Discussion What Were the CPU and Specs of Your First PC?

[geofelt]

As I recall, my first pc was a IBM PS/2'
The only file storage was a floppy drive.

It introduced me to Civilization, a game which I still play today.

 

[drea.drechsler]

A no-name, AMD 80286, 12 Mhz. I overclocked it to 16 or 18 Mhz (can't remember exactly) by swapping the crystal oscillator. It had only 1MB of memory which was all that 286 and 8086/8088 processors could address. Windows 3.0 ran like a dog in standard mode off of a 5MB winchester drive. I added an EMS card (3Mb more, if I recall correctly) and Windows 3.1 would run and could actually use some apps (mainly DOS apps like WordPerfect) but still barely OK. Win 3.0 and Win 3.1 were really nothing more than graphic mode DOS app launchers anyway.

Even with the EMS memory it still worked in Real 8086 mode. Virtual 86 mode came only with 386 and later processors and allowed actual multi-tasking, not just task launching and swapping like Windows Standard mode. Real mode means 286's operated like an 8086/8088 CPU that can directly access only 1MB of memory so it used a paging model (how EMS worked) for large memory constructs...where pages of higher memory were swapped into the lower 1Mb of addresses (a 64KB page frame in the UMA) as needed so the CPU could "see" it and act on the contents. Virtual 86 mode in 80386 CPU's, along with a lot more memory address lines, brought a flat memory model where the CPU's virtual machines can see and directly access addresses above 1MB...up to a whopping 4GB worth, IIRC.

My first computer was a Tandy CoCo 2. I am not even sure what the processor was....

Probably a Z-80, made by Zilog. Same as the Tandy TRS-80, fondly known as TRASH-80 by the geeks of that time.

 

[emitfudd]

Very first PC was a Commodore 64. No clue what the specs were. I was just a kid.

Fast forward to 2005 and I bought an HP. Useless POS. When it failed, every component failed (according to the shop I brought it to). Really don't remember the specs on that either except it had an AMD processor.

2010 I bought a Dell Inspiron 580. I5 750 CPU, some sub par radeon GPU. I upgraded the memory and dropped a 750ti into it and it allowed me to play Skyrim, Witcher 3 and a few other games.

2016 built my first gaming PC. 7700K, 1080ti, 32GB of RAM running at 3000 MHz. Asus Maximus Code IX, Delid and overclock to 5.0 GHz.

2021 built my current rig. 5900X, 3080 GPU, 32GB of GSkill RAM at 3600 MHz. Asus Crosshair Dark Hero, 980 1TB M.2 x 2. Thermaltake 360mm AIO. Seasonic 850W PSU. Corsair 780T case. This thing is a beast but almost obsolete already. Fist the 12900K comes out and now the new Ryzen CPU's and series 4000 GPU's around the corner. I give up on trying to have the latest and greatest. They come out with new technology too fast. Should let it sit on top of the world for at least a year. Seriously.

If there were PC's like this in the 80's I never would have left my room.

 

[CountMike]

Timex Sinclair.
First IBM compatible 8088.
Most liked Atari 1040ST.

 

[ODuffer]

Olivetti M24 - 8.0 MHz Intel 8086 CPU, 32 KB CGA-compatible video card, 640 KB of RAM (this was an upgrade!)
Twin 3.5" 720 KB floppies. What a bad boy!

Yes I'm old lol

 

[Tac 25]

the first pc at home is the pc I shared with my dad. It has Windows 3.1 that he use to play chess. Even in the early 5 am in the morning, I sometimes see him playing already. That pc was later upgraded to Windows 95. Then it was given away to my cousin who needed a pc.

the very first pc that is my own is an Athlon pc with a Sempron cpu, and 256 mb of ram. It was a displayed in a flashy showcase at a large appliance center. We were looking for a new pc... when we saw the Athlon, beside it is a Pentium that looked just as impressive. To decide which one to buy... I asked the salesman to turn off both machines. Then both were turned on at the same time. The Athlon booted into Windows XP first! So we purchased it and took it home!

the motherboard of the athlon is already broken, but I still keep it here at home as a reminder of the good old days.

 

[Unolocogringo]

Lots of oldies here.
Pentium 75@90 60mhz FSB
16MB EDO ram
4MB Cirrus Logic Video card. 2MB soldered and 2 MB socketed.
850MB Conner IDE hard drive
Windows 3.11 upgraded to windows 95
Auto CAD that came on 14 floppy disks to install.

 

[egda23]

Sinclair zx spectrum with tape recorder.
Programed a whole bunch of statistical analysis softwares in BASIC on this thing

 

[RARRAF]

Amstrad with tape recorder can rember spending ages writing programs on it.

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

First PC (1996):

Some Prebuilt German make from Dixons.
CPU: Intel 486DX
RAM: 4MB
HDD: 250MB
On-board Cirrus Logic GPU using shared RAM.
DOS 6.x and Windows For Workgroups 3.11
Free Canon mobile printer (black-ink only).

But the real eye-opener is what I had to pay for it: One Thousand British pounds !
Yes, a bank-loan to buy a basic PC !

 

[joeybutterhands]

My first computer was one my mom bought when I was a teen, a 486, too long ago to remember the brand, but I have fond memories of trying to unlock the password "quiz" of Leisure Suite Larry and some or other monochrome racing game I also can't remember the name of.
Shortly after we upgraded to a Pentium where my dad and I spent many nights playing through Wolfenstein 3D and then a Packard Bell Pentium 3

The first computer I bought myself was an absolute beast

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 FX
GPU: ATI Radeon 4850
4gb Ram
Antec P182SE

This thing was as heavy as it was fast, which meant I obviously only played Minecraft on it when it released. Kept this machine until the early 2012 and sold it for about 10% of what I paid and only got a rig again a couple of months ago.

Spent nearly the same as I did back then on

CPU: intel i5 12400
GPU: AMD Radeon RX6600
Ram: 2 x 8gb Kingston Hyper Fury X 3200
Corsair 4000D

Only plan on upgrading when games become unplayable, at the moment, it runs solidly

 

[RichardtST]

x86, 1MB RAM, 40MB hard drive with both 5.24" and 3.5" floppy drives!

 

[Wisecracker]

Tandy 1000

• 20 MB HD
• 5.25-inch floppy
• 3.5-inch 720k floppy
• RAM -- ? ( 640k ? )
• 16-color monitor (!)
• RS-232C serial port modem
• DOS & BASIC __ RS "Desk-Mate"

4.7 MHz CPU with Turbo @ 7 MHz __ either an Intel 8088 or NEC

I went big time with my next rig __ 486DX with a Calcomp DrawingBoard-II digitizer w/16-button puck! Used early versions of D-Base, 'Works', 'PFS', DesignCAD, Harvard PG, etc ... I was hot stuff at Usenet BBS 😛

 

[Richj444]

It was a generic PC, 386 SX-20, 2MB of ram (I splurged for the upgrade from 1MB), a 40MB hard drive, and the motherboard was from Abit although I have no idea what model.

 

[AlbertAZ]

My 1st was a fully loaded Atari 800 with 2 Indus GT drives, a cassette drive, numeric key pad, the connection box, plotter, joy sticks and a Panasonic dot matrix printer and lots of roms all of which I still have .

 

[Colif]

My first computer was a Tandy CoCo 2

I had a first gen CoCo
CPU - 6809E @ 0.895 / 1.79 MHz
Ram 16k
Storage - Cassette deck
Also had Cartridges but they only rom's
Graphics... lol. um, 16 colours i think
Sound - Beeps if you lucky

1st PC was an IBM Aptiva from 1999
CPU - Celeron 300mhz
GPU - ATI Rage Pro
and a Voodoo 2 that I added in

I don't remember much of its info, like how much ram it had. Or what storage. think it had a 60gb hdd.

 

[hotaru.hino]

The first computer I touched was some IBM PC. Probably an XT model.

 

[Colif]

zx81... i can't beat a computer that had a massive 1kb of ram.

 

[Tac 25]

Windows 3.11 upgraded to windows 95
Auto CAD that came on 14 floppy disks to install.

this brings back some nice memories. When my uncle upgraded our Windows 3.1 to Windows 95, he also brought multiple microfloppy diskettes.

Some Prebuilt German make from Dixons.
CPU: Intel 486DX
RAM: 4MB
HDD: 250MB
On-board Cirrus Logic GPU using shared RAM.
DOS 6.x and Windows For Workgroups 3.11
Free Canon mobile printer (black-ink only).

But the real eye-opener is what I had to pay for it: One Thousand British pounds !
Yes, a bank-loan to buy a basic PC !

oh, that's a lot to pay for a pc.
maybe it was a popular brand during the time you bought it?

Tandy 1000

• 20 MB HD
• 5.25-inch floppy
• 3.5-inch 720k floppy
• RAM -- ? ( 640k ? )
• 16-color monitor (!)

5.25 inch floppy drive. Now, this brings back some good memories as well. My dad's pc also had that kind of drive.

played a lot of Operation Wolf and NBA with that pc. ^__^

 

[Darkbreeze]

Commodore VIC-20, stock with cassette tape drive.

Same. Well, for PC anyhow. I had an Apple II prior to that which I was given by my school as a prize for something which I can't remember now.

 

[bdcrlsn]

2007 was the year...

Gigabyte P45 motherboard
Core 2 Duo E6400
2GB G.Skill DDR2-800 RAM
Western Digital 320GB Hard Drive
EVGA 7950 GT KO

 

[drea.drechsler]

If adding in the first computer I used....it was a Rockwell AIM-65, based on an R6502 processor. 1Mhz, 4K of RAM. We got it in the lab mainly to experiment with...we were told to "try to come up with something we could do with it".

Mostly, all we did was write silly BASIC programs...I remember we had a contest for the most efficient program to extract square roots. The only way to save them was to an audio tape. Someone brought in a mini-cassette recorder and we'd save off a program to the tape through the 1/4" headphone jack. Read it in the same way.

At least it had it's own printer that used adding machine paper rolls.

Then someone designed an interface to access the lab's minicomputer (DEC-PDP 11) through it and they took it away. LOL...we were hackers before hacking was cool!

 

[Darkbreeze]

I worked with some earlier systems that were tape drive only models as well. I think I was in like 4th or 5th grade at the time and only kids in the GATE program had access to them. I think it was like the next year that the first 5.25" drives started coming out.

 

[hotaru.hino]

Actually wait, I lied, it wasn't an IBM PC. It was an Apple II. I remember because it had an external 5.25" floppy drive, the edutainment we had booted up from it, and it was definitely an early to mid 80s computer.

 

[CountMike]

Wait a sec, I forgot an Heathkit from late '70 I had to solder together.