Cost/spec of your first PC
- Thread starter BubbySoup
- Start date
Time Pc way back in 1998
amd 500mhz processor (i think)
4gig hdd
64mb ram
onboard gfx
cd rom
win98
scanner
printer
All for the bank breaking sum of £1300 - wow how things have changed and just how much you would get for that kind of money now........ i dont want to think about it cos it would make me feel sick
amd 500mhz processor (i think)
4gig hdd
64mb ram
onboard gfx
cd rom
win98
scanner
printer
All for the bank breaking sum of £1300 - wow how things have changed and just how much you would get for that kind of money now........ i dont want to think about it cos it would make me feel sick
I bought my first computer back in March 1989, it was an Amstrad PC1512 (Processor - Intel 8086 (8 MHz), RAM - 512 Kb, O/S - MS-DOS 3.2, ROM. 16Kb (containing BIOS) - with colour monitor) with double disk drives (wow), it cost me £900, and was started in DOS, then you loaded the programs from a 5 1/4" floppy (IBM caompatable), it also came with a very early verion of Windows, don't know what version it was though.
I bought it to do a thesis on, the thesis had to be presented in a specific typed format, so I thought buying a computer with a Word processing program was the way to go. Needless to say after I graduated, the Amstrad collected dust, until 2002 when I gave it too Oxfam and bought a Packard Bell imedia 5093, Intel P4 2.53GHz, 512GB (PC2100) Ram, 80GB HDD.
I bought it to do a thesis on, the thesis had to be presented in a specific typed format, so I thought buying a computer with a Word processing program was the way to go. Needless to say after I graduated, the Amstrad collected dust, until 2002 when I gave it too Oxfam and bought a Packard Bell imedia 5093, Intel P4 2.53GHz, 512GB (PC2100) Ram, 80GB HDD.
Last edited:
Associate
- Joined
- 19 Jun 2007
- Posts
- 1,498
about the "what a waste of money" things- well i guess in afew years when computers with 20ghz 8 core processors and 100tb of ram with 1000tb hard drives we will all be saying that about our current computers 
8086
few k of memory and 2 x 5.25 inch drives.
still got the system, i powered it up a couple of months ago and it still works, loads its operating system up find from 1 floppy drive use second floppy drive for loading apps etc. still runs the games i had back in them days.
may rummage around and pull it back out and get the digican out and do a full old skool review on it.
no 3dmark banches though, oly has a crappy card which is hooked up to a monitor that only displays in green colour.
few k of memory and 2 x 5.25 inch drives.
still got the system, i powered it up a couple of months ago and it still works, loads its operating system up find from 1 floppy drive use second floppy drive for loading apps etc. still runs the games i had back in them days.
may rummage around and pull it back out and get the digican out and do a full old skool review on it.
no 3dmark banches though, oly has a crappy card which is hooked up to a monitor that only displays in green colour.
I'm surprised at the few people posting how they had 386s and 486s with dozens of megabytes of RAM and gigabytes of hard disk space. This was at a time when a 4MB SIMM would cost around £100 IIRC. 
My first PC was a Pentium 100, 8MB of RAM with 810MB hard disk and an 8x CD ROM drive, back in 1996 I think it was.
My first PC was a Pentium 100, 8MB of RAM with 810MB hard disk and an 8x CD ROM drive, back in 1996 I think it was.
.
Commodore ‘something’ circa 1984.
As best I can remember it was the first colour PC and displayed 32 rather large characters to the line and came with 3K of RAM.
Loved trying to write my own little programmes but couldn’t understand why I kept running out of memory !.
Then in Feb 1986 a BBC Master 128.
The cheaper model came with 16K of Ram.
I saved up and got the dearer one with 32K of Ram – I’d learned my lesson.
£433.91 but well worth it.
Loaded programmes from a simple cassette recorder.
Wrote lots of programmes most of which never worked.
Eventually bought a twin disk set up which I think took 200K 5.25 inch disks.
Remember running a game which I think was called Elite – a Space trading effort.
One of the more enjoyable games.
Simple pleasures – then it all got a bit more complicated.
Sold the PC for £325 and the drives for £125 in Oct 1987.
About 15 PC’s later……………..I’m about to embark on my first self build.
As best I can remember it was the first colour PC and displayed 32 rather large characters to the line and came with 3K of RAM.
Loved trying to write my own little programmes but couldn’t understand why I kept running out of memory !.
Then in Feb 1986 a BBC Master 128.
The cheaper model came with 16K of Ram.
I saved up and got the dearer one with 32K of Ram – I’d learned my lesson.
£433.91 but well worth it.
Loaded programmes from a simple cassette recorder.
Wrote lots of programmes most of which never worked.
Eventually bought a twin disk set up which I think took 200K 5.25 inch disks.
Remember running a game which I think was called Elite – a Space trading effort.
One of the more enjoyable games.
Simple pleasures – then it all got a bit more complicated.
Sold the PC for £325 and the drives for £125 in Oct 1987.
About 15 PC’s later……………..I’m about to embark on my first self build.
Last edited:
Man of Honour
- Joined
- 15 Mar 2004
- Posts
- 28,140
- Location
- Liverpool
In 2001 my first build was £2800, complete with top of the range stuff (at the time obviously), a 2100+ system.
XP2100
1GB Ram
60GB Hard disc with 80GB for storage
Gainward Golden Sample 700Mhz graphics card.
Then Spent £700 last year, and then £380 getting new hard drives and a 8800gts! Urg!
XP2100
1GB Ram
60GB Hard disc with 80GB for storage
Gainward Golden Sample 700Mhz graphics card.
Then Spent £700 last year, and then £380 getting new hard drives and a 8800gts! Urg!
First PC 'we' (family) had was a 386, 25mhz Beast, Probably 4mb ram etc.
After that, and when I first got into overclocking was a P75. I worked out that you could run it at 90mhz. Without a heatsink, and you can burn your finger when you touch it!!
Moving on then to a 400mhz AMD K6-2, which was the last box parents bought at my request, and the first PC I built myself. Oh, and it had a 33.6k modem for the internet too. A cheap (about £30 then) one, took me around 3 months to get the damn thing working, but afaik it still works in emergencies now, in another box ofc.
That machine had several ram upgrades, a new chip eventually etc, but somewhere along the way I acquired a P3 450, and a Couple of 200-300mhz Cellies as my own, after that I was away.
Athlon 1000 was the first rig purpose built for overclocking; sat her quite nicely around 1400 I think, for £50 less than my m8 paid for his 1400 stock. This was the point where I first dabbled with water too.
Then moved onto... wait first rig? Meh its nice reminising, ignore me if you like
Anyways, Dual P3 1ghz Setup on an ECS mobo. Never ever got that to work without hanging for a second or two in every 20. Couldn't work it out.
Then after some time messing about and scrabbling rigs out of not much I bought a shuttle & a 2200XP. Was shortly followed by a full size mobo, 2500XP-M, and a Thermalright SL-97 I think it was, Huge copper beasty. Had some fun with that. Then when Finances permitted, moved to Dual core with my X2-3800.
The rest is in my sig.
After that, and when I first got into overclocking was a P75. I worked out that you could run it at 90mhz. Without a heatsink, and you can burn your finger when you touch it!!
Moving on then to a 400mhz AMD K6-2, which was the last box parents bought at my request, and the first PC I built myself. Oh, and it had a 33.6k modem for the internet too. A cheap (about £30 then) one, took me around 3 months to get the damn thing working, but afaik it still works in emergencies now, in another box ofc.
That machine had several ram upgrades, a new chip eventually etc, but somewhere along the way I acquired a P3 450, and a Couple of 200-300mhz Cellies as my own, after that I was away.
Athlon 1000 was the first rig purpose built for overclocking; sat her quite nicely around 1400 I think, for £50 less than my m8 paid for his 1400 stock. This was the point where I first dabbled with water too.
Then moved onto... wait first rig?
Meh its nice reminising, ignore me if you like Anyways, Dual P3 1ghz Setup on an ECS mobo. Never ever got that to work without hanging for a second or two in every 20. Couldn't work it out.
Then after some time messing about and scrabbling rigs out of not much I bought a shuttle & a 2200XP. Was shortly followed by a full size mobo, 2500XP-M, and a Thermalright SL-97 I think it was, Huge copper beasty. Had some fun with that. Then when Finances permitted, moved to Dual core with my X2-3800.
The rest is in my sig.
Man of Honour
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- 27 Sep 2004
- Posts
- 25,821
- Location
- Glasgow
mattyrigby00 said:about the "what a waste of money" things- well i guess in afew years when computers with 20ghz 8 core processors and 100tb of ram with 1000tb hard drives we will all be saying that about our current computers
Very true, I've never looked back on a PC (that I was going to use as a main PC) and thought it was a waste of money - provided it did all I needed it to at the time (and I bought/made them specifically so they would) then they were not a waste of money. Progress, particularly in technological arenas, will almost always mean you get more for your money but that doesn't automatically make past investments poor ones.
Had a Packard Bell 286 in about 1992, was only 6 at the time, so don't remember much about it. Had a horrid PB branded OS type thing though, yack.
Would have been a 25Mhz? 1mb RAM, 40M HD ish.
Awesome.
All this power for about £1400 I believe...
Would have been a 25Mhz? 1mb RAM, 40M HD ish.
Awesome.
All this power for about £1400 I believe...