Unboxing & Enjoying an 1, 899 PC from 1996! AST Advantage 622
video description
I miss that nostalgic era. I don't like how some PCs of the time were not open architecture but it was still a good era. Thanks for the video LGR
Date: 2023-02-10
Related videos
Comments and reviews: 14
Leandro
Yeah, I had like a ton of those bad long microphones. Eventually settled on a smaller mic that you could clip to a shirt or something, even though I never used it that way. Come to think of it I barely ever used the micrphone, so that little dude survived well into the early 2000's when I began using it for online combat flight sims. Back in around '96 or so I was still using my trusty old 486 DX-66 but soon to be replaced by a Pentium 133, which didn't last long, and then finally a pentium 166mmx that I loved so much. Fully loaded with two floppies, CD, CD-RW and internal zip drive. If I had to choose my favorite X86 machines that weren't primarily DOS rigs, I'd choose my 166mmx and my dual Pentium II 2x333MHz (BeOS. I sorely miss those. I don't miss the Windows 95/98 times very much, but those machines were awesome.
reply
Yeah, I had like a ton of those bad long microphones. Eventually settled on a smaller mic that you could clip to a shirt or something, even though I never used it that way. Come to think of it I barely ever used the micrphone, so that little dude survived well into the early 2000's when I began using it for online combat flight sims. Back in around '96 or so I was still using my trusty old 486 DX-66 but soon to be replaced by a Pentium 133, which didn't last long, and then finally a pentium 166mmx that I loved so much. Fully loaded with two floppies, CD, CD-RW and internal zip drive. If I had to choose my favorite X86 machines that weren't primarily DOS rigs, I'd choose my 166mmx and my dual Pentium II 2x333MHz (BeOS. I sorely miss those. I don't miss the Windows 95/98 times very much, but those machines were awesome.
reply
Blackadder75
interesting how things changed in the 90s. My 486DX2 from dec 1992 already had 8Mb of ram and the same HDD for the same price. And a 1Mb local bus videocard but it didn't have a soundcard or a modem or a CD-Rom, I had to buy those separately. And it had no software, except MS DOS 5. 0.
So in 4 years (which was a long time in PC land) some things hardly improved, but other things did.
My 486 was also around 1800 (it was a cheap clone brand, but it worked great and fast, I used it until 1996 and then I sold it to another student who got more years out of it)
edit: also it was just the bare computer, no speakers or other stuff included, only a keyboard. (and maybe a cheap mouse)
reply
interesting how things changed in the 90s. My 486DX2 from dec 1992 already had 8Mb of ram and the same HDD for the same price. And a 1Mb local bus videocard but it didn't have a soundcard or a modem or a CD-Rom, I had to buy those separately. And it had no software, except MS DOS 5. 0.
So in 4 years (which was a long time in PC land) some things hardly improved, but other things did.
My 486 was also around 1800 (it was a cheap clone brand, but it worked great and fast, I used it until 1996 and then I sold it to another student who got more years out of it)
edit: also it was just the bare computer, no speakers or other stuff included, only a keyboard. (and maybe a cheap mouse)
reply
Jyryp
That microphone, had exact same one in first computer, which my father bought in 90's. Must have been something used in a lot other computers too. Dont remember details anymore more than beyond knowing it was 133hz olivetti win95 computer in 1995 (though exact time is off a bit. Something i remember well is that, it always upon starting made this really awful alarm sound motherboard) that was very audible. It also included Games for windows 95 manhattan space station. Had doom 1st episode shareware aswell. Wish i could remember more since i was 7 only by then.
reply
That microphone, had exact same one in first computer, which my father bought in 90's. Must have been something used in a lot other computers too. Dont remember details anymore more than beyond knowing it was 133hz olivetti win95 computer in 1995 (though exact time is off a bit. Something i remember well is that, it always upon starting made this really awful alarm sound motherboard) that was very audible. It also included Games for windows 95 manhattan space station. Had doom 1st episode shareware aswell. Wish i could remember more since i was 7 only by then.
reply
Knut
I had one of those, and it was the worst piece of shit computer ever. From then on I never again bought a branded desktop computer. All components and peripherals that came with it were cheap garbage. And just about everything failed after 4-5 years. Only the CPU, the ISA modem and the floppy drive could be salvaged, everything else failed (yes also the keyboard and the monitor. The AST software bundled with it was pure shit as well. I'm am glad AST went bankrupt, they were some of the worst thieves ever.
reply
I had one of those, and it was the worst piece of shit computer ever. From then on I never again bought a branded desktop computer. All components and peripherals that came with it were cheap garbage. And just about everything failed after 4-5 years. Only the CPU, the ISA modem and the floppy drive could be salvaged, everything else failed (yes also the keyboard and the monitor. The AST software bundled with it was pure shit as well. I'm am glad AST went bankrupt, they were some of the worst thieves ever.
reply
Pp
This was right at the point where I really started building PC's from scratch. I would go to the trade shows to buy individual components at deeply discounted prices, like I could build one to these specs, minus the monitor, for around 400 bucks. I can still remember building my first new Pentium machine with the sole purpose of playing smooth videos straight from the CD ROM. We thought it was the greatest achievement ever, and couldn't get much better. My, how times have changed!
reply
This was right at the point where I really started building PC's from scratch. I would go to the trade shows to buy individual components at deeply discounted prices, like I could build one to these specs, minus the monitor, for around 400 bucks. I can still remember building my first new Pentium machine with the sole purpose of playing smooth videos straight from the CD ROM. We thought it was the greatest achievement ever, and couldn't get much better. My, how times have changed!
reply
Rediscovering
I am SO JEALOUS! Our first family PC was an AST 613e, a Cyrix 5x86 100mhz. Still works today without any replaced parts. The box is still in my parents loft I think. I so want that Clint! AST machines are just way overpriced by sellers on fleabay.
Quake + D3D look way smoother than on our Cyrix (I know, FPU. My mate had a P100 back then, Quake seemed amazing on that. Edit: Sorry, watching this at work, I didn't see the Spot part!
reply
I am SO JEALOUS! Our first family PC was an AST 613e, a Cyrix 5x86 100mhz. Still works today without any replaced parts. The box is still in my parents loft I think. I so want that Clint! AST machines are just way overpriced by sellers on fleabay.
Quake + D3D look way smoother than on our Cyrix (I know, FPU. My mate had a P100 back then, Quake seemed amazing on that. Edit: Sorry, watching this at work, I didn't see the Spot part!
reply
comictrio
I had a very reliable AST Advantage desktop, I don't remember the model but it was a great system. It had a Pentium 166 mhz cpu, 4x CD ROM. I bought it from Computer City and it was sitting on a table in the store marked Clearance. It ran Windows 95, and to my surprise it never crashed. I ran a ton of games on the system and it worked great. I regret giving the computer away.
reply
I had a very reliable AST Advantage desktop, I don't remember the model but it was a great system. It had a Pentium 166 mhz cpu, 4x CD ROM. I bought it from Computer City and it was sitting on a table in the store marked Clearance. It ran Windows 95, and to my surprise it never crashed. I ran a ton of games on the system and it worked great. I regret giving the computer away.
reply
uncle
That's a shame. As an ebay seller this REALLY makes me mad. What's so hard about listing a truthful listing. F. Y. I if u put in for a refund u 100% WILL WIN the claim. If they listed it as unused the item is not as described ESP if they put NOS in the description. I really wish u would because MAYBE it will teach them a lesson. Makes reputable sellers like myself look bad
reply
That's a shame. As an ebay seller this REALLY makes me mad. What's so hard about listing a truthful listing. F. Y. I if u put in for a refund u 100% WILL WIN the claim. If they listed it as unused the item is not as described ESP if they put NOS in the description. I really wish u would because MAYBE it will teach them a lesson. Makes reputable sellers like myself look bad
reply
Damaniel3
Specs-wise, this reminds me a lot of my first PC - a Packard Bell with the same Pentium, 1MB of video RAM, and 8MB of RAM. Even young, not-so-familiar-with-the-need-for-RAM me knew that 8MB was totally insufficient once I bought a couple PC games and found they wanted at least 16. A new RAM module was the first piece of hardware I bought for that old thing.
reply
Specs-wise, this reminds me a lot of my first PC - a Packard Bell with the same Pentium, 1MB of video RAM, and 8MB of RAM. Even young, not-so-familiar-with-the-need-for-RAM me knew that 8MB was totally insufficient once I bought a couple PC games and found they wanted at least 16. A new RAM module was the first piece of hardware I bought for that old thing.
reply
Dr.
perhaps: myst, planet blupi, rollercoaster tycoon, anno 1602, day of the tentacle, full throttle, learning company's super solvers (gizmos and gadgets) and operation neptune maybe biosys? or subculture? , marble drop, lost vikings. some should work. well just some recommendations from my childhood
looking forward to see you again at vcfmw
reply
perhaps: myst, planet blupi, rollercoaster tycoon, anno 1602, day of the tentacle, full throttle, learning company's super solvers (gizmos and gadgets) and operation neptune maybe biosys? or subculture? , marble drop, lost vikings. some should work. well just some recommendations from my childhood
looking forward to see you again at vcfmw
reply
Rob
I totally agree with that 'undervalued' mindset. I also have a bunch of machines upgraded up to the nose as I could not do that when I was young, but nowadays I keep two machines which are true to their time. Just to see what it was to play games and 'just deal with it' as you said. Playing at 10fps? Don't care. I CAN PLAY THE FRIGGIN GAME
reply
I totally agree with that 'undervalued' mindset. I also have a bunch of machines upgraded up to the nose as I could not do that when I was young, but nowadays I keep two machines which are true to their time. Just to see what it was to play games and 'just deal with it' as you said. Playing at 10fps? Don't care. I CAN PLAY THE FRIGGIN GAME
reply
lagia5
Awesome score also super jelly been looking a ast advantage but a slightly older model with the 486dx and 487 the case all except the power button is mostly the same, was my childhood compy, but that ast branded 95 and and the 3. 1 mine came with installed but came with the 95 disc's too bring back memories some awesome gaming memories
reply
Awesome score also super jelly been looking a ast advantage but a slightly older model with the 486dx and 487 the case all except the power button is mostly the same, was my childhood compy, but that ast branded 95 and and the 3. 1 mine came with installed but came with the 95 disc's too bring back memories some awesome gaming memories
reply
Beez
This bring me back to the 30 pin SIMM modules and frustrating performance with games. I ll be darned if I didn t still play those games at 2-6 fps. Decent comes to mind that game was my arch nemesis and ended up being my personal benchmark for quite a few years. Everything is a great improvement when compared to decent on a 386
reply
This bring me back to the 30 pin SIMM modules and frustrating performance with games. I ll be darned if I didn t still play those games at 2-6 fps. Decent comes to mind that game was my arch nemesis and ended up being my personal benchmark for quite a few years. Everything is a great improvement when compared to decent on a 386
reply
John
I wish I still had our AST, a Advantage pro 486sx/25 we had when I was a kid.
4 mb? Of ram
Windows 3. 1
Vga graphics (not sure how many mbs)
And a tank mouse
Ours got a SoundBlaster 16 upgrate kit with the card, cd rom, speakers, and software. The rom was tray loaded (the original was caddy loaded)
reply
I wish I still had our AST, a Advantage pro 486sx/25 we had when I was a kid.
4 mb? Of ram
Windows 3. 1
Vga graphics (not sure how many mbs)
And a tank mouse
Ours got a SoundBlaster 16 upgrate kit with the card, cd rom, speakers, and software. The rom was tray loaded (the original was caddy loaded)
reply
Add a review, comment
Other channel videos
