Beginning to Now - How far have you come?

[tecmo34]

We all have started from somewhere in the computer world to get where we are today. Where did you begin your journey in the world of computers and were are you at today?

My First Computer (Family PC going up):



Current Computer:

My journey has taken me from the Commodore64 as a child to a few Dell / Gateway PC's until I started in the world of building my own PC, which leads to my current system:

■CPU: Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
■MOBO: EVGA E758-TR 3-Way SLI (x16/x16/x8) LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
■RAM: OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3P1600LV6GK - Retail
■HSF: XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler - Retail
■OS/App HDD: Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2MH080G2R5 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Retail
■Games HDD: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD3000HLFS 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
■Storage HDD: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
■PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
■GPU: 2x EVGA 896-P3-1257-AR GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 Superclocked Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI ... - Retail
■DVD: SAMSUNG DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L LightScribe Support - OEM
■BD-ROM: Sony Optiarc Black 2X BD-ROM SATA Model BR-5100S - OEM
■Case: Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
■Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
■Montior: SOYO Pearl MT-NI-DYLM24E6 Monitor 24" 1900x1200

Please share with the rest of the Community on your journey through the time on where you started from and where you are now.

Best Regards,

Tecmo34

 

[tpc01x]

My very first computer was a x386, I don't even remember the brand, but the machine following that was a HP Pavilion Pentium @ 133 mhz with 32mb ram. I remember getting this in '95!

Ever since I was a child I loved computers and games. Through trial and error I built a few throughout my childhood; a celeron and pentium 3. In school I was in an intel sponsored program in which we built xeon servers for other high schools. Which eventually led me to the IT field, now I'm an IT Administrator; MCSE, CCNA, CCDA, A+, Network+, Linux+. Even though I'm more familiar with server and enterprise hw/sw, I still enjoy building a computer from time to time.

my current build as of last night:

core i7 930. OC'd it to 3.6 ghz
asus sabertooth x58
patriot ddr3 @ 1600 - 6gb
thermaltake modular 650 psu
cm hyper n520 cpu cooler
2 tb hdd
500 gb hdd
acer 24 inch led monitor S243HLbmii
evga gtx460 768mb super clocked
asus dvd/rw
antec three hundred case
windows 7 ultimate x64

I plan on getting a crucial c300 ssd 128gb soon.

-Thomas

 

[method320]

My first machine that I could actually call my own was a Socket A system. I don't remember exactly what it had but I do remember I was always scrounging for DDR sticks. I had 4 slots and 4 different sizes and speeds. Looking back it's kind of humorous. I've never owned an Intel machine that was my primary.

You dont want to see my current machine. The only awesome part about it is the case, NZXT Tempest, and the ram, 8GB ddr2. No more scrounging for me

I did however manage to get my processor at 18C, which I was kind of proud of. Air cooling.

 

[Wolfshadw]

Amiga 500
AST 486DX2-50 w/2 Meg RAM (Upgraded to DX4-100 and 4 Meg RAM)
Intel Pentium III 800MHz w/256 Meg RAM (first home build)
AMD Athlon XP 3200+ w/768 Meg RAM (Last Pre-built purchase)
AMD Athlon X2-4800+ w/2 Gig RAM
AMD Athlon X2-3800+ w/2 Gig RAM (Still in use - Need to get off my lazy butt and swap out the CPU)
Intel Core2Duo E6600 w/2 Gig RAM (Still in use)
Intel Core2Quad Q8400 w/8 Gig RAM (Still in use)

Toss in a couple laptops along the way.

Got my eye on a CoreI5 system, but no real need for it and I can't justify buying it just for the sake of building a new system.

-Wolf sends

 

[coagulated]

First ever PC's I came into contact with were a BBC (In school) and an Amstrad at home. I can't remember which model it was exactly, but I remember it only had one floppy drive (my uncle had another version with drives - one red, one green - I believe the red one was used to play games...?).

The one we had in the family home was similar to this.

http://pc-museum.com/033-amstrad/rcm-033.jpg

And from there the next family PC was around '98, with a glorious 16mb of RAM and could just run the original Half Life nicely! However, after another PC, I ended up with my first with a whopping 64mb RAM! It was from PC World, so you can imagine how shite it was.

From then on I had a Tiny PC, Packard Bell (The mouse of which I've only just stopped using since buying a Laichesis - go rollerballs!) and a few other non-descript. rigs bastardized with the odd stick of a friends surplus RAM.

My first proper gaming rig was housed inside this:

http://www.microdirect.co.uk/images/CNET/I243403.jpg

It featured 512 DDR and two SLI'd 6600s. My, I tell you, back then that blew BF2 and CoD out of the water. I also bought the first and (so far) only decent sound system to go with it. They may be a mere 25 pound now, but the Logitech X-220's are built to last!

http://www.tzteam.hu/images/Hangfal_Logitech_X_210.jpg

Last PC I bought was a ZooStorm from eBuyer pre-built with:

4gb DDR2 800mhz
Awful Foxcon M-ATX
9800 GT
750gb Samsung 7200 RPM
q6600 2.66ghz Quad
NoName 500w PSU

From that I've morphed it into a pretty stable rig:

Antec 900
ASUS P5Q Pro Turbo
Intel q6700 2.66ghz (Stock) w/ Akasa Venom
ASUS HD 5850
4GB DDR2 Kingston Hyper-X 1066 (2GB x2)
CoolerMaster Silent Pro 600w
750GB Samsung 7200 RPM
FreeAgent 1TB EXT HDD

Peripherals:

Razer Laichesis
Razer Lycosa Mirror (It looks amazing, but it's very unreliable)
Razer Destructor
Creative Fatal1ty (good budget headset)

Future:

I plan on splitting the 5850 away from the rig to service a new AM3 monster. Wack one of the 6600's in the old build and begin the AMD Machine.

 

[davewolfgang]

The very first computer that I 100% fully owned was an old Atari 1040ST

http://retrospec.sgn.net/users/tomcat/miodrag/Atari_ST/Atari_ST.htm

The first actually "PC" that I owned fully with an internal hard drive was an IBM 330, with the sliding door on the front. I couldn't believe I was able to get one with a 133 Mhz processor!!!! And when I upgraded to 32 MB of RAM from 16 MB. Heaven!

Now I have an i7-930 in a HAF 932 case.
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R (rev 2.0)
CM 212+
6 GB OCZ (3x 2GB) RAM (don't know the exact model #)
WD 640GB 7200 HD, plus 2x 2TB drives for data
BFG GTS 250 1GB DDR3 (will be upgrading this next)
Coolmax CUD-750W
2x 23" Acer x233H 1080p 1920x1080
2x 24x DVD-RW w/Lightscribe

Added since pic -

Yuan Digital TV tuner (PCI) WoW on one screen - Football on the other!!

 

[Motopsychojdn]

/Wipes mist from eyes......



First anything I recall, a cousin had a specky+2 than at the age of 12
then I got a second hand C64 (Which incidentally my mother spent more time on than me)
School had a mix of Atari 1040st's, Acorn electrons and an Amiga or two,
I got an Amiga from a mate in my twenties and that was it for a few years until ps2 came out, I bought one and lived on tony hawks games till i got bored, then bought some staples deal Medion pc in about 2003-4, and found teh intermawebbz
couple of oddjob pc's from mates
Earler this year I decided to build my own and stop lining their pockets, built my first pc in january, one for my gf in june/july and a couple of refurbs in between.

Yeah, I'm hooked now Baby.......
Moto

 

[Mousemonkey]

I had a 16k ZX81 and then a 48k Spectrum which I later sold, I also still have a Dragon 32 somewhere.

 

[boiler1990]

The first computer I used was an Apple II, even though I was born in 1990. I loved those games for it like Number Munchers and stuff. I managed to get my hands on a IIc on craigslist last summer, and it brings back good memories.

It's amazing to see how fast computing has advanced in my lifetime, and it still has places to go (quantum computing!).

My new gaming/school rig is listed in my signature.

 

[bavman]

My first computer was in 1999 and i think i remember the specs kinda:
450mhz pentium 3 (or 2???)
64mb ram
10gb hdd
that HUGE monitor lol

several (way overdue) was a cheap hp
2.8ghz pentium 4 ht
512mb ram
intel igp
160gb hdd

2 years ago was probably my biggest mistake, this hp laptop for about $750.
2ghz core 2 dou
4gb ram
I should definitely have done my research. It gets so hot, has horrible intel graphics, and about 1 year when i bought it battery life drops to 15 minutes.

My current computer is in my sig.
Im so happy i decided to build this one. It hasnt let me down yet.

It looks so much better after i actually took time to organize all the wiring.

 

[buwish]

It's been awhile, but I believe that the first computer I used was an old Commodore 128DCR. It came out in 1987, but the old man kept it around after he got a new Apple (I think) at some point and let me mess around with it when I was 4-5 years old. Hence, my start with computers and it started early. I forget the exact specs on it, as I'm not sure what specific model we had, but it was probably something like 8502 CPU (2MHz) and plenty of storage, if you considered the 5 1/4 floppies to be spacious. Anyone remember the days of countless racks full of actual floppy disks? It looked something like this, but I'm pretty sure it's not the exact same one:

I don't have a pic of my current rig handy, but it looks basically like almost everyone else's on here Q9400 (2.66GHz), 8GB of DDR2-800Mhz, HD 5830, and 2.2TB of storage. Needless to say, even with what is now considered outdated tech, if I could go back in time with it, I'd be a billionaire and Bill Gates and Steve Jobs would be working at the Circle K down the street pumping gas. I wish I would've kept the old Commodore, as I'd probably be able to get a pretty decent profit out of it on eBay from some collector.

Edit: Actually, I do have one. I know, I know, I have cable management issues, but it runs cool, so who cares.

 

[jason gran]

First computer (family owned)

Compaq Presario 5170-dont remember the specs, just remember i had to save using floppy's and it would erase the data half the time. oh and it took 15 mins to start up. haha that computer was a horrible waste of time.

2nd Computer (family owned)

Dell b110- bought it for nearly 700 i believe? had 2 disk drives which awe'd me, was a decent computer. would still have it if it wasn't jacked by a family member when i moved.

3rd computer (my first computer)

Dell xps 8000-bought it in nov 2009 for 850. specs:
PROCESSORS Intel® Core™ i5-750 processor(8MB Cache, 2.66GHz)
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English
MEMORY 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMs
VIDEO CARD 1024MB nVidia GeForce GT220
HARD DRIVE 500GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache
OPTICAL DRIVE 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
Yes i know you bought a dell?? being from a dell family that was the first place i looked. had a great payment plan (being young i wanted credit. couldnt resist) I am currently selling it and in the process of building my "dream" computer"

4th/current rig

case Antec Nine Hundred Two Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
psu CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active
graphics msi gtx 470 twin frozr OC'd
cpu Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
mobo GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ram CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model
hd SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Internal Hard Drive
SSD-OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive
cd drive LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner
blu rayLITE-ON Black 4X BD-ROM 8X DVD-ROM 32X CD-ROM SATA Internal 4X Blu-ray Disc Reader Model iHOS104-08
OS Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders
Extras
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long
120mm tri color antec fan
nzxt touch screen fan controller

It's amazing how far computers have come and from here on ill be building all my computers.

 

[cmcghee358]

1st computer:

Mother bought a:
486 DX50
4 MB of RAM
100 MB HDD

I played on BBS' religiously. Played alot of pre-MMORPGs like Hack n Slash, and some text based space ship game where you went to different sectors and, oh it was called Trade Wars 2020 or something.

Then I joined the Air Force in 98, got a Compaq when I returned from South Korea in 2003. Later on bought another in 2005, which eventually started failing. That's when I first tried my hand at component replacement with a PSU. Later on I added a Radeon X1650 Graphics Card.

Lucky for me that computer crashed when I had a large influx of money, so I ordered an AMD Quad Core iBuypower in 2009.

The specs on that:
AMD Phenom IIx4 920 2.8GHz
4 GB DDR2-800 RAM
Raidmax Enzo gaming case
Gigabyte GA-MA790X-UD4 motherboard
unamed Radeon 4850 512MB Graphics Card
500 GB 5400 RPM HDD
Old Dell 17" CRT monitor

From that I have: (signature)

 

[Proximon]

It's hard to say kinda. I remember programming a tank game into a little thing just a bit bigger than a calculator... that would be my earliest real experience, but the computer was on loan...
If it wasn't this TRS-80 it was similar:
http://www.classiccmp.org/dunfield/t80ppc/index.htm
I programmed a basic tank game into it that was then played on paper.

Much later the first computer I actually owned was a second-hand AT. It had two floppy drives and no hard drive originally, but a massive 10 or 20MB hard drive had been added. No room in the case so the HDD just kinda hung out the back. I remember having trouble upgrading to a color monitor.

The first comp I actually built had a Cryix 80Mhz CPU.

Here's my comp tonight.... the light makes it look much dustier than it is, really I dusted last week, kinda.

 

[jbakerlent]

^ Proximon, your post really cracked me up!

 

[guanyu210379]

My PC history :
Childhood time, only for games :
80286 system and commodore64 (dunno anymore what came first)
DX100

---------
Teennage/adult time, not only for games :
PII 266mmx (starting this point, I built by myself )
PIII 800eb
P D805
AMD X2 5200+
C2D Q6600
AMD PII X4 955
Planning on replacing the Q6600 next year

 

[cmcghee358]

^ Your hard drives make me nervous. After reading such negative reviews about the 7200.11 Seagate series, and the Hitachi Deathstars I'm impressed you have both without issues.

I would equate having both those HDDs as getting the Gatekeeper and the Keymaster together

 

[guanyu210379]

^ Your hard drives make me nervous. After reading such negative reviews about the 7200.11 Seagate series, and the Hitachi Deathstars I'm impressed you have both without issues.

I would equate having both those HDDs as getting the Gatekeeper and the Keymaster together

Yup!
for the 7200.11. I would say also myself : WOW! It still alive even today.

That is why I bought the Hitachi. I wanna test my luck again since I bought it for a very cheap price.


I don't have to worry about my important data, I have it redudant on several more HDDs.

 

[strangequark]

My first computer was a hand-me down Tandy in 1991. I was 14. I don't remember the specs, but we played king's quest on it and it was slow! What memories. Now I have an i7-920, asus p6t deluxe v2, a gtx 285 and 6gigs of ram.

 

[buwish]

What do you guys say, should we make this a sticky so we can get more on user's PC histories? It would be a good place to start for new members.

 

[davewolfgang]

What do you guys say, should we make this a sticky so we can get more on user's PC histories? It would be a good place to start for new members.

I think it would be great to show the new comers what a lot of us came from to get to our machines today.

 

[Proximon]

I think it's more for fun than anything Despite the glut of OLD contest posts at the top, we don't really have stickies now... just links from the single sticky.

 

[tecmo34]

Agreed... Randomizer has set it up as "One Sticky to Rule Them All"

 

[Motopsychojdn]

I think its a good idea to sticky it up
Proximon, what server you on dude?
< Doomhammer
Moto

 

[Proximon]

I have an 80 hunter and 76 druid on Garona Just re-subscribed and trying to stay interested enough to get the Druid to 80 before Cata