We all know computer hardware is expensive, but how much is it really?
How much does a top-end PC go for, do you think? $3000? $5000? Would
you believe... $14,000?!? But it's true! Look here!

https://imgur.com/a/jPj7KsT


Except... oh wait, this is an advertisement from 1996. For $13,999 USD ($29,796.01 in 2026 dollars!) you get a 200MHz Pentium Pro with 128MB
RAM, a 9GB hard drive, a 4MB ATI WinTurbo Mach64 video-card and a 21"
monitor! Worth every penny!

Look, I'm not making the argument that current PC prices aren't
ridiculously high. I am definitely not saying, "you think it's bad
today, but it was always thus!" Because despite the outrageous cost of
the aforementioned PC, the comparison between it and modern hardware
is nowhere the same. After all, a 200MHz CPU was as near to a
super-computer as you could get on your desktop back in 1996. Yet
nowadays you pay almost as much for a computer only a few degrees
better than what you probably already have. Not to mention, PC sales
were much lower in number, and hardware was just generally more
expensive back then. You can't always make it up by selling in bulk...
but a lot of times you can.

No, I just thought that the price of a PC back then was funny (also,
you know, nostalgia. It's a helluva drug!). All the more so since it
is so amazingly under-powered compared to almost anything you could
buy today. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if a Raspberry Pi board
could out-computer that $14K machine. This was a super-duper-high-end
PC in 1996, and now its so out of date that even most Linux
distributions won't run on it. But once upon a time, it was worth the
same as a luxury sedan.

That said... I wouldn't mind owning that machine. Look at that tower;
so beige! Look at that 'ergonomic' keyboard; so 90s! Look at that
monitor; so heavy! And it even comes with a subwoofer! All that, and
it runs Windows NT 3.51! Who wouldn't want such a beast?

I just wouldn't ever pay $14,000 for it. Or maybe not even $14.


(Oh, and it's called the DRM 200+. C'mon, that's gotta be worth at
least a chuckle!)



--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

We all know computer hardware is expensive, but how much is it really?
How much does a top-end PC go for, do you think? $3000? $5000? Would
you believe... $14,000?!? But it's true! Look here!

https://imgur.com/a/jPj7KsT

Except... oh wait, this is an advertisement from 1996. For $13,999 USD >($29,796.01 in 2026 dollars!) you get a 200MHz Pentium Pro with 128MB
RAM, a 9GB hard drive, a 4MB ATI WinTurbo Mach64 video-card and a 21" >monitor! Worth every penny!

This isn't an advert for a gaming machine though, but for a video
editing computer.

128MB of ram in 1996, lets see we were playing diablo1 then and game
like that barely used 4mb much less the 16 a gamer might install.
A 9GB HD, lets see I think I installed a new HD in 1996, it died after
one day - sector 0 error.
That was an 850MB drive and could hold a lot of stuff.

Video editing multi-media stuff has always needed a system vastly beyond
the needs of any gamer.

Look, I'm not making the argument that current PC prices aren't
ridiculously high. I am definitely not saying, "you think it's bad
today, but it was always thus!" Because despite the outrageous cost of
the aforementioned PC, the comparison between it and modern hardware
is nowhere the same. After all, a 200MHz CPU was as near to a
super-computer as you could get on your desktop back in 1996.

A super computer that lost it's shit with F00F.
First Gen pentium after all.

Yet
nowadays you pay almost as much for a computer only a few degrees
better than what you probably already have. Not to mention, PC sales
were much lower in number, and hardware was just generally more
expensive back then. You can't always make it up by selling in bulk...
but a lot of times you can.

No, I just thought that the price of a PC back then was funny (also,
you know, nostalgia. It's a helluva drug!). All the more so since it
is so amazingly under-powered compared to almost anything you could
buy today. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if a Raspberry Pi board
could out-computer that $14K machine. This was a super-duper-high-end
PC in 1996, and now its so out of date that even most Linux
distributions won't run on it. But once upon a time, it was worth the
same as a luxury sedan.

That said... I wouldn't mind owning that machine. Look at that tower;
so beige! Look at that 'ergonomic' keyboard; so 90s! Look at that
monitor; so heavy! And it even comes with a subwoofer! All that, and
it runs Windows NT 3.51! Who wouldn't want such a beast?

And this if nothing else says it was never a gaming machine

I just wouldn't ever pay $14,000 for it. Or maybe not even $14.

You would if you were in the media industry, which is what it's aimed
at.

(Oh, and it's called the DRM 200+. C'mon, that's gotta be worth at
least a chuckle!)

Dollar Removal Machine.

Xocyll
--
I don't particularly want you to FOAD, myself. You'll be more of
a cautionary example if you'll FO And Get Chronically, Incurably,
Painfully, Progressively, Expensively, Debilitatingly Ill. So
FOAGCIPPEDI. -- Mike Andrews responding to an idiot in asr

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sat, 18 Jul 2026 18:48:28 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

We all know computer hardware is expensive, but how much is it really?
How much does a top-end PC go for, do you think? $3000? $5000? Would
you believe... $14,000?!? But it's true! Look here!

https://imgur.com/a/jPj7KsT

Except... oh wait, this is an advertisement from 1996.

My current rig is that I bought in late 2024 (which was spec'd more
for music production and video editing than gaming) was about $4,500
out the door (this was pre-built by a good vendor rather than bought
in parts and assembled, because the cost of their time is a lot
cheaper than mine).

On the same vendor's website I priced the same system the other day,
and it was $8,900 before tax.

The only part I could spec like-for-like was the video card, because
at the time I ordered mine with a 4080S and now the closest I could
get was a 5080 which would have pushed the price up slightly, but the
system was otherwise the same. Most of the price difference came from
a combination of RAM and SSD costs at the high end. Good 4TB SSD nvme
drives are through the roof.

An example in why "waiting for a better deal" may not always be wise.

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Sat, 18 Jul 2026 19:21:55 -0400, Xocyll <Xocyll@gmx.com> said this
thing:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> looked up from reading the >entrails of the porn spammer to utter "The Augury is good, the signs
say:

We all know computer hardware is expensive, but how much is it really?
How much does a top-end PC go for, do you think? $3000? $5000? Would
you believe... $14,000?!? But it's true! Look here!

https://imgur.com/a/jPj7KsT


Except... oh wait, this is an advertisement from 1996. For $13,999 USD >>($29,796.01 in 2026 dollars!) you get a 200MHz Pentium Pro with 128MB
RAM, a 9GB hard drive, a 4MB ATI WinTurbo Mach64 video-card and a 21" >>monitor! Worth every penny!

This isn't an advert for a gaming machine though, but for a video
editing computer.

Or a high-end workstation, anyway. It's definitely not intended as an
average work-a-day PC, that's for certain. Although they definitely
wanted to at least TRY to tap into that market, if the tongue-in-cheek
"We do not pay speeding fines" tag-line was anything to go by. But its
lack of any real 3D acceleration points to it being a work machine
more than anything designed for entertainment. Still, I definitely
wasn't comparing it to modern gaming rigs.

Possibly the modern equivalent might be something like the HP Z8G5
(approx $8000, although pricewise that's only about $3500 in 1996
dollars. Okay, it's not an exact match, as the modern workstation is comparatively low on storage and RAM but in the general vicinity,
anyway. (I just grabbed the first match for 'high-end workstation PC I
found ;-)

Mostly, my post was just a 'hey, look at this neat retro hardware, and
look how much it would have cost you back in 1996' sort of thing.

128MB of ram in 1996, lets see we were playing diablo1 then and game
like that barely used 4mb much less the 16 a gamer might install.
A 9GB HD,

It's a SCSI HDD too! The speed, the speed! ;-)

lets see I think I installed a new HD in 1996, it died after
one day - sector 0 error.
That was an 850MB drive and could hold a lot of stuff.

Back in 1996 (or maybe early 1997?) I think I already had a 16GB PC
with a 100MHz Pentium, with a 1GB HDD (and a 540GB secondary drive). I
can't remember exactly when I upgraded from the 486. But I can't
remember the dates with any precision.

A super computer that lost it's shit with F00F.
First Gen pentium after all.

No, this is a powerful Pentium Pro (a P6). It never suffered from that
bug! ;-)

(Oh, and it's called the DRM 200+. C'mon, that's gotta be worth at
least a chuckle!)

Dollar Removal Machine.

Heh.





--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

I am pretty out of modern PC gaming these days. I have so many old games to play! Lots of them were free. ;)


Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

We all know computer hardware is expensive, but how much is it really?
How much does a top-end PC go for, do you think? $3000? $5000? Would
you believe... $14,000?!? But it's true! Look here!

https://imgur.com/a/jPj7KsT

Except... oh wait, this is an advertisement from 1996. For $13,999 USD ($29,796.01 in 2026 dollars!) you get a 200MHz Pentium Pro with 128MB
RAM, a 9GB hard drive, a 4MB ATI WinTurbo Mach64 video-card and a 21" monitor! Worth every penny!

Look, I'm not making the argument that current PC prices aren't
ridiculously high. I am definitely not saying, "you think it's bad
today, but it was always thus!" Because despite the outrageous cost of
the aforementioned PC, the comparison between it and modern hardware
is nowhere the same. After all, a 200MHz CPU was as near to a
super-computer as you could get on your desktop back in 1996. Yet
nowadays you pay almost as much for a computer only a few degrees
better than what you probably already have. Not to mention, PC sales
were much lower in number, and hardware was just generally more
expensive back then. You can't always make it up by selling in bulk...
but a lot of times you can.

No, I just thought that the price of a PC back then was funny (also,
you know, nostalgia. It's a helluva drug!). All the more so since it
is so amazingly under-powered compared to almost anything you could
buy today. I mean, I wouldn't be surprised if a Raspberry Pi board
could out-computer that $14K machine. This was a super-duper-high-end
PC in 1996, and now its so out of date that even most Linux
distributions won't run on it. But once upon a time, it was worth the
same as a luxury sedan.

That said... I wouldn't mind owning that machine. Look at that tower;
so beige! Look at that 'ergonomic' keyboard; so 90s! Look at that
monitor; so heavy! And it even comes with a subwoofer! All that, and
it runs Windows NT 3.51! Who wouldn't want such a beast?

I just wouldn't ever pay $14,000 for it. Or maybe not even $14.

(Oh, and it's called the DRM 200+. C'mon, that's gotta be worth at
least a chuckle!)

--
"'Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.'" --Isaiah 41:10. God is 24/7 2 help.
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
( )

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)

On Mon, 20 Jul 2026 01:19:09 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant) said
this thing:

I am pretty out of modern PC gaming these days. I have so many old games
to play! Lots of them were free. ;)

I know; it's really hard to justify buying new games these days. I
mean, I'm at the extreme opposite end of your buying habits, and even
I don't purchase very many 'new' games.

I'm too embarrased to admit how many games I actually HAVE paid money
for in 2026*, but of the vast majority of those were either games I
purchased because they were on extreme discount (I can't resist once a
game gets down to the $1-2 range!), or were really old games I just
wanted in digital download form (most of which also were extremely
discounted).

But I only purchased a tiny handful of games that were 'modern', as in
'not cheap', 'requires a powerful machine to play' and 'from a major publisher/developer'. And even then, I only purchased them when they
were on sale.

There's just not much incentive anymore to grab the
latest-and-greatest. That it's getting harder to purchase the hardware
required to play those games makes those games even less appealing.







* but feel free to gamble on the number on Polymarket ;-)

--- PyGate Linux v1.5.18
* Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)