So, finally got my VGA to DVI adapter only to find out that my monitor already supported VGA connection (d’oh), and then I got my old computer booted up.
Seems it contained a 700 MHz CPU and 256 RAM with a couple of gigs of hard drive. Plenty of power for my needs – perhaps a little too much for some of my old games, but we’ll see.

However it was extremely unstable, chrasing and locking up left and right and booting up very slowly – time to dig out a Win98 disc and reformat I think. Phew – can’t remember last time I reformatted a computer instead of just buying a new harddrive :D

Some other problems I noticed right off the bat was that even though there is a soundcard installed, it didn’t seem to produce any sound. So I will have to check whether it is installed properly, and if it even works.
The CPU fan made quite a lot of noise (dust problem I hope), so will have to look at that as well.
I’ll need to identify the graphics card, so I can install a proper version of direct X (5 or 6 most likely) which I’ll have to pull from an old disc, as I do not intend the computer to connect to the internet.
The running of a CD yielded a BSOD, which I hope will be fixed with a reformat – otherwise I might have to look into a new CD drive (properly around 4-16x speed) or burn my original CDs to new discs so I can test if it is scratches which cause the problem. Some of these CDs are old – back to mid 90s.
I’ll need to find drivers online for various things and get them burned down and installed. For example – drivers for my old Joystick (which is a Wingman Interceptor - best joystick ever), the soundcard (if it works), the graphic card and what else I find.

So there are still plenty of things to do to get it working properly – but with a bit of luck – I have the entire machine already build and only software problems remain and I don’t have to worry about hardware.

In a nostalgic spur of the moment – I’ve decided to try and build up a gaming computer to run games from the late 90s.

I’m especially interested in the Wing Commander/privateer series and other of these "interactive movie" games, Masters of Magic and a number of adventure games, I have stored.

Because I like many of the old games, I follow initiatives such as Good Old Games and support it by buying some of the games. But because I have a number of the games still laying around on CD’s – unfortunately I seem to have lost/misplaced my floppy – I thought I might as well try and boot them up properly.

So my first order of business will be to identify what kind of hardware I actually have laying around the place. I basically have one full computer, but I have no idea what specs it contains, so I need to get it booted up somehow – meaning I have to invest in a VGA to DVI adapter so I (hopefully) can run it on my LCD monitor at home. Have to get a hold of a PS/2 mouse and keyboard, well the keyboard I have, unsure about the mouse. But to judge the hardware I don’t really need the mouse.

I also have an old Wingman Extreme joystick lying around – really curious if it still works as it was a wonderful joystick.

But time will tell – but I do hope to manage to boot up some of my old games again without having to rely on DOSBox or similar.