First system we ever had was an EMpac word processor. I have no clue what the specs were, but it had to boot the OS from a floppy.
First x86 compatible was a 386-25, either 2 or 4 MB of RAM, 40 MB hard drive and a lone 5.25" floppy. Also a Half-meg trident video card.
We found a guy who knew how to upgrade and slowly moved to a 386-40 then a 486-100. We added CD drives, RAM, a couple different soundblaster cards and peripherals. (Printer, mouse, modem). All lots of fun and very expensive.
Then one day my dad came home with a Packard Bell. Pentium 100 and Windows 95. My mom sh!t when she found out it cost 2 grand.
The first I built for myself was a generic case, Thunderbird 1Ghz. I think I started with 128MB of RAM. Radeon 64MB VIVO. Sound Blaster PCI 512.
Never built a whole new system since. Have upgraded everything (one component at a time) at least 3 generations.