• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

what did you pay for your 1st pentium 3 and what was it?

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
I never bought a pentium 3 pc.

I paid around $2000 for a 300mhz Pentium 2 system when they were top of the line, and it lasted me a long time.

My next upgrade was a 700mhz Athlon Socket A, but the 1ghz Athlons were already out... I just decided it wasn't worth paying the premium to have the fastest thing out.
 
Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
Dimension XPS 450. I still have the damn thing actually. I'm sure my parents paid around $1500 for the system.

In 1998 I bought an XPS 450 PII with 256 MB RAM. (the last system I bought, instead of built) That thing screamed with the 2 Voodoo 2s in SLI I added just a month after I got it (it came with a TNT). Unreal was... Unreal.

I've since slapped a 1.4 GHz celeron on a slotket adapter in there, put in another 256 MB of RAM and updated the video card, optical drives and hard drive.

It runs great on XP and is a fine office/email appliance. Fairly snappy, actually. A nearly 10 year old computer!

BTW, here is the original receipt:

Shopping cart includes 1 unique item(s)
Total Price: $3,808.00

Item Detail#:1
Dell Dimension XPS R MiniTower--Pentium®II processor, 450MHz with 512KB L2 Cache

[220-0570] - R450C
Dell Dimension XPS R MiniTower--Pentium®II processor, 450MHz with 512KB L2 Cache, Pentium®II processor, 450MHz with 512KB L2 Cache
[311-6384] - 256ECC
Memory, 256MB SDRAM with ECC
[310-7002] - W
Keyboard, Spacesaver Windows 95 Quietkey Keyboard
[320-0033] - 16HT
Monitor, 1600HS 21" (19.8" vis, .26dp, 1600 x 1200 max res.) Trinitron Monitor
[320-3540] - 16STB
Video Card, NEW 16MB STB nVidia TNT 3D AGP Graphics Card
[340-7722] - 14
Hard Drive, 14.4GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive (7200 RPM)
[340-7016] - 3
Floppy Drive, 1.44MB Floppy Drive
[420-2083] - W98
Operating System, Microsoft® Windows® 98
[310-0589] - MM
Mouse, NEW Logitech MouseMan® Wheel (PS/2v)
[412-0084] [460-3797] - MO56SP
Modem, 3Com® USRobotics V.90* Modem for sound option
[430-0588] [313-1092] - DVD4
DVD-ROM or CD-ROM Drive, 4.8X DVD ROM Drive and Decoder Card
[313-0600] - PCI320
Sound Card, NEW Turtle Beach Montego ll A3D? 320V Sound Card
[313-0278] - ACS495
Speakers, Altec Lansing ACS-495 Full Dolby Surround Sound Speakers w/Subwoofer
[412-1500] - HEEP
Bundled Software, Home Essentials 98/Entertainment Pack - The Puzzle Collection
[340-2405] - FZIP2
Storage Products, Iomega Zip 100MB Internal Drive with Two Cartridges
[412-1212] - MCAFEE
McAfee VirusScan 3.1 at no additional charge, McAfee VirusScan 3.1 (For Windows 95 & 98)
[900-1600] [900-1602] - S3OS
Service, 3Yr Next Business Day On-Site Service
[06877-45] - APCSAP
Power Protection, APC Surge Station Pro 8T2

Single Item Cost: $3,808.00
Quantity: 1
Sub-Total for Item: $3,808.00

 
I never used Pentium 3's back when they were the top setup.

I used K6-2 and K6-3's...they were always competitive and much cheaper.

My K6-3 was a 550mhz with 64mb PC100 and a Voodoo 3 3000...it was pretty sweet.

I did have a Celeron 300A running at 450mhz, it was generally as fast as my friends P2 and P3's...but I always prefered my K6's I still have them in my collection and still are fully operational with good ole Win98se on them.

IIRC I think I paid around AU$180 for my K6-3 cpu.
 
P3 450
Chaintech 6BTM-L mobo
64 MB SDRAM (got nailed by that price spike... paid $225 or something for it)
S3 Savage4 32 MB
Fujitsu 6GB drive (still works somewhere)
SB Live 4.1
40x CDROM


With case, keyboard, mouse, 17" CRT, windows 98 and shipping it cost like $2200 IIRC back in September '99.
 
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: HeroOfPellinor
Dimension XPS 450. I still have the damn thing actually. I'm sure my parents paid around $1500 for the system.

In 1998 I bought an XPS 450 PII with 256 MB RAM. (the last system I bought, instead of built) That thing screamed with the 2 Voodoo 2s in SLI I added just a month after I got it (it came with a TNT). Unreal was... Unreal.

I've since slapped a 1.4 GHz celeron on a slotket adapter in there, put in another 256 MB of RAM and updated the video card, optical drives and hard drive.

It runs great on XP and is a fine office/email appliance. Fairly snappy, actually. A nearly 10 year old computer!

Yeah, I don't recall the price, but I'm sure it was under $2k. Got it with 64MB of ram and added 256 later. But the TNT card was fine for me. I had no clue about PC components back then. They literally do not make them like this anymore. It's still using the original everything. I have to turn it on about once a year at this point when I end up having to delay a rebuild and need to work. I'll keep it around as long as it works as a sort of testament to the Golden Age of PCs.

Like you, that was my last bought PC. I built an AXP machine a few years later which is when I first came to this site....using ATHD to find good deals on parts and wandered into ATOT and started messing around with people.
 
gateway made me a:

P3 500
128 mb ram
tnt 32mb vid card (not tnt2)
10 gb hard drive
48x cdrom

i think the total was ~$2,100 i can't remember.
 
Last intel cpu I had was a 486DX-50, probably $300 or something.

There were always those fun arguements over what was faster, a DX-50 or a DX2-66 system.

I do remember getting ahold of a free slot P!!! 850mhz in early 2002 and selling it on eBay for $200 (and I turned right around & bought an Athlon XP 1700+, KT333 motherboard, & 256mb ddr ram for the $200). I so wished I had more slot P!!!s back then, but alas just the one.
 
The only P-III I ever bought was in my laptop, which was $1500. I believe the original Athlon was the AMD equivalent? I probably paid $100-150 for each of the two Athlon Thunderbird chips I had (1.0 GHz and 1.2 GHz)
 
Dell XPS T-500

P-III 500mhz
128mb RAM
something video
something mobo

no hdd

$25 shipped.

I just bought it last week. 😀
 
Dell Dimension 800

P3 900MHZ
256 MB Ram
40 GB Hard drive
ATI Rage 3d Pro 128mb agp4x
15" Dell crt
Windows ME

~$2700.
 
Got emachines eMonster 550 in mid 2000. P !!! 550MHz, paid about 650 for tower without monitor. Parents still using it as their main computer. I was onable to explain to them that it is way outdated.
 
Pentium3 500MHz
$1200 for a prebuilt NEC system. After that I started building my own. It was a good little PC though it just kept going despite it's proximity to a Packard Bell.
 
my first computer was the slot 1 P2 350... one of the first chips with the 100FSB

Then I upgraded to a slot 1 P3 667Mhz...
I had the Diamond Monster Fusion 3d (3dfx banshee) grafx card
384mb of PC133sdram.
 
The first Pentium III I owned was an 850mhz 100mhz fsb ... no idea what I paid for it. (Went from a Celeron 366@550mhz to Celeron 533@800mhz first)

I still have a functioning Tualatin P-III 1200mhz system sitting in a closet... it retired from active use last year & I've been all AMD since then.
 
Originally posted by: ultimatebob
Pentium 3? Hell no! I was a Slot A Athlon man back then 🙂

I also had switched to AMD by the time that P3's came out. The last Intel chip that I bought was a Pentium 200Mhz Classic (non-MMX).
 
Back
Top