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PC History

This page is really more for my entertainment and nostalgia. This page documents the history of the various computers/parts I have owned/used at home since my father gave me my first pc when I was a "tweenager." Clearly I have invested way too much money in computers.

* - Denotes a part that broke

Date	Parts	Notes
1992?	8086 20MB hard drive CGA monitor 5.25" double density drive 3.5" double density drive (added later by a neighbor)	My father gave me this computer he found in an office closet. I generally ignored the computer until I found there were some games that could actually be played on it. (I was a teenager afterall)
1993?	286 (IBM PS/2 Model 30) - 10mhz 20MB hard drive VGA support + monitor 3.5" high density drive The best keyboard ever (every keypress was authoritative)	I was definitely excited when I purchased this computer. It was equipped with VGA! Amazing 256 color graphics awaited me!
1994?	286 (Packard Bell) - 12 mhz 20MB hard drive VGA support + monitor 3.5" high density drive 5.25" high density drive	My uncle gave this computer to me and I mostly ignored it. This would not be the last time I would have three computers setup where I lived.
1995?	Intel 486SX 20mhz 40MB hard drive	As repayment for yard work a friend's mother gave me this computer.
Fall 1996	AMD 586 133mhz Diamond Stealth 64 (2MB)	Upgraded the 486SX
Fall 1997	AMD 586 200mhz Monster 3D (Voodoo 1 4MB)	Upgraded the 586-133
Winter 1997	Monster 3D 2 (Voodoo 2 8MB)	Ah the good old days of 3DFX
Summer 1997	2x CD-Burner	- SHOCKING - I spent a huge pile of money to burn CDs. Later when I seemed to be making a lot of coasters I found out my hard drive was broken.
Fall 1999	AMD 686 450mhz TNT2 Ultra	Upgraded the 586-200. Mysterious stability issues plagued this machine until I underclocked the CPU to 428Mhz.
Summer 2000	AMD Thunderbird 800mhz Gigabyte Motherboard
Fall 2000	XX GB hard drive Yamaha 16x CD-Burner
Winter 2000	DVD Drive* Hollywood+ MPEG2 Decoder	I bought a DVD Drive and MPEG2 decoder for watching anime with people in the dorm I lived in. I was of course disappointed when the drive arrived broken and I had to wait another week to get a replacement. The decoder would remain (functional) in all my primary PCs until I stopped video editing in 2007.
8-2001	AMD Thunderbird 1.4ghz Epox 8KTA3PRO* Kingston PC133 256MB RAM
10-2001	Hitachi CM721F 19" (CRT)	I purchased this monitor to make video editing a bit easier. It weighed a ton and did the job reasonably well. (1152x864 was my resolution of choice) I donated the monitor in 2009 and it was still fully functional.
9-2003	Pioneer DVR-106BK DVD Burner
12-2003	AMD XP 2400+ MSI KT6 Delta-LSR Motherboard 3x Kingston 256MB DDR266 RAM	This upgrade was definitely not as impressive as previous leaps. I recall wondering what the difference was. I believe at the time the bottleneck for games was my video card.
7-2004	AMD XP 2000+ Kingston 256MB DDR266 RAM Wetern Digital 80GB Shuttle SK41G	This was the first Shuttle system (of many) I built.
3-2005	AMD Athlon 64 3400+ MSI K8N Neo Platinum Motherboard Gigabyte GV-N66T128D GeForce 6600GT 128MB 2x GeIL Value 512MB DDR 400 2x 75GB Western Digial Raptor Hard Drives NEC DVD Burner ND-3520A Antec Performance II SX1040BII	This machine was a beast all around. It was built for video editing and thanks to the huge steel case weighed a ton. This was also the first computer I built as a seperate PC. (previously I always upgraded -- and in hindsight that was very risky!)
2-2006	SAMSUNG 214T-BK 21" (LCD)	Used this until 2011 (I hated widescreen and loved the 4:3 goodness)
4-2007	AMD 5600 X2+ EPoX EP-AF590SLI2 Motherboard Gigabyte GV-NX88S320H-B-RH GeForce 8800 GTS 320MB Corsair CMPSU-620HX 620W* 2 x Kingston 2GB DDR2 800 Western Digital Caviar RE WD3200YS 320GB Pioneer 18X DVD±R DVD Burner CHENMING CMUI-601AECB-U	Another monstrosity of a PC weight wise and capability wise. The case was likely produced by the same OEM as my previous Antec case (the layout, design, and excessive weight were exactly the same).
3-2009	Intel Pentium E2200 Allendale 2.2GHz BX80557E2200 Kingston ValueRAM 2GB KVR800D2N5K2/2G Western Digital WD1600AAJS 160GB 7200 RPM Pioneer 20X DVD±R DVD Burner DVR-116DBK Shuttle SG31G2
4-2009	Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 MSI P45D3 Platinum Motherboard* EVGA 896-P3-1260-TR GeForce GTX 260 896MB 4x Kingston 2GB DDR3 1333 Western Digital Raptor 74GB Western Digital RE3 WD5002ABYS 500GB Pioneer CD/DVD Burner DVR-117DBK Antec BP550 Plus PSU BGears XPHD.B Aluminum Passive HD Cooler Lian Li PC-K1B	My first Intel based PC (that I purchased parts for). The stock fan installation went as poorly as many people have documented. After a week of stability issues I learned that the memory speed was not supported by the chipset. Magically everything was resolved when I set the speed to a lower value. The HD "coolers" ended up increasing the hard drive temperatures.
5-2009	Cooler Master STB-3T4-E3-GP (hard drive cage+fan)	Replaced the BGears passive coolers. Everything was much happier.
4-2010	Intel Pentium E5300 Wolfdale 2.6GHz 2 x Kingston 2GB KVR800D2N5/2G Western Digital WD6401AALS 640GB Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD Burner Evercool SB-F1 PCI Slot Case Cooler MSI Hetis G41	I wanted to build a new media PC and migrate the previous one (E2200 Shuttle) to my girlfriend to replace her terribly old computer. While the DVD drive is functional it seems a little off at times. Weird noises and occasional issues reading specific discs hints towards it not exactly being the highest quality product.
11-2010	Intel Core i7-870 MSI P55A Fuzion Motherboard	Replaced the MSI P45D3 motherboard that ran into issues. The stock fan installation went off without a hitch after I watched numerous videos explaining the best way to install the CPU fan. When investigating issues the CPU fan mounts were so badly damaged (from my botched install of the E8400 fan) it was not possible to salvage. On the possitive side the Shuttle using the E2200 received a CPU upgrade to an E8400! The Shuttle heat pipe seems to cool the E8400 without issue.
11-2010	LG Black 10X Blu-ray Burner	The new MSI motherboard had no IDE ports so I was optical driveless! The only logical choice was to get a Blu-ray burner.
11-2011	Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz MSI Z68A-GD55(G3) Motherboard Western Digital RE4 WD5003ABYX 500GB SAMSUNG 2443BWT-1 Monitor* Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-650 650W 2 x Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1333* LIAN LI Lancool First Knight Series PC-K9B LG Black Super Multi SATA WH12LS30 EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB	Amazingly, one of the sticks of Kingston memory failed a Memtest x86+ test! The optical drive rips CDs like a champ. This was the first machine I built for my girlfriend to play games on.
11-2011	HP LP2475w Monitor	Only 2 dead pixels! (why were there ANY???)
4-2012	Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge MSI Z68A-GD55 Motherboard Western Digital WD RE4 WD5003ABYX 500GB Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD3000HLHX 300GB Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-650 650W 4 x Kingston 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1333 LIAN LI PC-8NW case LG Black Blu-ray burner WH12LS39 EVGA 025-P3-1579-AR GeForce GTX 570	Regular 2-year replacement... definitely a stable powerhouse. Too bad the optical drive rips CDs at a snail's pace
1-2013	Intel Core i3-2100 Western Digital WD RE4 WD5003ABYX 500GB Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) KVR1333D3N9K2/8G LG Black SATA BDXL Blu-ray Burner (WH14NS40) Shuttle SH67H3 case	New TV PC
5-2014	Intel Core i7-4770 Haswell 3.4GHz BX80646I74770 HyperX 16GB DDR3 SDRAM KHX16C9P1K2/16 MSI Z87-G55 LGA 1150 Intel Z87 Motherboard EVGA 04G-P4-3768-KR GeForce GTX 760 FTW Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD2500HHTZ 250GB Western Digital WD VelociRaptor WD5000HHTZ 500GB Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-650 LG Black Blu-ray Burner SATA WH16NS40 Antec Sonata Series SOLO II Case	Regular two year replacement. This time I built two of the exact same PC to replace my spouse's as well.
8-2016	Intel Core i7-6700 Skylake 3.4 GHz BX80662I76700 HyperX FURY 32GB DDR4 SDRAM HX421C14FBK4/32 MSI Z170-A PRO LGA 1151 Intel Z170 Motherboard EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 08G-P4-6173-KR SAMSUNG 850 PRO 256GB SSD MZ-7KE256BW SAMSUNG 850 EVO 500GB SSD MZ-75E500B/AM WD Black 2TB WD2003FZEX Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-650 LG Blu-ray Burner WH14NS40 Antec Sonata Series SOLO II Case	Regular two year replacement. Again I built two of the exact same PC to replace my spouse's as well.
11-2018	Intel Core i7-8700 Coffee Lake 3.2 GHz BX80684I78700 CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB DDR4 SDRAM CMK32GX4M4A2666C16W MSI Z370-A PRO LGA 1151 Intel Z370 Motherboard EVGA GeForce RTX 2070 Black 08G-P4-1071-KR SAMSUNG 860 Pro 256GB SSD MZ-76P256BW SAMSUNG 860 EVO 500GB SSD MZ-76E500B/AM WD Black 2TB WD2003FZEX Rosewill Hive Series Hive-650 LG Blu-ray Burner WH14NS40 Antec P100 Case	Regular two year replacement. Again I built two of the exact same PC to replace my spouse's as well.
10-2019	Intel Pentium Gold G5600 BX80684G5600 Crucial 16GB Kit DDR4 2400 MT/S CT2K8G4SFS824A Samsung SSD 860 EVO 1TB SSD (MZ-76E1T0B/AM) LG BU40N Blu-ray Writer (Slim) Shuttle XPC Slim XH310R Case	New TV PC
12-2020	AMD Ryzen 9 3900X Corsair Vengeance LPX 64GB DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 BK022 MSI PRO B550-A PRO EVGA GeForce RTX 3070 08G-P5-3755-KR EVGA SuperNOVA 650 GT 650W PSU 220-GT-0650-Y1 Samsung 860 EVO 1TB SSD MZ-76E1T0B/AM Samsung 860 PRO 256GB SSD MZ-76P256BW Western Digital 2TB Black HDD WD2003FZEX Fractal Design Meshify C Computer Case, FD-CA-MESH-C-BKO	Regular two year replacement (delayed thanks to the RTX 3070!)
08-2022	Intel i7-12700 be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4 CPU Cooler Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4 DRAM * MSI PRO Z690-A DDR4 ProSeries Motherboard SAMSUNG 980 PRO 500GB NVMe MZ-V8P500B SAMSUNG 970 EVO SSD 2TB NVMe MZ-V7S2T0B/AM be quiet! BZ003 MC1 Pro M.2 SSD Cooler Western Digital 2TB Black HDD WD2003FZEX Pioneer BDR-212DBK 16x BD/DVD/CD Writer EVGA GeForce RTX 3080 FTW3 10G-P5-3897-KL EVGA 220-G5-0750-X1 Super Nova 750 G5 Power Supply be quiet! Pure Base 600 Black Mid-Tower ATX Case upHere Graphics Card GPU Brace Support (haha)	Regular two year replacement. Built two (me & spouse).
07-2023	Intel NUC 12 Pro NUC12WSKi3 i3-1220P SAMSUNG 970 EVO Plus SSD 2TB - M.2 NVMe MZ-V7S2T0B/AM	New TV PC
07-2024	Intel Core i7-14700 be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 5 CPU Cooler CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR5 64GB RAM CMK64GX5M2B5600C40 * MSI PRO Z790-P WiFi ProSeries Motherboard SAMSUNG 990 PRO 2TB NVMe MZ-V9P2T0B/AM SAMSUNG 990 PRO 1TB NVMe MZ-V9P1T0B/AM be quiet! BZ003 MC1 Pro M.2 SSD Cooler Western Digital 2TB WD Black HDD WD2003FZEX Pioneer BDR-212DBK 16x BD/DVD/CD Writer MSI Gaming RTX 4070 TI Super 16G GPU EVGA Supernova 750 G7 Power Supply 220-G7-0750-X1 Antec P101 Silent Mid-Tower PC Computer Case	Regular two year replacement. Built two (me & spouse).

Points of Interest

I used to always upgrade my computers. I must have had tons of confidence because now I know better and always buy entirely seperate machines so I am never actually completely down.
I try to upgrade my PC every two years.
I have always used nVidia based cards since the purchase of the TNT2 Ultra in 1999 (a notably awesome product itself that somehow survived and functioned for gaming long after the little fan broke).
The transition from AMD to Intel processors was an unfortunate one... but Intel really seemed to have the better products at the time (and still does).
MSI motherboards have served me mostly well. I generally purchase higher end MSI motherboards. Whether this is a stupid way to increase my confidence in the product is up for argument.

Problematic Parts and Parts that outright broke

Part	Lifetime	Reason
Unknown DVD Drive	0 months	This was dead on arrival (there was a part sliding around making it obvious it was busted before I even tried it).
Epox 8KTA3PRO	? months	During a firmware update the procedure failed and no obvious route existed to restore it. Luckily there was a spare motherboard around!
Corsair CMPSU-620HX 620W	0 months	This was dead on arrival.
MSI P45D3 Platinum Motherboard	18 months	There appeared to be some kind of short causing the motherboard to shut off randomly.
Kingston 4GB DDR3 1333	0 months	Memtest x86+ revealed a problem with one of the sticks I purchased. (PC purchased 11-2011)
SAMSUNG 2443BWT-1 Monitor	0 Months	The viewing angle on this monitor is about -1 degrees. I do not believe there is any angle at which the entire monitor is viewable.
Corsair CMK32GX4M2A2666C16 Vengeance LPX 32GB (2x16GB) DDR4 DRAM 2666MHz	1 day	Memory test passed and then after 1 day of use a stick went bad.
CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR5 RAM 64GB (2x32GB) 5600MHz CMK64GX5M2B5600C40	1 day	Memory test failed on both sticks combined and then with 1 stick on its own.