most satisfying HW purchase ??

[razor5000]

has to be my 2 Samsung 172T's dual view

 

[Pocatello]

Originally posted by: Budman
My Dell P1110 a few years back.

And my 9800 non pro i had to RMA & got a 9800pro back,now that was satisfying.

That was how I got my 9800 Pro too, RMA a non working 9800.

 

[sandorski]

12mb STB Blackmagic Voodoo 2

 

[Czar]

Radeon 9700 pro
Artmedia 20" monitor
SBLive

 

[StrangerGuy]

Athlon XP 1700+

 

[Brian48]

I've gone through so many machines and upgrades, it's easier for me to list them in somewhat chronological order. I'd rank it on initial "WOW" factor, longevity, and reliability.

Creative 12mb Voodoo2 SLI
Creative SBLive value (original, circa '98)
Celeron 300a (@450mhz of course)
Abit BH6
Dell P1130 21"
Hercules Fortissimo III
Creative Audigy2
ECS K7S5A
ATI Radeon 9700Pro
Logitech MX500
AMD 2500XP Barton (@2200)
Shuttle AN35N Ultra
AMD 1.6 Duron (@2200)
Logitech MX510

Too early to tell, but my ATI x800xt PE is looking like it's a worthy candidate to add onto the list.

Honorary mention:

Creative SB AWE64 ISA
Guillemot Maxi-Gamer Voodoo
3Com 56k FAX modem ISA
Logitech Mouseman (3 button)
Creative FPS2000 digital
Sony 420GS 19"
Visiontek GeForce3
ATI Radeon 8500 128mb
Crucial PC2100
TB Santa Cruz
Klipsch 4.1
Epox 8RDA3G (might be bumped up, time will tell)
AMD 1700XP Rev B
MS Intellimouse Optical

 

[VirtualLarry]

Easy. My Abit BX6-r2 i440BX mobo, hands-down. Most stable, compatible, mobo *ever*. Also rather ahead of it's time, in terms of features and voltage/multi support for Slot-1 CPUs. I'm sure that some people are probably using one of them to this day. I would be too, had I not shorted out the CPU VRM circuitry from a bad Tualatin mod job. Oops. :|

Second to that would probably be my Yamaha 6416S CD-RW drive. Built like a tank, and was still working when I sold it several years later.

Oh yeah, can't forget my IBM Trackpoint II keyboard, PS/2 interface, wonderful "Model M" clicky-ness, and a trackpoint widget to boot!

I wish they would build modern PC parts like they did back in the day. None of the new mobos/keyboard/drives really impress me anymore.

Oh yeah, can't forget my old dependable USR Courier v.Everything external. Stealth-black, with many wonderful blinkenlights. Still using that one, right now in fact.

 

[ROcHE]

Originally posted by: AndyHui
Diamond Monster 3D based on the 3dfx Voodoo 1.

Same here. I don't think any new hardware will shock me as much as starting GLquake.exe for the first time on my Diamond Monster 3D.

Going from a Sound Blaster Pro to a Sound Blaster AWE32 was quite a shock too. Doom 1 & 2 soundtrack (.mid) with a wavetable sound card was the sh*t.

 

[Jeff7]

Nokia 445Pro monitor - lovely 21" Trinitron tube.

 

[Muadib]

My old Canopus Pure 3d video card show me what I had been missing in pc gaming.

 

[Jeff7181]

My first Ti4200 was probably it. Went from a Voodoo3 2000 PCI to a Geforce2 MX400 to a GeForce4 Ti4200. It was probably the biggest difference in graphics quality and speed that I've seen on my own computer. My FX5900 wasn't that impressive cause I already had a Ti4200 overclocked to above Ti4600 speeds, and there wasn't much in the way of performance gains except with AA and AF on. So I'd say 2nd place would be my FX5900 to my current 9800 Pro. The improvement in AA performance is very noticeable. 4XAA on my FX5900 looked about like 2XAA on my 9800 Pro. And 8XAA on my FX5900 didn't even look as good as 4XAA on my 9800 Pro does. I can't tell the difference in AF quality... the FX5900 is supposed to be better, but I don't notice it... I run 8X Quality with the 9800 Pro and ran 8X with the FX5900.

 

[rchiu]

My dual AMD barton system. Overclocking and modding 80 dollar/per CPU's to run as dual MP2800+ system. Rock stable.

 

[microAmp]

9700 Pro. Almost 2 years old now, hoping it can last at least another 6 months and 3 games worths. D3, HL2, & STALKER.

 

[apoppin]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Easy. My Abit BX6-r2 i440BX mobo, hands-down. Most stable, compatible, mobo *ever*. Also rather ahead of it's time, in terms of features and voltage/multi support for Slot-1 CPUs. I'm sure that some people are probably using one of them to this day. I would be too, had I not shorted out the CPU VRM circuitry from a bad Tualatin mod job. Oops. :|

Mine 2!
(from 333Mhz to 1.6Ghz)

I made the terrible mistake of selling it for my MOST UNsatisfactory HW purchase a SOYO TISU . . . well, at least the SOYO made me upgrade to a P4 - worst POS evar (unsupported by Soyo - NEVER again "SOB SOYo")



The other one i am still enjoying DAILY - my Sony MD Sports Walkman.

And LOTS of Hot Dealin' HW - including my most recent bang-4-buck 9800-XT shipped from NewEgg for $223 . . .

 

[CraigRT]

video card or CPU is usually the most satisfying

 

[koojoe]

I went from a 1st gen geforce with sdr memory on a kt133 chipset. = Bad Bad Bad.. gave via a bad name... then a radeon 64mb ddr vivo which was a good card... but the best jump was to a geforce 4 ti 4200 128mb ddr. nice jump.

I run a 9800pro now and it is quite nice. But it wasn't as big of a jump to me as the gf4 ti 4200.

You'll notice I went:
nvidia/ati/nvidia/ati/nvidia/ati

I go with the best at the time. I'm not a fanboy.

 

[PhoenixOrion]

Originally posted by: CraigRT
video card or CPU is usually the most satisfying

I'm the exact opposite since I change my mainbox about 2 years on cpu and 1 year on gpu. We all know its an expensive hobby keeping up with all of you

My best purchase was a brand new altec lansing 4100 speaker system for $67 a year or two ago. Only to find out that it was a fly-by-night online retailer. Didn't matter though because the item is legit, brand new and never had any problems with it.

 

[bluemax]

Mine goes back in time more than most, but I still remember the introduction of the AdLib Personal Computer Music System. At that time, I was writing music using my Tandy 3-voice sound chip, the AdLib was a MONUMENTAL increase in sound capability and quality! I did so much with it - three years before any game ever supported it! Imagine my excitement when I ran Leisure Suit Larry 2 for the first time, with an AdLib soundtrack!

Yes, I moved to the MT-32 in the future, and then beyond... but nothing compared to those years with my AdLib! 5-6 YEARS!

I must say, my Okidata 6w LED (almost-laser) printer was another fine purchase. 4 years later, still going stong - cheap like borcht!

 

[LED]

Quite a few years ago when I looked at the OEM Puter I had, wrote down the parts it had and Built my 1st Rig.
1.6 HD
1st ATI AIW card
EDO or FPage RAM
Tyan Mobo
Case and PSU
Modem
CDROM
Floppy
Think it was a 133MHz CPU and then I OC it

 

[Connoisseur]

I pwn all. Got my Dell 19" P990 Trinitron monitor for $20 . College surplus stores are the BEST. This baby's been running beautiful.

 

[bluemax]

Originally posted by: Connoisseur
I pwn all. Got my Dell 19" P990 Trinitron monitor for $20 . College surplus stores are the BEST. This baby's been running beautiful.

Oh yeah? HP Trinitron 21" completely free. TWO of 'em. Work was just dumping' em. I'd have snagged more if I could. Sold one for $100 and kept the other.

 

[TerryMathews]

By far my most satisifying purchase to date would be the Promise FastTrak TX4000. I bought it on a lark for my at-the-time killer dual 2.26GHz AMD Athlon system (which was also a very satisifying purchase), since it was one of the very few PCI IDE RAID cards that could operate at a 66MHz bus speed. 100% reliable, I'm still using it full-time two years later for my OS and apps volume.

The SuperTrak SX6000 is also a nice RAID controller if anyone's wondering. And they play well together in the same computer.

 

[AyashiKaibutsu]

Asus 9800 pro that I rma'd and got a Asus 9800 xt : )

 

[puffpio]

My Maxtor 15gb 5400 rpm ATA33 HDD

after it died, RMA'd and recieved a 30gb 5400rpm ATA66HDD!!
after that one died RAM's and recieved an 40gb 7200 rpm ATA100 HDD!

the best HDD purchase evar

 

[DarkKnight]

A geforce2 GTS-V from newegg for $50. Moved from a TNT2-m64 card that came with my HP computer. Allowed me to play the latest games at the time and it's still running strong in the same Hp comp.