Dan's Personal Computer History
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Below is a summary of all the computers I have used through the years. They are listed in the order they were
purchased and some of them are still in use today. This is separate from the vintage computer systems featured
in D2CA's legacy computer hardware section because most of those systems were purchased
between 1999 and today for testing legacy software titles for D2CA's collection.
Even so, some of the systems listed on this page have become a part of D2CA's legacy computer hardware collection.
The years listed below are the dates these systems were used as my main computer system. 
Commodore VIC-20 (1983)
My very first computer was a Commodore VIC-20. It had an astounding 8K of memory and a 20-character wide resolution. It "booted" to its own Basic interpreter and could use either a TV or a Commodore computer monitor. It ran Basic and cartridge-based programs and games. It also had ports for a modem, tape and 5¼" floppy drives, and printer. Anyone who remembers these computers knows it didn't take long to outgrow them. I discarded the VIC-20 for a more powerful system. STATUS: GONE. After discovering the disappointing lack of computing ability the VIC-20 had, I discarded it. 
Commodore 64 (1983-1986)
My next computer system was a Commodore 64. It had 64K of memory and "booted" to Commodore Basic V2. It also had 80x25 text, high- resolution graphics, and a very good sound/music synthesizer. The C-64 could also use a TV or Commodore computer monitor. The video switch box was the same as that for an Atari 2600 video game system. Atari 2600 joysticks also work in the C-64's game ports and can even function as a "mouse" for certain programs. The C-64 has ports for software cartridges, video, tape and floppy drives, modems, and printers. I made the following upgrades to this system: - Added an external cassette tape drive unit - Added an external 5¼" floppy drive C64 peripherals were expensive. The external tape drive unit cost US$73.00 and the external floppy drive cost US$375.00 At the time, I couldn't afford a printer or a computer monitor. My "monitor" was a television set. STATUS: GONE. I donated my original Commodore 64 computer to an elementary school. My Commodore 64 renaissance. In 2006, Stephen H. from Virginia, USA donated a Commodore 64C, Commodore 128, 1541 5¼" floppy drive, Commodore 1084S computer monitor and a Commodore MPS-801 dot-matrix printer to Dan's 20th Century Abandonware. These Commodore hardware items are featured on D2CA's Legacy Commodore Computer Hardware page. Since that time I have acquired far more Commodore software than I ever had originally, surplus floppy drives, a Commodore cassette unit and a custom XE1541 cable for connecting Commodore floppy drives to a PC's parallel port to make backup disk copies and digital disk images of Commodore software using custom PC software. I run Commodore software on the original hardware and also on PCs using emulation software and disk images of Commodore software titles. Cordata C-45 8088 (1989-1990) The first personal computer I bought was a Cordata C-45 8088 with 512K RAM, dual floppy 360K/720K drives, and 14" EGA monochrome/color monitor. This proved to be frustrating from day one. I would have to start each program or game from its floppy disk. If any data was to be saved, I would have to remove the program disk, insert another floppy to save files on, then reinsert the program disk to continue. I could not use a program requiring a hard drive. Because hard drives were expensive, I did not get one for this system. I spent way too much money on way too little computer. This 8088 was my "VIC-20" of PCs. STATUS: TRADED IN. Frustrated with this system, I traded it in when I purchased my next system. Acer 915-P 80286 (1990-1992) My second PC was an Acer 915-P 286-10MHz PC with 1MB RAM, 42MB hard drive and a color VGA monitor. This was my first system with a hard drive and I could finally run programs and save data the way it was meant to be done. I made the following upgrade to this system: - Upgraded MS-DOS from 3.30 to 5.0 STATUS: SOLD. Rather than take a beating trying to trade it in at a dealership, I sold this PC. Acer 80386 (1992-1994) My next system was an Acer 386SX 16MHz PC with 2MB RAM and a 105MB hard drive. I made the following upgrades to this system: - Installed Microsoft Windows 3.1 - Added my first computer mouse - Upgraded system memory from 2MB to 4MB - Replaced the 105MB hard drive with a 245MB hard drive I learned to do my own PC upgrading, which was far less expensive than taking it to the local computer dealer. STATUS: SOLD. I sold my 386 system to a person at my workplace. Acer 80486 (1994-1995) My next PC system was an Acer 486DX-33MHz PC with 4MB RAM and a 14" SVGA monitor. I purchased it without a hard drive and installed my own 300MB hard drive. I made the following upgrades to this system: - Added my own 300MB hard drive instead of having it included with the system - Upgraded system memory from 4MB (on-board) to 8MB - Installed a Colorado 120MB QIC-80 internal tape drive - Installed a 2400 baud internal modem - Installed a 2x CD-ROM drive - Installed a Sound Blaster 16 sound card and speakers - Replaced the 300MB hard drive with a 512MB hard drive An associate sold to me a 486DX2-50MHz CPU and installed it in my system. STATUS: GONE. This system was used until it finally failed and was discarded. Micron Pentium 90MHz (1995-1997) My next computer system was a Micron Pentium 90MHz PC with 8MB RAM, 2MB video card, sound card, speakers, 15" SVGA monitor, etc. A pleasant surprise. My computer system also called for a 1GB hard drive and 2x CD-ROM drive. I had not ordered a modem and intended to put my 2400 baud modem into this system. But when my mail-order system arrived it had a 1.2GB hard drive, not a 1GB, a 4x CD-ROM, not a 2x, and a 14.4K internal modem, which I had not even ordered. Rather than reconfigure the system to my original order, it was sold to me as it had arrived -- for no extra charge. I received an estimated extra US$400 worth of hardware at no extra cost. I made the following upgrades to this system: - Upgraded the operating system from DOS 6.22 & Windows FWG 3.11 to Windows 95 Upgrade - Upgraded system memory from 8MB to 16MB - Replaced my Colorado 120MB QIC-80 tape drive with a Colorado 250MB QIC-80 - Installed a "Snappy" video capture device - Upgraded the CPU from a Pentium 90MHz to a Pentium 120MHz - Replaced my 14.4K internal modem with a 28.8K modem - Replaced my 15" monitor with my first 17" monitor STATUS: GONE. I gave this computer system, with its original 15" monitor and an Okidata Microline 393 dot-matrix printer, to a less financially fortunate friend. Acer Pentium 200MHz (1997-1998) My next computer system was a Pentium 200MHz PC with 16MB RAM, 2GB hard drive, 2MB video card, 12x CD-ROM drive, and 17" SVGA monitor. I made the following upgrades to this system: - Installed the 28.8K internal modem from my previous system - Upgraded system memory from 16MB to 48MB - Replaced the 28.8K internal modem with a 56K internal modem - Replaced the 2GB hard drive with a 7GB hard drive - Replaced the 2MB video card with a 4MB video card - Replaced the Colorado 250MB QIC-80 tape drive with a 3.2GB Travan tape drive - Installed a 1x CD-R (that's "R") drive (can you say WORM drive?) - Replaced the Pentium 200MHz non-MMX CPU with a Pentium 200MHz MMX (motherboard limit) - Upgraded system memory from 48MB to 128MB - Replaced the 12x CD-ROM drive with a 32x CD-ROM drive - Replaced the 1x CD-R drive with a 2x/2x/6x CD-RW drive - Replaced the 2x/2x/6x CD-RW drive with a 16x/10x/40x CD-RW drive - Replaced the 16x/10x/40x CD-RW drive with a 52x/24x/52x CD-RW drive - Installed a PCI 10/100mb Ethernet NIC - Installed a PCI USB 2.0 card I also "retro-fitted" this system with a 5¼" floppy drive to run legacy software. "All good things come to those who wait." Though I moved on to newer computer systems, instead of trading in, selling, or just getting rid of this Pentium 200MHz system, I kept it because it had the potential to be upgraded far beyond its original configuration. A friend gave me a Pentium 200MHz MMX CPU -- the limit for this motherboard. Even though it was the same clock speed, the MMX technology gave a noticable performance increase in Windows' graphical response and games played noticeably better. A co-worker sold me four 32MB 72-pin SIMMs for US$25.00, allowing me to upgrade the system's memory to 128MB. This made DOS and Windows for Workgroups 3.11 run with an excellent response time. This also allowed more advanced operating systems to be run on this system, such as BeOS, OS/2 Warp 4, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Windows 2000 Professional. Later, I installed a PCI 10/100 Ethernet network card and a USB 2.0 PCI expansion card. All the above upgrades allow this "obsolete" computer to use the following technologies that didn't exist when this system was created: - CD burning - Broadband Internet - USB "flash drives" and other USB devices STATUS: Still in use. This system became part of my legacy computer hardware and is used to test titles for D2CA's legacy software collection. Compaq Presario 4862 (1998-2001) This system had the second fastest CPU on the market at the time (333MHz). It was also one of the first systems with a 12GB hard drive (5¼" Quantum Bigfoot), ultra- ATA capability, "second generation" (2x) DVD-ROM drive and USB ports. It also had 64MB RAM, integrated 4MB video memory, integrated 3D sound, and 56K ISA modem. The 17" monitor has JBL Pro speakers, built-in subwoofer, two USB ports, built-in microphone, volume knob, 4 programmable launch buttons, and audio CD navigation buttons. What I liked about this system was the custom line-in ports for video and left/right stereo audio built into the front of the tower -- complete with software for making AVI files. It had everything I wanted in a PC at the time except one thing -- a reasonable price. I made the following upgrades to this system: - Added an external 5GB Travan tape drive (replaced internal 3.2GB tape drive from previous system) - Added a 3½" 20GB hard drive as a slave to the 5¼" 12GB Quantum Bigfoot hard drive - Replaced the 1x CD-R drive from my previous system with a 2x/2x/6x CD-RW drive - Upgraded system memory from 64MB to 192MB - Replaced the 2x/2x/6x CD-RW drive with a 8x/4x/32x CD-RW drive - Added a 32MB PCI video card and disabled the on-board video - Made the 20GB HD the master HD and replaced the 5¼" 12GB Quantum Bigfoot with a 3½" 40GB HD - Upgraded system memory from 192MB PC100 SDRAM to 384MB PC133 SDRAM (motherboard limit) - Upgraded the operating system from Windows 95 with USB Support to Windows 98 Second Edition - Replaced the 8x/4x/32x CD-RW drive with a 48x/12x/48x CD-RW drive - Upgraded the operating system from Windows 98 Second Edition to Windows 2000 Professional Let the music play. This was the first system I made MP3s with. I began "ripping," encoding, and playing. The subwoofer in the system's monitor gave this digital music incredible sound. The high-speed CD-RW drive made my 5GB external tape drive obsolete, so it was removed from this system. STATUS: Still in use. This system became part of my legacy computer hardware and is used to test titles for D2CA's legacy software collection. HP Pavilion xt878 (2001-2005) My next computer system was a HP Pavilion xt878 1.3GHz AMD Athlon system. It had 256MB DDR RAM, 80GB hard drive, 19" HP mx90 monitor, 16x DVD-ROM drive, 8x/4x/32x CD-RW drive, 32MB nVIDIA 4X AGP graphics card, AC'97 sound chipset, integrated 10/100mb Ethernet, 56K PCI modem, front side USB, IEEE 1394 "fire-wire" and serial ports, Polk Audio speakers, USB keyboard and USB optical mouse. It benchmarked as being 500 times faster than my 333MHz Pentium II system. I made the following upgrades to this system: - Added a 40GB hard drive as a slave drive - Replaced original speakers with Radio Shack computer speakers - Replaced the 40GB slave hard drive with a 80GB hard drive - Upgraded system memory from 256MB to 512MB - Replaced the 8x/4x/32x CD-RW drive with a 48x/24x/48x CD-RW drive - Replaced the 80GB 5400 RPM master hard drive with a 60GB 7200 RPM hard drive - Replaced the 80GB slave hard drive with a 120GB 7200 RPM hard drive - Replaced the 32MB nVIDIA TNT AGP video card with a 64MB nVIDIA GeForce2 MX400 AGP video card - Replaced the USB keyboard and USB optical mouse with a PS/2 keyboard and PS/2 optical mouse - Replaced defective Toshiba 16x DVD-ROM drive with a Sony 16x DVD-ROM drive - Replaced the Radio Shack speakers with an Altec Lansing subwoofer/speaker system - Replaced the 48x/24x/48x CD-RW drive with a Sony 4x single-layer DVD burner - Increased the motherboard's front side bus speed from 200MHz to 266MHz - Upgraded system memory from 512MB DDR PC1600 to 1GB DDR PC2100 - Upgraded the BIOS from revision 2.03 to 3.33 - Replaced the AMD Athlon 1.3GHz 200MHz FSB CPU with an AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 1.8GHz 266MHz FSB CPU - Replaced the 64MB nVIDIA GeForce2 MX400 video card with a 256MB MSI GeForce FX5600 video card - Replaced the 120GB 7200 RPM slave hard drive with a 250GB 7200 RPM hard drive - Upgraded the operating system from Windows Millennium Edition to Windows XP Professional (SP1) - Upgraded Windows XP Professional to Service Pack 2 - Replaced the Sony 4x single-layer DVD burner with a Sony 16x dual-layer DVD burner - Replaced the 19" HP pavilion mx90 SVGA CRT monitor with a Princeton 20" DVI flat panel monitor - Replaced the 150-watt ATX power supply with a 200-watt ATX power supply - Replaced the Athlon XP 2200+ 1.8GHz 266MHz FSB CPU with an AMD Athlon XP 2400+ 2GHz 266MHz FSB CPU - Upgraded system memory from 1GB DDR PC2100 to 2GB PC2100 (motherboard limit) The truth about HP and the Pavilion xt878. In 2004, I decided to research this system's motherboard to find out what its upgrade limits were. I discovered the motherboard is an ASUS A7M266-M and has two front side bus speeds -- 200MHz and 266MHz. HP released this system with a 200MHz FSB 1.3GHz AMD Athlon "Thunderbird" CPU. There is also a 1.3GHz Athlon with a 266MHz FSB but HP elected not to use it. HP also released this system with DDR PC1600 (200MHz) RAM, though it is capable of running PC2100 (266MHz) RAM. A jumper on the motherboard sets the FSB speed at either 200MHz or 266MHz. I was miffed when I learned I had used this computer for over 2½ years running the slower FSB speed CPU and memory. That was about to change ... The BIOS upgrade. In 2004, I found a newer BIOS version for this system that allows it to accept faster 266MHz processors. The original BIOS revision was 2.03. The upgrade I applied was revision 3.33. The documentation with this BIOS upgrade stated the fastest CPU it would accept was a 1.8GHz AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 266MHz FSB. Originally, I replaced the 1.3GHz AMD Athlon "Thunderbird" 200MHz FSB with a 1.8GHz AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 266MHz FSB. This BIOS upgrade also cleared up some minor hardware discrepancies Windows XP Professional had when installed with the original BIOS version and there was a noticeable improvement in system performance. HP doesn't want you to upgrade your existing PC -- they want you to buy a new one. HP didn't offer this newer BIOS upgrade in the upgrade section of their website for the Pavilion xt878 -- I found it while researching the ASUS motherboard. HP also stated on their website that this computer would not be supported if it was run with any operating system other than the one preloaded on it. Why? If someone took this system, upgraded it to the motherboard's physical limits, set the bus speed to its fastest setting, and installed the same operating system HP was using on newer models of their computers, it just might perform well enough that they would keep it longer than if they had just used it with its default hardware and operating system. That's money lost for HP from their perspective. And while HP offered an "upgrade" booklet with this computer, the only thing they talked about upgrading was the memory. The booklet stated that the largest DIMM that could be put in this system was a 256MB module. That is plainly false since I was now running it with two 1GB DIMMs. And there was no motherboard diagram, no mention of the fastest CPU the motherboard was capable of using, or even what model/brand the motherboard was. The booklet did have instructions on how to replace the floppy drive -- a proprietary model that had to be ordered directly from HP for US$60, and how to replace the motherboard's battery. HP did not want you to learn how to upgrade their computers. When you "outgrow" it they want you to buy a new model. Not only had I come light-years forward in my knowledge of computer software/hardware, I had also dealt with the computer industry long enough to see it for what it really is -- sales by deception. Hold back a system's true performance and a customer might buy a newer computer sooner than if it was released with its true potential (read: more sales). Warm blooded. One thing I noticed after upgrading the CPU is that it ran warmer than its predecessor. I replaced the two 80-wire IDE ribbon cables with two "rounded" Ultra-ATA IDE cables. This improved the air flow in this system's compact tower and lowered the internal temperature. But even after using rounded IDE cables, I found the system still built up an unusually high temperature because the sides of the case are not ventilated. Taking matters into my own hands (literally), I got out my power drill and drilled two rows of holes across the top of the side panel and one row of holes across the bottom of the panel. Though my computer now looks as if I have taken a Tommy Gun to it, this resolved the temperature issue and gives the case good ventilation. However, I found that these rounded cables put a lot of stress on the IDE connectors because the wires were drawn so tight. In late 2005 I went back to standard 80-wire ATA ribbon cables. The CPU overheats. In December 2007, the 1.8GHz AMD Athlon XP 2200+ 266MHz FSB overheated and malfunctioned due to poor heat transfer to the CPU heatsink/fan. I had a spare 2GHz AMD Athlon 2400+ 266MHz FSB CPU and heatsink/fan so I decided to try it. In spite of the BIOS documentation, the motherboard accepted the CPU and this system was given a new lease on life. I made sure an adequate layer of silver polysynthetic thermal compound was applied to the heatsink before placing it on the CPU. Thankfully, the motherboard and all other components were unaffected. The power supply dies. In December 2007, at the same time the CPU overheated and failed the 150-watt power supply also gave up the ghost. HP's website stated in the specs for this computer that the power supply was a 184-watt ATX when, in fact, it was really a 150-watt. Are we surprised HP would misstate this? It was incredible that puny power supply powered two hard drives, two DVD drives, a 256MB 3D AGP video card and all the components of the motherboard running at its fastest 266MHz FSB for as long as it did. The 150-watt ATX power supply was replaced with a 200-watt ATX and power was once again supplied to the system. Almost a completely new computer. At this point, the only things that have not been upgraded or replaced in this system are the motherboard, motherboard battery, modem, floppy drive and tower case. STATUS: Still in use. The CPU overheated and the power supply failed in December 2007 after six years of near-continuous use. A replacement power supply and 200MHz faster CPU brought new life back to this system and it continues to function. 
HP Media Center PC m7277c (2005-2008)
For the same price I paid for my previous system four years earlier, this system incorporates yet another leap in hardware technology. This computer comes with almost as much multimedia hardware that could be put into a computer at the time. This system features: - Dual-core Pentium D 830 3GHz CPU - 1GB DDR2 PC2-3200 dual-channel memory (supports 4GB) - 320GB SATA-150 hard drive (with 20GB restore partition) - LightScribe® DVD-RAM, DVD+/-R dual/double-layer, DVD+/-RW, DVD+/-R, DVD-ROM, CD-R/RW "SuperMultiDrive" - DVD-ROM drive - ASUS P5LP-LE (Lithium-UL8E) motherboard - Socket LGA775, 533MHz/800MHz/1066MHz FSB - Intel 945P Express chipset - 4 DDR2 dual-channel DIMM slots - Intel Flex Memory Technology (allows different memory sizes for dual-channel mode) - Intel High Definition Audio with 8-channel Dolby 5.1/6.1/7.1 surround sound, Dolby Pro Logic IIx and THX - 4 SATA I / SATA II ports, 1 EIDE and 1 floppy controller - 1 PCI Express slot, 3 PCI slots - 1 24-pin ATX and 1 4-pin 12V power connector, 1 variable-speed CPU fan connector (4-pin), 1 chassis fan connector (3-pin) - PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports, 1 parallel port - 6 USB 2.0 ports (4 rear, 2 front) - S/PDIF digital audio in/out ports - 2 IEEE 1394a FireWire ports (1 rear, 1 front), front headphone and microphone ports - 1 integrated RJ-45 network port (Intel 82562GT 10/100 Mbps Fast Ethernet, shows as Intel Pro/100) - 6 stereo-mini jacks - Line-in (light blue) - Microphone-in (pink) - Line-out (lime) - Center/Subwoofer-out (yellow-orange) - Side speaker-out (gray) - Rear speaker-out (black) - Front input S-Video, composit video and left/right audio ports - ATI Radeon x600 PCI-Express x16 256MB DVI/SVGA/S-video video card - Hauppauge Amity2/DT TV tuner and FM tuner card - 9-in-one memory card reader - Agere 56K PCI Modem - 400-watt Bestec power supply - Wireless keyboard and mouse - HP f2105 21" wide-screen LCD DVI/SVGA flat panel monitor with built-in speakers and 2 USB 2.0 ports - Infrared remote control for running Windows Media Center (TV/FM/Video/Music record/playback) - Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Gone are these "old" technologies that were in personal computers -- some for decades. This system does not have: - A 3½" floppy disk drive (floppy controller supports 5¼" & 3½" internal drives, BIOS supports external USB floppy drives) - Serial port (but still supports USB-to-serial adaptors) - AGP graphics The tower case is more standardized and has better ventilation than past HP models. This model also offers a unique external USB hard drive docking bay for which HP offers their unique "Personal Media Drive" that can be inserted into the PMD docking bay or serve as an external USB hard drive. It was this feature that attracted me to this model for archiving my legacy software collection. I made the following upgrades and modifications to this system: - Updated the BIOS from version 2.03 to version 3.10 - Updated the BIOS from version 3.10 to version 3.17 - Replaced the 21" HP f2105 wide-screen monitor with my previous 20" Princeton - Replaced the 256MB ATI Radeon x600 PCIe video card with a 256MB MSI GeForce 6600LE PCIe - Replaced the HP DVD-burner/ROM drives with the Sony DVD-burner and DVD-ROM drives from my previous system - Replaced the 40-wire ribbon cable for the DVD drives with a 80-wire ribbon cable - Replaced the wireless keyboard and mouse with wired PS/2 keyboard and mouse - Added a 400GB SATA-150 secondary hard drive - Added a 400GB external USB 2.0 HP Personal Media Drive for use with this system - Added an external USB 1.44MB floppy drive - Erased HP's pre-installation, formatted, and loaded a "clean" install of Microsoft Windows Media Center Edition 2005 - Replaced the Sony dual-layer DVD burner with a newer dual-layer DVD burner with DVD-RAM support - Replaced the Bestec 400-watt power supply with a Thermaltake 430-watt ATX-12V power supply - Upgraded memory from 1GB (two 400MHz PC2-3200 512MB DIMMs) to 4GB (four 667MHz PC2-5300 1GB DIMMs) - Replaced the primary 320GB SATA-150 hard drive with a 250GB SATA-300 - Replaced the secondary 400GB SATA-150 hard drive with a 1TB SATA-300 - Added a 750GB external USB 2.0 HP Personal Media Drive for use with this system - Replaced Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with Windows XP Professional - Replaced the 256MB MSI GeForce 6600LE PCIe video card with a 512MB PNY GeForce 9600 GT PCIe HP continues to hold back a system's performance. Just as HP did with my previous system, they continue to find ways to hold a system back from its true performance. Here are the key examples I found with this model: - The DVD burner and DVD-ROM drives are connected with a 40-wire ribbon cable -- the type used all the way back to 286 PCs - HP's ASUS P5LP-LE (Lithium-UL8E) motherboard specs state it supports SATA-150. The 945P chipset supports SATA-300. - HP installs a SATA-150 hard drive in this system when it is capable of running SATA-300 drives - HP installs DDR2 PC2-3200 400MHz memory in this system when it is capable of running PC2-5300 667MHz memory - HP's motherboard specs state it supports Pentium4 and Pentium D CPUs. The Intel 945P chipset also supports Core 2 Duo. - HP's default installation of Windows XP MCE 2005 loads unnecessary SATA, Personal Media Drive and printer drivers The DVD snafu. It is simply inexcusable for HP to put a 40-wire ribbon cable on DVD-burner/ROM drives. This cable wouldn't handle the data to burn a DVD-RW data disc. The first time I tried it corrupted the rewriteable disc to the point it couldn't be erased and it had to be discarded. I tore into the system and replaced the 40-wire ribbon cable with a 80-wire ribbon cable and the drives performed as they should. Way to go, HP. I replaced the HP DVD-burner and DVD-ROM drives with the Sony dual-layer DVD-burner and DVD-ROM drives I had in my previous system. I put the HP DVD drives in my previous system. The HP DVD burner failed a month later. When the price of Sony's newer dual-layer DVD burners with DVD-RAM support dropped to an affordable amount, I replaced my older Sony dual- layer DVD burner, returning it to my previous system. Now this system had nearly all it's original functionality. The only item missing was a DVD burner with LightScribe technology. For the greater reliability of the Sony drives, it wasn't missed. The floppy disk survives. My wife was frequenting one of our local thrift stores and found a SmartDisk VST external USB 1.44MB floppy drive for US$5.00. This drive is in excellent condition and was detected in a matter of seconds by this system. It reads 3½" 720K and 1.44MB floppies just fine, and the BIOS can even use it as a boot drive. This was a great savings for an unexpected "add-on" for this system. Way to go, sweetheart. No wireless keyboard and mouse for now. While many people enjoy the freedom of wireless keyboards and mice, I do not have a problem with my keyboard and mouse having a "tail." Since I am not sitting across a room from my computer I don't have a need for a wireless keyboard and mouse at this time. This way, I also don't have to keep feeding them batteries or recharging batteries. I gave the wireless keyboard, mouse, and receiver to the family member using my previous computer system. All they had to do is plug in the receiver and Windows XP detected it without having to load any extra drivers. Cleaning out the plumbing -- the "clean" install of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. HP is famous for bogging down a computer system's true performance not only by dumping a few gigabytes of worthless software onto them, but also by loading extra useless drivers that actually impede a system's performance. The 40-wire ribbon cable for the DVD drives, mentioned earlier, is inexcusable enough, but when extra drivers are installed that are not needed that actually cause hardware and data to run slower than if they were not present is a blatantly dishonest business practice. But, as you read with my previous computer system, HP (and I'm sure others as well) has been doing this for years. Another example -- HP loads special Personal Media Drive drivers to work with their external USB hard drives. These are utterly unnecessary because the drives are just as capable of operating without these drivers using Windows own USB support. In fact, they can work with any computer system that support external USB hard drives. HP also bogs down this system with pre-loaded printer and PSC (printer-scanner-copier) drivers and pre-installs a "lite" version of HP Image Zone ... before any printer is present. Again, this is a waste of hard drive space and system resources because HP distributes these drivers and software with their printers anyway. Why the duplicity? Even if you uninstall these components, remnant registry entries and files are left on your system and interfere if you purchase a HP printer or PSC when its drivers and software are installed. This interference results in slower system performance. HP also pre-installs a "lite" version of Sonic Roxio CD-DVD burning software. If you decide later to get a full version, as I did, you will be vexxed when you discover you can't fully uninstall the "lite" version HP pre-loads, and it conflicts with the files and registry entries loaded by a full version. While it does work, as does HP printers, these conflicts slow the system's performance. If you are fortunate enough to procure a legal copy of Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, as I was, you can unleash the true potential of this system by deleting HP's restore partition (it's recommended to make a restore disc set first just in case you decide to sell it later on so you can restore it back to its original state), deleting the primary partition, and formatting the hard drive as a single partition, then continuing the installation of XP MCE 2005. Windows has its own SATA drivers that do not slow down a SATA drive's performance the way HP does with the extra drivers and "patches" they pre-load on this system. But, doing an installation of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 on this system is not near as easy as loading XP on a system with less hardware. There are a few catches to this installation on this hardware. First, XP MCE has two installation CDs. During the install, the setup program prompts you to insert the second CD, installs Windows Media Center and other multimedia support, then prompts you for the first CD again, which finishes the install. There is actually a third "update" CD, but if you have a broadband Internet account you can get all the latest updates from Microsoft's Windows Update. Second, this motherboard has newer high-definition audio hardware, and the drivers HP leaves in their "drivers" folder do not install correctly with a "clean" XP MCE installation. And HP, at this time, does not offer these audio drivers on their support site. I had to do some serious research to find the correct chipset and then a lot of Internet searching to find the supporting drivers. I finally located them and I was never so happy to hear sound come from my system's speakers. Then, there's the Microsoft Windows Media Center "gotcha." Media Center requires a MPEG-2 decoder to display DVD and TV tuner video. But do you think Microsoft was kind enough to provide such a decoder with XP MCE? Well ... no. I ended up learning this charming little tidbit of information from a translated Italian website. Once again, fate smiled upon me. Remember that full version of Sonic Roxio I purchased? It just happens to have a DVD player that includes a MPEG-2 codec that works with Windows Media Center. How lucky can you get? After I did a "clean" install of Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, my first delight was just how fast this system responded without all that clutter clogging its pipes. The increase in speed of the SATA drives was clearly noticeable -- and when you get a 20% increase in performance on a 3GHz system, that is both astounding and aggravating when you realize how HP is holding you back. When is all said and installed, the Control Panel hardware Device Manager will still show one "unknown" device. This is because Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 supports "Away Mode" and this system's BIOS does not have this feature. The unknown is left in Device Manager after XP fails to install Away Mode support. HP's pre-installation does not display this "unknown." So, with the installation, audio, and video problems behind me, the rest was a cake walk. I installed the rest of my software and a short time later I was back to doing what I was doing before with this system, only faster and without the annoying conflicts. The BIOS updates. The 3.10 BIOS upgrade resolves some hardware conflicts, updates microcode to support newer Intel processors and more. The 3.17 BIOS upgrade adjusts the lowest system fan threshold speed to 500 RPM, adjusts power and temperature settings for newer Intel processors, updates microcode to support still newer Intel processors and more. Future plans are to replace the current Pentium D 830 3GHz 800MHz FSB CPU with an Intel Core 2 Duo 1066MHz FSB. Power supply: noise, noise, NOISE! Not long after purchasing this system, the Bestec 400-watt ATX-12V power supply began making grinding, growling noise. It eminated from the single fan located at the bottom of the power supply. At first it would only growl once in a while and last anywhere from 3 minutes and longer then stop and not do it again for some time, sometimes a couple of weeks. But after a year and a half of use, this fan started growling at a more frequent rate. Just before replacing the power supply it began growling constantly and would not stop like it did in the past. I put up with this for a week, then ordered a Thermaltake 430-watt ATX-12V dual-fan power supply and replaced the noisy Bestec. The Thermaltake power supply's dual fans were just slightly louder than the Bestec's fan when it was running "quiet" -- and far quieter than when the Bestec power supply was growling. Because of a lack of ventilation near the top of the tower, the computer built up heat in the top 4 inches of the tower with the old power supply because its single fan was on the bottom of the unit and there are no ventilation holes in the top, back or sides of the Bestec power supply. This caused heat to be trapped at the top of the tower and made the CPU fan work harder to keep the processor cool, particularly when running processor-intensive programs and games. The Thermaltake's dual fans are on the front and back of the power supply, allowing the heat at the top of the tower to be vented from the computer. As a result there is virtually no heat buildup in the tower and programs that caused the CPU fan to run at its highest speed with the Bestec power supply run with the CPU fan running only one speed faster than quiet idle. With the tower cooler the computer also runs slightly faster. The memory upgrade. Although this system is capable of running 4GB of memory, the price of 1GB DDR2 DIMMs were too expensive to purchase until nearly 2 years after purchasing the system. For 50% less than the cost of two 1GB PC2-3200 400MHz DDR2 DIMMs a year and a half earlier, I was able to purchase four 1GB DDR2 PC2-5300 667MHz DIMMs. The price was too good to pass up. Originally, my plan was to use the two original 512MB DIMMs along with two new 1GB DIMMs for a total of 3GB system memory. Once again, HP disappoints by using 400MHz PC2-3200 DDR2 DIMMs. Yet one more example of how HP held back the true potential of this system. Obviously, I couldn't use the 400MHz DIMMs with the 667MHz DIMMs. Unfortunately, although the BIOS reports 4GB of memory and a total of 4096MB, the motherboard only gives 3.5GB for use. Even though the bus speed is still running at 800MHz because of the Pentium D 830 CPU, the 267MHz faster memory, times 3½, resulted in a significant performance increase. It is interesting to note that the system manual states the system's motherboard takes PC2-3200 240-pin DIMMs, yet does not state if the memory is ECC or non-ECC (it's non-ECC) or buffered or unbuffered (it's unbuffered). Then it states that installing the wrong type of memory can damage the system. The system accepts PC2-4200 533MHz DIMMs and PC2-5300 667MHz DIMMs. Hard drives -- bigger Personal Media Drives and from SATA-150 to SATA-300 (SATA II). 
The internal docking bay for the HP Personal Media Drive eliminates having to connect both an external power supply and an external
USB cable, freeing up desk space and cluttering cables, not to mention a power outlet. The drive is powered from the system's power
supply. This feature has proved to be very efficient for maintaining my legacy software collection.
My previous system's 250GB FireWire external hard drive served well for over 1½ years backing up the entire contents of my legacy software collection. For this system I originally purchased a 400GB external USB HP Personal Media Drive for the continuation of the digital backup of these legacy software titles. The 400GB HP Personal Media Drive has been complimented with a 750GB PMD. The 400GB PMD is used to store my personal data. The 750GB PMD is used to archive my legacy software collection. HP's specifications for the ASUS P5LP-LE (Lithium-UL8E) motherboard state, among other things, that each of the 4 SATA ports support "1 serial ATA-150 disk drive." What they do not tell you is that the Intel 945P chipset supports 4 SATA-300 ports with compatibility for SATA-150. Essentially, HP restricts half the bandwidth of the SATA-300 capability by using a SATA-150 drive. In past systems, and even with this system for SATA-150 drives, I was an avid Western Digital customer unitl I began searching for a 1TB SATA-300 3½" internal hard drive. I saw this on WD's website, "The first 3.5-inch hard drives designed to deliver power savings as the primary attribute." This was the opening plug for WD's "enterprise drives." Well, sorry WD, but my priorities for "primary attributes" begin with (1) reliability, (2) data integrity ... power conservation of a fraction of a KW is further down my list. After being scared off from Western Digital's "green" hard drives, I instead chose Seagate's "Enterprise Storage" drives. Seagate touts reliability before power savings. I replaced my system's original 320GB SATA-150 Western Digital WD3200 with a 250GB SATA-300 Seagate Barracuda ES. Because I store all my personal data and my legacy software collection on a secondary hard drive, I did not need a larger capacity hard drive. Though the drive is 70GB smaller I still only use a fraction of its space. The throughput increase from SATA-150 to SATA-300 and the "Enterprise Storage" quality are good gains for this system. When I went to replace the system's original 320GB SATA-150 hard drive I was introduced to yet another attempt by HP to deter an upgrade of this kind. The SATA data cable used to connect the hard drive to the motherboard is a FOX CONN cable that has metal clips on the connectors that lock the cable to the hard drive and to the motherboard SATA port. The cables do not just pull away from the devices. I had to be extremely careful when disconnecting the cable from the motherboard not to rip out the SATA port with it. After much grasping and tugging and squeezing the metal clip (and mumbling expletives under my breath), I managed to separate the cable from the motherboard. I had a similar experience disconnecting the other end of the cable from the hard drive (including more silent expletives). I used a standard, non-locking SATA cable to connect the 250GB SATA-300 hard drive. The secondary internal 400GB SATA-150 Western Digital WD4000KD hard drive has been replaced with a 1TB SATA-300 Seagate Barracuda ES.2. This is my first terabyte hard drive. Both drives are Seagate's "Enterprise Storage" series. In this case, an increase in storage capacity was paramount, as was the throughput gain from SATA-150 to SATA-300 and the improved "Enterprise Storage" quality. Having already used a standard SATA data cable for the secondary drive, swapping these drives was a much easier experience. No special drivers were needed for the SATA-300 hard drives because the Intel 945P chipset by design is SATA-300 capable. The BIOS automatically recognized the drives as SATA II (3Gb/sec.). Before installing the primary hard drive, I added the 1TB Seagate Barracuda ES.2 SATA-300 hard drive to the two exising Western Digital SATA-150 hard drives -- running 3 hard drives at once, and running a SATA-300 drive simultaneously with two SATA-150's. This was done to transfer all the data from the 400GB SATA-150 to the 1TB SATA-300 prior to replacing the primary hard drive, which entailed a new operating system installation. Once the data was transferred to the 1TB SATA-300 hard drive, the 400GB SATA-150 hard drive was removed and the 1TB drive took its SATA port. Then the primary 320GB SATA-150 hard drive was removed and replaced with the 250GB SATA-300 drive. Then came the operating system installation. OS install 2.0 -- going from Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 to Windows XP Professional. The more I used my computer, the less I used Windows Media Center. I do not watch or record TV on my computer. I do not use the FM tuner feature of Media Center. And I do not use Media Center to catalog my pictures or music. And that cute little remote control that runs Media Center sits collecting dust on a shelf along with its USB infrared receiver. So, in my case, why have Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 taking up system resources with a program I don't use? The answer? Don't. So when I replaced my SATA-150 hard drives with SATA-300 hard drives I made the switch to Windows XP Professional. Same XP Pro without the resource-hogging Media Center. The installation was far easier than having to deal with the extra configuration of the Media Center program and having to both locate and install a MPEG-2 video codec to get TV video (that I never use). Once XP Professional was up and running it was just a matter of installing the necessary drivers (still have TV tuner support and HD audio), running Windows Update (XP automatically configures broadband Internet) and installing my printer and software. After the installation, the same "unknown device" remained as when the new installation of Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 was performed previously. It is the same "away mode" support Windows XP has that this system's BIOS does not. When the rest of my software was installed I looked at the number of active processes Windows XP Professional and my hardware/software were using. There are less than half the active processes running than when this system was running Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 with the same installed software. After the BIOS, memory, hard drive, and operating system upgrades (OK, so the OS was a "side-grade"), the overall system performance increase was as if I had purchased a newer system. No wide-screen -- at first. I did not use a wide-screen monitor for over 2 years after I bought this system. I replaced the 21" HP f2105 wide-screen LCD monitor with the Princeton 20" flat panel monitor I had originally purchased for my previous system. I was able to sell the HP f2105 to a drafting department at my employment, offsetting the cost of the second monitor. The 20" Princeton flat-panel DVI/VGA monitor I had originally purchased for my previous system proved to be superior in video quality for DVD playback and live TV. 2¼ years after purchasing this system I finally had need for a wide-screen monitor. I purchased a 24" Samsung SynchMaster 245bw for less than I paid for the 20" Princeton. The picture is sharp and clear and the 3000:1 contrast ratio makes DVDs, games and programs look much better. It is also much better for wide spreadsheets and other programs with multi-column data. Now, I use both displays in a dual-monitor setting. The video card -- I'm just an NVIDIA kind of guy. Almost immediately after purchasing this system I replaced the stock 256MB ATI Radeon x600 PCI-Express video card with a 256MB MSI GeForce 6600LE. Just over two years later I replaced that video card with a 512MB PNY GeForce 9600 GT video card. This doubled the video memory and nearly doubled the core clock speed. This card also has SLI support and superior HD and graphics capabilities. Another reason for purchasing this video card was better support for the Samsung monitor and it has dual DVI outputs. Both of the previous video cards have one VGA and one DVI output. The PNY GeForce 9600 GT video card allows me to run both monitors in digital mode. No CPU upgrade for this system. Although Intel shows that the chipset on this motherboard supports Core 2 Duo, this system is fast enough for its current configuration and operating system not to warrant the expense of a CPU upgrade. Although CPU prices plummeted when Intel released 64-bit Core 2 Quad, this system works just fine as it is. If it isn't broken... With new 64-bit systems emerging with quad-core CPUs and able to have twice the memory this system does now, I will search for a 64-bit system running a 64-bit operating system. A glutton for punishment? After all these trials and tribulations, you are probably asking yourself, "Why does that ding-dong keep buying these computers when he knows he's going to have to go through this laborious upgrade and fix-it process?" Though costly, these experiences have allowed me to learn a lot about the latest computer hardware. And telling of these experiences also helps others, like you, by allowing you to learn from what I have learned about these systems. Underneath all the layers of muck HP puts into these systems, once you install a clean operating system and replace everything but the motherboard you will finally have a system that will hold up for some time. I doubt I will continue to invest in systems that need upgrading almost right out of the box, however, because it is far easier to get a custom system that is maxed out hardware-wise and run it until the next generation of hardware emerges. STATUS: This system is currently set aside as a fallback system. It continues to function at its current performance level. 
HP Pavilion Elite d5100t ATX CTO (2008 - ....)
For the first time in my computer purchasing history, I bought my first system over the Internet as a CTO, or configure-to-order. Instead of being forced to buy a fixed configuration in a retail store, and being forced to buy a monitor with the system, this time I was able to choose from a selection of hardware options to have a customized system. And since I already had adaquate monitors I was able to purchase just the system unit which included a keyboard and mouse. Since the purchase of my first 80386 computer system in 1992, I had run 32-bit computer hardware with 8-bit DOS, 16-bit DOS- based Windows 3.1x, 32-bit DOS-based Windows 95/98/Me, and 32-bit Windows NT-based Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Professional and Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 until late 2008. This 2008 HP Pavilion Elite d5100t ATX CTO is a x64 system with a 64-bit motherboard, 64-bit CPU, and 64-bit operating system. This model was first introduced by HP on October 30, 2008. I learned about it less than a month later and purchased my system on November 26, 2008. This system features: - Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz 1333MHz FSB CPU (fastest selection offered) - 8GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM (4 x 2GB, motherboard limit) - 750GB 7200 rpm SATA II hard drive (free upgrade from a 500GB hard drive) - LG GBW-H20L SATA-150 6x Super Multi BD-RE drive with LightScribe - LITE-ON DH16D3S SATA-150 16x DVD-ROM drive - ASUS IPIBL-TX (Burbank-GL8E) full-size ATX motherboard - Socket LGA775 - 800/1066/1333 MHz FSB - Intel G33 chipset - 4 DDR2 DIMM slots - ICH9R onboard RAID 0/ RAID 1controller (enabled) - Integrated Intel GMA 3100 video (VGA port, capped at factory and disabled in OS for this system) - 7.1 channel high-definition audio - 6 SATA connectors (SATA I / SATA II support) - 1 floppy drive controller - 12 supported USB 2.0 ports (6 ports on chassis, 4 rear, 2 front) - 2 IEEE 1394a FireWire ports (1 rear, 1 front) - 1 integrated Intel 82566DC 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet port - PS/2 keyboard and mouse ports - S/PDIF digital audio in/out ports - 6 stereo-mini jacks - Line-in (light blue) - Microphone-in (pink) - Line-out (lime) - Center/Subwoofer-out (yellow-orange) - Side speaker-out (gray) - Rear speaker-out (black) - Intel high-definition Audio/Modem Link (2x8 HDMI connector) - 1 24-pin and 1 4-pin ATX power connectors - 2 12v fan connectors for CPU fan and PC fan - NVIDIA Geforce 9800 GT PCI-e video card (HDMI capable, best NVIDIA choice) - 15-in-1 memory card reader - HP PS/2 keyboard and HP PS/2 optical mouse - 64-bit Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Service Pack 1 (chosen instead of 64-bit Windows Vista Home Premium SP1) I made the following upgrades and modifications to this system: - Added a 1TB HP Personal Media Drive external USB hard drive - Moved my 1TB secondary SATA II hard drive from my HP m7277c to this system - Removed defective 15-in-1 memory card reader and installed a 3½" 1.44MB floppy disk drive - Purchased an external USB 51-in-1 memory card reader to replace the defective 15-in-1 card reader Microsoft® Windows® Vista™ Ultimate™ Service Pack 1 64-bit. With my previous systems, I had pushed 32-bit computing to its 4GB hardware limit (getting only 3.5GB of usable memory), within the limits of my budget. With new technologies emerging, 32-bit computing was slipping into obsolescence. To truly "move on" to a PC with a higher level of performance beyond my HP m7277c, there were only two options: - Get a 64-bit system with 64-bit Windows XP (if you could find drivers for it) - Get a 64-bit system with 64-bit Windows Vista Because of my software investment, a Macintosh was not a viable option. But with some of Vista's features, triangles in the Explore file manager, recent modification dates displayed as "yesterday," "today," "tonight" (and even "tomorrow" if you set the system date ahead!), the glassy texture of the Aero interface, etc., I felt I was running a PC that was trying to look like a Mac. I waited for Microsoft to release Service Pack 1 for Windows Vista, and waited to find a PC with hardware far enough beyond my HP m7277c in performance, yet still within my budget limits, to run it on. I found both in this system. No liquid-cooled PCs in my immediate future. I chose 64-bit Windows Vista Ultimate, because this edition is "all of Vista" -- not a watered-down "home" edition which was being sold on the majority of Vista systems in retail stores at this time. I went x64 all the way with this system because at this time 64-bit software is just entering the industry and won't be mainstream for some time. High-definition video is also in its infancy in computers at this time, just beginning to compliment HD audio which has been out since 2005. With new 64-bit software and HD multimedia still on the horizon, this system is poised to be powerful enough to use these technologies for years to come. This was the original base score Vista gave this system: 
It was unanimous. There was no "lowest subscore" -- they all rated 5.9! This new system was so fast its CPU fan never sped up past its slowest idle speed, regardless of what I threw at it. 
An example, Vista Ultimate has, along with Windows Update, "Windows Ultimate Extras." It includes content called "DreamScene" --
high-quality MPEG videos of real-life outdoor scenes and CGI animations that load as your Windows Desktop background --
giving you an animated desktop background!
The reduced screenshot shows a DreamScene video. The water moves and a breeze blows the tree branches back and forth. It loops seamlessly, giving the appearance of a real-time, real-life scene. Forget the screen saver -- watch your desktop! This screenshot was taken at 1920x1200 resolution (24" widescreen). You can click it for a full-size view. Read the Post-It Note "gadget." Again, even running programs with a full-screen, high-quality MPEG video running as a desktop background, the CPU fan never once sped up from its idle speed. Go-go Gadget Post-It Note! Although my initial reaction to Windows Vista's "gadgets" reminded me of a former Saturday-morning cartoon character, I have found a couple of them I actually like (including the Post-It Note...). 
If you don't need it all, share.Windows Vista shows the entire 8GB of physical memory installed in this system. But it currently uses only 5.82GB. What happened to the rest? After some digging in Vista I found the rest of that memory was being allocated -- as extra memory for the video card! The 1GB NVIDIA Geforce 9800GT is actually using a total of 3GB of video memory. The full-size ATX tower case. And, speaking of the tower case, HP finally released a system with a full-size ATX tower case in which all the components actually have room to breathe. HP still sells many computer desktops in cramped little cases, but now they also offer the option of having a system with a full-blown ATX case, like this one. I slammed HP for years about their cramped, poorly ventilated desktop cases and the ways they tried to impede the performance of some systems they sold. Now, in fairness, I have to give HP kudos for offering people the chance to purchase a system built to their specs and the option to have a full-size tower case. The ATX tower case offered with this system does not have the annoying drop-down doors in front of the BD-RE/DVD drives. Just like older cases of long ago, you get to see the drives again. Inside the full-size ATX case, there is enough room between the rear of the BD-RE/DVD drives and the rear of the power supply for a case fan to be mounted on the ceiling inside the case -- and one is! This fan, with a vent grill in the top of the case, vents heat out the top of the case, eliminating any heat buildup at the top of the case. Below the 3 external 5¼" drive bays, the 5¼" HP Personal Media Drive bay, and the two 3½" drive bays holding the HP Pocket Media Drive bay and 15-in-1 card reader, are 4 internal 3½" hard drive bays mounted sideways instead of lengthwise -- allowing easy, instant access to hard drives. And toolless holders allow the removal of drives and bays without screws or rails. The case is deep enough that there is full access to the entire, full-size ATX motherboard -- no power supply or drive bays blocking access. And since all the drives are SATA (except the floppy), there are no wide ribbon cables blocking airflow or blocking access to the motherboard. And many of the cables are held in place between the motherboard and the drives by loops fastened to the back of the tower case, organizing the cables and helping to increase airflow. HP got it right by using a full-size ATX case and allowing easy access to all components inside. Good job, HP! IDE is dead. Even beyond the "old" technologies not present in my previous HP m7277c, this system's motherboard eliminates the IDE bus. All the Blu-ray, DVD, and hard drives are SATA. The BD-RE and DVD-ROM drives are SATA I and the hard drives are SATA II. This motherboard has 6 SATA connectors to accomodate 2 SATA BD/DVD drives and up to 4 SATA hard drives. No parallel port. Also not present on this system is a parallel port. If you want to print, it's strictly USB unless you get a USB-to-parallel adapter. The floppy disk lives on. 
Bill Gates may have declared the floppy disk "dead" in 2004, but tell that to the people making the motherboards for this system.
While IDE is no more, and you need USB adapters if you want to use peripherals requiring serial or parallel ports with this system,
the floppy isn't dead just yet. This motherboard has a floppy drive controller and floppy BIOS support.
It turned out the 15-in-1 card reader installed in one of the two external 3½" drive bays was of lesser quality than it looked. The SD slot had a tiny door in front of it and the slot has a plastic ramp that, when a SD chip is pushed into the slot, forces the chip up against the top of the bezel and the contacts in the slot scratch the leads on the SD chip. So what did I do? You guessed it. I pulled the 15-in-1 reader and put a 3½" floppy drive in instead! This will help me with archiving 3½" floppy media for D2CA. I replaced the internal 15-in-1 card reader with an external USB 51-in-1 (51, not 15) card reader. This way, I only connect the card reader when I need it and don't have 4 extra drive letters active all the time. Blu-ray is in. Just like when I got my first CD-burner, then my first DVD-burner, now I am able to work and play with high-definition Blu-ray media. At this time, Blu-ray drives and media are expensive, so use of this high-end media will be limited until prices make it more affordable. But the capability is there when I need it. The BIOS version -- newer than updates for this motherboard on HP's site! After settling in with this system, and after burning the system restore DVDs for it, I went to HP's website to download the latest drivers and updates. When checking to see if there were any BIOS updates, I was surprised to learn my system came pre-loaded with a newer BIOS version than HP was offering on their site. Their latest BIOS upgrade version at the time for this motherboard was version 5.18. My system came loaded with BIOS version 5.20. The speed of Core 2 Quad (and 64-bit computing) -- zoom! The first thing I noticed when I booted up this system was just how fast it was right out of the box. When I custom ordered this system I did not have to accept a load of useless pre-loaded software. There were a few programs like muvee 6.1, DVD Play BD, CyberLink DVD Suite Premium, and Adobe Reader 8.1.5, but none of the extra HP printer drivers, no games that would never be played -- and no Microsoft Works! In place of that option I selected Corel WordPerfect Office X4, something I actually use. I will also be using most of the other programs (I'm not sure about muvee yet, but you never know) because they are for either burning or watching DVDs/Blu-ray's and even the occasional CD. This was one of the cleanest and most functional "pre-loads" I could have hoped for. I upgraded Adobe Reader and DVD Play BD, but didn't have to uninstall anything and for once did not have to wipe the hard drive and load a "clean" OS install. I can actually keep the restore partition, should I need it. Norton 360 2.0 -- YOU'RRRRRRRRRE FIRED! OK, I failed to mention there was one program I chose not to keep -- Norton 360 2.0. At first, Norton was timid ... always being watchful in the background while this mighty computer whizzed along. But as I began to install the software I use, Norton began to rear its ugly head and squeeze its iron fist around some of my programs to the point they were running slower than they did on my HP m7277c (which doesn't have Norton anything on it). That was it. Norton was "fired." I uninstalled it completely and put my own protective software on this system. To my delight, the PC ran even better because my protection software isn't near as intrusive as Norton. 
1TB HP Personal Media Drive.In addition to ordering this system, I also ordered a 1TB HP Personal Media Drive. Now, rather than splitting data that resides on my 1TB secondary SATA II hard drive between a 400GB PMD and a 750GB PMD, I can have a one-to-one backup between media of equal capacity. This system, like my previous HP m7277c, has a custom drive bay to access and power these external USB hard drives. Instead of having to connect the drive to the computer with a USB cable and plug a power adapter into the drive and into a wall outlet, the Personal Media Drive bay powers the drive from the system's power supply and provides a USB interface. This drive bay is the size of a 5¼" drive unit and uses one of the ATX case's external 5¼" drive bays. When I connected my 1TB HP Personal Media Drive to this system for the first time (no data on it), Vista asked me if I wanted to use it as a ReadyBoost device. Can you imagine ... 1 terabyte of memory??? No more self-punishment. After nearly rebuilding and reconfiguring my last two HP systems, I have had enough of that kind of fun on that kind of scale for about 3 lifetimes. I was not interested in having to research a system's maximum performance to learn how many components I would have to upgrade or replace, and did not want to incure extra upgrade expenses when I could just get a powerful system and run with it. I was not interested in having to tear apart portions of a miniaturized case every time I had to access a hardware component when I could get a system in a full-size ATX case and have instant, unrestricted access to every component. And I got tired of having to spend extra money to buy a second licensed copy of an operating system just to run a clean system. Yes, I learned a lot from those experiences, but this time I just wanted a case that was easy to access and a configuration that worked without all the extra hassle. STATUS: In use as my current primary computer system. More news as it happens ... I will continue to add to this page as my computer systems evolve and change. Questions? Comments? Contact me. NEXT >> |
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Updated last on 01/01/2009.
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