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Bruno Ferreira Social Links Navigation Contributor Bruno Ferreira is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware. He has decades of experience with PC hardware and assorted sundries, alongside a career as a developer. He's obsessed with detail and has a tendency to ramble on the topics he loves. When not doing that, he's usually playing games, or at live music shows and festivals.
stuff and nonesense Around that time – Pentium MMX 233 @ 266, 16MB, Tyan motherboard, ATI XPert @play, Soundblater 16, 19”HP monitor from the local computer fair.. The machine felt incredibly fast.. until I got an Athlon a few years later. Reply
rluker5 I work in a chemical factory with control systems, control room, remote control stations, etc. They currently run off of 3 different software packages: APACS/Wonderware, Allen Bradley Factorytalk, and DeltaV. The APACS is most user friendly and runs off almost no hardware. Snappy and responsive on Pentium 4s with 512mb ram and token hard drives. Can't get the charms for it anymore because they have been out of production for a while so it is being phased out by DeltaV. The last reactors still using it are in the process of being migrated off of it right now. Which will make about a dozen old working Pentium 4 systems, most with HT, of no use. The main guy running it has become a pack rat with components, for availability reasons, but may finally cut these old PCs loose. Not sure I would want one that much. Maybe if my daughter won't clean her room I could switch out her 13600k pc hooked up to a 4k tv for one hooked up to a 1280×1024 with built in motion blur? I couldn't afford the name brand Pentiums back in the day and had a slower Celeron so not that nostalgic for me. Over 10 years later I picked pc up as a hobby and got into the 1150 socket and already have a higher end for that socket (with 5775c, Rebar(A750) + NVME boot (Optane 118GB) running with a PCI HTO Claro soundcard) pc for my nostalgia build so a P4 build would be returning to the youth I never knew. Reply
FoxtrotMichael-1 I have a theory about why people might be especially nostalgic about this period of computing even though modern devices are, objectively, far superior. Never before in my lifetime have companies been more hostile to their customers with predatory practices, dark patterns, and hostile pricing practices and this is present in the tech industry even more than others. People don’t want Copilot, data collection, telemetry for advertising, and hyper-inflated and opportunistic pricing. This period in tech was completely different: companies were still invested in delighting the consumer. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t want to even participate in the modern economy because every transaction feels like I’m being taken advantage of. I’m probably just an old man shaking my fist at the sky but that’s the way I see it. Reply
quorm If you consider inflation, PCs are probably still cheaper today than they were then, aside from something like a 5090, of which there was no equivalent then. Reply
usertests rluker5 said: with 5775c Nice. quorm said: If you consider inflation, PCs are probably still cheaper today than they were then, aside from something like a 5090, of which there was no equivalent then. And the stagnation in CPU performance means you can pick up some 2010s "e-waste" for peanuts and absolutely crush period-accurate retro builds like this one. Even the integrated graphics (like HD 530) is good. Reply
FoxtrotMichael-1 quorm said: If you consider inflation, PCs are probably still cheaper today than they were then, aside from something like a 5090, of which there was no equivalent then. The price isn’t the problem. I’ve even defended the RAM prices in previous threads (supply and demand after all). The practices are the problem. These companies view their consumers as a resource to be exploited. I wouldn’t expect anyone under the age of 35 to really get what I’m talking about. The entire atmosphere of being a consumer in the free market has changed. Reply
usertests FoxtrotMichael-1 said: The price isn’t the problem. I’ve even defended the RAM prices in previous threads (supply and demand after all). The practices are the problem. These companies view their consumers as a resource to be exploited. I wouldn’t expect anyone under the age of 35 to really get what I’m talking about. The entire atmosphere of being a consumer in the free market has changed. Linux usage has exploded from 2% to 3%, so we're headed in the right direction. Reply
FoxtrotMichael-1 usertests said: Linux usage has exploded from 2% to 3%, so we're headed in the right direction. 😂😂 Reply
mccainm FoxtrotMichael-1 said: I have a theory about why people might be especially nostalgic about this period of computing even though modern devices are, objectively, far superior. Never before in my lifetime have companies been more hostile to their customers with predatory practices, dark patterns, and hostile pricing practices and this is present in the tech industry even more than others. People don’t want Copilot, data collection, telemetry for advertising, and hyper-inflated and opportunistic pricing. This period in tech was completely different: companies were still invested in delighting the consumer. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t want to even participate in the modern economy because every transaction feels like I’m being taken advantage of. I’m probably just an old man shaking my fist at the sky but that’s the way I see it. I agree with you…but this is both a company and consumer issue. Consumers are just as frustrating to a company as vice versa. Consumers want everything and they want it now. There is also no pleasing everyone. We shouldn't be on an annual cycle for TVs, phones, etc. It could be more like cars. They improve gradually over a generation…performance, longevity, etc. Less wasteful too. As for prices, there are a lot of contributors. Mining and data center effects on supply chains are well documented. Politics and regulations (both parties contribute) are another. Even lawsuits. When people cheer on when Nvidia, AMD, or Intel lose a lawsuit, those losses are recouped in future product costs. Lawyers win, the plaintiffs get something, but everyone else loses in the long run. It isn't just the tech industry either. There are legitimate cases to bring against companies and there are frivolous ones. I just want a high performing, reliable, PC at a reasonable price:) Reply
quorm FoxtrotMichael-1 said: The price isn’t the problem. I’ve even defended the RAM prices in previous threads (supply and demand after all). The practices are the problem. These companies view their consumers as a resource to be exploited. I wouldn’t expect anyone under the age of 35 to really get what I’m talking about. The entire atmosphere of being a consumer in the free market has changed. The number of under 35s posting on pc hardware forums (or any forum) is tiny. The reason the market feels different is because a niche hobby has gotten even smaller with fewer consumers and fewer manufacturers. But, consumers have always been a resource to be exploited, that's just business. Reply
Key considerations
- Investor positioning can change fast
- Volatility remains possible near catalysts
- Macro rates and liquidity can dominate flows
Reference reading
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/retro-gaming/SPONSORED_LINK_URL
- https://www.tomshardware.com/video-games/retro-gaming/exhaustion-with-tech-market-prompts-youtuber-to-remake-their-first-pc-1996-build-fueled-by-nostalgia-and-ai-weariness#main
- https://www.tomshardware.com/membership
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Informational only. No financial advice. Do your own research.