LOAF Fixes the Computer of Tomorrow

VLB takes up this full-length space, so if you devote 2 slots to the I/O controller and the Graphics adapter, you have at least one slot left, since most VLB boards featured three VLB slots.

I have seen boards you like on ebay starting at 200 euro's... Better to get a bunch of old junked computers and salvage them, unless you have money to spend because you want to. I also spotted a Hp D530m fulltower casing, but shipping costs to here would be insane because of the weight.

I dimly remember back in days of yore spending ages pouring over motherboard specs for a board with AGP, PCI and ISA and eventually finding one, I think the manufacturer began with a T but I can't be sure, this was for a super socket-7 board so (again relying on memory) would support everything from a 486 DX-100 up to a K6-3.
I can't remember if I ever did get a dx-100 for my cpu collection (just moved so can't check!) but you could try one of the similar vintage VIA or AMD cpus (the amd 586 for instance) for slightly better than 486 DX-66 performance (for WC4 and P2) but which you could slow the multiplier right down on to get a 386 style performance. Sadly they weren't easy to find back in the day, so i suspect they're almost impossible these days.

If I might recommend a CPU:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrix_Cx5x86

And there's one on ebay; http://www.ebay.com/itm/5x86-100gp-cyrix-/221041993072?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3377212570

Mainboard is also available, for a fair price:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ISA-486SV2-...243?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item518de47b73

Now, as you can see, with boards like these full-length cards are no problem.

They made those? I thought ISA was phased out before AGP was phased in?

No, it was pretty common, most Pentium 3 boards even carried 2 ISA slots. However it is limited moslty to AGP 1x and 2x. And for something really extreme, you can get current boards from specific brands.

Loaf:

rooms of old equipment and software stacked floor to ceiling in no particular order.

could you please define "old software" for us? Are there any games lurking in there, or is it all just LOTUS 1-2-3?

Is thinking of a trip there to build a Windows 98 computer with Voodoo 2 for M1 Tank Platoon 2 and Longbow 1/2

Those machines were common. You usually got 1 AGP and 1 ISA slot, and 3 PCI slots. They weren't hard to find - circa 2001 machines often had all three. The ISA was purely for compatibility (mostly for older SoundBlaster cards as the PCI ones never were that great because of Creative's incompetence). PCI for network and other stuff and AGP for graphics.

These days, a modern PC is either all PCIe or PCIe with PCI bridge slots. (AGP was really just a special high-speed version of PCI)

How odd. All of my post-1995 computers had no ISA slots at all--only PCI, AGP, and now PCIe

I used to work as a store technician from 1995-2002. Just about every (fullsized) Pentium 2/3 board, AMD's Slot-A, and the supersocket7 boards have 2 or 3 ISA slots, and possibly and AMR-slot. I am talking fullsize ATX boards though(7 expansion slots), while those who only had two or 3 slots generally traded off the space for an ISA for an extra PCI or an AMR slot, and that was common in off-the-shelf computers.
ISA only completely disappeared with the introduction of the AthlonXP and Pentium4, something that might contribute to this is the fact that ISA slots on systems with a high bus speed were unstable and actually damaged some ISA cards over time. And like I mentioned, manufactors such as Nixsys and Esis still make new custom motherboards with ISA, and they are very, very expensive, but yes, you could put your legacy card in a corei7 system.

The intel DX4/100 makes sense(avoid the DX4/75, it performs slower then a DX/33 in some cases). But most Pentium boards feature only 4xPCI, 3xISA, and you are short a slot again 4 your needs. Besides, the high-end 486 chips both from intel and the competitors matched or outperformed the early(60/66/75 Mhz) Pentiums. And still you are looking for the four ISA slots, that most Pentium-class boards lack, so you'll be looking for somethin that was uncommon when it was new...

As others have said, L&Y has a massive selection of software from nearly all eras of computing; the only thing not really widely represented at this point is the 80s. It's actually a far wider selection of software than hardware, funnily enough. Hell, when I was in there last over this past Christmas (when I went back to Virginia to visit the folks for Christmas) I believe I recall seeing a copy of Strike Commander in stock and seemingly good condition. I was sorely tempted.

But, yes, I wish I'd seen this thread a bit earlier because I could've warned you, LOAF - Susie's long since cleared out her stock of anything older than a Pentium 4, and she doesn't even really take those anymore. I tried to sell her my old P4 this past Christmas to finally get rid of it, and she basically wouldn't take it. She, herself, pointed out that it's mostly gold-hunters who are looking for pre-millenial computing hardware these days - there are so few legitimate vintage collectors out there (and so many of them already have the machines they desire) that there's no real market for old hardware of this sort anymore.

I DO remember hearing about a major vintage parts supplier here on the West Coast, though - in LA, I think? The name escapes me at the moment, but if I can remember who it is, I'll post about it (and maybe even see if I can scare up some of the stuff you want!)

EDIT: Also going to echo Mace in that a 486/100 is probably going to be your best bet on this. Those old Pentium commercials really were classy as hell, though (and man, from an era when Wing Commander was basically a cornerstone of the PC zeitgeist. Memories!)

Curse you, sir.

I really wish I could remember the name of the damn place! It had to do with Fry's Electronics... I think? But it's not actually a Fry's? It'll come back to me, hopefully.

Good find! Now check the following items to hunt down:
A PC-66 32MB SDRAM module, maybe something from an older computer lying around, unless you have a reasonable amount of 72-pin SIMM's lying around. And yes, a Pentium 120/133 work on there, but only the pre-MMX models(also goes for the AMD/Cyrix's).