Jump to content

Your first PC memories and most notable upgrade ?

There have been 2 times in the last 30 years of computing that I've felt a leap forward level noticeable speed increase. 

1) going from a HDD to SSD boot drive for the first time ever

2) Going from Intel to M1. Not even in intensive things-- everything in daily computing is just quicker. Very similar to the change the first time I got an SSD boot drive. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

As far as I can remember my first memories with PCs are from our first family computer - eMachines eTower 466i with Windows 98SE. I used to play a lot of 'Tank Racer', but also there was some program my parents had installed from a CD that came with a PC magazine, the program was 'Drawing for children' and I used to play around a lot with it as well.

The most notable upgrade I struggle to decide between going from the family computer with AMD Sempron 2500+ 1.75GHz, 1GB DDR1, AMD Radeon 9550 128MB, 80GB IDE HDD and Windows XP Pro SP3 to my first own computer, a pre-built Acer Aspire M1930 (Intel Celeron G530 2.4GHz, 4GB DDR3, AMD Radeon HD7470 2GB, 1TB HDD, Windows 7 Pro). That was an impressive difference for me. That PC I bought in May 2012 and with upgrades continue to use to this day, even typing this on it now. The other notable upgrade is going from HDD to SSD (from 2-3 minutes to boot to a couple of seconds), now I get annoyed when trying to do something quickly on PCs/laptops with HDDs.

Main PC: Acer IPISB-VR│Intel Xeon E3-1270 3.4GHz│AeroCool AirFrost 4 with Noctua NF-A9│16GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual-channel│nVidia GeForce GTX1060 6GB│Cricual MX500 250GB SSD + WD Blue 1TB 7200rpm + Seagate 1TB 7200rpm│Windows 7 Pro x64 & Windows 11 Pro│CoolerMaster Silencio 352M│Seasonic M12II-520 EVO 520W│Acer SA220Q 22" 1920x1080

Secondary PC: MSI H81M-P33│Intel Core i7-4790 3.6GHz│DeepCool Ice Edge Mini FS V2│16GB DDR3 1866MHz (1600MHz) Dual-channel│AMD R9 270 2GB│WD Green 120GB SSD + Seagate 1TB│Windows 11 Pro│Acer Aspire M1930 case│CoolerMaster B500 v2 500W│Samsung S19B300 1366x768 & Fujitsu-Siemens P15-1 1024x768

Test PC/Nice XP PC: ASUS M2N│AMD Athlon64 x2 6000+ 3.1GHz│CoolerMaster unkown model│4GB DDR2 800MHz│nVidia GeForce 9500GT 1GB│Hitachi Deskstar 80GB 7200rpm + WD Raptor 74GB 10000 rpm│Windows 7 Pro x64 + Windows XP Pro SP3│TurboX Case│Zalman 450W│LG Flatron L1718S 17" 1280x1024

Future workshop PC: ASUS M4N68T-M-V2│AMD Phenom II x6 1055T 2.8GHz│Some 130W tower cooler│8GB DDR3 1333MHz Dual-channel│AMD Radeon HD4670 512MB│Samsung Spinpoint 640GB 7200rpm│Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 + Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 32bit│Medion MD8840 case│Antec VP350P 350W│Lenovo L220x. 22" 1920x1200

HTPC: HP Elite 8200 USDT│Intel Core i7-2600s 2.8GHz│6GB DDR3 1333MHz Dual-channel│Intel HD Graphics 2000│WD Blue 1TB 5400rpm│Windows 7 Pro x64│JVC LT-32VF30K 32" 1920x1080

New Main laptop: HP ProBook 455 G9│AMD Ryzen 5 2625U 2.3GHz│16GB DDR4 3200MHz│AMD Radeon RX Vega 7│1TB NVMe SSD│Win 11 Pro│15.6" 1920x1080
Old Main laptop: HP EliteBook 8470p│Intel Core i7-3610QM 2.3GHz│16GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual-channel│Intel HD4000 Graphics│Kingston 240GB SSD│Win 7 Pro x64│14.1" 1600x900

Secondary laptop: HP EliteBook 8470p│Intel Corei7-3520M 2.9GHz│8GB DDR3 1600MHz Dual-channel│Intel HD4000 Graphics│2 x Crucial BX500 500GB SSDs│Win 7 Pro x64│14.1" 1600x900

Main phone: Sony Xperia X CompactOther phones: Sony Xperia L3, Sony Xperia Z3 Compact (x2){and both are dead now}, Sony Xperia E3, Sony Xperia Tipo + 12 more (not going not list everything)

Most other PCs and laptops I own:

Spoiler

Small laptop: Acer Aspire One D255│Intel Atom N550 1.5GHz│2GB DDR3 1333MHz│Intel GMA3150 256MB│Western Digital 500GB 5400rpm KingDian S100 32GB Apacer AS350X 120GB SSD│Win 7 Ultimate x64 & Win 10 Pro x64 Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 32bit & Q4OS│10.1" 1024x600

Old secondary PC: ASUS A7V8X-X│AMD Sempron 3000+ 2.0GHz│Titan CPU Cooler│1.75GB DDR 400MHz│nVidia GeForce FX5700LE 256MB│2 x WesternDigital 40GB 7200rpm (sadly one seems to be dead)│Windows XP Pro SP3│Some case│Codegen 300XA 350W│Dell E173FP 17" 1280x1024 & Fujitsu-Siemens P15-1 1024x768Philips 200P4 20" 1600x1200

"The Old" PC: eMachines eTower 466i│Intel Celeron 466MHz│512MB RAM PC133│nVidia GeForce FX5200 128MB PCI ATi 3D Rage Pro AGP 2x_ 4MB│Seagate Baracuda 40GB 7200rpm│Windows 98SE & Windows XP Pro SP3│IBM P50 14" 1024x768 CRT

"The Floppy" laptop: Clevo 2700C│Intel Pentium III 1.1GHz│512MB PC133 SDRAM│SiS 630 32MB shared│Samsung 40GB│Windows XP Pro SP3│15" 1024x768

"The P4" laptop: HP Pavillion ZD8000│Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz│2GB DDR2 666MHz Dual-channel│ATi Mobility Radeon X600 256MB│Seagate 100GB│Windows XP Pro SP3│17" 1440x900

Dell laptop: Dell Latitude D600│Intel Pentium M 1.6GHz│1.5GB DDR 333MHz│ATi Mobility Radeon 9000 64MB│40GB IDE│Windows XP Pro SP3│14.1"  1400x1050

Future workshop PC (dead): MSI MS-7302│Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 2.8GHz│Stock cooler│3GB DDR2 800MHz│AMD Radeon HD7470 2GB│Samsung Spinpoint 640GB 7200rpm│Windows 7 Pro SP1 x64 + Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 32bit│Medion MD8840│FSP Group 250W│Samsung SyncMaster 730bf 17" 1280x1024

Old Secondary PC: HP IPISB-CH│Intel Core i5-2320 3GHz│DeepCool Ice Edge Mini FS V2│8GB DDR3 1333MHz│AMD R9 270 2GB│WD Green 120GB SSD + WD Blue 1TB 2.5"│Windows 7 Ultimate x64│Acer Aspire M1930│CoolerMaster B500 v2 500W│Samsung S19B300 1366x768 & Fujitsu-Siemens P15-1 1024x768

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

My First own self payed Upgrade was 16mb sdram  to 32mb sdram on my AMD K6 266 to play Dungeon Keeper 2.

 

It went from unplayable to the best gaming memorys ever 😄

CPU

Intel  i9 13900k

Motherboard

Asrock Z790 Taichi

RAM

Kingston Fury Beast DDR5 RGB 32GB 6000MHZ

GPU

MSI GeForce RTX 4090 GAMING TRIO 24G 

 

Storage

Samsung SSD 980 PRO 1TB 
Unraid NAS 10Gbit about 50TB HDD's, i713700k 64GB DDR5 crucial @ 5800Mhz 

 

 

 

Win11 Workstation

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

My first pc was an HP pavilion, with a PIII 450, 128mb ram, a VoodooII 16mb, and a 20gb Bigfoot 🙂

 

Notable upgrade? Z77 to B550.. Holy shit is it fast. M.2 and all, maybe that's why its so much faster lol.

 

Most memorable? Leaving 3x Raptor 150s in Raid0 for an OCZ RevoDrive. I don't know.. I still think Z77 to B550 was the biggest.

 

Like holy shit you guys, its a crazy upgrade. 

AMD R9 5900X @ Booost | Thermalright Aqua Elite 360, 3x TL- C12 Pro, 2x TL-K12, SYY-157
Asus Crosshair VIII Dark Hero | 4 x 8GB G.Skill Trident Z Mix @ 3800 14-15-15-35 1.575v
Zotac 4070 Ti Trinity OC @ 3045/1495 | WD SN850, SN850X, 2x SN770, Asus Hyper M.2
EVGA SuperNova 750w | Fractal Torrent Compact RGB |1x Phanteks T30, 1x TL-B12, 1x TY-143

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

On 3/28/2021 at 8:20 PM, Shoxxx said:

Hi

 

I was just thinking back about when my first PC happened and the various upgrades over the years.

I was lucky enough to see a large range of changes in the PC world and how its been a long time since a true hype change.

I was wondering what peoples most impactful events regarding the PC were to them, it would be cool from a "Big tech milestones" perspective.

 

First PC Experiance:

My dad brining home a 286 based prebuilt PC with a Color Monitor (Hardcore) running windows 3.1, all I did was play with MS Paint until it was bed time.

 

Most impactful memory:

Quake came out and that was the first time seeing true 3d graphics, a 3dfx voodoo rush GPU ended up following soon (First 3dfx gpu do have 2d+3d built in), I remember that being a life changing experience for me in my PC world.

 

Latest memory of a wow this is lifechanging factor PC change:

SSD's

My good ol' laptop could only play gta vice city and san andreas on low settings with a trackpad . My first upgrade was getting a mouse.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Just about every upgrade for me felt major.  My first computer had a gts 250 with a AMD quadcore (dont remember the other specs for it) I eventually upgraded to the fx 8350 with a 660.  After that I got dual 970s just about the same time i got my current monitor a older rog swift, It's a 2k but no HDR.  Finally did a full system upgrade back in December with a 5800x and a 3070.   Each upgrade was like a whole new world for me lol.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

My first huge upgrade was GT 1030 and Intel 2400 to GTX 1060 and Ryzen 1400

Night and day difference, although most of that can be attributed to the gpu upgrade

Big nerd. 

 

 PCPartPicker List Link

Spoiler

Ryzen 5 1400, Deepcool Gammaxx 400 V2 Blue, Biostar B450MH, Timetec 2x8GB 3200MHz CL16, Adata SU650 240GB, WD Blue 250GB 7200RPM, Seagate Barracuda 320GB 7200RPM, MSI Aero GTX 1060 3GB, Cougar MG130G, Segotep 750W Fully Modular 80+ Gold, HP 22EB, Samsung S22E450D, Sceptre E205-W, Gamakay LK67 with Gat Reds and HK Gaming Chalk keycaps, Logitech G305 Lightspeed, Shure MV7, Gertisan Mic Arm, OneOdio Headphones, CM SickleFlow Blue Fan, Iceberg Thermal IceGALE 140MM Teal x2, Cougar case fan

Rack Project (Build log link)

Spoiler

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

My first personal computer was a dell optiplex with a pentium 4, 512mb ram, 40gb hard drive and no graphics running Windows XP. I used that from ~2009? to 2012 and it was painful. Most notable upgrade was buying a new laptop.

 

CPU - FX 8350 @ 4.5GHZ GPU - Radeon 5700  Mobo - M5A99FX Pro R2.0 RAM - Crucial Ballistix 16GB @ 1600 PSU - Corsair CX600M CPU Cooler - Hyper 212 EVO Storage - Samsung EVO 250GB, WD Blue 1TB

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

My first memory was when my dad bought a pre built gateway for himself and once he realized that with him, my brother, and I all being in the house it would be easier to get one more computer for my brother and I to share. Well for the first 2-3 months of getting the exact same model PC as what he had bought for himself, it was speanding more time at best buy or out to some external repair shop for repeated blue screens and the inability of the machine to work. It had something to do with the fact the Motherboard couldn't handle the amount of RAM that was installed on there. It took one of my sisters friends to come take a look at it to figure it out. My first noteable upgrade was well going from my recent laptop to my current desktop.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

My first computer was a 486 DX 2 in 1993. I was able to run pacman on dos. Soon after, windows 3.1 came out and I was mesmerized. 

  • CPU
    9900KS @ 5.0 avx offset 0/ cache 4.7/ @1.33v
  • Motherboard
    asus strix ROG z390-i
  • RAM
    8gb x2 G.skill ddr 4 3600 (OCed to 4000 17-19-19-39 @1.4v)
  • GPU
    Asus Strix OC RTX 3080 10GB  
  • Case
    Corsair 280x Crystal
  • Storage
    1tb Samsung SSD + 2x (512gb Samsung) SSD
  • PSU
    Seasonic GM 650 650Watt Gold (semi-modular)
  • Display(s)
    LG34gk950g
  • Cooling
    H115i platinum/ 2x NF-A14 (GPU intake)/ 2xNFA14 (H115i radiator exhaust fan) 2x Corsair ML PRO 140(front intake) / 1x NF-A8 (exhaust)/ 2 x Corsair LL 120 (GPU deshroud fans)
  • Keyboard
    Corsair K70 LUX MX RED/ Microsoft Designer Keyboard Bluetooth
  • Mouse
    Corsair Harpoon RGB
  • Sound
    Audioengine A2+/ Audioengine d1 dac/ B&O h6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Flicking the small red switch on the PSU as a kid not knowing what it did, melting every cable inside the machine and tripping the house fuse after plugging it in....ooof! 😕 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now

×