1998--Pentium 2 450 (still have the cpu)
2011--Built a cheap pc using a Phenom ii 555 for a friend, blazing fast vs his old fried RDRAM P4
2012--FX-8350, love this cpu
2014-- FX-6300 build for another friend paired with a $80 2gb HD6970 plays Fallout4 on medium settings in 1080p. Not bad for having a $700 budget to work with.

1992 Am386DX-40 (family's first computer)
1997 Pentium MMX 200 MHz (first computer I paid for myself)
2003 Athlon XP-M 2400+ (first computer I built)
2008 Core 2 Quad Q6600
2013 Core i5 4670K

Looks like I have no problem getting 5 years out of my main desktop CPU, which is a little more than usual. My retro-gaming hobby started on my P200 as it got really crusty past the year 2000. 😀

P2-350
A64-3500+
PhenomII x4 3.2GHz
And the A64-3500+ is a doubtful one, as all of the hardware was brand new, but some of the components (like the CPU) I bought cheaply from someone selling excess old leftover storage.

firage, your avatar looks like Jumpman, a game I played on Apple II and my brother had on Atari 8-bit.

clueless1 wrote:

firage, your avatar looks like Jumpman, a game I played on Apple II and my brother had on Atari 8-bit.

That's right! Apogee had a shareware remake out for DOS called Jumpman Lives. Platformer royalty, he never gets enough credit. 🤣

Our family PCs:
early 1990's - 386DX-40
1997 - Pentium 200 MMX
2002 - Pentium 4 2.0A GHz

My own:
2004 - Sempron 2400+ (K7 based)
2007 - A64 3700+ (s939, my main PC)
2007 - Opteron 165 (s939, my main PC)
2008 - Pentium E2160 (my main PC)
2009 - Pentium E6300 (my main PC)
2011 - Core i5 2500k (mostly used as a benchtable for pci-e VGA)
2011 - Pentium G620 (my main PC)
2012 - Celeron G550 (home server / NAS)
2012 - A6-3670K (for portable desktop PC project)
2012 - Phenom II X4 965 (AGP benchtable)
2014 - Sempron 145 (collection / benchmarks)
2014 - Athlon 5350 (collection / benchmarks)

Intel 386SX-16 (1992)
Cyrix 486DX-33 (1994)
A DX4 class CPU that I can't recall, most probably AMD DX4 100 (1995)
Cyrix 5x86 120 (1996)
Intel Pentium 120 (1997)
Intel Pentium MMX 233 (1998)
Intel Pentium II 400 (1999)
Intel Pentium III 733 (2001)
Intel Pentium 4 1.4 (2003)
AMD Athlon64 3200+ (2006)
Intel Core2 Quad 9550 (2009) - in active use

and (daughter's PC)
AMD Phenom II X4 B50, an unlocked Athlon II X3 (2011)
AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black (2014) purchased as second hand - in active use

and (HTPC)
Intel Core2 Duo E8400 (2015) purchased as second hand - in active use

(Dusts himself off after a long, relaxing trip)

Late 1994 - Pentium 100 (Part of my first ever PC home build; crushed in 2005 by a freak accident of nature 😢 )
Mid 1996 - IBM 6x86 PR166+ (Rebranded Cyrix, only used for a few weeks; sold in 1997)
Late 1996 - Pentium 166MMX (My longest lived CPU, still in service today 😎 )
Late 1998 - Pentium 233MMX (My other long term survivor, currently in storage)
Early 2000 - Pentium III 700 Coppermine (100MHz version used in a Gigabyte GA-6BXC with generic slocket; sold in late 2000)
Mid 2001 - AMD Athlon 1.4GHz T-Bird (My first AMD CPU, also crushed in 2005 🙁 )
Late 2002 - AMD Athlon XP 2000+ T-Bred (Part of my longest used main PC build; burned out in late 2011 🙁 )
Late 2004 - Pentium 4 2.4GHz Northwood (Supposed to replace the Athlon XP, didn't get used until late 2011; back in service again as a WinXP/Linux testbed)
Early 2013 - Intel Core i5 3350p 3.1GHz Ivy Bridge (My current main PC 😀 )

> 1993 - Original Pentium - My father's machine bought for his business.
> 1997 - Pentium 166MMX - To replace the original Pentium which had died.
> 2001 - AMD Duron 750 - A little late, but still relatively new at the time. Built myself, very cheap and the system lasted a long time. First one I paid for.
> 200X - AMD Athlon XP - Several, none of them worked. First was an ES so it had an excuse, still have it somewhere.
> 2003 - AMD Duron 1800 - As a small upgrade to the 750 (Which had been upgraded to a 950 already) as the Athlon machines were a joke. Only £18! Miss those prices.
> 2004 - AMD Athlon 64 - Ahead of launch due to a connection I had back then. Never worked so I was stuck with the 486 until the Pentium D because the Duron had died.
> 2004 - AMD Athlon FX-53 - Owned for less that 24 hours and then refunded because it simply didn't work as anything but a space heater.
> 2005 - Pentium D 920 (QKDH) - Another ES, a very good one. Still in use until I replaced it with a retail 950 last year. Still usable (On par with some AMD A6 chips) but dragging its ass when rendering in HD.

I think the Xeon I bought a bit too late to be considered new, but that was because the first one I bought got lost in shipping, so;
> 2015 - Intel Xeon E3-1271v3 - No system to live in yet, but my friend copied my spec list and his machine is very, very good (Albeit, slightly weaker as he has a 1270v3) so I have high expectations. Should be very reliable when paired with the SuperMicro motherboard anyway. Uptime, stability and longevity are my main priorities. Based on previous experience with Xeon's and SuperMicro stuff this thing should run for a good many years, also the technology is not moving so fast these days, so it should stay relevant in terms of performance for a good while.

2013 - FX 8350, A6-5200, A10-5700

🤣

All of my computers up to that point were used, and I've bought nothing but used since (my current laptop, for example, sports an i7-620M).

1994: 486dx2-50
1997: 233mmx
1999: k6-3 400
2000: slot Athlon 600
2001: Duron 1000
2002: XP 2400+
2004 Athlon 64. (Don't remember speed)
2007 Q6600 @ 3.2 ghz

I usually bought used computer parts to upgrade my computer.

Bought new where only this ones:

1986: ATARI 800XL (bought by my father as family computer)
1993: 486slc-33 (soldered on the motherboard that I replaced 286-16)
1999: AMD K6-2 500MHz (replaced P-166MMX@250 SS7 mobo)
2002: AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (replaced P-II 350@450)
2003: AMD Athlon XP-M 2500+ (OC to 2500MHz)
2006: AMD Athlon64 X2 3800+ (OC to 2500MHz)
2010: AMD Phenom II X6 1050 (still my "main" machine but very rarely used as I use i5 notebook 24/7)

Not so few afterall 😉 From 2002 till today these were the only CPU upgrades too.

1985 - ibm 8088 (NEC APC III)
1989 - TMS-9900 @ 3mhz (ti-99/4a)
1993 - 68030 (macintosh LCIII)
1996 - pentium 75 @ 100
1999 - pentium2 450 @ 600
2000 - p3 1000
2002 - amd XP 1800+
2003 - 2.8ghz northwood p4
2005 - 3.2ghz presscott p4

Here I started going dual cpu and with server hardware and never looked back. I would ride the wave of recently decommissioned hardware. Basically one generation behind. That seems to really be the sweet spot for price/performance.

2007 - 2x 3.8ghz p4 xeon <- these things were FUCKING FAST, in fact I still have these processors. they are still running to this day. started with agp on an ncch-dl and moved to pci-e with the supermicro x7dai-g2 board
2009 - 2x amd 2350 (2.0g x 4)
2011 - 2x amd 2439 (2.6g x 6)
2015 - 2x intel xeon x5687 (3.6g x 4)

and as soon as prices come down for the 2011-3 xeons i'm going that way.

I didn't get to purchase a new CPU until 2001. I was young and had no money 😁

2001 - AMD Duron 800
2003 - Intel Pentium 4 2.4GHz (Northwood)
2004 - AMD Athlon XP 2500+ (Barton). Wanted to the use the Pentium 4 as a home server/second games PC.
2007 - Intel Q6600. Friend gave me an Althon 64 in 2005-6 so I was okay using that for a while.
2009 - Intel Core i7 860 (as part of my 27" iMac)
2016 - I haven't purchased a desktop since then (I have purchased many laptops though, currently on a MacBook Pro Retina 2015 i7)

I still use the Q6600 for gaming when I get time in the holidays, I am planning to upgrade this year (AMD Zen?!). No rush though, about to go back to work.

1993 I bought my first IBM PC compatible, a MITAC 386SX 40 from Tandy, 2MB RAM & 80MB hard disk.
1994 Upgraded the motherboard to a VLB, Cyrix DX/2 80Mhz and 8 MB RAM, added a Soundblaster Pro and Panasonic CR 562B CD-ROM as well. Sold in 1997.
1997 New build with a Cyrix 6x86 166+
1998 Added a second computer at home, I am pretty sure this was a Winchip C6 200mhz based machine as a dedicated word processor. I know it had a old stock Matrox Mystique card, easy on the eyes 😀
2000(late) Duron 650MHz machine with a S3 TRIO3D/2x AGP card, again a budget machine for word processing, along with the Pentium 4 1.5GHz Compaq I had recieved from work that year.
PC's that came after than were all built from second hand parts.

I had mostly had Apple Macintosh systems provided by work up until that Compaq P4, so our next home PC's after I finished up with that career path was a Mac. I don't find them of interest these days tho, the PC is a lot more interesting to me.

i buy only new AMD CPU's for my main rig since 2000

2000 AMD K6-2 500Mhz SS7
2001 AMD Athlon 900Mhz Thunderbird Socket A
2001 AMD Athlon 1200Mhz 266Mhz FSB Thunderbird Socket A
2002 AMD Athlon XP 1800+ Palomino Socket A
2002 AMD Athlon XP 2000+ Thorougbred Socket A
2004 AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton Socket A
2005 AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Barton 400Mhz FSB Socket A
2006 AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice Socket 939
2007 AMD Opteron 165 Toledo Socket 939
2008 AMD Athlon x2 4800+ Windsor Socket AM2
2009 AMD Athlon x2 5600+ Windsor Socket AM2
2010 AMD Athlon x2 7850 Black Edition Socket AM2
2011 AMD Phenom x2 555 Black Edition (unlocked To x4 955/B55) Socket AM3
2013 AMD Athlon II 250 Socket AM3
2013 AMD Athlon II 270 Socket AM3
2014 AMD A6-5400K FM2
2014 AMD A4-6300K FM2
2015 AMD A4-7300K FM2

The list isn't very extensive as our family used to sell our older PCs so we could afford the newer ones, but here it goes.
Desktop processors:

• Athlon 64 3000+ (Venice - Socket 754)
• Pentium D 925 (Presler - LGA775)
• Core i7 2600
• Core i7 4790K

Mobile processors:

• Pentium M 740 (Dothan/Sonoma - Socket 479)
• Pentium Dual Core P6100 (Westmere - Socket G1)

I might recover my old Pentium 3 that I had since new, so that would add it to the list =)

I never purchased a new system. I have built all my computers myself, including my first one (celeron 300A, 1998). I see no reason to buy prebuilt computers.

I think "new" can be defined as released within 2 years. I was usually at the end of the curve on my upgrades. I liked to target the highly overclockable budget processor and waited to buy til the next generation was out and prices dropped. And under those conditions, who cares if it was sealed in a box or used?

BSA Starfire--ah, the Matrox Mistake! 😉 To this day, when I see a Mercury Mystique on the road, I think "Mistake" in my head. I think either my brother or I had a Millenium or two at some point.

There was a period after college that I moved back in with my parents. My brother, who still lived there, upgraded as frequently as I did, so we ended up borrowing each others components all the time. The amount of processors, video cards and hard drives that passed our hands was a blur! He was more the musician/electrician and I was more the IT guy, so I also got a lot of exposure to MIDI because he'd let me use his leftovers. At one point I was using an MT-32 and that is where my fondness for in-game MIDI music originated.