how old were you when you built your 1st PC?

[Samstoned]

I started at 32 so around 1986 I got forced into fixing a network system with proprietary dos like software had 2 days of training hated it.
did not own my own pc until 10 more years but did like to work on cnc's ,they have there own type of computing.went to night school telecommunications
did only 2 years.Went to a auction where they had a $***t load of pc's
bought 10 of them 1 week later the market fall.
started tearing the pc's apart to get my money back,well now I'm addicted
can't get enough.
am 50 years old in 3 more months
last build was amd 2600+ but I am mainly an intel geek
I'd take a pic and post my setup ,but they are to spread out, ran net all over house.

 

[andygibbs]

I built my first computer aged 15

 

[isatippy]

my first build i was 14 :grinthumb

 

[satchmo]

Sort of...

I sort of built my first PC when I was 14, but with a lot of help from a techy friend.

I didn't build another one until recently. Now I'm 32 years old. :giddy:

 

[me(who else?)]

I've been into computers since I was about 6, when we had an original Pentium (it was a 188, I think). I'm actually building my own computer now (with some help from a local shop owner). It's currently:

1.4 Duron (with a chunk missing)
10 gig WD HD
Winfast A340 video card
DVD burner

But I plan to add:

2400+ Sempron
180GB Western Digital HD
Hopefully at least a Radeon 9600.

 

[Khoais]

I built my first when i was 12.

 

[mephisto_007]

I never seen or touch computer since i'm 13 then got my very first computer when i was 14. I had wreck my pc in countless time from configure system file to deleting it. Introduce myself to internet when i was 15 but only chat nothing more built my very first pc 2.8 p4 when i was 19. Now? i'm a 21 year old with no job

 

[Phantasm66]

Now? i'm a 21 year old with no job

Well start looking for one then.

There are plenty of people who will employ you if you can fix computers.

 

[olefarte]

Hey I think I've got you all beat, at least in a way. Contrary to most of you guys starting early, I started late. I got my first computer, which was a laptop when I was 50, and now eight years later I started out to upgrade my Gateway desktop, and ended up building a whole new computer with a lot of help from some guys here at TS. I guess you never get to old to learn.

 

[Phantasm66]

I am really glad we seem to have a good mix of ages, races, and even sexes now (that took time!) Its great that different people from different walks of life come here to talk about computing.

 

[zephead]

i recall buying an NEC powermate 386SX-16 plus at a summer garage sale with a monitor, keyboard, and mouse for a sum of $15 (USD) when i was going into the 6th grade (11 yrs old). i got hooked on computers and built my first pc later that year, a 486DX-33 with parts i had found in my father's basement. it took me weeks but i got that machine running ms-dos 6.22 and windows 3.1 and played wolfenstein 3d on it all the time. old AT systems teach you way more about computers than building one today does, what with that automatic detection and SPD and practically jumperless boards.

yessir-it was in a BSI 'luggable' case with a 7 inch trinitron tube and its own AT power supply. i modded that out to hold a 3.5" floppy, 5.25" floppy, and a 2x sony cdrom, with two hard drives inside duct taped to the aluminunm cage. had an ati 1024XL - i ran windows on there at 1024x768. i developed an enjoyment of computers and after a bit ended up with a slew of old computers i had ressurected, the oldest being an HP desk calculator dating back to the nixon administration.

 

[sllewe]

well

I started screweing around with my old Mac when i was 12, then i started my love hate relationship with windows when i was 14 and now i built my first rig when i was 15

 

[kol_indian]

wow

well i saw a computer first time way back in 1990 i was 8 years old i did do something i think pack man or some game i dont remeber, i got my first pc in 1999 a compaq presario 7500 , started assembling pc after 2000 since then have done nearly 120 pc's

my fist one was a PIII 600 with 64 mb ram and 10 gb hdd for my frnd.


but is simply amazing to see how all the other guys have gone about
hats off

 

[Tedster]

I was about 17 when I built my first modified PC

-it was an Atari 800XL with 256KB of onboard memory
with a blackbox connected to a hidden parallel port that hooked up to a 10MB hard drive.
I had 4 (four) floppy disk drives. 5 1/2 disks. Later whittled down to 2 being double sided, double density.

I had a whopping 19200 bps modem also connected to the blackbox with a 32KB printer spooler.

I also had an 80 column card connected for word processing.

all components were EXTERNAL - boy those were the days!

My most recent build is a 2500+XP athlon with (2) 250 MB hard drives
runs great - love it.

 

[Finchy]

Im 14, and when my older brother clears of to college (in another year) or even before then depending how things turn out, im going to build my own little pride and joy. Of course I need a good supply of cash for it ( i currently have a thread entitled Money Making Ideas on this subject, suggestions welcome). It'l probalbly be a cheap-out-of-date-in-6-months PC, but it'll be good to have something I can tinker with. I bet I fry something when i build it.

 

[Finchy]

Horray, im a techspot member now. This is my first post as a techspot member, im so proud, i think im going to cry.

 

[SOcRatEs]

Hmmm

I think it was a ver of pong. Does this qual?
a neibhor broke it and gave it to me, I was 11.
I had to use a monster power supply adapt from radioShax. It hat 12 adapt on it and 12 diff volt settings. my 1st 5.5v device conflict.....LOL

 

[Tedster]

AS long as it does what you want it to do, it's not out of date!

 

[zephead]

AS long as it does what you want it to do, it's not out of date!

???
my 486 plays wolfenstein 3d and cds (what i want) yet it's nearly 16 years old.