I have been using computers for pretty much my entire life. The first computer I used was an Apple Macintosh IIgs in school in the early 1990s. For about the first 10 years of my life, I had only used Apple computers because that’s what they had in my school district. I became very familiar with the SE, LC, Performa, PowerMac, iMac, G3/G4 models. Our first family computer was a PC, and I’ve been a PC user ever since.
This page is mostly for my own reference to document the different computers I have owned and the parts and specs of each machine.
Main Desktop (2023 – Present):
My desktop PC is primarily used for Photoshop, web design, and video editing.
- ASUS PRIME B660M-A D4 Motherboard
- Intel Core i5-12400F 4.40 GHz 6-Core CPU (12th Gen Alder Lake)
- be quiet! Pure Rock 2 FX RGB CPU Cooler
- CORSAIR Vengeance RGB Pro 32GB 3600 (2 x 16GB) DDR4 RAM
- ASUS Dual NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Ti OC Edition Graphics Card 8GB
- WD_BLACK SN850X NVMe M.2 2280 1TB
- Western Digital Black 4TB WD4005FZBX (2x – RAID 1)
- Corsair RM650x 80 PLUS Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
- NZXT H510 Flow Mid-Tower Case (White)
- be quiet! LIGHT WINGS 120mm RGB PWM Case Fans (3x)
- be quiet! LIGHT WINGS 140mm RGB PWM Case Fan (1x)
- be quiet! 6-Port ARGB Hub
- Windows 10 Home
Temperatures:
25 C at idle
45 C under load (video exporting)
PCMark 10 Score (2023): 7675
https://pcpartpicker.com/b/xBW323
Main Desktop (2015 – 2023):
This was a custom-built PC that I spec’d and assembled myself in 2007. It received a refresh in 2015 with a new board, CPU, graphics card and power supply. I used this machine for many years trouble-free.
- ASUS P8H67-M Pro Motherboard
- Intel CORE i3-2100 CPU @ 3.10 GHz (2nd Gen)
- Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev2 CPU Cooler w/Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste
- 16GB Kingston HyperX FURY KHX1866C10D3/8GB (2x)
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2 GBGraphics Card
- Samsung EVO 840 SSD 120GB Hard Drive
- Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm Hard Drive
- Dell UltraSharp U2412M IPS 16:10 LED-backlit Monitor
- Sony Optiarc AD-7260S 24X SATA DVD/CD burner
- Logitech Internet 1500 Laser Cordless Desktop Keyboard & Mouse
- Antec Performance One P150 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
- 92 mm Fractal Design Silent Series R3 intake fans (2x)
- 120 mm Antec TriCool exhaust fan
- Rosewill Stallion RD500-2DB 500W Power Supply
- APC Back-UPS ES 750 Battery Backup/Surge Protector
- Windows 7 Ultimate
Temperatures:
35 C at idle
52 C under load (video exporting)
PCMark 10 Score (2023): 2548
Main Desktop – Previous Configuration (2007 – 2015):
This was the first computer I built entirely by myself. I chose components to be as silent as possible, including a fanless graphics card. I kept the same case and CPU cooler when I upgraded some of the components in 2015.
- Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 Motherboard
- Intel Core2Duo E6300 CPU @ 1.80 GHz
- Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev2 CPU Cooler w/Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste
- 4GB Kingston DDR2 667 (PC5300) SDRAM
- Gigabyte GeForce 7600GS 256MB GDDR2 PCIe video card
- Western Digital 160GB hard drive
- Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm hard drive
- Seagate 300GB USB2.0 external hard drive
- Sony-NEC 5170A IDE DVD/CD burner
- Logitech Internet 1500 Laser Cordless Desktop Keyboard & Mouse
- Antec Performance One P150 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
- Antec EarthWatts NeoHE 430W Power Supply
- Windows XP Pro SP3 (2007-2009)
- Windows 7 Ultimate (2009 – Present)
Media Computer (2023 – Present):
This computer is used for installing the less-frequently used programs that I do not want cluttering up my main desktop.
- ASRock B550M-HDV Motherboard
- AMD Ryzen 5 5600G 3.90 GHz 6-Core CPU with Radeon Graphics
- TeamGroup T-Force Vulcan Z DDR4 16GB Kit (2x8GB) 3600MHz (PC4-28800) CL18 Desktop Memory
- Kingston NV2 1TB M.2 2280 NVMe Internal SSD
- Optiarc AD-7260S SATA DVD Writer
- Fractal Design Focus G Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
- 3x Arctic Cooling F12 PWM – 120 mm PWM Case Fans
- Rosewill RD500-2DB 500-watt Power Supply
- Windows 10 Home
Media Computer (2014 – 2023):
This computer was assembled from spare parts that I acquired from other projects. It has since been disassembled and parted out.
- ASUS M4A88TD-M/USB3 Motherboard
- AMD Athlon II X4 640 CPU @ 3.0 GHz
- 8GB Kingston DDR3 PC3-10700 Memory (4x 2GB)
- AMD Radeon HD 6450 video card
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB 7200rpm SATA hard drive
- Western Digital Blue 500GB 7200rpm SATA hard drive
- Pioneer DVR-115DBK 20X SATA DVD/CD burner
- Keytronic keyboard
- Logitech MX500 optical mouse
- ACER S231HL 23″ Widescreen Ultra-Slim LED monitor
- Generic RaidMax ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
- Antec EarthWatts EA-380 380W Power Supply
- Windows 7 Ultimate
Dell Dimension 4100 Desktop (2000 – 2007):
Our family purchased this computer brand new from Dell in the fall of 2000. For seven years it was our only computer. The machine has been heavily upgraded from its original specs which included 128MB of RAM, a 32MB nVidia video vard, a 10GB hard drive, and Windows Me (Millennium Edition) OS. I cut a hole in the side panel and installed a window and some colored lights. After hanging onto this machine for many years, I finally parted with it and sold it on eBay.
- Dell Motherboard
- Intel Pentium III @ 800 MHz
- 512MB PC133 SDRAM (4x 128MB) – maxed out
- Dell Trinitron 17″ CRT monitor
- Windows XP Pro SP3
- Gigabit Ethernet card
- Iomega ZIP 250 IDE drive
- Dell 150W power supply
- Windows XP Pro SP3
Compaq Presario 4505 Desktop (1997-2000):
This was the first computer our family ever had. We signed up with AOL (and later, EarthLink) dial up Internet. We gave this computer away in the fall of 2000 when we replaced it with our Dell desktop.
- Intel Pentium CPU @ 166 MHz
- 16MB SDRAM
- 2.0 GB IDE Hard Drive (later upgraded to 10.0 GB)
- 16X IDE CD-ROM Drive
- 1.44MB 3.5″ floppy drive
- 56k/V.90 modem
- Compaq 15″ CRT monitor
- JBL speakers
- Windows 95
