Back in the day, when Windows 98 reigned supreme, we actually thought beige plastic was the right kind of material for all our PCs. And judging by my smudged-up black aluminum laptops, maybe we were right. We’re edging on the 30-year anniversary of that old OS, so maybe it’s time we look at prebuilt PC maker Maingear’s latest Retro98 tower with reverence for a much less expensive time in PC gaming history.
The Retro98 tower is a sequel to Maingear’s previous nostalgic build, the Retro95 from last year. While that pre-configured PC was barely large enough to slip in a modern GPU, the new mid-sized tower takes in a full ATX motherboard. There are other nostalgic accoutrements inside the big beige box, including traditional “ketchup-and-mustard” sleeved power cables. The front I/O ports, which include two USB-A 3.2, a single USB-C, and a headphone jack, are hidden behind the top-end Maingear logo. Oh, and there’s a handy LED fan speed display and turbo button on the outside.
You’re going to ask me about that floppy drive, aren’t you? I’m sorry to say, this PC is not going to let you intone the traditional hymn, “don’t copy that floppy,” as you reach for your old version of Leisure Suit Larry on floppy disk. The Retro98’s chassis is a refitted SilverStone FLP02 case. Those top three trays are 5.25-inch expansion bays with an adapter cage. In the most expensive version of this PC, Maingear set up a pump and reservoir combo in the space behind two of those bays. I personally would be better served with an optical disc drive so I could plug in my ancient copy of Planescape Torment and then work round the clock to get it running. You could potentially install a modern floppy drive to USB and hook it up internally. Unfortunately, those bay doors won’t open with the satisfying “fwap” you may remember from 27 years ago.
There are three configurations of Retro98, though they’re going to cost you if you want something that’s going to push frame rates. A model with an Intel Core Ultra 7 265K CPU and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070 GPU will set you back $2,500. Another with the AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D CPU and an RTX 5080 GPU will cost $3,500. If you want the latest hotness, the AMD Ryzen 7 9850X3D CPU and the hulking RTX 5090 GPU, it will cost an even $5,000. Each of these models comes with 32GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD storage.
The “unapologetically overkill” rendition comes with open-loop liquid cooling co-developed by Alphacool, plus all the top-end specs alongside 64GB of RAM and 4TB of faster Gen5 SSD. Get ready to wince; that version will demand $9,800. Back in the day, a first-gen Apple iMac released that same year would have cost you $1,300, or a little more than $2,600 adjusted for inflation. In today’s economy impacted by the raging memory shortage, you can get a nostalgic machine, but not a nostalgic price.
At the very least, you don’t have to worry about sourcing your own RAM and storage for this build. Maingear and a few other pre-configured PC building companies have a “BYO RAM” program, where you can pay for a PC and send them your own memory sticks for them to slot in. In an email, Maingear told Gizmodo, “Retro98 is not part of Maingear’s BYO RAM program. The units come with RAM exclusively from Kingston. Since the quantity was limited, Maingear was able to secure all the RAM kits, and the PCs are already pre-built.”
Maingear said there are only 32 of these units available of the base models, plus another six of the pricey liquid-cooled versions. You don’t have to pay through the nose to find that sense of PC gaming nostalgia you’re looking for. At the same time, we have enjoyed several of Maingear’s previous builds. If you’re too lazy to source your own components (and believe us, that GPU is still going to be expensive), then Maingear’s machines may be what you’re looking for.
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