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The Windows Side of PCs


Atari 5200 Guy

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I have a bit of a confession to make.  It's not the PC part of modern IBM style computers I dislike. On the contrary I enjoy the concept of building a PC from the ground up to see what you can do with it and get out of it.  If done properly you can have one hell of a computer that will do more than one might have made plans for.  The real difference is knowing what you want and what to look for.  

I've been in the PC field since 1990-1991 ( I don't remember the exact Christmas year I got my 386).  I've watched them evolve into the modern components we now have.  My 386 was safe for one week.  I was bound and determined to keep it clean, dust free, inside and out.  However, until after my first week of owning that 386 I had never seen the inside of a IBM style PC and I had no idea what to expect.  But I knew to keep it clean I would need to get inside it.  I just never let Mom know I did it LOL.

Not long after that I was upgrading that system with a sound card, more RAM, better video, and I even replaced the processor with an AMD-made processor.  Back then, AMD made aftermarket CPUs designed to take the place the Intel CPU.  They were in the same market as Cyrix but made the better processor alternative to the slow Intel CPU.  That 386 after the upgrades could play 320x240 256-color games without breaking a sweat.  640x480 games it handled well but there was room for improvements.  

I've seen 486, 586, Pentium, come along.  I seen AMD become a stand-alone processor company and possibly the only other company to give Intel competition.  I watched motherboards come with video and audio built right on them.  No longer did you need to buy them separate but I favored the motherboards without them.  I watched RAM and storage space grow from megabytes to gigabytes, watched as CDs became a new storage medium for PCs, floppies die off, serial ports get replaced with USB ports, and owned the first NVIDIA GeForce GPU for a AMD K6-2 500MHz system I owned.

Windows has always been the system killer.  Since its introduction the OS has just been too unstable often causing more problems than was really necessary.  But, at the same time, it did bring PCs more to the forefront of everything we do today.  It put PCs in homes with people who were once afraid of computers.  I know Windows didn't do it all alone but even then Windows made up most of the PCs sold and was more supported by game developers.

The crappy PCs most of have experience with are basic computers usually designed for everyday use but made with components as cheap as possible.  These are the PCs that get bad reviews because they can't do a whole lot of anything.  BUT...if a system is made where the buyer shops around for the best components they can obtain is when you can have some of the best that PCs have to offer.  For that one would need to shop for components to make up a gaming computer capable of handling the highest of requirements.

What it boils down to is a simple matter of trial and error.  Even just slapping a $200 graphics card inside a cheap Dell computer will jump that computer's performance level.  No...it shouldn't be that way but that's where PCs do maintain the "personal" aspect of computers.  No two gaming rigs will be the same.  Those that have computers for gaming will have different setups based on personal opinion and the machine's performance.  If something doesn't work as intended or to the owner's satisfaction their is the option to upgrade components with better ones to change the computer's behavior.  

Here...the video below shows what someone did buying components off of AliExpress in an attempt to build a gaming PC. It tells the tale of what gaming on a PC has been like since those 386 days long ago.  The parts are modern but the concept has never changed.

I'll explain my reasoning for thinking the way I do at a later date to give some time for what I've said here, and the video, to sink in.  And before we go bashing these like I did by saying Macs are better the truth is that there is no longer any difference with the hardware between the two brands.  What you find in a PC you can find in most modern MACs.  The OS is what makes the real difference.

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18 hours ago, kamakazi20012 said:

I have a bit of a confession to make.  It's not the PC part of modern IBM style computers I dislike. On the contrary I enjoy the concept of building a PC from the ground up to see what you can do with it and get out of it.  If done properly you can have one hell of a computer that will do more than one might have made plans for.  The real difference is knowing what you want and what to look for.  

I've been in the PC field since 1990-1991 ( I don't remember the exact Christmas year I got my 386).  I've watched them evolve into the modern components we now have.  My 386 was safe for one week.  I was bound and determined to keep it clean, dust free, inside and out.  However, until after my first week of owning that 386 I had never seen the inside of a IBM style PC and I had no idea what to expect.  But I knew to keep it clean I would need to get inside it.  I just never let Mom know I did it LOL.

Not long after that I was upgrading that system with a sound card, more RAM, better video, and I even replaced the processor with an AMD-made processor.  Back then, AMD made aftermarket CPUs designed to take the place the Intel CPU.  They were in the same market as Cyrix but made the better processor alternative to the slow Intel CPU.  That 386 after the upgrades could play 320x240 256-color games without breaking a sweat.  640x480 games it handled well but there was room for improvements.  

I've seen 486, 586, Pentium, come along.  I seen AMD become a stand-alone processor company and possibly the only other company to give Intel competition.  I watched motherboards come with video and audio built right on them.  No longer did you need to buy them separate but I favored the motherboards without them.  I watched RAM and storage space grow from megabytes to gigabytes, watched as CDs became a new storage medium for PCs, floppies die off, serial ports get replaced with USB ports, and owned the first NVIDIA GeForce GPU for a AMD K6-2 500MHz system I owned.

Windows has always been the system killer.  Since its introduction the OS has just been too unstable often causing more problems than was really necessary.  But, at the same time, it did bring PCs more to the forefront of everything we do today.  It put PCs in homes with people who were once afraid of computers.  I know Windows didn't do it all alone but even then Windows made up most of the PCs sold and was more supported by game developers.

The crappy PCs most of have experience with are basic computers usually designed for everyday use but made with components as cheap as possible.  These are the PCs that get bad reviews because they can't do a whole lot of anything.  BUT...if a system is made where the buyer shops around for the best components they can obtain is when you can have some of the best that PCs have to offer.  For that one would need to shop for components to make up a gaming computer capable of handling the highest of requirements.

What it boils down to is a simple matter of trial and error.  Even just slapping a $200 graphics card inside a cheap Dell computer will jump that computer's performance level.  No...it shouldn't be that way but that's where PCs do maintain the "personal" aspect of computers.  No two gaming rigs will be the same.  Those that have computers for gaming will have different setups based on personal opinion and the machine's performance.  If something doesn't work as intended or to the owner's satisfaction their is the option to upgrade components with better ones to change the computer's behavior.  

Here...the video below shows what someone did buying components off of AliExpress in an attempt to build a gaming PC. It tells the tale of what gaming on a PC has been like since those 386 days long ago.  The parts are modern but the concept has never changed.

I'll explain my reasoning for thinking the way I do at a later date to give some time for what I've said here, and the video, to sink in.  And before we go bashing these like I did by saying Macs are better the truth is that there is no longer any difference with the hardware between the two brands.  What you find in a PC you can find in most modern MACs.  The OS is what makes the real difference.

hi michael,

 

 the 8bit os is considered one of the greatest hacks ever made. the little atari could do in 1979, what it took the peecee to do by 1995, and billions of dollars to try to make it more than just a glorified calculator.

 

 the 800xl was a little over $300.00, you turned it on, basic pops up, or load a cart in seconds, or load a disk in under a minute most times.

 

 it takes vast amounts of code and ram, just to print hello on you monitor screen in color on the peecee.

 

lance

www.atarisales.com

 

VIDEO 61 & ATARI SALES
www.atarisales.com
22735 Congo St. NE, Stacy, MN 55079
651-462-2500

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I am about to start looking into upgrading my PC after the new year. Been using an AMD duelcore with 4 GB ram since 2011. About time I start looking to make a 16gb machine with quadcore or more. 

It isn't that I never ran into issues running software, but I am starting to get a notion one day I am going to flip the switch to turn on computer and nothing happens.

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Check AliExpress, @peteym5  And look into X79 bundles.  Those come with Intel CPUs from used servers.  Here's one that comes with a MoBo, 16 GB RAM, and a 3 GHz Quad-Core processor.  These have been benchmarked at performing well with modern high-demanding PC games.  Then go to scdkeys.com to grab a Win 10 key if you need it.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000176844232.html?spm=a2g01.12597576.p99adbb.103.ca4f6501j6evQ7&gps-id=7316149&scm=1007.19881.118560.0&scm_id=1007.19881.118560.0&scm-url=1007.19881.118560.0&pvid=d2781ea9-166f-4634-a90c-f1e3f9a3f107

You would still need a power supply (500 watt or better), hard drive, monitor, case, and CPU cooling fan and thermal paste.  Browse around the place, you might find something cheaper or more to your liking.  They have AMD setups as well.

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