Remember the satisfying clack of a 5.25-inch drive bay door and the tiny glow of a floppy indicator? Maingear is banking on that memory with the Retro98, a limited-edition desktop that dresses up modern high-end PC hardware in a very convincing 1990s beige shell.
Built like 1998, tested for 2026
The Retro98 isn’t a museum prop — it’s a fully fledged gaming and creative workstation hiding behind retro cosmetics. The chassis is a SilverStone FLP02 case re-skinned with classic beige panels, ketchup-and-mustard sleeved cables, three faux 5.25-inch bay covers up front, an LED fan-speed readout, a working turbo button and even a power lockout key. Maingear tucked the front I/O (two USB-A 3.2, one USB-C, and a headphone jack) behind the logo to keep the look authentic.
Under the hood, though, this is all modern. Maingear is offering multiple configurations:
- Base: Intel Core Ultra 7 265K, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070, 32 GB DDR5, 2 TB NVMe — $2,499
- Mid: AMD Ryzen 7 9800X3D, RTX 5080, 32 GB DDR5, 2 TB NVMe — $3,499
- High: Ryzen 7 9850X3D, RTX 5090, 32 GB DDR5, 2 TB NVMe — $4,999
- Retro98α (open-loop): Ryzen 9 9950X3D, RTX 5090, 64 GB DDR5, 4 TB NVMe Gen5, custom Alphacool loop — $9,799
- Collectors who value limited runs and distinctive design.
- Gamers/creatives who want top-end performance in a chassis that sparks conversation.
- People who like the convenience of a hand-built, warranty-backed prebuilt and don’t want to source parts themselves.
All builds include Wi‑Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, and Maingear says the Intel and AMD variants use MSI Z890 and X870E motherboards respectively, with 80+ Gold PSUs sized appropriately for the chosen GPU.
A limited nostalgia drop — and a few practical notes
If you want one, act fast: Maingear says there are only 32 standard Retro98 units and six Retro98α units. The company frames the machine as a “love letter to the golden age of PC gaming,” and each unit is hand-assembled.
That said, the Retro98 is primarily nostalgia with performance. The faux drive bays don’t magically read floppy disks — in the Alpha model two of those bays are repurposed to house a reservoir and pump for the liquid loop. If you really want to run old discs or floppies, you can add modern internal USB floppy or optical drives, or take the SilverStone case and build your own variation.
Price is the blunt part of the nostalgia joke: even the base configuration starts well north of what a consumer would have paid for a midrange PC in 1998 (adjusted for inflation). But remember: you’re paying for modern GPUs, top-tier CPUs, and a collector’s aesthetic — not a time machine.
Who is the Retro98 for?
This lands squarely between three audiences:
If you’re the tinker type who enjoys modding cases or reviving old hardware, the Retro98’s design is a tidy roadmap: the SilverStone FLP02 is widely available, and you can replicate many of the visual cues yourself. That spirit of resurrecting old kit echoes other DIY projects we’ve seen, from hobbyists bringing ancient hardware back to life to reinstalling old software on modern rigs; it’s part of why retro gear has staying power in tech culture. See one example of that revival mindset in the way people have revived old Nest thermostats with new firmware bring old devices back online.
And if your goal is to nudge classic games into running on modern Windows, you’ll want to pair a machine like this with some basic OS housekeeping — removing bloat, adjusting compatibility layers, or setting up virtualization can make a huge difference for running legacy titles. Maingear hands you the hardware; the software side benefits from a little cleanup, as discussed in guides on decluttering Windows 11.
Final note
Maingear is selling the Retro98 as a finite piece of nostalgia: once the 38 units are gone (32 regular + 6 Alpha), the company says it won’t be reissued. For buyers, that scarcity is part of the appeal — and for everyone else, it’s an entertaining reminder that tech fashions come full circle. If you like beige boxes with modern brawn, and the price tags don’t make you flinch, the Retro98 is an obvious fit. If you’d rather save money and still get the look, the SilverStone FLP02 case lets hobbyists chase the same vibe for less.
(Maingear orders are available directly from the company.)