I consider it lucky to find any older PC. At least where I live, so I wouldn't fret about the name brand.

Personally I prefer the self-build types, since it has the generic BIOS boot screen, no need for special software, and no obnoxious branding -- looking at my Compaq and Packard Bells, but I still like them none the less.

And more rambles, IMO it's worth investing in a Gotek floppy emulatorand SD card reader for you storage. I've personally had very bad luck with ZIP disks and I recall the same for my coworkers. They failed often... Click click click... Blah.

Tbh Packard Bell get a bad rap. They sold cheap stuff to the least technically competent users, but within those constraints it was perfectly good stuff in the 1990s. Most of the frustration came from the "least technically competent users" demographic - there tended to be quite a big delta between expectation and reality.

As for the sound cards, the only PB card that was a real PITA was the Miro sound+modem card with IBM mWave DSP (although I recently got one running perfectly well in a Win98SE system - but failed miserably in the Win95OSR2 system I wanted to run it in...). Pretty much all the rest had very nice Aztech chips that had full hardware compatibility with Soundblaster Pro 2 (just with better SNR and no hanging notes in MIDI). Under DOS the only 'driver' you needed was a config tool to set the resources. Unless you had the mWave, I suspect you just had a resource conflict or were trying to run DOS games under Windows.

So if you can find a similar Packard Bell, don't avoid - unlike Dell they didn't mess around with power connectors (which could fry your system when upgrading) and unlike Compaq they didn't do weird things with BIOS setup programs on HDD rather than ROM (which meand lots of fun if your HDD died).

Which is good, because I agree with MCGA: unless you live in retro-PC utopia, beggars can't be choosers and unless you intend to spend a LOT of money cherry-picking components on amibay or (much worse) eBay, you take whatever you find - and given you mention an "affordable" MT32, it sounds like budget is an issue. I'd first try to find the first 486-era PC you can get your hands on for an affordable price and then try to figure out how to get from whatever you have there to something more like your ideal system. Worst-case, ANYT 486 can probably be sold or swapped if you really don't like it.

Regarding your specs:
- 5x86-133 is nice, but you can always upgrade later. What that does require is a motherboard that can provide 3.3V / 3.45V.
- SB16 is overrated IMHO. They are buggy and not fully SB Pro 2.0 compatible (which is the baseline for most games), and many are very noisy. I'd suggest going for one of the better quality SBPro2 clones (Aztech, ESS) instead. If you really want an SB16, be sure to familiarize yourself with all the different models and choose the one whose bugs are least likely to affect your specific kind of enjoyment.
- SCSI cards are easy to find and cheap. SCSI HDDs are a different matter entirely. Great if you can find them, but it might delay your system or make it more expensive.
- If you get a sound card without MIDI hanging note bug, you can run an MT32 (or a GM module) without an external interface. You'll need SoftMPU for intelligent mode support, but a late 486/5x86 can easily do that and run the older games that require it with cycles to spare. Later games that are challenging for a 486 won't require intelligent mode.

Oh, and second the dislike of ZIP. It's very period correct, but that includes the frustrations with its unreliability. That said, YMMV, I used one with two 100MB disks in the mid 1990s with no problems for a few years. Then I put it away for a year or so, started again and had five disks click on me in short succession.

Maybe it's just my experience, but I would advise against using AMD 5x86 — it always gave me troubles on all but one Opti chipset motherboard. Problem is, it's a very late 486 CPU, so many manufacturers didn't offer proper jumper settings for this model, the motherboards didn't detect the chip properly and even when you follow instructions like this the chip still might work as a regular DX4-100 or the system won't be too stable. Bottom line is, late 486 chips are mostly okay with late 486 motherboards — like the ones that have PCI slots and integrated I/O.

So if you really want a fast 486, I'd stick with DX4. It's a chip that will work on any motherboard that supports 3v chips. There isn't a lot of difference in performance — both chips are no Pentium, so you won't lose too much.

Pro's
OEM's are they are more likely to have ps2 ports, right up to the end most generic hardware still used serial for the mouse.
Onboard I/O Controller and Video are usually pretty good and fair chance on the VL-BUS
Should be bit cheaper then generic PC as not as desirable

Con's
"Pizza box" cases (LPX is the official term but it isn't a standard) and as such the case your pretty much stuck with using the original case with the original motherboard.
BIOS isn't as tweakable.
Limited space for expansion. Check if you will have enough isa slots and drive bays!

486's were not locked down nearly as later systems, (The Dell power connector isn't an issue until Pentium era) so apart from the motherboard just about everything else should be upgradable, (say like isa cards)
I assume the CPU couldn't be upgraded due to not supporting 3.v CPU's Also a problem on some generic motherboards or a LIF socket (which is up gradable but limited options and not as easy) both are limitations of certain modals rather then an entire brand.

If you find a OEM system you like the look of, give it a quick google and see what they came with, and of course you can always ask here about a specific model, someone will have had experience and know of any little qwerks if any. Like Compaq's BIOS, which is actually a boot disk, but can be found online somewhat easy.

Thanks, Thats a lot of useful info to go on.

I guess it potentially was inexperience, i was young at the time, and my folks werent really techy at all.

I quite liked the period correctness of the Iomega Zip, and it was something that wasnt affordable to me at the time, so nostalgia made me buy one. It may well be hopeless and unreliable, and i might have to use CF or SD cards etc instead. I do somewhere have a CF to IDE adaptor. I liked the idea that i could use the scsi zip on multiple systems. It works on the Atari and the 486 and a modern PC. I will likely just use IDE for the hard disk, or perhaps a small modern SSD.

Interesting to know the packard bell soundcards werent bad, and again, probably inexperience at play there not setting things up properly.

I'm a bit of an AMD fanboy, and most of my early DIY machines were all AMD based, I had a K6-233, K6-3 450, Duron 900, and XP1800 before eventually running a Dual XP1800 machine for a LONG time, i recon it was 2010 before i retired that machine and went to the dark side with a (used) Q9400 setup. My Previous AMD ventures were often budget related being of school age with limited funds etc, so the idea that the AMD 5x86 chip is actually one of the quickest 486's is quite appealing. I understand the compatibility issues, but it sounds like this is somewhat more hit/miss rather than just "it wont work with a dell" type advice?

Sound card info is good, but i guess the trick is knowing which clones are junk, and which clones are decent. I guess i want something OPL3 based? Anything else i should look out for?

And yes, i guess the point of just finding *something* is a good one. Thanks.