It's still teh same case and fan, though....

[dolari]

The evolution of Jenn's Computer "Tomato"

1997:

200MHz Intel Pentium Processor MMX Technology
32MB EDO Memory
256K Pipelined Burst Cache, upgradeable to 512K
800MB IDE Hard Drive
3D Video Accelerator with 4MB VRAM
4X EIDE CD-ROM Drive
14.4 Kbps Send/Recieve Fax Modem
Sound Blaster Pro
Radio Shack Brand Speakers
17" (15.8" Viewable) .28 Pitch Monitor
Microsoft Windows 95
Microsoft Works
MMX Software

2003:
2.0GHz Intel Pentium Processor MMX Technology
512MB PC2100 DDR Memory
512K Cache
80GB EIDE Hard Drive
Geforce 2 Video Accelerator with 64MB VRAM
24X EIDE DVD-ROM/CDRW Drive
6X EIDE DVD-ROM Drive
56Kbps Send/Recieve Fax Modem
Onboard AC97 PCI sound card
Radio Shack Brand Speakers
15" Monitor
Microsoft Windows 98SE
Office 2000
MMX Software

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

That does a number on MechArm, which has just changed a case for the first time in 3 years and a motherboard for the first time in two. Shortly before that I got ahold of some RAM that doesn't work in the Precision 410 (that's remaining powered down for lack of a place to set it up) because it's not buffered.

750 MHz Duron (same CPU I got 2 years ago)

A7V133 1.04 -- I can now upgrade to any T-Bird Athlon if I get ahold of one (my faltering campaign is a higher priority -- especially with the election only a week away)

512 MB RAM running at 100 MHz; could increase to 133 if I remove or replace the slowest 128MB (I finally have a respectable amount for the first time in 2 years)

192kB cache -- will increase with a T-Bird. Barton has even more but would require a new board, which I'm not looking for because that would require a new CPU, board, and RAM -- right on the eve of it all being superseded by a 64 bit CPU that I'll admittedly not get full use out of if I'm still running NT 5.0 -- but It wouldn't be MechArm anymore if I installed Linux on it*...

40 GB drive and a 13 GB drive (need to finish clearing off the 13GB as virtually everything on it was transferred to the 40 GB about 6 months ago)

Radeon 7xxx video card, stripped down budget edition, 32MB RAM

48/8x CDR that may have been fried from the power supply from Hell that maimed my previous board. I do have a 24x/20x/40x I can cannibalize from the Precision 410 in a pinch, tho.

56kbps allegedly non-WinMODEM that behaves like a WinMODEM and whose relevant IP has changed hands more times than the DEC Alpha

Lost onboard audio as this board lacks it (it has a RAID controller I'm not using; does that count?) -- so I'm using the cheap Ensonique-based card i was using 3 years ago again

3 year old Creative speakers that are showing their age, but I'm surprised they've lasted this long

17" NEC MultiSync that I've had for 1-2 years. I expect you will have far better than this shortly after your truck is fixed.

NT 5.0 -- which I really wish I'd upgraded to far earlier than 1 year ago.

OpenOffice 1.0 supplementing MS Office 97, which crashes when I try printing pages from the current Saturn game design documentation (which is why I finally DLed and installed OpenOffice).


All in all, I have definitely been leapfrogged. 8)


Then again, I date MechArm from a system i got for Christmas in 1992 -- of which not a single component has not been replaced years ago:

33 MHz Am386 SX sans FPU

Between 1MB and 4 MB of 30-pin Fast Page or less RAM (don't remember)
maybe 16kB of cache or maybe not even that (don't remember)

30ish MB RLL-formatted MFN drive

Stripped down TSeng 4000 video card or worse (I had several of those in succession -- none could to > 256 colors)

1.44 floppy; does that count? 8)

No MODEM until 1995

Sound Blaster 1.x that I salvaged from my 8 MHz 8088 machine (MechArm has never had an Intel processor)

14" Monitor that lasted for 5 years or so -- far longer than any of its successors

Microsoft Windows 3.1

Word for Windows 2.0 -- I still make sure I have the option to load these files when I reinstall or upgrade Word because I still have files that date from 2.0 which I miss in many ways


SL


* -- unless there's a distro that will adapt your Windows settings for KDE or Gnome -- fat chance of me finding something like that. I need to reread the XP license to see if I can handle using XP/64 with my future Athlon or Duron 64