Choosing a Retro PC for Games: Advice & What to Look For

When asking the question "what classic PC should I buy," there are plenty of options to consider. From real hardware to emulation, let's dive into the topic and determine some of the best solutions!

● Featuring the opinions of these fine YouTubers:
The 8-bit Guy

MetalJesusRocks

Phil's Computer Lab

Nostalgia Nerd

Pushing Up Roses

Brutal Moose

Accursed Farms

Pixelmusement

Retro Man Cave

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● Social links:

● Music used courtesy of Epidemic Sound:

[LGR]

Considering this is the most-asked question I receive, I hope this video helps those of you that have been requesting the assistance!
Also, _huge thanks_ to the other YouTubers who added their voice to this episode: Nostalgia Nerd, Metal Jesus Rocks, Pixelmusement, PushingUpRoses, Brutalmoose, RetroManCave, Phil's Computer Lab, The 8-Bit Guy, and Accursed Farms! They brought up lots of stuff I didn't think of, so I am grateful :)

[veraxis]

Here's my analysis of the responses:
The simple solution: use emulation
The practical solution: use a tricked-out 486 or Windows 98-era machine
The Clint solution: own dozens of different computers to cover every possible hardware configuration

[MetalJesusRocks]

Thanks so much for having me be a part of this EPIC video. You ROCK dude! \m/

[philscomputerlab]

Thank you for having me on your show! I got up at 5 AM to watch this video, and it's awesome. Great to see how everyone tackles the issue differently :D

[rubisdrake]

For the even lazier:

7:40 - Nostalgia Nerd
9:40 - Metal Jesus Rocks
12:12 - Pixelmusement (ADG)
14:18 - Pushing Up Roses
16:30 - Brutal Moose
19:05 - Retro Man Cave
21:35 - Phil's Computer Lab
23:42 - The 8-Bit Guy
26:12 - Accursed Farms

[robertomartin]

Me: What retro PC should I get?
LGR: Get everything you can get.

[Accursed_Farms]

Hey, thanks for having me on the show!

To add a bit to what you said, I'm probably a little too forward looking and I just assume everything is going to fail before it does, so I always want a future proof method of playing games. Gaming isn't really about nostalgia for me, there are just plenty of games I take years, if not decades to get around to playing and the thought of having a small window where I can play one always rubs me the wrong way.

The reason I was showing off those problems was because I do think they are legitimate failings of trying to run games virtualized on modern systems (particularly with AA). As for WINE, I do plan to look into that more in the future, but from what I've seen, that's more like an additional dice toss as to whether something will run or not.

I feel like DOS games we more or less have nailed down in that respect, games from this century are where it can start to get ugly.

[UDontTakeMeSeriously]

This reminds me of when a teacher will have class presentations and everybody will come up and present and the teacher will try relating everything back to the lesson

[ashleyjohansson]

I like how every single LGR video, the intro, he stares at the camera blankly to nowhere until the intros over. Love it lol

[formdusktilldeath]

I love how the age of each YouTuber kinda matches the era of the machine they use =)

[backtogeek]

This is an amazing video, I love the collaboration, gives the video a REAL community feel, thanks for putting it together, I even found a couple of tubers I was not subbed too which I now am, thanks again, loved it.

[MichaelNiculae]

Getting into real period correct hardware is more than half the fun for me. My first PC is long gone, but i still have all of my computers i've owned from different periods and they ALL work. And i still upgrade them from time to time, just for the lolz.

[Peter-iwob]

The 8bit guy's one of those people who could make a video about watching paint dry and make it absolutely fascinating to watch.

[velosiped]

How I chose. I picked a year: 2000. I started with a retail PC that anyone could buy back then. In my case, a Dell Dimension 4100. I maxed out the storage and memory that the manufacturer specified for this particular PC. Then I did what we did back then and upgraded certain components to the latest and greatest (at the time). In my case, a 3DFX Voodoo5 5500 AGP graphics card, and a Sound Blaster Live! 5.1 sound card. The best you could get from Dell was a 21" Dell branded Sony Trinitron CRT monitor, so that's what I found. Paired all this with a 2.1 speaker system from Altec Lansing that, again, Dell offered with this package. I couldn't be happier with the results. I think setting parameters can make an easier and more authentic build experience, if that's what you're going for.

[vengefulamoeba]

i love going back and watching your older videos. as someone with no space to store extra hardware DOSBOX/ emulation is an amazing way to enjoy old games

[manoflego]

Oh man, is that LEGO Rock Raiders behind you!? Please cover that one some time! I found a jewel case copy in an office depot of all places about 8 years ago and love it!

[stryk]

I love the Nostalgia Nerd's comment about MS-DOS 6.22 and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 being the "pinnacle of civilization" -- I couldn't have put it any better, it's so profoundly accurate.

[TheDemocrab]

Saw the whole "Ft 9 YouTubers" and absolutely knew Phil's Computer Lab would be on here as he's the only regular YTer that uploads retro hardware related stuff similar in quality to your videos.

Did NOT expect Ross (Accursed Farms) but very much not unhappy with him being in this too.

[penholmes]

It pleases me to no end to see how much this channel has grown. I'm so happy to see familiar faces that I also enjoy watching. This collaboration was really awesome. Thank you to everybody who took their time and effort to answer these questions.

[TheLordBrandX]

Really enjoyed this. It was a treat to watch the varied perspectives of so many different creators in a single video. Especially since I only watch half of them. Thank you all for your input.