I have 2 full case pentium 1s I’ve tried to use for emulation htpc’s and simple kids computers. They can’t emulate much above a snes are shit for video play back and way to big for simple router functionality. Even when I could get them to work nothing even semi modern would run at any reasonable speed and when it did it’s still a giant machine case with the needed associated fans and cooling not to mention the power draws. 1 mini pc with 10 year old specs does all of it so much faster without any of the hassle and for way less power draws. It’s just simple physics. The hardware has advanced so much more it’s not worth the money. I even spent an extra 100$ on fanless cards that fit but I can’t get fully functional drivers for. Good luck.
I did for a while. Then I started repurposing some of them and found it’s a lot harder to make things work and they’re a lot slower when it does then relatively cheaper but MUCH faster and more capable newer hardware. Tech moved to fast in the early days to make the older stuff really worth it by todays standards.
I have 2 full case pentium 1s I’ve tried to use for emulation htpc’s and simple kids computers. They can’t emulate much above a snes are shit for video play back and way to big for simple router functionality. Even when I could get them to work nothing even semi modern would run at any reasonable speed and when it did it’s still a giant machine case with the needed associated fans and cooling not to mention the power draws. 1 mini pc with 10 year old specs does all of it so much faster without any of the hassle and for way less power draws. It’s just simple physics. The hardware has advanced so much more it’s not worth the money. I even spent an extra 100$ on fanless cards that fit but I can’t get fully functional drivers for. Good luck.