That's always the question isn't it? It's a matter of time, patience, money, space and of course the nostalgic bug that likes to nibble away at us. I've built a TON of systems, and I think I enjoyed the process MORE than the end result. In fact, I spent more time building and benchmarking than I did anything else. But for me that was the enjoyment in itself. Follow your gut and you can't go wrong.

I might have too many... but you have to decide for yourself what you want 😉

I have to many PCs...

Core2Quad is my main machine for games and internet.
Pentium 3 800Mhz is for DVB-Recording only.

optional:
Pentium 90 Mhz (can replaced via dosbox)
Pentium 200 Mhz voodoo (can be replaced via dosbox)
Pentium 3 500 (runs win98 and is connected to Audio-system for digitalizing MC and LP) (could do with another pc, too)
Athlon 1,3 Ghz (no use, only for fallback or Multiplayer)
Athlon 3,2 Ghz (no use, only for Fallback or multiplayer)
2x Pentium 4 3,0 and 3,06 Ghz (Fallback or multiplayer)
Ahtlon XP 6000 (fallback or newer Multiplayer games)

Laptop Pentium Mobile ( 1,7 ghz) for surfing

I have too many parts, and not enough working computers.

I think I have too many (i.e. way more than I practically need):

I have eight retro rigs, (a 386SX-16, a 386DX-40, a PIII-1000, a PIII-733, a PIII Celeron 466, a couple of Pentium MMX-233s, an Athlon 64-3700+) and only three of them (PIII-1000, one of the MMX-233s and the Athlon) is connected to my 4 port KVM switch. Besides I (we) have two modern computers (C2Q and Phenom X6 - mine and my daughter's), an Asus netbook (wife's), an Ipad II (daughter's) and two smart phones (both are wife's). I should also mention two additional laptops (both company equipment, my wife's and mine). We can even add a Samsung Smart TV, a Samsung smart bluray player, two WD liveTVs (not PCs in traditional meaning but all allow you to connect internet and run purpose built applications) to that amount. In short:

10 PC's (two relatively modern)
2 Laptops
1 Netbook
3 Mobile devices
4 "Smart" devices

+ crazy amounts of loose parts

Way too many for anybody in his/her right mind (obviously I'm not. 🤣 )

I lost count at number 30... don't know where it will end 😁

Of course not all are fully assembled... but have parts for even more then that 😊

Even if I try to narrow it down... I get to 15 computers.

But all-in-all I'm still getting "new" ones 😊

Yep too many here as well. Becoming the male equivalent of a crazy cat lady 🤣

Don't worry too much if you miss out on a deal, I find that the same parts will come up again if you are willing to wait; unless it's a killer price!

Been meaning to sell some of mine for who knows how long. Thing is, though...

Since the grand majority of my retro machines are laptops, I'd say the sky's the limit for me (though I do try not to get too many in). Easier to store and set up (plus fun to take on the road just for the purpose of playing DOS games on the go 😁 ). Right to left:

1. IBM 755CD a.k.a. "Rarity" - my OS/2 tinker system at the moment. 486DX4-100/12MB RAM/Mwave/WD90C24, 1MB/2.1GB HDD/OS/2 Warp 3
2. Toshiba Satellite Pro 425CDT a.k.a. "Twilight" - main Win 95 machine. Pentium-100/24MB RAM/ESS 688/C&T 65550, 2MB/810MB HDD/Windows 95
3. Dell Inspiron 8100 a.k.a. "Luna" - main Windows 98 machine. PIII-1GHz/256MB RAM/ESS Maestro 3/GeForce2Go, 32MB/20GB HDD/Windows 98SE
4. IBM T42 a.k.a. "Chrysalis" - main Windows XP machine, running Win 7 in the screenshot. P-M 1.7GHz/1GB RAM/Intel AC'97/Mobility Radeon 9600, 64MB/80GB HDD/Windows XP Pro

Not pictured:

5. Toshiba Satellite Pro T2150CDT a.k.a. "Trixie" - main system for the really old games. 486DX4-75/16MB RAM/ESS 688/C&T 65545, 1MB/Windows 95
6. (Not really retro, but...) HP NC6320 a.k.a. "Octavia" - I mainly use this for capturing game OSTs. Core Duo T2500 2GHz/1GB RAM/ADI SoundMAX/Intel video/Windows XP Pro

And that's all my main retro laptops. I have a few other retro lappies that don't see a whole lot of use and will more than likely be sold at some point on down the road. I do have a few retro desktop systems but I literally have nowhere to set them up right now; been meaning to whittle down that collection to the few "unique" or otherwise notable systems I own (namely, my Pentium 60, Pentium Pro 200, and a few other desktops). And I have a crapton of retro parts (of course) that I could use to cobble together another system or two.

Too many? Yes, but even so I still long to find the right Pentium 1 system and an IBM PC-AT.

Yes. Most of them are sitting around and collecting dust, even the ones that weren't salvaged from the dumpster. The situation is getting sufficiently dire that I think I shall take some time off work to de-clutter in the near future.

I sure as heck don't need them. I don't really have as much time to play games as I used to, and even if I wanted to I have heaps of stuff sitting around for my 3DS, Gamecube, PS2, and PSP that have gone untouched. I find some relief in the knowledge that at least I didn't pay too much for any individual item.

mrferg wrote:

Too many? Yes, but even so I still long to find the right Pentium 1 system and an IBM PC-AT.

But what exactly would you do with them that you can't already do with the computers you already have?

honestly yes but I want more, mainly older than what I have, I do feel an XP 2800, P4 3.2 and Opteron 144 are all a little close in preformance to warrant needing all 3 🤣

I think I don't have enough.
My wife thinks I have like 10 too much.

Contemporary: no: 1 work ThinkPad Carbon & 1 personal ThinkPad W520. My wife has a ThinkPad W500 and my MIL a ThinkPad W510. I also have 1 work iPhone 6 and personal iPhone 5S. My wife and MIL both have an iPhone. My sons both have an iPad.

Retro: 7 desktops. I want to sell them all. With my move to FL and a lot of travel in my new job I will have virtually no time for the hobby. Especially since my sons are getting to an age where they need my time when I will be home.

I have 4 computers + parts and yeah I think that's a bit too much. I want to build another as well...

Way too many, but always looking for more. Help.

What's the minimum number of computers you'll need to be able to run all IBM PC software since the early 1980s? Five?

2fort5r wrote:

What's the minimum number of computers you'll need to be able to run all IBM PC software since the early 1980s? Five?

That all depends on how well you want to run them, as well as whether you don't mind swapping out components on occasion. You could probably get away with two, or maybe even one depending on your tolerances. If you constantly demand exacting precision, then the sky's the limit. But then, how many people really want to play both Battle Arena Toshinden and CGA Buck Rogers that badly?

I have 2 PCs, and then one shared one.

Shared PC: Windows 7 Pro, Intel Core i7, GTX770 (2 in SLI), 8GB RAM, GIgabyte motherboard (I forgot the name 😒), 2 DVD drives. x2 1TB HDDs and one 120GB SSD.

My PCs:

Windows 98 SE, Pentium II 299MHz, Matrox Mystique 220 (going to swap out for a Voodoo 3), SoundBlaster AudioPCI (going to swap out for an AWE32 if possible), 512MB RAM, SE440BX-2 motherboard, DVD drive, and 3.5 floppy. 20GB HDD.

Windows XP Home Edition, Celeron M 1.5GHz, some integrated GPU, 256MB RAM, DVD drive. It's just a Dell Inspiron 1200 I use for MechWarrior 3. 20GB HDD.

I have a Windows XP Gateway computer but it doesn't work so I've taken the good parts out. Everything but the motherboard and possibly a CD-ROM drive is fine. The motherboard hangs at start (and no, I can't get into the BIOS options, there's no key for it for some god forsaken reason) and one of the CD drives won't recognize in it last time I was able to get past the motherboard start (though that could just be the mobo). The parts from it were: 80GB HDD (might use it in my OG Xbox, or I might save it for a future build 😜), 3.5 Floppy (may or may not be working), and I plan to pull the Pentium 4 from it. Along with that, I'll get its GeForce 2 and Ethernet card when I can get the damn tight screw off.

So the answer is: nope! I'd personally like to get a Windows XP computer with some good parts in it (but still period correct) and possibly a dedicated Win3.1\DOS machine (with a Voodoo 1 and Trio64).

Yeah definitely, even if I disassembled and stored the parts of most of them, (I had up to 11 complete retro systems 🤣 ) trashed a bunch of non-working MB, HDD, video cards, cd-rom drives and psu that were beyond repair and all my empty generic pc cases with an ugly looking to free up space 😀
I still have 5 retro units (386dx40, 486dx2 66, 486dx4 100, p233mmx, pIII 800), 2 main pc (core2quad q6600 and core i3 2120) and a files sharing server 😵
I constantly have to refrain myself to build up new retro pc since space is a problem and that my current systems are perfect as they are...
but damn, curiosity can be a bad thing when it comes to old computers components 🤣