MaximumPC Gets All Nostalgic About PC Components

[Hooch Tan]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.maximumpc.com/article/features/the_50_most_important_pc_components_modern_computing_era?EMC-R3A917316679' target='_blank'>http://www.maximumpc.com/article/fe...MC-R3A917316679</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"We take an in-depth look back at the 50 most important pieces of PC hardware in the modern computing area. From CPUs to videocards and even monitors, these components were the envy of every PC enthusiast, whether you could afford them or not. They might not have been the fastest parts at the time, but they sure were the most notable."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1241547402.usr20447.jpg" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p>Every few months, someone puts together a list of important moments, events or computers in history.&nbsp; MaximumPC has been bitten by the nostalgia bug and decided to list their list of 50 components that merit attention.&nbsp; Going through the list, I remember owning quite a few of the parts, most notably the 3Com 3c905 network card, of which I still have one in use today!&nbsp; Of course, there are some components that I would see as missing from the list such as the Hayes modem and command set, or even the US Robotics Courier line.&nbsp; In the days before broadband, the cheerful beeps and warbles from my modem speaker would tell me that I had just connected to a BBS, or later, my ISP.&nbsp; 3.5" floppy disks and the USB port are just a couple of the other omissions I think should be there.&nbsp; Can any of you think of other components that should have made the list?</p>

[jeffd]

ahhh ...theres a ton of nostalgia there. Although I would make a few changes myself...

The 56k modem, this thing was more or less a given as an expected upgrade in the life of modems, and about the only thing I remember about it is a) non-standered protocols sucks, and b) the specs of telephone lines pretty much makes faster modems undoable. If I had to choose a modem, I would probably choose the 14'400. Alot of old computer users remember the 300 baude days, and may even recall sitting at 2400 baude for quite sometime on the pc which is why the 14'400 is so special. Not only had it been a while since users saw a speed upgrade, but that the speed upgrade was so big. 28800 baude was also a big jump but I think most users of them were pissed when they found out 36000 was just around the corner. ;)

Dell's 24 inch monitor.. I dont know about you, but I think the 20 inch LCD got most of the props, and for good reason. It used the same LCD as the Apple 20" monitor that every mac user was going ga ga about. I read reviews on both and the 24" didn't quite live up to the visual quality as the 20". Also at the time it was hard for even high end video cards to drive games at 1900x1600.

The CPU's covered were all in good order, but I think the q6600 deserved a spot for being the first quad core, and based off the core2 architecture at that.

As for sound cards, why was the sblive mentioned but none of the older ones? To be honest, my SBlive was the worst of the sound cards I have purchased. It's sound quality wasn't that much improved and its software and drivers were massivly bloated. And while it gave us a taste of what it would be like to run around with HUGE soundfonts for quality midi playback, it was and is still bugged and thus unusable for any real midi performances. If anything, the Santa Cruze by Turtle Beach should have gotten mentioned for having a cheap 5.1 capable sound card with Aura 3d support and better sound quality then the SBlive (key selling point here, it offered a better noise ration then the creative cards). In all honestly though its 3d compatibility in games was crappy, and I don't think I was really impressed with sound cards since the SB16 days until I got the X-fi gamer card. Finally... high quality sound, perfect 3d support in games, a powerful cpu for effects, and the modest sized driver installations available from the web that don't come with all the bloated programs. Not bad for someone who pretty much has had a monopoly on sound cards for such a long time.

The cd burners, seriously..the biggest milestone they could come up with was a scsi drive with a large cache because we DIDN'T have burnproof yet?! This category should have had 2 drives. The first should have been the philips 2x burner, for being so f_ cheap that finally the common consumer could not only afford a cd burner, but a pretty fast one at that. The 2nd would be the first burnproof drive... plextors 12x? I forget.. but burnproof and its spinoffs brought cd burning into the main stream easily.

[Hooch Tan]

The 56k modem, this thing was more or less a given as an expected upgrade in the life of modems, and about the only thing I remember about it is a) non-standered protocols sucks, and b) the specs of telephone lines pretty much makes faster modems undoable.

Ah yes, the 56k wars. I remember ISPs having to specify which standard they supported, and of course, the 56k was a lie with 53k being the legal limit and often getting much, much lower. Fortunately, that's all over, but another thing I do remember was that it was one of the first consumer devices I had that I ever had to firmware upgrade.

As for sound cards, why was the sblive mentioned but none of the older ones? To be honest, my SBlive was the worst of the sound cards I have purchased. It's sound quality wasn't that much improved and its software and drivers were massivly bloated.

Come to think of it, aside from, and I'm dating myself, AdLib and the original Sound Blaster another sound card that I recall that probably should've been mentioned was the Gravis Ultrasound. I remember the huge difference it made compared to the MIDI capabilities of other cards at the time.

Looking back, I can also think of some other memorable moments. Largely the point where everything started to be integrated into the motherboard. I remember days when you had to find things like Super I/O cards, a separate sound card, separate graphics (which is still desired!) and separate network card. The integration of all these extras into the motherboard probably helped set a minimum bar on computers that made developer expectations much easier to deal with and system builders too!

[Joel Crane]

My main desktop computer has an Asus A7N8X Deluxe motherboard with an nForce 2 chipset. I remember seeing it in an old issue of MaximumPC years ago with a Kick A** award.

I also have SEVERAL Soundblaster Live! cards in use. A great article from a great magazine!