Computer assembly: My memories over the years

UDeepEX

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Wait... they teach PC DIY in the course of study?!

Hey Vijay. It was a half-year / 1 semester General Elective Module. Singapore Poly needs you to complete 3 GEMs that is outside your major course of study and you can choose which one you want for each semester. Lucky for me, one of the extensive number of modules consist of PC DIY. The module is just called How to Assemble a PC.

Well, it wasn't the latest system (It was Pentium 3s, super old stuff meant for office) when they go through some of the key components but gave me the rough idea on how to work with PCs.

So Yup, they do. But they don't really teach you like how to install motherboards or PSUs. And Personally as far as gaming rigs are concerned, you can pick it up more clearly if you keep seeing people do DIYs. But for the more detailed stuff including buyer's advise, You can see Newegg TV's series of 'How to build a Computer' videos or LinusTechTips on DIY PC. Though the former may be 5 years old, most of the stuff applies to today's generation of gaming PCs.

Modern DIYs are so easy these days that rocket science is not needed. So that's how I was able to build my current system, with no manuals except for connecting the switches, Audio Ports from the chassis to the motherboard.
 
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ComputerTime

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Frankly, DIY in earlier days also no need rocket science. You cannot go wrong with the various connections; everything you need to do is in the motherboard manual. Once everything is plugged in, everything can start up and you can install your OS.

If you want to do some overclocking, then it may be more difficult as you will need to change the jumper setting, unlike now, everything goes through bios setting.

I am not sure if people still overclock or not, the speed is already very fast, as compared to yesteryears.
 

CeleronD

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Stuff is really very convenient now. I got my first ever uefi bios just 2 weeks back, a 2nd hand z68 and was very impressed with it. But the improvement in colours and mouse function don't beat the jump from jumper to jumperless motherboards.

13 years ago we were still looking at dipswitches and jumpers! And when the first jumper less board came out, it was a marvel. I think the first one was abit with their be6. Now they're defunct and gone.
 

royfrosty

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Wah tell me about the jumper man.

I remember IDE HDD have jumper to set it between slave or master. Now all dont need already just go bios.
 

yukita

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also this one... played on cga
zeliard-cga.gif


also this
519082-915016_20030824_004.jpg
CIV III...

The one i played actually CIV II... post wrong picture lol .. :o
 

chrisvin

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My first PC was Digitek,lasted from 1997 to 2004; think was a Pentium 2, 266MHZ.

My 2nd PC was DELL, lasted from 2004 to 2008; was a Pentium 4 Precott.

My 3rd PC is my current DELL XPS 730X, very happy with it :)
 

Solkarnar

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You are 34 this year, in 1984 you were only 5 years old. You sure your parent will let you handle the components of a 286 computer? Come on lah, dont lie.

I'm 46 now; easily the oldest one here, a lot of shop owners in SLS still call me " 大哥 " when i go there to buy components.

uncle!! :s13:
 

CeleronD

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I think the best days of DIY are behind us. SLS is quite a shadow of its former bustling self. So many shops have closed. Last time it really took time to compare price lists. Now there are just a few shops. And people mainly buy from the fringe shops rather than the centre facing ones. Sad to say, wait a few more years, they will also start closing down. And not just the shops. The distributors will also find it tough.
Rising rentals, manpower costs, competition online, decreased interest and customer base. Sunset industry. 20 yrs ago the malls used to be littered with audio cd shops. Now all gone.

The centre facing shops left are cybermind, laser, fuwell, videopro, bizgram, agenuine. On average they close 1 per year. Bell just shut. Dunno which one is next.
 

Dr_ARCHer

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Nostalgia time means time to dig up old stuff.

First, some of the PC CPUs that I have used:


In the early days, there were various networking topology. You won't find the token ring network card anymore:


Network cards are for LAN. Nowadays, we use fibre for WAN. In the early days, you use a modulator/demodulator, also known as a modem. This one is one of the last of the modem technology:


DSL came along next, and one of the best of its days was the Efficient's Speedstream:


Most wired devices are on gigabit Ethernet now. Before that were the fast Ethernet, which has speeds of 100 megabits. And before fast ethernets were the 10BaseT cards. Here is a 10 megabit hub:
 

Dr_ARCHer

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The first wireless standard was the 802.11b, and one of the most popular wireless router was the SMC:


LAN networking was still uncommon, especially if you want to set up printers. To do this, you need dedicated print server. Here's a Dlink print server:


File server storage was a rarity. Instead, you use what is nowadays called a DAS (direct access storage), except that you don't use LAN but a special port. Guess what is the port:


Inside the housing is your usual hard disk. Wait? You mean there is a hard disk brand called Micropolis?


Holy Fireball, Batman! There is even a hard disk model called Fireball by Quantum:
 

Dr_ARCHer

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My first CD-ROM0 drive was a Plextor 4Plex, which runs 4 times faster than a normal CD player. Bought that in the UK and got rid of that there. Later, speeds went up tremendously. Here's a Plextor 24x CD-ROM drive:


And an Asus 36x CD-ROM drive:


Video cards? Here's an early Nvidia card:


And here's an early ATI card:
 

Dr_ARCHer

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But before Nvidia and ATI cards became the industry standards, there were a couple of others. I can't find my Voodoo cards anymore. But I still have my S3 968:


and the predecessor, the S3 Virge:



At one point, I was so crazy over video cards that I got all these:


 

Dr_ARCHer

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Now for games software.




One of the most enjoyable game I ever played: Day of the Tentacle. But the triangular box makes it difficult to store with the other games:


 

Dr_ARCHer

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One of my all-time favourite turn-based strategy game:


Another of my favourite turn-based strategy game:


And its sequel:


Yet another favourite:


Magic: The Gathering:


People all say that Myst is a visually stunning game. Well I think this one is rendered even more beautifully:
 

pa9797

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Nostalgia time means time to dig up old stuff.

First, some of the PC CPUs that I have used:


In the early days, there were various networking topology. You won't find the token ring network card anymore:


Network cards are for LAN. Nowadays, we use fibre for WAN. In the early days, you use a modulator/demodulator, also known as a modem. This one is one of the last of the modem technology:


DSL came along next, and one of the best of its days was the Efficient's Speedstream:


Most wired devices are on gigabit Ethernet now. Before that were the fast Ethernet, which has speeds of 100 megabits. And before fast ethernets were the 10BaseT cards. Here is a 10 megabit hub:

486 CPU. Priceless collection now.:D
 

PC

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I think the items we kept indicates our age. :s13:
I came from this era:

 
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