due to is scarcity, or perhaps the level of refurbishment.    I am not very keen on emulators, but perhaps I am missing something.

At any rate, it's just an idea, and figured I'd run it up the flagpole and see if any one saluted.   I appreciate further comments!  I have by no means discarded this idea.

As an aside, when deciding on an Opsys for such a retro computer, It seems that a choice needs to be made between Win 98 (SE being much preferred, IIRC), and Windows ME.  I still have Win Me disks, but don't know if they are capable of being installed into a computer for which they were not originally intended.  FWIW, I never had a problem with Win ME, although I understand some others did have such.

[MarkEAW 62]

The early systems included windows disk and they worked on any computer, then like within a short time I remember systems coming with windows disks / restore disks just for the given system.

ME uses 32 bit virtual device drivers for some of the hardware. VXD's I think was the extension. I know my sound card eventually got VXD drivers and it worked well in Win98 and WinME.

Anyhow thats what ME was about, getting the manufactures ready for the next windows release.

So long ago so I can be wrong about this. I'd try the new emulaors out there, or the win95 app for win10 i just learned about.
IDK how good any of this will be......

[RIBob 38]

 

Am in conversation with a purveyor of "custom-made" retro computers.  Generally speaking, I have told him that I want a retro computer (refurbished) that will be pretty much maxxed out for Win 95/98 SE.  In short, max CPU speed, max ram, and ability to take the best Gfx card compatible with the above.  I want USB2 compatibility (5 ports), a fast CD R/W unit unit, and fast data transfer between CPU and the drive(s).

Vendor says that he is initially thinking about a computer that can run multiple OSs (95/98/maybe Me) via external, plug-in drives. Will advise as the process moves on. 

ETA: What is interesting is that I have retained a number of older-type HDDs (non-SATA) which I can access on modern computers via an interface device which hooks up to USB port.  I can see what's in there; just like the day they were taken out of the old computers.  These drives are Win 95/98SE/Me; all very small in size.

Accessing them is one thing, getting them to work, as a stand-alone,  on a modern computer, is quite another.  If I can somehow get these older drives to work as stand-alone drives on a modern computer, then no retro computer is required.  Just clone them to modern SSDs, and put them in the Drive caddy as desired.  Suggestions, please?

Edited September 22, 2019 by RIBob