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How difficult/much harder was it to build a pc in the 90s/early 2000s compared to now?

asim1999

I am using an Enthoo Pro which I think is one of the most user friendly cases available. So how much more difficult was it ti build a pc then compared to nowadays?

Current Rig:   CPU: AMD 1950X @4Ghz. Cooler: Enermax Liqtech TR4 360. Motherboard:Asus Zenith Extreme. RAM: 8GB Crucial DDR4 3666. GPU: Reference GTX 970  SSD: 250GB Samsung 970 EVO.  HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 2TB. Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro. PSU: Corsair RM1000X. OS: Windows 10 Pro UEFI mode  (installed on SSD)

Peripherals:  Display: Acer XB272 1080p 240Hz G Sync Keyboard: Corsair K95 RGB Brown Mouse: Logitech G502 RGB Headhet: Roccat XTD 5.1 analogue

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Wasn't that difficult. Modularity didn't live back then though so you had massive cable clusterfucks back then (all the time).

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This is why you should not get an FX CPU for ANY scenario other than rendering on a budget http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/286142-fx-8350-r9-290-psu-requirements/?p=3892901 http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/266481-an-issue-with-people-bashing-the-fx-cpus/?p=3620861

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not much is changed tbh

mY sYsTeM iS Not pErfoRmInG aS gOOd As I sAW oN yOuTuBe. WhA t IS a GoOd FaN CuRVe??!!? wHat aRe tEh GoOd OvERclok SeTTinGS FoR My CaRd??  HoW CaN I foRcE my GpU to uSe 1o0%? BuT WiLL i HaVE Bo0tllEnEcKs? RyZEN dOeS NoT peRfORm BetTer wItH HiGhER sPEED RaM!!dId i WiN teH SiLiCON LotTerrYyOu ShoUlD dEsHrOuD uR GPUmy SYstEm iS UNDerPerforMiNg iN WarzONEcan mY Pc Run WiNdOwS 11 ?woUld BaKInG MY GRaPHics card fIX it? MultimETeR TeSTiNG!! aMd'S GpU DrIvErS aRe as goOD aS NviDia's YOU SHoUlD oVERCloCk yOUR ramS To 5000C18

 

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It wasn't really, you had almost 0 choice of parts compared to today. But no one really did it.

 

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besides cable manegment not much has changed

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My case consisted of spaghetti with a nice warm PC parts center

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Pretty much the same as today. Just back then there were less options and airflow / cable management was not a big thing. People did not look inside their cases so they did not care. Also compared to now not that many people back then use to build their own.

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pretty much the same but say goodbye to cable management

Thats that. If you need to get in touch chances are you can find someone that knows me that can get in touch.

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And I heard it was like $5000 for a 400mhz pentium 2 and 128MB RAM. Now you can get a 5960X and 128GB ram for the same price

Current Rig:   CPU: AMD 1950X @4Ghz. Cooler: Enermax Liqtech TR4 360. Motherboard:Asus Zenith Extreme. RAM: 8GB Crucial DDR4 3666. GPU: Reference GTX 970  SSD: 250GB Samsung 970 EVO.  HDD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 2TB. Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro. PSU: Corsair RM1000X. OS: Windows 10 Pro UEFI mode  (installed on SSD)

Peripherals:  Display: Acer XB272 1080p 240Hz G Sync Keyboard: Corsair K95 RGB Brown Mouse: Logitech G502 RGB Headhet: Roccat XTD 5.1 analogue

Daily Devices:Sony Xperia XZ1 Compact and 128GB iPad Pro

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Cheers to the days of display cards and graphics accelerators, lol. Maxtrox Millennium ftw!

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I don't have any experience, but I've heard hooking up drives was kind of pain. Something about master/slave relationships. Luckily though, SATA put an end to the slave trading.

 

It wasn't that hard, you just had the set the jumpers to master on one drive and to slave on the other and connect each to the correct connector on the IDE cable.

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I have a case and parts from 2004, I've seen a few differences.

1. Screws! Screws everywhere! No tool-less mounting at all! Good luck installing a hard drive.
2. PSU above the motherboard. Guess that solves the question on "Should my PSU fan face up or down"
3. Less fan mounts.
4. Smaller fans (80mm for example)
5. Know those handy front USB headers with all the cables attached together? Well, forget it. In 2004, every single wire is separate.
6. mATX hoards in ATX cases were common.
7. Not that big of a difference, but know that 24-pin cable? That was 20-pin. Also we had a 4-pin CPU plug instead of instead of 8-pin.
8. IDE!!!! You know how nice SATA is, right? How nice it is that it doesn't matter which end of the cable goes where? Well, nope. On IDE, you had to make sure that the correct end of the cable was in the motherboard and that the IDE device was jumpered correctly.
9. Floppy drives. Used connectors similar to IDE, but a little smaller. That's what that small 4-pin connector on your power supply is for.
10. Don't even think of running cables behind the motherboard tray.

11. AGP for graphics cards, PCI for other expansion cards. That reversed PCIe slot on your motherboard that is slightly higher than the others is not PCIe at all, it's PCI. And that's where PCIe came from.

I think that's it. I'll add more if I remember any.

LTT's unofficial Windows activation expert.
 

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I used to do it with my father, and the biggest changes are convenience, ease-of-use, and aesthetics.  Back in the day the goal was just to get it to work.  Building wasn't as refined, setting up was more complex, and performance-to-price was the dominating consideration. 

 

Cases also had a lot of sharp edges back in the day. I've bled building computers before.

 

@Speedbird I still use screws for every drive I can.  So I still have screws everywhere. =)

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As far as choosing parts, you had like 2 to choose from, so it was a lot easier.  :lol:

Mystery is the source of all true science.

 

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@Speedbird I still use screws for every drive I can.  So I still have screws everywhere. =)

Yes, screws are still an option, but back then they were required.

Oh god I hate that case....

LTT's unofficial Windows activation expert.
 

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not hard but not as easy as it is now, the biggest difference would be the aesthetics, quality and power. 

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DIP switches are love, DIP switches are life!

"Peek-a-boo, you ****s, you!"

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Back in the day, I had a 400mb hard drive, and the guy that helped me build it said that it was more space than anyone would ever need. Lol

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The joys of giant ide and floppy cables. Jumper switches to set master and slave, and ensuring you put the drive in the correct part of the cable.

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Cpus needed very little cooling and Ide cables were frigging everywhere. People also had CD/DVD drives in almost all computers.

A riddle wrapped in an enigma , shot to the moon and made in China

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From what I remember, the cases weren't nearly as versatile and they were all steel boxes. If you wanted to increase your airflow by adding an exhaust fan on the top of the case, you'd need to grab your trusty dremel. On a related note, do they still sell window kits or did those die out years ago?  For those not familiar with window kits, I mean the kits that had a nice piece of plexi and a rubber / silicon molding to fit in your dremeled hole.

 

As for building your standard PC, everything worked pretty much the same. PCI cards fit in your PCI slots, 64bit PCI cards fit in your 64bit PCI card slots, ISA cards made good paper weights; pretty standard.

 

Early 90s they came out with Overdrive processors; those were nice. Boosted my 486 DX from 32 mhz to 133mhz or thereabouts.

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