I built a computer

[ramis]

Yeah, I know. Most of you are thinking, "so what, I've built several computers." But, I'm proud of myself and I wanna brag. The build went very well. Hardest part was pluging in all the tiny connectors for the power switch, reset switch, and LEDs on the front panel. Probably could have done a better job on cable management. I didn't use an anti static wrist strap, just grounded myself every time before touching anything, especially the motherboard. No carpets upstairs so there isn't much static buildup in the house anyway.

parts list

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jXhTGX

Windows 10
Plus a free 1TB western digital HHD from my brother in-law.

[Ben]

Good job! It's always nice having a system that YOU picked all the parts for. Enjoy it!

[charby]

Cool!

I'm toying around with building a desktop myself, going weigh the costs of home built and factory built.

[Ben]

Cool!

I'm toying around with building a desktop myself, going weigh the costs of home built and factory built.

Pretty hard these days to build a system that's much cheaper than what you can get from the factory, but for any price point, I think you can most always still build a better system. Plus you know where the parts were sourced from, and for those who've never done it, I think it's a great way to learn and to not be afraid of the innards, both for potential troubleshooting and future upgrades.

Used to be you could consistently build both much cheaper and much better.

[Fitz]

no water cooling? no neon or LED lights? plain jane case?


0/10 would not play Cawadooty on

[RevDisk]

Eh, I built roughly the same build, but technically with watercooling. Corsair H60, which is technically water cooling. 

I do recommend it.

Good build!

[Fitz]

I was kidding.

Last one I built was about a year ago. I'll try to recall what I bought... hmm

I got an i5 (whichever one was the most complaint for OC at the time), an MSI gtx 870, Z87-GD65 mb, and liquid cooling (because I've never done it before, and this one was on sale for less than the CPU cooler I was going to buy

[charby]

Pretty hard these days to build a system that's much cheaper than what you can get from the factory, but for any price point, I think you can most always still build a better system. Plus you know where the parts were sourced from, and for those who've never done it, I think it's a great way to learn and to not be afraid of the innards, both for potential troubleshooting and future upgrades.

Used to be you could consistently build both much cheaper and much better.

I know, it what I did for 17+ years before I got my latest job.

[RoadKingLarry]

I know, it what I did for 17+ years before I got my latest job.

Kind of takes some of the enjoyment out of building a computer at home when you just got home from 8+ hours of repairing/building computers.

[ramis]

Cool!

I'm toying around with building a desktop myself, going weigh the costs of home built and factory built.

I highly recommend using partpickerpc.com to put your computer together. https://pcpartpicker.com Another good website to keep your budget in check and your parts choices realistic is Logical Increment. http://www.logicalincrements.com/#!/

I probably didn't save any money. Like Ben said, it was more for me to understand how a computer goes together.

[charby]

Kind of takes some of the enjoyment out of building a computer at home when you just got home from 8+ hours of repairing/building computers.

Very true, I'm so glad I can say I was an IT person these days.

[Perd Hapley]

I highly recommend using partpickerpc.com to put your computer together. https://pcpartpicker.com Another good website to keep your budget in check and your parts choices realistic is Logical Increment. http://www.logicalincrements.com/#!/

I probably didn't save any money. Like Ben said, it was more for me to understand how a computer goes together.

I just get a motherboard/CPU package deal from MicroCenter, and then get compatible RAM sticks.

[Brad Johnson]

You watch a lot of Linus Tech Tips and NCIX, don'cha... ha!

Nice build.

Brad

[AJ Dual]

I hadn't built a computer in over a decade, when it was finally time to make Mrs. Dual a Photoshop workstation last year, and I had to do a build myself to make it even somewhat affordable. (Spent around $3000 on all top-shelf components) Asus Z-something motherboard, non electrolytic caps, high end power supply. EVGA brand nVidia graphics card that cost more than anything else in the computer. Intel i7, 64gb of whatever 4xWTFBBQ RAM that's the best, 500gb SSD for Windows and boot, mirrored RAID1 3TB drives for storage, 28" 4k monitor.

I was in shock how well it went, and that I was ready and able to install Windows on the very first boot. I didn't have to adjust or fix anything. 

Quite the change from 22 years ago, when you'd spend all day putting the jumpers on the little circuit board that controlled the LED seven-segment Mhz "turbo" display for the "Hi" and "Lo" options, and if your case was a cheaper Chinese one, the jumpers didn't even bear any relationship to the "8" shapes the seven-segment displays mapped to, and your IDE drive would inevitably have the wrong Master/Slave/Cable-Select jumper setting.

And then IRQ's and EMM386 driver mappings in Config.sys and Autoexec.bat took another day or so. 

[Ron]

Big deal.

If you want to hit it big time you have to build a clock.

Do it right and you can get invited to the White House  

(Good job, my next desktop may be a project build)

[HeroHog]

I used to build my own all the time back when it saved ya a ton. These days I buy notebooks and toss them when they wear out (replacing the keyboard, HD and RAM as needed but if the screen or MB goes, meh).

[RevDisk]

Couple of random thoughts for anyone buying a PC these days.

If you're not doing high end gaming, video editing or niche work:
The i5 is just as good as the i7 for routine tasks, especially considering the price difference.
240GB SSD seems like the sweet spot. Always get an SSD. They're reliable these days and most come with multi year warranties. If you need additional storage, get a platter drive.
Minimum of 8GB of RAM will do most stuff these days, most motherboards can't handle more than 32 gigs of RAM. Upgrading later is dirt simple and easy.
The onboard graphics these days is comparable to high end graphics cards of four years ago. When I built a media PC, I didn't put a graphics card in it and the i5 handled BluRay/1080p TV perfectly.
Watercooling can come in a sealed single component system these days. No mucking about needed, and it's very quiet.

[brimic]

Big deal.

If you want to hit it big time you have to build a clock.

Do it right and you can get invited to the White House  

(Good job, my next desktop may be a project build)

<obama voice> You didn't build that. </obama voice>

[RevDisk]

<obama voice> You didn't build that. </obama voice>

In that case, he was actually correct. I don't claim to know the details of motivation and all the rest, just commenting about the 'build'.

Aside from undoing the screws, here's the whole process:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHk_6Vh4Qeo

[AmbulanceDriver]

For those who kept up over the years, is AMD still a better CPU for the price point than Intel

[J.J.]

That is a good job for your first go.  

This is the baby I am working on. I was able to grab a handful of servers from my last job. They were being recycled because it was a test rack for the company using do power and it shorted out.  obly 1/4 of the rack was affected by the short.  I got tired of hearing the server fans in my office. The whine of those multiple little fans is horrendous so I removed the motherboard from the cramped server chassis.


I have been trying to figure out how to cool the CPUs better. Currently I have a fan resting on each heat sink pulling air from not only the CPUs but the ram.
 Very little clearance, an odd socket size, and little disposable income makes it difficult.

Specs:
2 - Quad core AMD 2.3GHz processors
64GB ram

Why: why not.

And I know that my cable management isn't as nice as yours..  I am switching out some of the hard drives so I have extra says cables in that pic.

[bedlamite]

For those who kept up over the years, is AMD still a better CPU for the price point than Intel

With a low budget you can still find bargains that AMD beats Intel, and AMD's on board graphics are reportedly better, but if you're willing to spend more than $150 on a CPU and plan on a graphics board anyway, Intel is the only choice.

I built a new box a couple months ago, used an AMD A8-7600 65w/45w, ASUS A88XM-A, 8gb DDR3-2133, BX100 250gb SSD, and put it all in an InWin BL040 slim case, and the total was just under $300.

[AJ Dual]

AMD's of comparable computing power tend to run hotter, sometimes much hotter. And despite actually running cooler and having a lower voltage etc. the Intel's, especially Haswel i7's onward actually can handle higher peak temperatures, so can get by with smaller stock cooling units.

All in all, it doesn't really matter much, however some of AMD's price point gets eaten up by aftermarket cooler units.

I would never buy AMD in a laptop though. If you ever use it on a couch or a bed, it'll suffer automatic heat shutdowns frequently.

[Fitz]

Couple of random thoughts for anyone buying a PC these days.

If you're not doing high end gaming, video editing or niche work:
The i5 is just as good as the i7 for routine tasks, especially considering the price difference.
240GB SSD seems like the sweet spot. Always get an SSD. They're reliable these days and most come with multi year warranties. If you need additional storage, get a platter drive.
Minimum of 8GB of RAM will do most stuff these days, most motherboards can't handle more than 32 gigs of RAM. Upgrading later is dirt simple and easy.
The onboard graphics these days is comparable to high end graphics cards of four years ago. When I built a media PC, I didn't put a graphics card in it and the i5 handled BluRay/1080p TV perfectly.
Watercooling can come in a sealed single component system these days. No mucking about needed, and it's very quiet.

The i5 is just as good as the i7 for most gaming tasks too. Saved me a ton whch I then put into a better video card (much better use of the money).

too bad my currently most played game is 32 bit and DX9... so much of the extra HP is wasted :-D

[AJ Dual]

The i5 is just as good as the i7 for most gaming tasks too. Saved me a ton whch I then put into a better video card (much better use of the money).

too bad my currently most played game is 32 bit and DX9... so much of the extra HP is wasted :-D

All things being equal with lower to medium-end Intel graphics chipsets, granted the ones that come in laptops, but there's noticeable lag in my kid's minecraft adventures on the ones who have i7 cast-off laptops from work and one who has a commercial loss-leader Dell i5.