Shponglefan wrote on 2023-10-21, 01:56:These are significant to me from having grown up through that era. Part of it is from reading gaming mags that listed various hi […]
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tunertom wrote on 2023-10-21, 01:44:
I don't understand this mentally of picking a date range... Why pick a date and build a system to a certain date? - especially if this date isn't significant to you.
I also don't understand why you are limiting yourself to what "people had" back in the day.
These are significant to me from having grown up through that era. Part of it is from reading gaming mags that listed various high end systems. I used to be an avid reader of CGW, for example, and always lusted after their ultimate rigs when they published them every year.
The appeal is being able to experience what it would have been like to have one of those rigs back in the day.
"Ultimate" means ultimate: i.e the best, the ultimate, now whether you shoot for ultimate performance, ultimate compatibility or ultimate value at the time of purchasing (today, not in the past, as you are purchasing/acquiring now not in the past) that is your business.
It can be temporal as well.
If you flip through a 1996 CGW issue where they list their "ultimate gaming rig" build, it's not going to be based on modern parts. 😉
And now you are in the future (present day) and are in a position where you can build those same "ultimate" platform systems they wrote about, have all the same hardware and software quirks you would of experienced then, as well as add quality of life improvements on top, like extra ram, bigger hard drive, add in cards, upgrades..
I know I seem like a negative Nancy but I just think you could have much more enjoyment, easier build, money saved etc - if you dropped the mentality of limiting to a certain release date and just built to purpose.
For example I have a system built around the ABIT be6-ii raid: I chose this because it's considered one of the best 440bx boards, I chose 440bx because it's one of the highest performers whilst still maintaining a respectable amount of late DOS compatibility.
I chose the 1.1ghz P3 in a slocket, highest performance possible with no downside for me.
It's got a ti4600 GPU to have the best compatibility for 9x titles and a selection of drivers to choose from
I consider this to be my personal ultimate system due to its combination of compatibility and performance, covering a massive range of usable software
Doubt I'd be able to build such a useful system if I was given a certain release date of stuff and was limited to that
Probably have less systems lay dormant and more seeing regular use too building for purpose