Features - QOTW: What's the best PC component you ever bought?

[Unique]

my first cd burner back in the 90s. a i can't remember if it was 2x or 4x speed. it was scsi and cost about £200 plus £30 or so for the scsi card. i had a standalone cd recorder a while before that, but being able to edit and burn discs on the pc was incredible at the time, making my own artwork too. a big leap in technology from tapes and minidiscs

after that, my first dvd burner would be next. that was 2x speed and similarly about £200. again, using a capture card i could put videos onto dvd, which again at the time was amazing. creating menus and artwork. to think you can get one for near £10 these days

[Sgt_Oddball]

Sapphire vapour-x 4890 graphics card, bought it just over 2 years ago to replace my toasted 4870 (xfx warranties as it turns out sound good but screw you over for a card less than a year old) and it still makes some modern cards look slow. Only now thinking on an upgrade and of that just a second one for x-fire

[Brewster0101]

You've all missed an important thing here, but that might be because some of you are not old enough to remember Adlib, the company that changed PC sound. From beeper to Adlib to Soundblaster (had a Gravis Ultrasound too - first dolby surround on PC!!) These changed the world of the PC. When the PC was struggling with games against the Amiga, ST and Megadrives, the one thing that held the PC back was its sound.

So my best component will have to be my Soundblaster Pro 16 sound card (not my Adlib card as shortly after its release Creative came along and up'd standard) - along with Wing Command 2. This was the point when PC's were turned into real games machines that could match any other console or computer and beat them.

2nd place goes to the Voodoo 1 graphics card - big milestone there too.

[howdee]

Don't remember the model number, IIRC it was "9000" something, but a... Cherry keyboard with a PS/2 connector. It survived all kinds of abuses, typing was a bliss on it compared to most newer offerings,... I could wash it under the shower, leave kids bang on it as much as they liked while gaming, it would probably even survive being run over by a heavy truck. I was really stupid to part with it when selling my old PC (It was an AMD 486, don't ask me about specifics, you'd laugh) and I have yet to find a good replacement for it after using probably in access of 100 different keyboards at home and at work. Simply irreplaceable. I really miss my Cherry (

[Sgt_Oddball]

Followed closely by the VOODOO 2. Two of them in fact in sli. Gave me a bump in resolution from 800x600 to 1024x768. WOW. Still got one of them in my bits and pieces cupboard:

Found 2 of them the other day digging around works server room.. might see if I can fire up a discarded copy of win 98 and get quake running on some of the old rigs sat around in there

[mark22]

Crucial c300 64gb a few years back, cost loads but still in this pc.

[Percy1983]

Adding 256MB extra ram to my old pentium 2 machine, made a massive difference.

Past that my current Q9550, bought it for £140 years ago and can sell it now for about that same.

[circuitmonkey]

Most components after the initial wow factor are soon forgotten (which is the way it should be, means it's not become noticeably slow or causing errors) so for me it's my logitech mx performance mouse, hands down (pun intended) the most comfortable mouse I've ever used

[goldcd]

In all honesty, my Vertex3, my first exposure to a decent SSD. Not sure there's been any upgrade I've felt so strongly that I'm "never ever going back".
Runner up would be my Gravis Ultrasound, especially when I'd expanded the RAM to a full Meg by ripping RAM modules off an old graphics card. That gave me Monkey Island 2 with both MT32 and SB pro emulation.

[goldcd]

My red NZXT Phantom case. Once I sorted out the loose rubber grommets and replaced a hopeless inbuilt fan control it really provides a eyecatching and well laid out case

Really?
I got a white one as I wanted a big case to hold 2 6990 and the kilowatt PSU (bitcoin mining). I hate the damn thing. Supplied fans, plus the extra ones I bought, have literally ripped themselves apart in showers of plastic, the "no screw" mounts have studs that're too wide so you have to strip the threads out of your drives, it's built out of cast iron, the extra internal drive stack is in the way and needs to be drilled out, and and.. well anyway, just wish I'd stuck with my old Lian-Li.

[Agent]

Voodoo 3 3500 - first real 3D card and wiped the floor with everything else on release. Brilliant drivers and very high quality TV out, which just didn't happen back then.

Came with a copy of Unreal - which pretty much defined my life from that point. I work with Unreal tech on a daily basis in a professional capacity now

[jharne]

Has to be either 486DX-100 or ATI Radeon 9700Pro

[TheVoice]

Probably my Core2Duo E6750. Bought it in August 2007, and only felt the need (or rather, desire) to upgrade last September when I bought an entirely new system. Four years is pretty damn good I'd say.

[Jimbo75]

Xclio Greatpower 700W PSU bought for £54 in 2008 for my Q6600, passed on to my 940 BE PC and now sitting in my 2500K PC.

[phili_c51]

My Voodoo 5500. My first ever 3D graphics card.

[directhex]

Albatron PX845PE Pro ii, in powdered silver finish. It was a work of art.