A History of Gaming. Three Generations

[Gjohnst4]

I had all three of these in the same room while I painted my office and thought it was funny to look how much things have changed!

The year 2000 My first Gaming rig. Diablo II here I come.
Specs:
Socket A Athlon 2500+ Barton Core w/ unlocked multi running at 3200+ speed. Made me drool at the time.
1 gb pc 3200 crucial ram
NVidia MX 400 Excalibur 64mb vga (now upgraded to an AMD 26oo pro 512 mb)
Aerocool 2x 80mm cpu cooler.
Creative Live! 5.1 sound card
3D Mark 06 Score 2807! Woot haha



The Year 2006
I no longer game on a 15" Lcd, time to uprgrade!
MSI K9A Platinum AM2
Athlon X2 5600+ 3.1 GHZ
2 GB PC 6400 CORSIAR
AMD 2600 XT 512 DDR3 X2 IN CROSSFIRE
CREATIVE Xtreme Gamer sound card
3D mark 06 10,051

The new Speed blows my mind!.....until crisis comes out! Time to Upgrade! but im broke...


The year 2009
24" monitors? Sure
MSI 790FX-gd70 AM3
720 BE 3.6 ghz
3 way crossfire x 3870's
4 gb 1600 mhz OCZ ddr3
Lexa Blackline with custom paint AND cable management.
No game is safe
3D mark 06 score 18792

Thats it! Is it funny that I still own them all? I think so.

[1Kurgan1]

Upgrade paths are crazy, nice new comp you got their, but I got to ask why 3870's in 2009? I'm assuming you must have picked them up mid last year, they are still great cards, just wondering.

[ShadowFold]

Hmm, I'd definitely get a few 1gb cards for a 24" man! Trust me, the extra ram helps a lot when you have AA and AF cranked! Also, why 3870's? A single 4870 1gb would outperform 3 of them in gaming most likely.

[Gjohnst4]

the 3870's were all bought over a two year period and have changed hands alot between myself and friends. They all upgraded, and I took them back. I figure there isnt a game I cant play on max right now anyway, so I will wait until the DX 11 cards come out to make a new purchase. I already pre- ordered windows 7

[1Kurgan1]

Sounds like a good plan to me, I am waiting for the next gen of cards myself.

[hat]

Hey, 3 3870s are pretty kickass no matter what anyone else says

[Mussels]

i find it funny how machine 1 to machine 2 tripled your 06 score, but going from 2 to 3, it didnt even double

[hat]

haha... it's true, we all got the bug (although mine is supressed due to extreme cheapness)

[Gjohnst4]

That period between 2002-2005 saw inovations that were leaps and bounds. I dont think we will ever get drastic improvements like that again. But now a days, everything is so cheap! I found an old bill with pc 1000 256 mb ram on it for 97 dollars...ha

[1Kurgan1]

Originally Posted by Mussels

i find it funny how machine 1 to machine 2 tripled your 06 score, but going from 2 to 3, it didnt even double

20k is a hard barrier to break, especially without 4 cores, I hit 19.7 with my 720, wish it was winter again I would hit 20k

[CDdude55]

Early 2000's i was mainly a Console gamer.

I remember building one of my first PC with a Super Lanboy case.

[human_error]

2000s i had:

Pre-built packard bell pc with 17" CRT 1024x768 monitor
Windows ME *sudders from repressed memories*
Intel celeron (old celeron) @ 700mhz (ooooo so slow....)
32mb of ram (30mb for system ram, 2mb for gpu).
Intel integrated gpu
no agp, no pci-e (pci-e didn't exist)
8gb hard drive

I later added a geforce mx440 64mb card, and then a geforce fx5200 128mb after getting an AGP motherboard (why did i ever do that... )

I then got in 2003:
XP machine (upgraded old tower to xp too and added an athlon xp 2800, 128mb of ram and gave it to parents).
Medion laptop
1024x768 lcd
AMD athlon64 3000 (desktop cpu)
laptop mobo
ATI radeon 9600 64mb card (was a beast)
80gb hard drive

In 2005
I got a brand new rig on XP
athlon 64 x2 4400+ (939)
asus a8rmvp32 deluxe mobo (2x pci-e x16 slots which ran @ 16/16 in crossfire).
ati x850xt (upgraded to 2x x1950xtx in crossfire, back when you needed a master/slave setup with the horrid external cable).
4gb ram (yes, even back then i put 4gb in a pc)
thermaltake sporano case with side window
~300gb of storage
My current monitor - 1680x1050 resolution, 8ms response and S-IPS panel *hugs monitor*

in 2007 i upgraded the above machine to be water cooled, replaced the 600w arctic cooling psu for a enermax galaxy 850, put in a ati 3870x2 and a creative e-fi platinum. I also got vista 64 a couple of days before launch (only ever had trouble with the creative sound drivers, which was enough trouble.... )

In 2008 i upgraded to my current rig re-using a lot out of my old rig (i do progressive upgrades/rebuilds over time instead of a brand new rig - my parents have got 2 machines at home doing various tasks (HTPC and a home pc to run security/home automation) for them both made out of my old parts). Note my current rig is in system specs, i need to re-install photoshop before i can update my sig...

Amazing how pcs have jumped in performance over those few years, the athlon 64s and later athlon 64 x2s were the most noticable jumps (especially the x2 - "i can run anti virus scans AND watch a dvd on the same pc now!?! zomg!").

[Frick]

These have been my main computers, not the families, i'm not sure about years:

Pentium 2 233 Mhz, 192MB ram, Matrox Millenium, 17 inch CRT.
--->
Pentium 3 400 Mhz (overclocked to 600 Mhz), 192MB ram, TNT2 M64, 17 inch CRT. I bought a Radeon 9000 for this later on.
--->
Athlon XP 2500+, 512MB DDR, Radeon 9000 (soon got swtiched to a Radeon 9600 Pro). said CRT
--->
Athlon 64 3000+, 1GB DDR, x800GT (wich died, so I got a x1950 Pro instead) 17 inch TFT
--->
c2d e4300, 1GB DDR2, x1950 Pro. I sold this to get to Scotland, so
--->
Pentium 3 900 Mhz, 256MB ram, i810e graphics. 21 inch crt
--->
Athlon 64 3000+, 1GB DDR, Radeon 9000, bought a Radeon HD 2600XT, borrowed a 19 inch TFT, but the power supply died so I got back to a 17 inch CRT and then I got fed up with it and bought my 22 inch TFT.
--->
What I have now.

I gave that Radeon 9600 pro to my sister some years ago, but as I'm giving my 2600XT to her, I get it back. For some reason, I enjoy downgrading.

EDIT: BTW, I'm 23.

[Gjohnst4]

Wow haha Im only 23, some people are dropping parts and configs I wasnt even around for. But that was the point of this thread, to see other peoples history

[Mussels]

my first was a pentium 90, 16MB of ram and a 4.3GB quantum fireball. 512KB 2D video card, it did 1024x768

I'm 25, so you just werent trying Gjohnst4

[Yukikaze]

I'm 26. My first computer was a 286 which we got for free, I didn't really use it much. The first system I built with my own hands was a 486DX2 66Mhz (Pentiums were already around at the time, but too expensive), that 486DX2 saw much, much gaming, Star Control 2 in particular. I stuck with it until a Pentium 2 266Mhz.

Then I got a P3 450Mhz, which was followed by a P3M 700Mhz Laptop (Asus A1000) and an Athlon XP 1700+.

That one was replaced by a P4 3Ghz which is still in working order, and currently overclocked to heck (It is on my specs tab, it started with a GF6600 non-GT, but I gave it the HD3850 last January. The original case was a no-brand, and I put it in a Sagitta a while ago).

The next upgrade is the point where I turned into a HW junkie.

I bought a Q6600 (B3) with the Asus P5N32-E SLI (Crap board) and the 8800GTS 640Mb in the summer 2007. I sold the card in November 2007 and bought a G92 8800GT (Sold the card a week before the 8800GT hit stores here and the upgrade didn't cost me a thing). In January 2008 I bought a second 8800GT.

I sold the 8800GT cards, the motherboard, the RAM (Corsairs, which I didn't like) and the Q6600 to a friend (el-cheapo) in August 2008 and bought an MSI P45, an E5200, 4Gb of A-Data Vitesta and the HD4870X2 shortly after. The P45 went up in flames when the PWMs blew out, and I used a spare Abit I-N73HD with the E5200 and the rest of the gear, running at 3.8Ghz. I later got a DFI LP JR P45-TR2S and my E5200 made it to 3.9Ghz.

Since I moved out to my own place and didn't have a second desktop (And believe it or not, I was using my P3M 700Mhz laptop with 192Mb of RAM in 2008, still ! Until I got the Dell XPS M1530, that is) I picked up a Q6700 and built a secondary rig using the Abit board, a 9600GT, some spare RAM and Nzxt Hush I bought for my apartment.

The Q6700 served me well, but....I got a Q9650 for my birthday in February 2009 and used that along with my P45 motherboard. Then in late April 2009 I got my Core i7 rig after selling off a lot of spares and salvaged P4s and used the HD4870X2 on it as my main rig. The Q9650 was put in a modded mATX case (link in sig) and is running with the 9600GT and a 8600GT.

So, current tally has my running the Q6700 and P4 as HTPCs, the Q9650 in my apartment (The main rig is not here so I actually study here instead of game all day.....which is what I am supposed to be doing as I am writing this post, come to think of it), and the i7 920 at my parent's place where I often spend weekends as my main rig.

And as a computer of particular note: My P3 laptop is still working, nearly a decade since I bought it, even considering the fact it spent four years in the army with me. Out of respect, last year I gave it 512Mb of SDRAM and a 1Ghz P3 Mobile CPU. My mom uses it now, and it still runs well. Even the original 15Gb HDD is still functional after all those years.

[Frick]

Originally Posted by Mussels

4.3GB quantum fireball.

[1Kurgan1]

Originally Posted by Mussels

my first was a pentium 90, 16MB of ram and a 4.3GB quantum fireball. 512KB 2D video card, it did 1024x768

I'm 25, so you just werent trying Gjohnst4

Was that yours or your parents? Because that would have been almost 15 years ago, I know I didn't have my first comp till a dual socket DX486 and SX486 comp, and that was in 1999, would have had one before, but hard to buy one without a job

[Mussels]

Originally Posted by 1Kurgan1

Was that yours or your parents? Because that would have been almost 15 years ago, I know I didn't have my first comp till a dual socket DX486 and SX486 comp, and that was in 1999, would have had one before, but hard to buy one without a job

my first. first family PC was a 286, i was too young to know the specs of it.

[grunt_408]

Commodore 64 :P when it came out
Then after that never really got into pc's untill 2002

[mikek75]

Beat you, Sinclair ZX-81 (1kb Ram,lol), Oric-1 48k, Oric Atmos 48k, Commodore C16, Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48k....break for 16 yrs....then onto PC's 2002

[Gjohnst4]

Yuki you have played with alot of nice gear! My mom and Dad now have a very nice system at their house as well and they dont even know it or care haha, its basically for me when Im visiting.
It took me awhile to get into computers..I would Say 14 or 15 when I started paying attention to what I was playing on...The MX400 video card was what started it, I needed something that could handle 3D and started researching, Been hooked since. But yes Mussels before that I didnt care. Come to think of it, I know my family had two dinosuars before the first rig i listed, But it was the first I built with performance in mind.

[Mussels]

i remember buying my first GF4 MX 440... and then upgrading real fast to a Ti 4200 once halo came out

im sixteen but i still remember me watching my father playing Duke Nuke or something like this on a laptop idk the specs lol was too young... anyone knows the exact years of this game ?

[Mussels]

duke nukem. depends which one, there was DN 1, 2, and 3D.