The Decision

I have been reviewing the various PC models available on eBay to decide what will work well. After going over the options I have landed a Dell Dimension 4100.

Reasons for the Decision

I knew I wanted to get the classic beige PC and wanted to get a commercial model rather than build one completely from scratch. Being a native Texan, both Compaq and Dell come to mind. Dell outlasted Compaq and provides pretty good support for older models. And typically, the Dell PCs are well built.

• The Dell Dimension 4100 was essentially the last (or second to last) beige model from Dell
• The PC was release around the year 2000
• Comes with good basic components to start with
• Pentium III (overkill for most MS-DOS games but still powerful enough for the early to mid-2000s windows games)
• Can have up to 512MB of RAM (overkill for most MS-DOS games but more than enough for the early to mid-2000s windows games)
• Tower case has plenty of room
• Inexpensive and easy to find

The One I bought on eBay

One eBay I was able to pick up a Dell Dimension 4100 with the following specs for $175.

• Model: Dimension 4100
• Motherboard Model: AA 10383-206
• CPU: Intel Pentium III 933MHz
• Memory Installed: 512MB
• 2 Hard Drives
• Operating System: Windows ME Millennium Edition with Cert.
• Dual Optical Drives DVD and CD
• Floppy
• Sound Card: Sound Blaster Live!
• Nvidia Geforce
• 4 Port USB Expansion PCI Card
• 3Com Ethernet card
• 56K Modem Card

Next Steps

Now that I have purchased the base PC, I will get to pick up the rest of the accessories and other required items to go with the PC while I wait for it to arrive.

Stay tuned for part 3