{"id":1637026,"date":"2026-07-18T04:20:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T04:20:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/Hn3g6TAYq5RGaAEWFHJJX7"},"modified":"2026-07-18T04:20:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T04:20:20","slug":"how-much-ram-do-you-need-for-an-ultimate-gaming-machine-july-in-pc-gamer-10-20-and-30-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/how-much-ram-do-you-need-for-an-ultimate-gaming-machine-july-in-pc-gamer-10-20-and-30-years-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"How much RAM do you need for an ‘ultimate gaming machine?’ July in PC Gamer 10, 20, and 30 years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"
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What’s the name for that phenomenon when you learn about something for the first time and then start seeing it everywhere? Ah, the frequency illusion! I was frequently illused while scanning through these July 1996, 2006 and 2016 issues of PC Gamer magazine, because they just keep talking about RAM. And given our current RAMpocalypse<\/a>, well, it all just seems very timely.<\/p>\n

I guess the other explanation is that PC gamers are always<\/em> talking about RAM.<\/p>\n

It’s wild in hindsight that a photograph of a beige desktop would take priority over a review of Civilization 2 as the cover of the July 1996 issue. Was that really moving copies on the newsstand!? The 2006 and 2016 issues are a lot more striking. Pour one out for LawBreakers, which current PC Gamer US Editor-in-Chief Tyler Wilde previewed at the time and liked. “Whenever it’s out, I’m confident LawBreakers can challenge all its cute and colorful competition. Not so much with blood or cursing, but with grappling hooks, afterburners, and zero-g no-look behind-the-back headshots,” he wrote. <\/p>\n

LawBreakers! Was!! Good!!! <\/em>But the tone was just all wrong for the time it came out, and as we’ve seen from a number of failed attempts to launch a new multiplayer FPS since, it’s incredibly hard to get people to latch onto a game in that more arena shooter style.<\/p>\n

What was on the cover?<\/span><\/h2>\n

July 1996: The Ultimate Gaming Machine (US, issue #26)<\/h3>\n
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\"PC<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>

(Image credit: Future)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cover story:<\/strong> “The Ultimate Gaming Machine” by Dan Bennett<\/p>\n

There’s no magazine feature destined to age more poorly than one highlighting the very best in computer hardware at that very moment. Then again, in this era of AI-driven pricing madness, a great PC from a few years ago (at the prices of a few years ago, too) actually does<\/em> look mighty compelling today. As for a $3000 PC in 1996? Well, nostalgia’s got to do a bit more heavy lifting here. <\/p>\n

For the money, the July 1996 PC Gamer cover feature was recommending a 166 MHz Pentium with 16 whole megabytes of RAM, a 1GB HDD, a Super VGA card with 2-4 MB of VRAM, the ever-reliable SoundBlaster 16, and a 17-inch CRT monitor. The screen is probably the bit we’d still get some use out of today. <\/p>\n

The other hotness in the ultimate rig included an 8x CD-ROM drive (we weren’t even talkin’ burners, at this point) and a 28.8 kbps modem; I guess 56k wasn’t an option just yet. “Even at 28.8k, some of the fancier web pages will take a minute or more to download,” Bennett warned.<\/p>\n

Cover hits:<\/strong><\/p>\n