how you got into computers and your first build?

[mullered07]

i got into pc's when my mother in law gave me and my wife an old P1 133mhz, 64mb ram, 4gb hdd and a voodoo 3 16mb in 2002 :rockout: from then on i was hooked :p later that year after having upgraded to a PII 266mhz compaq deskpro (another hand-me-down :p) i decided to do my first build and that was a:

amd athlon xp 1900+ palamino core :rockout:
512mb ddr266
geforce 4 mx440
80gb ide
and generic case, psu etc

i just remember being stunned at the graphics on splinter cell having never seen anything that looked as good and the controls you have with a keyboard and mouse were excellent and the rest as they say is history :p

(from then ive built a xp2500+ (oc to 3200+) athlon 64 2800+ (when 64 athlons first came out) p4 2.93ghz (oc to 3.4) x2 3800+, x2 4400+ and have a nice E4300 system now, which i plan on keeping a little bit longer than the rest lol as i normally do 1-2 builds a year now :twitch:)

so after all that rambling how did you guys get into pc's and what was the first build you ever done ? everyione remembers this one i think :p

[cdawall]

my dad got me started a few years ago on my 1st built system a
xp2000+ (t-bred the hot running kind:roll:)
on a ECS mobo which later got uped to a MSI K7N2-delta Nforce 2 mobo
512mb ddr266
a 60gb maxtor ata 133
and a ti4200 which promptly clocked to 330/600mhz which it still runs at today

[JC316]

I first got into computers when my dad brought home a laptop, it was an OLD mofo, 16 color screen. I think was either a 386 or a 486, pre pentium 1. I played "night stalker" on it and I was pretty much hooked.

Then the rich kid next door had a Pentium 1, 100MHZ with 16mb or ram, quad speed CDrom, and an 800MB harddrive.


My first build was an athlon XP 2200.

[tigger]

my first machine was a pentium p166(no mmx),32mb ram,2gb hd,cant remember gfx.it was a ast advantage,£1800.

i think it was 1998(could be wrong tho').

[cdawall]

lol my 1st real machine was a AMD duron600 back in 98 or so :D

still got the case mobo and hs not the chip though :shadedshu

[ktr]

I was into computers since ever...my father was a Computer Engineer at the time and part owner of one of the chains called Egg Head (if you remember that store). I used to play all the old school games at the age of 3...lol, such as commander keen, wolf3d...etc...all the apogee games. My first personal computer is an HP Vectra with 1x 150 Pentium PRO with 64mb of memory, 2mb Matrox and 2 SCSI 4gb each drive, SCSI cdrom, 5.25in tape drive and a Sound blaster 16...This was a fairly high end machine and cost around $3000 at the time. After that I finally got an upgrade due to HL and CS1.6 around 2000 (i know i am a little late here)...I got another HP Palivion with a 3000+ and 512mb, and that integrated S3...I was addicted to TRIBES2 because it played well on the machine. couple months after I parents bought me on my bday a 9600xt...and a new case...and started to play WOLF:ET and finally had money to by the popular BF1942....next bday i got my self with all the money a x850pro...then i was able to get a fx-57 and 4gb pc3200 for free (;) ;) ;))...then I built my current machine. So my current gaming ridge is my first true built machine for myself, but i have been fixing laptops and fixing/building desktops for a while now, so building my machine as easy. Now my second build is my skt 423 w/ rambus...i was able to get the board and some memory for free and slaped it in an old case with an old scsi card with some old arse scsi hdd...it pretty much a small server for my DIY home security. Now my third build is going to be my new HTPC..which i am really excited. Through out my time, i have build over 200+ machines...

[demonbrawn]

I got started just a few years ago, in 2002-03, because I really wanted to play Counter-Strike with my friends, but my parent's computer was slower than Moses. With the help of my friends, I built my first system with an AMD XP, Radeon 9800 Pro, 80GB IDE drive, 320W PSU, and Kingston 512 HyperX Ram. I thought it was such a beast.

[J0N]

I've always enjoyed pissing about with electronics etc... So as soon as I got the oppertunity to take apart my first computer it was spread all over the floor! ;) I think that was a Packard Bell Pentium 2! 32mb Ram! :eek:

While i've messed about with cases and the likes, im yet to build from scratch! However sometime this year I plan on building the computer of my dreams!! :respect:

Rackmounted case, Athlon DualCore, Dual Monitor beast!!!

[Thermopylae_480]

Argh! 'twas a dark and stormy night naught half a decade ago. Lightin' was a flashin' all 'round, and a gale was blowin' on the windows out o' the west. I had me trusty screwdriver at me side, whilst I inserted a new hard drive into me 'ol case with the skills o' a surgeon. I gently twisted the screws till'st they were taught. Whilst only bein' illuminated by the flash of the lightin', and only receivin' company by the blowin' of the wind, I plugged the beast into the wall. With a fierce howl, rivaled only by the gale its self, life 'twas breathed into the machine. And a monster was born!

Disclaimer: The previous story was a dramatization. While based on actual events, the story has been embellished for the entertainment of the reader. A storm may or may not have taken place during the events of the story, and the original subject of the tale may or may not have used a dialect such as the one depicted. It is up to the reader to separate fact from fiction.

[JC316]

my first machine was a pentium p166(no mmx),32mb ram,2gb hd,cant remember gfx.it was a ast advantage,£1800.

i think it was 1998(could be wrong tho').

I doubt it was 98. In late 99, I got a 600MHZ celeron for $600. 96 more like.

[Ketxxx]

it was natural for me, i got permanently hooked with my first own puter which was;

K5 75MHz (changed a few jumpers to get 100MHz out of it :D later upgraded to a 200MHz P1 non MMX)
Asus mobo (couldnt even support MMX)
16MB RAM (later upgraded to 64MB)
Aztech labs soundcard (later upgraded to a SB16 PCI)
1GB HDD (later upgraded to 6.4GB)

was a monsta in its day before any upgrades. After that system I had a 500MHz K6-2, that system rocked in its day too, UT: GOTYE goodness :cool:

[craigo]

Mwuhahahahha...ITS ALIVE!!!

Um. K7 266 Then i got bitten by the bug so i built a Tyan based Slot 1 Dual P3 450(what a pig)
still running to this day.

[mullered07]

Mwuhahahahha...ITS ALIVE!!!

Um. K7 266 Then i got bitten by the bug so i built a Tyan based Slot 1 Dual P3 450(what a pig)
still running to this day.

tyan, what wonders they have done for dual core before dual core, those boards kick ass :D and still do :rockout:

[mikek75]

Ignoring the ZX81 , Oric Atmos and ZX Spectrum I had when I was a nipper, I got a laptop (P4 2.4 512mb 30GB) in 2003. Got my first desktop a year later, a Packard Bell Athlon XP2700 with 512mb (upped to 1GB). Had this up until 3 months ago when I got the bug to build my baby (specs to the left). Started with a 3700 San Diego but couldn't resist going DualCore with an Opteron 165 2 months later!

[Protius]

Upgraded my parents old gateway to play games, then built my first machine, socket A

[mullered07]

Upgraded my parents old gateway to play games, then built my first machine, socket A

socket a FTW :rockout:

[Protius]

socket a FTW :rockout:

Amen

[kwchang007]

i was using a crappy compaq comp back from '99 running xp pro on a 600 mhz (i think) amd into late 2005. i really started to get into computers when i realized how slow our computer was....espically with the constant crashing. i haven't really messed around in a case that much except to switch out modems in the compaq, yes i had dial up in 2005 :eek: now i know everything that i could possibly want about computers, put together a list of what my friend should put into his computer that he's building and will probably help him. i don't really plan to build a comp since this one is supposed to last 4 years.....hmmm will it make it? anyways i really want to oc something but the only unlocked bios i've ever come across was my grandparents p2 or p3 (i forget which) 600 mhz computer....better than the compaq at least. that one i didn't have enough time to play with it and test it...anyways its score would probably be like 1 on 3dmark06.

[freaksavior]

The first i rember (with my dad) was a pentuim 2 celoron 433mhz, 8gb hd, 256mb 133mhz ram, ATI rage pro all in wonder 8mb. os was windows 95.

mobo http://www.motherboard.cz/mb/gigabyte/GA-6BXC.htm

My second build was a p4 system with my dad, but the first one I did by myslef was current system.

My dad got me into computers, he showed me a couple things then i took off and left him in the dust lol. Now if he need something done he asks me for help!! lol

[niko084]

My dad started a company and my first personal build was an old asus mobo SP97 I believe with a 166mhz... I think... I can't totally remember.

[Frogger]

the other 'first build thread' http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=24334

[mullered07]

hey didnt see that, looks like we revived it eh :rockout: so frogger you come on here just to remind us what your first sweet build was eh ? or just that you had 7 posts in the other ? we wont forget you you :p

[Solaris17]

way way back in the day i was 8 10 years ago we got a new packardbell 600 or 700 mhz p2 or early p3 with wiondows 98 i was soooo into it i loved seeing the post screen b4 it skipped it when it would actually sit their and count the ram i was a huge trekkie so i always thought i was sooooooo close to the real thing infront of it i went on the net thought i didnt know what i was doing id get to the home page after like 5 min(dial up) and id just close it then i shut it down press the button and go into my room were their was an old pc no idea if it was mac or what maybe 166mhz? and i used to play digdug and some castle game it had speakers and all it was good stuff i was hooked then when i was 8 i started so early always was day dreaming about robots or something we had spare monitors and stuff i always used to play with we had like 7 radios i took them all and tuned them the same and played them i thought i was a genious .....i love computers. i mean something that does whatever you weant it to its truley amazing im so happy i live in this gen i really do.

[Steevo]

Wow.





In and out for years and then in again, with the 350MHZ AMD K6-Soyo 95 FTW!!!!

[DaMulta]

;) A 80286 with FM drives

[Namslas90]

You are all nothing but a bunch of young whippersnappers!! I took my first computer class in the mid 70's.

[Easy Rhino]

haha yes lots of young folks here. but that is a great thing because it means the computer nerd generation lives on and continues to grow!!!!

i fell in love with computers in 1986 when my parents bought us kids a tandy. no harddrive and a nice 13 inch cga screen. it did however have a 3.5 disk drive rather than the old 5.25 drives with 775 K of data!!! i played a game called soloflight (wicked cool dos game) nonstop.

in 1993 we got a p 33mhz machine with 8 megs of ram! that 8 megs rather than the usual 4 that came in most machines allowed me to play doom!!! all my friends were jealous! a year later though they all got upgrades and we were playing doom over the phone line. amazingly the multiplayer game had been born!!! i knew then that it would be huge.

in 1996 we gave in a got a packerd bell, ie packerd hell. all proprietary shit so when you needed it serviced you had to replace practically everything. its how they made their money. anyway it was a 120 mhz beast with 32 megs of ram ( i think) and a 16 inch xvga screen :rockout: the game descent played awesome and was another popular multiplayer game.

in 1998 i got my own computer for school. i set it up myself. a 333 mhz 128 megs of ram and a sweet ass 17 inch ctx monitor. i later added a 8 meg voodoo2 card an 8 meg matrox g200 tv card and a 2x cd burner :rockout: i owned at the original rainbow six game which we all played over the lan in school.

i waited until 2003 to build a new pc. i had my first job, was living on my own and wasnt making much money so i put together a 2.4 ghz pentium 4, 512 ram, dvd drive with 80 gigs of space and just kept my old 17 inch monitor. (which still works to this day although it sits in the basement collecting dust.) later that year i added the 9800 pro cause i was using the onboard graphics card (ew!) so i could play medal of honor on friday nights drinking beer and talking smack over teamspeak. haha! almost 2 years after that i added the x700 from ati and a dvd burner and a 19 inch lcd.

finally before i was married in summer of 2006 i got the x2 3800+, my current machine which runs pretty nice still although im looking to get a faster processor with my tax return. ok, this was long and nobody is going to read it but whatever!

[pt]

the 1st one i used i don't know, but i think it was in 95, not sure, my 1st one, was a celeron 600mhz, with a s3 trio gfx cards 40gb of ram, and 256mb sdram :)
it rocked back then

[Darksaber]

Well my story started around 1994/5:

Prolog:

As a little kid, I always used my dads IBM (old school one, with the big on/off switch, 80MB hard drive and so on) and made "imaginary games" -> text editor -> "type" a maze in -> a figure -> delete move delete move...

Then my brother got an Amiga 500 for this birthday. Cost around 1000 Dollars back then. I got to play on that a bit here and there. We got games from a neighbor.

Then in 94/95:

I got this game from a Corn Flakes double pack. Was on 2 Floppy disks which I wanted to use on my dads old IBM. Turns ot there was not enough space on the Hard drive. So he told me I could delete any big files. I asked him "can I delete the Autoexe.bat - it's pretty big". he was like "yea sure thing, I do not need anything I do not know". That is how I busted my first PC :D

After that I kept borrowing my uncles black/white notebook with 4MB memory to play demos on. As most games wanted 8MB ram, I had to start learing how to boot as efficiently as possible so that these games would run. I managed to run the 8MB games on the 4MB ram the laptop had. During the same time I started looking at 33/66 MHz DX-2, DX-4 PCs and cut newspaper offers out and placed in a binder. Shortly after that I was able to tell someone "whats faster, better" than the other.

Then I went to school in Canada. 66MHz PCs in the computer lab. I started buying demo floppy disks and playing them on the PCs in the lab. I was surfing the web a lot (dial up at the library) and downloading huge amounts of data through dial up. The school was not happy. I started programming in Basic back then. I even got Quick Basic 4.5 from a friend so that I could compile .exe files. I made my first working game (an autogenerated maze, a stickman figure, 6 shooter and you could move around with the cursors. The goal was to get to a randomly placed bomb and shoot it. you could also shoot a wall to destroy it and step through, but 1 bullet needed to be saved for the bomb)

After that there was no stopping me. I started working at the Computer lab, started taking apart busted PCs and putting together the parts to get 4 working out of 6 or 7 busted ones.

Then when I went to university, I convinced my mother that (since I was studying comp sci) need a PC. This was my first own PC, bought of ebay for 450 US Dollars. An AMD 450MHz. I then slowly upgraded it to a Duron 700 OCed to 950MHz (I could never reach the 1Ghz mark) and 256MB memory with a Geforce 2 MX. That PC I sold for 1100 Canadian Dollars when I moved back to Austria.

This was in late 2001.

As soon as I got here, I started looking for work and ended up at a PC shop, building computers. I got payed cash: roughly 7 Dollars for each PC i build (which is a lot!). The shop I worked at overclocked all the PCs and basically took advantage of the unwitting buyers. So I quit after buying my first own PC there: A K7S5A ECS board, 256MB memory, XP1600+...joy oh joy.

I kept upgrading that PC, new mainboard, new hard drives, new memory. I ended up with a Chaintech and then Asus nForce 2 board with a XP3200+. (I imported memory directly von OCZ in America! 10 sticks for 980 Dollars. 2 I used, 2 my bro got, 6 I sold on ebay for insane amounts :D) I also started modding Radeon 9500 and 9800SE to higher models for myself and friends. I then sold the PC to a friend and bought myself a AMD64 3500+ with all the extras: A8N-SLI Deluxe, 2x256MB DDR466 OCZ memory. I slowly upgraded all the parts. Kept going mainstream with every graphic card generation.

I bought 2 notebooks somewhere inbetween and worked at different PC shops as a system builder or in tech support.

I probally forgot to mention a lot of things, but hey :) time runs, honestly the last 5 years have flown by.

cheers
DS

[hv43082]

My first comp was a left over back in the late 90's so I don't even remember what CPU it had. I mainly used it to check email and chat so didn't need something powerful. That machine couldn't play Warcraft 3 so I paid my uncle to build me a p4 2.0 with Geforce 4200 VGA. Both were second best of its class at the time. Boy that was something else. I was happy until BF2 came out and had to upgrade to 9700 Pro. That card and the whole machine was barely playable so I finally went all out early last year ('06) and learn so much about comp and building my first own rig. Got myself the best mobo and ram atm (asus a8n32 and corsair 3500 LL Pro :rockout: ) to got with AMD x3800 and 7800gt. This was the beginning of my comp-craze. In the next several month I got carried away with update (LCD 20-24-30", vid 7800gt-x1900xt-8800gts-rd600, CPU amd x2 3800-c2d 6400-???) :eek: . Man, there should be a support group for this kind of addiction :laugh: !!!

[pt]

My first comp was a left over back in the late 90's so I don't even remember what CPU it had. I mainly used it to check email and chat so didn't need something powerful. That machine couldn't play Warcraft 3 so I paid my uncle to build me a p4 2.0 with Geforce 4200 VGA. Both were second best of its class at the time. Boy that was something else. I was happy until BF2 came out and had to upgrade to 9700 Pro. That card and the whole machine was barely playable so I finally went all out early last year ('06) and learn so much about comp and building my first own rig. Got myself the best mobo and ram atm (asus a8n32 and corsair 3500 LL Pro :rockout: ) to got with AMD x3800 and 7800gt. This was the beginning of my comp-craze. In the next several month I got carried away with update (LCD 20-24-30", vid 7800gt-x1900xt-8800gts-rd600, CPU amd x2 3800-c2d 6400-???) :eek: . Man, there should be a support group for this kind of addiction :laugh: !!!

if you find the support group say something :p
i think i need to join...

[hv43082]

if you find the support group say something :p
i think i need to join...

:D Right on my friend. :D

[Jimmy 2004]

Been into PCs for a few years...

My first build? See specs, but change the video card to a modded 9550, change the cooling to only stock, take away 512MB ram, replace the PikaOne DVD+RW drive with a LiteOn one, minus the 80GB Hitachi drive, have a Dell CRT instead of the Digimate TFT and go to Realtek AC'97 audio with some cheap stereo speakers. So just a few changes here and there, but still my first CPU, Motherboard and primary hard drive. About a week over two years old.

[Alec§taar]

Been a LONG 24++ yr. road really... with some 'detours' on the way:

In highschool, for the MOST part is where I REALLY 'got into it'... before that, as a YOUNG boy (maybe 10 or so) my Mom had a job w/ the local county we lived in as a computer operator though, & that WAS @ least, SOME exposure (my first one really).

Later, scholastically, taking BASIC language in 1982 & doing it via "timesharing" on a DEC PDP-11 system (via the oldstyle phone 'boot jacks' like you can still see in a film like "WarGames")...

Then a year or two later in collegiate Academia, taking BASIC (again, good 'cumulative avg. booster' for me because I took it before in highschool & easy "A" grade) & then COBOL the next semester on my first post-highschool degree in/around THIS field. That was done on a VMS OS & timesharing terminals on campus for BASIC & COBOL.

After that, around 1987-1991, I took a 'break' from computers due to a fairly decent mgt. job opportunity... was w/ a BIG company & I did very well @ it.

Then, I saw "Windows 3.x" around 1991-1992, after doing much work on DOS/Win3.x, & having bought myself my FIRST PC & upon the advice of someone who had already LONG been doing programming @ that point, professionally.

(It was initially a 486 Sx/25 which I upgraded to its MAX (486 Dx/4 133mhz & other ISA peripherals (like "Windows Accelerator vidcards") & RAM amt. to max 32mb FastPage 30-pin RAM) after having sold a LARGE comic book collection I'd been holding onto since the late 1970's to do that)

I saw Windows 3.1, & said to myself:

"Now, there's something cool, much like Apple's been doing - 'art & science' in 1 package"

Mostly meaning graphical computing really, which I always felt was neater than commandline stuff & "greenscreen" dumb-terminals tty sessions work.

(@ least from an "end-user" perspective - graphical computing RULES for actually SEEING what's going on, vs. using things like UNIX commands to see backgrounded apps via PS & controlling them via NICE, KILL, etc.)

So, I quit my job as a mgr. (saw no future in it @ that point, beyond where I was at) & went back to school for a solely comp. sci. oriented degree!

I concentrated on Windows stuff mostly, but the first year learned MOSTLY on DOS on 8088 PC's no less (which were WAY outta date even then, but the next yr. our dept. chair asked us if we needed an upgrade, & w/ Win3.x on the rise, we told him "definitely, unless you want to lose enrollees in this program - that stuff's the future!").

(We did do some UNIX stuff in school, but not a lot! I got more exposure to UNIX on BBS's worldwide then run on UNIX mostly, 1000's of users @ a time, to learn more on groups on them, along w/ PC BBS's as well (anyone remember "WILDCAT BBS"?))

So, on that 2nd degree, I did mostly programming it & DOS via COBOL (again, but this was to an As/400 which I believe, was on campus (somewhere, lol)), FORTRAN, C/C++, PASCAL, ASSEMBLER (x86) on DOS, etc. et al. the first year, & then the 2nd yr. on Windows machines using 486 Dx/33 systems on a network LAN doing VB3 16-bit work.

From there, it was fun learning more & more about it, going from hardware repair techie type work during college circa 1993-1994 (& here is where I learned to first upgrade a PC, & then since then, building my own each time) to network engineer type work, to programming these things using Win32 mostly nowadays, from 1995 onwards really, coding mostly (but, having network admin duties @ points on various jobs too).

I like it. Sure, there's times it's hard & sucks (gets you worried), but these things have a way of working out & you get stronger for it, each time.

There is a LOT of change in this field & VISTA is showing us some in fact lately (drivers model changing & requirements for them for instance)...

For me personally, adopting .NET (VB.NET &/or ASP.NET) has been that 'latest hurdle', but it's not as bad as it was for me going from C/C++ in DOS to Windows (which I do NOT like using as opposed to RAD tools like Access/Delphi/VB, Borland C++ Builder IS an exception here though, as opposed to MSVC++ & how you built apps in it, early on @ least, using Resource Studio type tools)... but, still work learning it & then, "getting good" (purely relative term that one) @ it.

Most of that is fairly accurate in terms of timeframes involved & such, from me operating on memory alone.

APK

P.S.=> It changed my life, in some ways for the better... others not, imo! Personally, I am sort of getting "perturbed" @ the CONSTANT learning/re-learning curve, but I'd rather know some current stuff, than not... change rules in this field, get used to it. At least at the "hands on" level (those that do the actual work), but not so much for mgt. folks in it (that's where I want to aim for next, as far as careers in this field)... apk

[ice91785]

My first build wasn't too terribly long ago to be honest -- pry about 4 yrs ago im thinkin? Geez time flies...

Athlon XP M 2200+
MSI nF2 (i think) mobo
2 x 256 of mushkin ddr500 ram
Crappy PSU
Cheap case

I just needed it for college and didn't have a huge budget

[lemonadesoda]

What got me into computers was a Research Machines 380Z computer at school. It had a Z80 processor and 4K of RAM. http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=812.

I wanted to get a Sinclair ZX80 when it came out... but it was too expensive for a Xmas or Birthday present.

That changed the following year and I got a ZX81. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zx81. Wow. That was cool. POwerful enough to run a powerstation. With 1Mhz and 1K RAM. Black and White output to a TV. Tape recorder at 300baud for saving/loading!

First game ever played was called "SNIPER".

[cdawall]

What got me into computers was a Research Machines 380Z computer at school. It had a Z80 processor and 4K of RAM. http://www.old-computers.com/museum/computer.asp?st=1&c=812. I wanted to get a ZX80 when it came out... but it was too expensive for a Xmas or Birthday present.

That changes the following year with a ZX81. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zx81. Wow. That was cool.

1Mhz. 1K. Black and White. TV was the monitor.

First game ever played was called "SNIPER".

oh wow those are old my calc is faster than those were!!!

[DRDNA]

Please no offense meant here!!!! I called for tech support on some really dumb CD burning issue and ended up with a tech from Indi-umohiforget and couldn't really understand a word that he said but I ended up with having to use my restore disks and no resolution ..i finally figured it out on my own (I had put in the media and closed the ROM before I was suppose to and there for rendering the CD-ROM as a ROM only no writer)lol...Then I decided I was never going to rely on some Else's ignorance to help with my own ignorance. I taught My self every thing I could about software and hardware ...I have been in hardware and software support now for the last 5+ years and support 10,000+ apps and over 50,000 desktops and 20,000+ laptops mostly IBM and Dell PC's