Filosofia wrote:Please do. I identify myself very much with your story.
: )
Back in my 486 / 5x86 days, there was a program, which made it possible to (almost) double up HDD space in exchange for a little performance drop.
I remember using it on my 540 MB Conner to make it 900 MB and it worked just fine.
This was my first PC with CD-ROM, and I remember clicking on the eject button in Windows and amazed by the opening tray. : )
This was the period when I fell in love with Quake (I'm a true quaker since then) and Need for Speed. Also the first Tomb Raider; I played it with my friend - we swapped the controls of Lara (one map is his, one map is mine), but we solved the puzzles and decided on how to progress onwards together.
These days went on until '99 when I got my Pentium II. It was a HUGE step forward again. The machine was a Slot 1 Celeron 333A with 64 MB RAM and integrated 8 MB SiS graphic card. Had a CD-ROM and an enormous 6.4 GB Quantum Fireball HDD, packed into an AT case and for a little bonus, the trustworthy and surprisingly good Maxxtro SPK-316 stereo speakers.
The Win 98 days emerged from the ashes of Win 95. Also, my *.mp3 epoch started to shine.
I remember calling my friend on the phone when the Quake 2 crusher started to benchmark in windowed software mode. I was thrilled...I mean Q U A K E 2 is running on my comp, holy shit.
After this, I came to a conclusion; I have to update my gaming library a bit. : )
My first own written CD disc was Starcraft on Philips media. The second one was Diablo on a Fujifilm disc (still have both). Played both to exhaustion.
Not much later, I was in the need of a new VGA, because the integrated GPU just wasn't enough. I received some money from my parents in advance for Christmas and I went to my favourite local computer store.
I bought a Diamond Stealth III S540. I saw its box in several advertisements in magazines before and I was sooo happy to actually feel it in my hands...till the point when I arrived home, opened the case and realized that there is no AGP on the motherboard. : D
So card back to store, money returned and started the search again.
A few days later, I found out that one of my acquaintances wanted to sell his Voodoo card. All right then, let's check it out.
It was a VulcanG Voodoo 2 12 MB PCI board. As its name suggests, it was really HOT during operation (around something 80-85 C average) but it worked just flawlessly. I love(d) Glide. Not to mention that the used 3dfx was half the price compared to the brand new Diamond Stealth, so I had a little money left which I invested in for an extra +64 MB RAM.
The experience of 3D gaming changed in an instant; Quake III Arena runned at 45-50 fps on 800 x 600 with medium geometric detail and textures (I wasn't a *.cfg-whore back in the days - unlike now : ) ). I was stunned. And played a TON with it of course. : ) And I'm still not bored with it, until this very day.
There were other games as well: with the Voodoo 2, Need for Speed: High Stakes was flying. I LOVE(D) it so much; it was able to produce a somehow completely unique atmospehere the time you launched it.
The menu, the soundtracks, the showcase and the photos and various other informations of the cars made it possible to enter into a different world - the world of dreams and miracles.
Not to mention that the actual GFX was beautiful and moody - and you could play it with just a keyboard quite fine. And I still think this way.
I played so much with it - hell, I was on pro-level. : ) We exchanged ghost cars on floppy with my classmate regularily and tried to beat each other's record times.
Later on, Porsche Unleashed was the last REAL Need for Speed. I hold it dear in my heart.
This was the era, when my RPG "career" started to evolve. FALLOUT <333333, Fallout 2, Baldur's Gate...omg, hundreds of hours spent in front of the screen.
And one day, on a demo CD of a tarnished gaming magazine, I found the CG trailer of Final Fantasy VIII. I was speechless. Completely mesermized.
OH. MY. GOD. I. NEED. THIS. NOW.
2 months later I was able to buy the original box version. I went to a shop and with a fake (my classmate's) club card, I managed to get it ~5$ cheaper than the stock price. >:] Another 2-300 hours of pure entertainment was secured on that day.
I still got the game and the 5 CDs are STILL scratchless, even after 13 years.
Meanwhile, my first-ever monitor from my 386 DX rig, an analog 14" Supercom SVGA (with awesome colors I must add) died on me during Diablo II. Well, I was expecting this sooner or later, because its power switch died a year earlier, so if I wanted to turn off the device, I had to unplug the cable from the wall - same, when I wanted to turn it on, just instead of unplug, I had to plug it in. : ) I still have it on the top of my cupboard - an eternal memento of my precious youth.
I needed a new display ASAP so I went to my favourite local shop again and bought a used 15" multimedia Packard Bell for ~120 $.
A bit later, I sold the Voodoo 2 and bought a Riva TNT2 16 MB Vanta. It was even faster (well, not in Q3A - The Vulcan with Glide was faster), but the feeling wasn't the same.
In the year 2000, we went to a LAN club with my friends very-very often. We were regulars within a short period of time. Quake 2, CS 5.0 Beta, Starcraft, Rainbow Six: Rouge Spear...so many hours, so many good memories...
Another funny story about my P II-era is when I first installed Warcraft III: Regin of Chaos. I didn't want to believe that the installer actually launched : D, not to mention the game was WORKING. Well, it has fps-issues even in minimum graphics but I was overjoyed.
At the end of Frozen Throne, I restarted the final mission 52 (!) times. Not because it was so hard but because it was lagging so hardcore, that you couldn't select units properly when a bit cramped action was going on on the screen - even the minimap jumped across the whole map randomly when you tried to click on a unit in the middle of the battle. 1-5 fps FTW.
But I finished the last map for the 53th try. Talk about determination. : D
I had this PC until late 2003 I believe, when I got my Athlon XP 1700+ with 128 MB SD and a 32 BM GeForce 2 MX - the first thing I tried was Warcraft III: TFT in 1024 x 768 with full graphics - and Hitman: Codename 47. After the Celeron 333, these games were astonishing on the new machine.
I'm sure I left out quite much.
And the continuation of the story is not so retro. : )
[It's better to get a DFC tomorrow than having a thousand boings today.]::[Sweeet nymphets from dusk 'till dawn. <333]::[MIPS under the pillow]::[3dfx Glide & Silicon Graphics <3]--->X-MAS IS NOT HAPPY WITH A SLEDGE IN YOUR SPINE.