So when and how did computers grab you?

[pro2a]

My dad got a Packard Bell when we lived in Tucson in 1993. It booted from DOS... I remember playing basic games on it. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

When we got stationed in Asia, my dad got a Gateway. It had a whole 233Mhz processor, 64MB of RAM and it was rockin' Win 95. It was our first PC with an internet connection. This was in early 1996. This is really when I got interested in computers. The rest as they say, was history.

My first personal tower was a Gateway Pentium III, 512MB of RAM with XP. I still have that tower, and it still works. My buddy was really into PC's and he taught me a lot in regards to formatting and what different parts were. Since then I am self taught by trial and error. I would buy old PC's at yard sales and work on them until I felt confident enough to work on my good towers. I worked my way up from there.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

First PC had a 1Mhz processor, ran DOS and I could play either Space Invaders or Castle was awesome. A couple years later we moved to an AMD K2 350? I think? Running Win 95 like a boss, was amaazing. Then it stopped working, so my older bro blew it up when we went to troubleshoot it by switching the power switch on the PSU from 240v to 120v we were epic techies back then.

When I was 9 we started riding around the suburbs looking for old PCs to fix/upgrade/destroy. Did that until I was 17 lol, then my older bro got his license and we drove around looking for stuff instead. A LOT easier to chuck a pc in the boot than balance it on your handlebars on the way home haha.

 

[Nitestick]

First PC had a 1Mhz processor, ran DOS and I could play either Space Invaders or Castle was awesome. A couple years later we moved to an AMD K2 350? I think? Running Win 95 like a boss, was amaazing. Then it stopped working, so my older bro blew it up when we went to troubleshoot it by switching the power switch on the PSU from 240v to 120v we were epic techies back then.

When I was 9 we started riding around the suburbs looking for old PCs to fix/upgrade/destroy. Did that until I was 17 lol, then my older bro got his license and we drove around looking for stuff instead. A LOT easier to chuck a pc in the boot than balance it on your handlebars on the way home haha.

Ahhh, I remember the days of verge diving for parts. Heck, we've done that together haven't we?

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Lol, don't think so? We definitely went scouting for wireless networks a lot warstumbling ftw, = warwalking + the occasional tripping on deceptively flat pavement.

 

[Yerfdog]

I'm guessing our old... 98 I think? I think that's what it was... That or 95. Then we got an XP. And now we're on Vista.

We gave the old 98 to our grandma. >_>

 

[-RockMan-]

My firt computer or my mothers was the gateway essential 433mhz celeron socket 370.
Stupid thing wouldn't even dare hit 500mhz, however it play final fantasy 7 and 8 with a FU to me everytime it crashed.

Later it died do to my dog, champion touched a Slot 1 mbo 750mhz p3, had amd athon xp machine gave it away, because a family had a house fire back then.
It goes on and on, but the earliest computers I've touched was a old tandy 3000 computer my father and I owned one shortly at the age of 12.
Used the schools appl II's computer and their god forbidden noise making printers!!
How I still have nightmares about that old apple printer going off and on in our computer classes.

 

[Yami]

I first got into computers when Oblivion came out and my old machine didn't do the job (AMD Sempron 2000+ something-or-other and 6800GT). I decided to save and build a new rig, and so I built my Q6600/Asus P5N-D/GTX260 machine in 2006(maybe 07?). I haven't been at this for long

Then I switched my Q6600 out with a E8400 and a fancy XFX board since my friend was building their own system; they wanted a quad and I wanted to try overclocking. Also bought my case and monitor around about this time.

Now I'm on my current system, having bought the 2500K, Asus P8P67 Deluxe, GTX560Ti, 2*4GB RAM, Scythe Mugen 2 and my first SSD.

 

[Fat.Clown]

first computer wasn't mine, but I got to play pinball on it a lot.
it ran windows 95, or maybe 98? don't know hardware specs lol.

then my sister got a P3 1GHz!!!! processor from a local computer convention back in 2,000ish.
got to play diablo 1 on it, tried to play diablo 2 on it, but didn't run very well.

2002ish? - finally got my own computer... Sony Vaio (dad bought ) 2 whole grand at best buy, and didn't even include a monitor.
Intel P4 Prescott socket 478 2.4 Ghz, 80GB HDD, Nvidia MX440 graphics, man it was the bomb!
used old monitor from sister's computer (she moved out) until I got my own monitor. Sony HS95P $350 dollar LCD with a whopping 1280 x 1024 resolution. at least it was a MVA panel. ha!

moving along, 2007 - couldn't play WoW at decent settings, so decided to upgrade. found this forum. got an intel core 2 duo E6300, 250GB HDD, Nvidia 7900GS 256mb (traded back in for a 8800GTS 320MB), 2x 1GB of ddr2 800. yeah my mind was blown when upgraded from MX440 to 7900GS.

been tinkering around ever since... small upgrades at a time.

 

[S0ULphIRE]

Haha, oh man that reminds me of trying to play SWJKJA on an old P3 450Mhz. Slot 1 CPUs ftw was devastated when the cpu finally fried, and equally elated when we found another p3 a few months later.

MAN that also reminds me of when Nitestick and I OC'd an old K2 during a pc hardware class. I think we got it from 350 to 450? Man that's going back a ways ahh I'm getting old!

 

[Nukem]

I was first hooked when my Dad got the colecovision Adam computer.... (1985)

Bought a computer for my wife before going on my first deployment to keep in touch with her in 2000.

Then I built my first computer, when (trotter and the older peeps may remember this) I first logged on here, and realized tat I paid 1800 USD for a 400 dollar machine. I tried to say upgrade, but then with his and other peoples help... ended up building my own... from there it just exploded!