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Ideal way to set up retro computers avoiding "duplicates"

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First post, by Elia1995

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Good evening guys!!
So I have a bunch of retro computers with different chipsets, CPUs and whatsoever, from the 286 all the way to the Pentium 4 I have one of each gen...
now, my question is: what would be the best and most efficient way to set up all of them, avoiding "duplicates"? I mean, it's easy, MS-DOS 6.22 would run on everything from the 286 all the way to a Pentium, but that would just make all of those computers pretty much... idk, the same with different speeds perhaps?
I'd like to experiment with different systems and maybe find the perfect and overall best OS-Chipset-CPU combo for each generation (for example, my Pentium III is the best PC I have for Windows 98SE, the Pentium II would run Windows 98SE just fine aswell, but at what point would I need two identical computers with one of them just being laggy and slower?)

Here's a list of the computers and the setups I've thought for them so far, looking forward for adjustments:

286: MS-DOS 6.22 with Ensemble Geoworks
386: MS-DOS 6.22 with Windows 3.11
486: OS/2 Warp 4.52
Pentium-MMX 100: MS-DOS 6.22 (with CD-ROM and Sound Blaster 16)
Pentium II: Either DOS and Windows 95 OSR2 in dual boot or just Windows 95 OSR2, so I can take full advantage of the Creative 3D Blaster Banshee (3DFX Glide support) and AWE32
Pentium III: Windows 98SE (this one is "modded" with an SSD using a SATA to IDE adapter)
Pentium 4: Windows XP

Then I'd take few suggestions for an ideal perfect hardware for a Windows 7 build as well, since that's the only one I'm missing in my collection (who gives a damn about Vista and ME? 🤣)

Currently assembled vintage computers I own: 11

Most important ones:
A "modded" Olivetti M4 434 S (currently broken).
An Epson El Plus 386DX running MS-DOS 6.22 (currently broken).
Celeron Coppermine 1.10GHz on an M754LMRTP motherboard

Reply 1 of 5, by debs3759

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Best way to see what is best for each system is to test every candidate.

See my graphics card database at www.gpuzoo.com
Constantly being worked on. Feel free to message me with any corrections or details of cards you would like me to research and add.

Reply 2 of 5, by RetroPCCupboard

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For me, the main differentiators between systems are the sound cards and video cards. For the CPU I would just choose a similar or slightly newer year of release to the graphics card. Then just choose an OS that's most suitable for that hardware and the software you want to run.

Reply 3 of 5, by waterbeesje

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The 286 is probably alle to downclock, giving it 'fast xt' capabilities. Here you can see if speed sensitive games like Alley Cat work. Also a candidate to support real EGA. Dos 3.xx takes you back to basic.
Same for the 386 and games like TestDrive 3. Pc Dos 5.02 would be my favourite because of its memory footprint.
It seems like your 486 is in a special place with OS2, keep it there Cosy and safe.
Pentium takes on the DOS 6.22 in is full glory, but here it overlap with the pentium 2. The graphics on the pentium (Virge plus Voodoo 1?) can make the difference for compatibility.
Pentium 2 would be the ideal Dos 7.x machine, suitable for all laatst Dos driven games. Im not sure about the vesa speed and compatibility of the Banshee, this could be a thing? TNT cards would rule in d3d and vesa, but no glide ofc.
P3 and p4 both compete for the win98se position. This really depends on the actual specs. A 1,5GHz p4 is put to shame by the P3 tualatin, but p3-550 Vs p4 3,2HT s478 is quite a difference. Not to mention the entire s775 line, which mostly isn't good for win98 because of PCIe compatibility.
XP can take multi core so why not go for the C2Q cpu? Is period correct 😀 Along with a good Nvidia 6xxx card it can take on the majority of xp games.
Win7: first gen i7 stil is iconic.

Stuck at 10MHz...

Reply 4 of 5, by chinny22

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It depends on what you consider duplicate, and your interest.

If it's just gaming then depending on your games you could get away with the P2 or P3 (whichever has an ISA slot) to cover all your dos rigs.
But as RetroPCCupboard said if your more interested in the hardware/software side of things then you may need more computers. I'm also in this category.

I also agree with warerbeesje's breakdown.
-286/386/486, all have different OS's and suit different era games.
-The MMX suits late dos games but I'd swap the soundcard for something non creative (as that's covered by your AWE) and some early 3d card like the virge.
- PII covers Win95 and glide games.
- PIII Win98 games and D3D

The P4 is about the only system I don't see a need for. It makes for a super fast Win98 build but do you actually need it?
For XP I also think LGA775 is a better platform and good chance any game that doesn't work on the PIII works fine in XP.
or you could get a LGA1155 based system with a GPU that supports both WinXP AND Win7, and kill 2 birds with 1 stone, just depends on how demanding your WIn7 games are.

Reply 5 of 5, by Dhigan

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How about one of your motherboard fails ? How easily can you replace it ? I can't, so I love duplicates 😉

Win 3.1 : HP Omnibook 425 + Toshiba T2130CT
Win 9x : Dell Latitude Cpx H500GT + Dell GX1
Win XP64 : Asus P5B Xeon

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