Hey guys I'm new here. I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm 17 years old, grade 12 student. I live with my mom and my 2 younger sisters (5 and 2), my father dies about 3 years ago. I ve lernt construction skills from my dad, automotive from school and I lernt computer skills myslef. I'm a buggy boy at the local grocery store. I built my computer about 3 years abit after my father died. I didnt have a computer until then. My grandma works for this office as a janitor and they throw out alot of junk. Basically they through out quite a few computers and I took parts from one and the other and combined them together to make my own custom built system. I know its crap but you know what as bad as it may be, to me its great its all I have and that I built it makes it even better. Below are my specs:

IBM Aptiva Case
ACER Motherboard
AMD K-6 II (Chomper Extended (CXT), 250 nm) 550 MHz
Slot 1: 128 MB PC-100 RAM, Slot 2: 64 MB PC-100 RAM
Fujutsu 4.8 GB (Windows 98 SE boot)
WD Caviar 853.6 MB (Windows 95 Boot)
Segate 4.3 GB (Windows XP Professional SPK-1)
Double Speed CD-ROM Drive
IBM 101/102-key Keyboard
Logitech USB wheel mouse (one of those laser light mouse)
Floppy Drive
2 USB Ports
1 Parallel Printer Port
1 Onboard Ethernet port
15" Microscan 3GP/ADI CRT Monitor

Hi johnny, welcome to itsallPC

You've obviously developed quite an interest in computers; most people don't find the level of detail you've provided about their systems, even if it is probably verbatim from a diagnostic utility.

I'd gone through at least 2 systems before I had one as good as that (granted, this was back in the last millennium).

Hi there welcome.

That pc is amazing, really.

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This brings back memories. The first computer I built only worked half the time. After a few motherboard/ram/graphics card replacements it worked great. Then one day I moved it from one side of the room to the other and it never worked so well again.

If you ever decide to get serious and try to build a monster rig, don't do what I did:

1) Go cheap on the motherboard - had to buy two replacements

2) Always order parts from the interweb - A hassle to make returns

3) Pick the cheapest graphics card manufacturer - had a nice fire when one of the capacitors went up in flames shortly after the fan going out.

4) Pick a bad case because it "looks" cool - It takes me 20 mins to open the side of the case, 40 mins to wade through cables, several hours to remove the motherboard. Now I don't even bother with upgrades.

5) Make a crappy custom XBOX-USB adapter using only scissors, my teeth to strip the wires, and scotch tape to hold it together. That caught on fire as well and screwed the USB on my motherboard.

6) Use the power supply that came with the case - good way to get BSODs

7) Order RAM from the worst possible place - it went out of business in a mere three months. I discovered my RAM wasn't what I wanted after the fact.

8) Leave the computer in the basement with the case open and computer on to collect unwanted airborne particles - Cleaning the spiders, cobwebs, and dust out of my computer was a nightmare.

9) Cry when the whole computer stops working all at once - It makes you look like an idiot.

10) Try to impress people with your computer - something always goes wrong. I'll never forget the time I was showing a Mac fan the amazing gaming capabilities of my computer only to have it Blue Screen after the game finishes loading.

I've had more things catch on fire, break, blue screen, and spark on my computer than the average Joe. And that is because I went cheap on everything, slapped it together with no organization, and experimented with with all kinds of fans and cables while the computer was running.

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If you have any questions you can email me at zack.schmid@gmail.com.

I've been there and done that with the motherboard replacements. I've changed my motherboard and processor quite a few times. Since my grandma would bring the old computers that were for grabage (and she still does), so the parts were old and you know dated. My first motherboard was a 486 Pentium 1 at 133Mhz with a socket 5 motherboard and windows 3.1 (Windows For Workgroups). But you know I was just starting off learning about computers and I fried it after a bit of usuage. I changed 3 of these motherboards. Then after that I got lucky and my grandma brought me a computer that had a socket 370 Celeron that was running at 300Mhz. And now I got the Socket Super 7 which has been great, for me. And then you know the hard drive followed a long with everything esle.