Discussion The Intrigue of Specifications

jnjnilson6

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If we start with the year 1992 and write out the specifications of the average system for every one or two years until today, how would said specs appear?

Like quivering pianos and breathtaking ventures underneath the stars, the soft electric current passing through the decades and infusing gradually the zeros and ones on which the computer feeds, it is mysterious and somewhat invigorating to think of the advancement of hardware. Or that Windows 98 PC high up in school, being worked on underneath the gauzy yellow lights, next to the lingering stars, above nocturnal basketballs and nocturnal shouts.

What do you think about those specs? It would be good if you could include CPU / RAM / GPU / Disk .

Thank you!
 
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jnjnilson6

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If you do some research, I'm pretty sure other people have already done this.

For instance, HDD.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_hard_disk_drives
1980 - 5.25" HDD, 5MB, $1500
2021 - 3.5" HDD, 20TB
(4 million times larger, 1/5 the price)

CPU:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_general-purpose_CPUs

etc...
Yeah, of course! But it would've been intriguing to come upon differing perspectives and nail down the validity of the aforementioned hardware through the years sinkingly and through overt and expressive points of view. I thought there may be someone out there who'd have the time and vigor to produce a viable and interesting table of the specifications point after point.
For example, in 2012 I had 16 GB RAM and today I have 48 GB.
While in 2010 I had 4 GB and in 2011 - 8 GB.
About 2005 I had 896 - 1024 MB.
And in 2001 that number was 256 MB.

It's intriguing to check out the point of view of others while the whitened pages are like mirages and scrolling down - a beautiful and enlightening venture.

Thank you for writing up! (y) If it would not be presumptuous and you have got the time you may elaborate upon personal hardware of yours in the far past and the essential uplift of the specifications or particulars of the specifications through time.
 

USAFRet

Titan
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If it would not be presumptuous and you have got the time you may elaborate upon personal hardware of yours in the far past and the essential uplift of the specifications or particulars of the specifications through time.
Point of interest:
The GPU in my current system has more RAM than my first 10-12 systems had RAM+HDD size combined.

My current NAS probably has more hard drive space (80.5 TB) than everyone on my street, and the next street over, combined.
 
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jnjnilson6

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Point of interest:
The GPU in my current system has more RAM than my first 10-12 systems had RAM+HDD size combined.

My current NAS probably has more hard drive space (80.5 TB) than everyone on my street, and the next street over, combined.
My first PC from 2001 had a 40 GB HDD and it seems that my RAM (48 GB) today is bigger. And my CPU's L3 Cache (i7-12700H / 24 MB L3) could run Windows 98 and Office 97 easily if it were the only memory of the system.

My Computer Memory / GPU Memory Ratio:

2001 - MSI Desktop - 256 MB RAM / 64 MB GeForce2 MX 400 - 4:1

2005/6 - HP Compaq nx6125 - 896 MB RAM / 128 MB Radeon 200M - 7:1

2005/6 - ASUS Desktop - 1 GB RAM / 256 MB GF 6200 TurboCache - 4:1

2010 - HP Pavilion dv6 2010eq - 4 GB RAM / 512 MB Radeon HD 4530 - 8:1

2011 - Lenovo IdeaPad Y570 - 8 GB RAM / 1 GB GF 555M - 8:1

2011/12 - Desktop - 2 GB RAM / 256 MB Intel HD 2000 - 8:1

2012 - Desktop - 16 GB RAM / 1 GB Radeon HD 6770 - 16:1

2013/14 - Desktop - 16 GB RAM / 2 GB Radeon HD 7870 CF - 8:1

Then follows an array of low and middle-end laptops which I will not elaborate upon.

2018 - Acer Laptop - 8 GB RAM / 2 GB GeForce 940MX - 4:1

2019 - Acer Laptop - 8 GB RAM / 2 GB GeForce MX130 - 4:1

2020/21? (not precisely sure when) -
Acer Laptop - 20 GB RAM / 2 GB GeForce MX130 - 10:1

2022 - Acer Nitro Laptop - 16 GB RAM / 4 GB GeForce 3050 Ti - 4:1

2022 - Acer Nitro Laptop - 48 GB RAM / 4 GB GeForce 3050 Ti - 12:1
 

Exploding PSU

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Jul 17, 2018
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Now this is my kind of thread. Always love the "walk down the memory lane" kind of threads. I might do an extensive write-up later when I got back from work like the one I did on your "What's your system specs" thread some time ago (ok, I admit that one went out of control, wanted to just write some bullet lists of my system specs but ended up writing the journey of my PC from the beginning and probably straining the servers, old habits die hard).

That being said, I only started caring about system specs around Windows Vista era, so the evolution might not be as striking as if it were from the 1992s. Not to mention I only upgrade my devices when they break so there may be periods where nothing new really happens.
 
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