I have finally entered the 21st Century

[capnq]

Ever since I bought my first home computer (used), I've tended to stay well behind the tech curve. Only one of the PCs I've owned was bought new.

On Sunday, I took possession of my seventh PC, bought used from a friend. It's at least a tech generation ahead of my fifth and sixth PCs. I've never been much into hardware, but I know enough to feel impressed with a few of the specs. The new-to-me machine has:

AMD Athlon XP 2400+ running at 1.99GHz
1G RAM
NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 with AGP8X
Dell MM90 19" monitor
Soundblaster Audigy L5
Two HDs totaling 31.7G capacity

Windows XP Pro SP2

I know this isn't anywhere near cutting edge, but it's such a leap over my previous best machine that I'd be embarrassed to admit what those specs were. This beast is going to allow me to finally check out several games that my old machine couldn't run, including three of Shrapnel's titles.

[Combat Wombat]

Most of that is fine but please trust me on this get a new video card if it was anything but the MX440 it would be fine but those are the worst video cards on gods green earth. Go spend another $50 or $60 and get something else.

[Ballbarian]

Congratulations capnq!
Me and my 1.3Ghz AMD Athlon will look on in envy.

[capnq]

Hmm, I'll think about the video card. I think the most graphically demanding game I'm looking at is probably SEV, so I don't really need the video power that something like a FPS would call for. I've got a long shopping list of things I need more urgently than computer hardware, so I only expect to be downloading demos in the short term.

I made a mistake in my description. It doesn't have two HDs, just two partitions on the HD. This is the first system I've had with a big enough HD to warrant more than 1 partition.

[Atrocities]

I am still using my Acer P75 with its 100mhz cpu, 16 megs of ram, 2meg Mytrox Mystic video card, and 800meg hard drive. Its the best damn machine money could buy. I especially love windows 95, the best OS ever made for a pc. This is my work horse PC and if a game won't run on it, then I don't play it.

[Combat Wombat]

Atrocities said:
I am still using my Acer P75 with its 100mhz cpu, 16 megs of ram, 2meg Mytrox Mystic video card, and 800meg hard drive. Its the best damn machine money could buy. I especially love windows 95, the best OS ever made for a pc. This is my work horse PC and if a game won't run on it, then I don't play it.

That was all sarcastic right? The only OS worse than 95 was ME and you couldn't even fit SE4 on that hard drive.

[capnq]

Combat Wombat said: you couldn't even fit SE4 on that hard drive.

Now you're being sarcastic. My SEIV folder is only 566M currently.

[Herode]

Originally Posted by Combat Wombat

That was all sarcastic right? The only OS worse than 95 was ME

You forgot Vista. I never went to Linux - I am computer-lazy and don't like heavy intall procedures at all - but now I've installed Vista on my new PC & I know... I will soon migrate (to Ubuntu)

Give me baaaaaack my XP

[Azselendor]

Atrocities, you brought back an old memeory.

I used to have an old Compaq 2200 running windows 95. For years, I kept the default config but over time, components failed. I still have it in my closet, a hulk of metal, duct tape, and good intentions. 120mhz processor, 32mb ram, 3.1 gb hard drive (shipped with a massive 1.2 gb drive), built-in sub-woofer and speakers, CD-rom running windows 95.

It lasted for a good 10 years and I did everything from designing websites to playing video games to work on it. It still works, but I had to join the 17th century back in 2003 and bought a new computer.

On the flip side, I bought an emachine once, lasted 3 years (two of which was spent with a lunch-box-cold-pack cooling system keeping it from catching fire). It ended its life flying across my front yard where it was savagely beaten with a metal bat.

[capnq]

Since some else dredged this up, an update.

capnq said: I made a mistake in my description. It doesn't have two HDs, just two partitions on the HD.

Turns out I was right the first time; it had two HDs. I only verified this when the larger drive died of mechanical failure. Now I'm down to only 12.7G. Luckily, the OS and all the internet software were on the surviving drive; the one that failed was almost all games, so all I really lost was assorted solo games in progress.

Ironically, the sole HD on my second PC failed on the same day, apparently due to a corrupted boot sector. I'm undecided what to do about that one; I may try to transplant the HD from the third PC to the second.