Post Your Oldies!

Boozad

Boozad

Prolific Poster
I was just checking through my new order and thought I'd have a look at my very first PCS rig spec. Unbelievably it's still running, although it's had some of its internals replaced (HDD, GPU, RAM) but will be retired off soon when the kids take charge of my current rig.

So I ordered this back in November 2007, it cost me the princely sum of £364 (inc VAT) and would have received it around December 13th. It was built by Nasir Mahmood, tested by Garnet Heller, QCd by Martin Lowe and packed by none other than George Washington. Wow.

The spec:

Case
Silver Neon Bubble case + front USB & front Lights
Processor (CPU)
AMD ATHLON™ 64 X2 5000+ (2.6GHz) 2 x 512K L2 Cache (Socket AM2)
Motherboard
ASUS® M2A-VM: DUAL DDR2, SATA II, x16 VGA, 2 x PCI
Memory (RAM)
2GB CORSAIR DDR2 667MHz - LIFETIME WARRANTY! (2x1GB)
Graphics Card
256MB RADEON HD 2400 PRO PCI Express + DVI
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
250GB SERIAL ATA II HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
20x Dual Layer LightScribe DVD Writer ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
16x DVD-ROM WITH 48x CD-ROM
Power Supply
STANDARD 350W (Peak) Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22 dBA AMD CPU COOLER (£14)
Sound Card
6 Channel Realtek ALC883 High Definition Audio (Onboard)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS (4 REAR + 2 FRONT) AS STANDARD
Operating System
NO OPERATING SYSTEM REQUIRED
Warranty
1 Year Return-to-Base incl 1st Month Free Collect & Return

I can't believe that was nearly six years ago, and that rig seemed like it could control NASA at the time. So, show us your old PCS specs!
 
Last edited:
W

Wozza63

Biblical Poster
Quite amazing how quickly technology has advanced in just six years! That is the reason why consoles need to be released more often.
 
Boozad

Boozad

Prolific Poster
It is amazing, I was pretty gobsmacked when I looked at the original spec and I'm not sure how I kept it running so long. I'll have to get some photos of it before it gets binned, I've given it a blast out but I bet it's still dusty as hoops inside. The last upgrade I made was a XTX HD4650 512MB GPU after FM12 started showing the pitch in neon blue. I guess that was my first experience with artifacting?

Untitled-12.jpg


That was my best FM save ever, I'd still play it but FM13's match engine is far superior.
 
Last edited:
vanthus

vanthus

Member Resting in Peace
All I remember about my first rig is it was Windows 95 and had 16MB of ram,I doubled that to 32MB,I was really quite proud of that and it made an immense difference. :)
 
Boozad

Boozad

Prolific Poster
I built my first rig from an unused industrial PC from my old place. I think it was a 333MHz processor running Windows 95. I can't remember how much RAM it had but I did manage to get a dual boot with XP on it although I couldn't get any sound out the XP OS. It was so noisy it used to keep my flatmate awake in the next room.
 
Tom DWC

Tom DWC

Moderator
Moderator
Brilliant thread this. :)

vanthus said:
All I remember about my first rig is it was Windows 95 and had 16MB of ram,I doubled that to 32MB,I was really quite proud of that and it made an immense difference. :)
Click to expand...

Aha brill. I think I could have only been five or so at the time but I recall my dad getting a PC off his mate which he gave to me. I remember it had a counter on the front that simply read "16" and after he came round to fix it once it read "32" so I guess that was the RAM as well, was also Win 95. :)

My first PCS rig was back in September 2010, an overclocked X6 1090T processor, 4 gigs of RAM, an HD 5870 and a 1TB hard drive. That amount of storage space seemed unreal to me at the time. It's still going strong, albeit without the overclock (I think the chip was quite badly degraded by the time I'd finished with it) but it meets the needs of its new owner well. :D
 
Boozad

Boozad

Prolific Poster
I completely forgot about this. I tried to order this three years ago but after getting accepted for finance I got turned down for some reason. I'm glad, because if I'd ordered this rig then I'd have made do for probably another three years!

Case
STYLISH BLACK ALUMINIUM TRIGON CASE + 2 FRONT/SIDE USB (Special Offer)
Processor (CPU)
AMD ATHLON II X4 640 (2.9GHz/2MB CACHE/AM3)
Motherboard
ASUS® M4A78LT-M LE: mATX MAINBOARD, DDR3, USB 2.0, SATA 3.0Gb/s
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics Card
1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT220 PCI EXPRESS
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
250GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk
250GB SERIAL ATA 3-Gb/s HARD DRIVE WITH 8MB CACHE (7,200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Memory Card Reader
INTERNAL 52 IN 1 CARD READER (READS XD, MS, CF, SD, etc)
Power Supply
450W Quiet 80 PLUS Dual Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan (£29)
Processor Cooling
SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE CPU COOLER (£19)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT
USB Options
4 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
Microsoft® Office Home & Student 2010 (1 License Product Key Card) (£77)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Warranty
3 Year Standard Warranty (1 Month Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
 
D

dogbot

Bright Spark
My first (and best) personal computer was a BBC Micro. 32 Kb of ram, no hard drive and programs loaded from a tape recorder. It had a 10 bit A/D converter and the other port addresses were given in the manual so all manner of home made electronic gadgets could be connected. Even used it at work for real time measurements using pressure transducers and accelerometers etc.

Microsoft did not seem to think a computer could be used for anything other than 'paperwork' so with later computers the home electronics faded from the scene.
 
L

LFFPicard

Godlike
Boozad said:
I completely forgot about this. I tried to order this three years ago but after getting accepted for finance I got turned down for some reason. I'm glad, because if I'd ordered this rig then I'd have made do for probably another three years!
Click to expand...

You really should of got both your previous PC's with Caviar Blacks, so much better than the standard SATA :D (Obvious joke there)

My first PC was a Tiny PC.

PII 350mhz
64mb Ram
60gb HD
Gforce 2
Win98

Those were the days, AOL and 56k modems. :D
 
Grimezy

Grimezy

Prolific Poster
Going back to your original post, I believe there are some improvements that could be made in your build. If you plan to game at 1080p on 1 monitor I would suggest upping the CPU and GPU to an i5-3570 and GTX670. Your ram may also struggle slightly with the latest titles so 8gb should be sufficient. I'm definitely hoping people have picked up on my sarcasm by now...

I can't comment on my own previous rigs as I was too young at the time and haven't had one for about 8 years or so but I did see this on the internet the other week that made me laugh:

10mbharddrive.jpg


There was another things about a $5000 desktop from 50 years ago which looks like the most underpowered thing ever today. Can't seem to find that though :(

P.S. Good job you've got lifetime warranty on your ram! Who knows when that might come in handy!
 
Keedar

Keedar

Expert
My first pc? Commodore 64 where we have to use screwdriver to play a game and Amiga 500.Will post some pics later :)
 
Encolpius

Encolpius

Silver Level Poster
Well... in the beginning, when I was still in short pants and reckoned girls all had the lurgie, I had an Atari ST.

A 520 STFM to be precise. That's the one with a built in floppy drive and a TV modulator as well as a monitor port (proprietary, for some reason). Later it got upgraded to 1 MB.

Then we got a PC in about '95 or so but before Windows 95. It had a Pentium 60 (the big hot one), 8 MB RAM, ATI Mach 64 GPU, Seagate Medalist 545 MB hard drive, NO INTERNET, Soundblaster AWE32, and a generic CDROM.

In '98 it got an upgrade. Windows 95 came in, as did a Pentium 200MMX (which was a BEAST), ATI Rage of some sort (I think a 128?), 3.2GB hard drive, dialup, and a CD writer. Kept the AWE32.

In 2001 we got a wholly new compy, an off the shelf thing from PC World. It looked good at first, being a Pentium 4 1.5GHz and 256MB, broadband, 40GB hard drive, and Geforce 2... then I had a go on my mate's Athlon and felt a bit inadequate.

2004 I went to university and got an excellent lappy. It was a Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo with a desktop-clas P4 2.8GHz, 512MB, Mobility Radeon 9000, 40GB hard drive, and a slot for your wireless card. Sort of the Omega Supreme of its day. Got it reduced to £750.00 or thereabouts as a last of line spectacular. Excellent machine was that. Apart from the battery life. And the fact that the screen went all flickery if it was opened at certain angles. And it was all a bit hot. And the keyboard died when I dribbled a tuna sandwich on it. And the battery conked out so I could only run on the mains.

2007 it got replaced by a terribad lappy with Vista that I had to keep for four years due to terminal shortness of cash for replacement. It was all I could afford at the time because the excellent lappy had conked out conclusively. I really don't like talking about this one. It died irreversibly of being fat and useless.

2011 I got an okay Lenovo lappy that was on sale - dual-core 2.13GHz Nehalem, 6 GB RAM, Intel HD Graphics (which is awful but was good enough for me to play The Witcher on, just about, if I turned down some of the stuff), 500GB hard drive. I keep this in my desk drawer at work and use it for client visits.

June 2012 I got The Fat Cow. See below.
 
Keedar

Keedar

Expert
you're born with joystick in your hands :) We are at the same age but i dont remeber when my first atari was made.Commodore 64 and amiga 500 as well.Will check that later.
 
Last edited:
rickne

rickne

Master Poster
Keedar said:
you're born with joystick in you hands :) We are at the same age but i dont remeber when my first atari was made.Commodore 64 and amiga 500 as well.Will check that later.
Click to expand...


If it was the 2600 then I think it was 1977.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top