Part 1 of 4. Full breakdown below! Dissecting the IBM 5160 PC XT The 5160 was released in 1983 and these expansion boards made a lot of different things possible. The boards showcased are the color graphics card, the Hayes Modem Card, the AST 6-pack expansion card and extra 384K! Next was the SYSDINE! Hard Drive Controller Card and the floppy drive controller! The system board has 256K base RAM. The AST adds 384K for a total of 640K RAM. . . . . #ibm #retrocomputer #oldcomputer #expansioncard #n

80’s PCs Were Physical . IBM PC XT Weight Why was the original IBM PC so heavy: 🧱 1. Thick steel chassis (not plastic) - The XT used heavy-gauge steel panels and internal framing - Designed to survive shipping, stacking, and daily corporate abuse - Strength shielding = serious mass Modern PCs save weight with thin steel and plastic. The XT didn’t. 🔌 2. Massive linear-style power supply - Large transformer, heat sinks, and metal casing - Built for stability and longevity, not efficiency - Much