Building Computers

[TheDarkCynder]

(Searched and didn't find a topic that I think is close enough, but if there is, sorry. x_x)

 

This is a pretty awesome hobby for me.

 

I recently finished my precious custom build. I'm really proud of it, and I'm really happy to see it finally finished. Surely I can't be the only one with interest in this hobby. Even if you haven't built a computer before, maybe you want to? Maybe you're building one right now? I really like seeing pictures of other people's custom built computers, so if you have any, show them off!

 

Here's some pictures of mine over time throughout building it.

 

Here I only had the optical drive, the two HDDs, the SSD, and the PSU installed. If you're wondering why the PSU is on the bottom, yes, it is supposed to go there on this tower.

 

Here's the computer with everything installed! Though it hadn't been turned on yet...

 

I plugged it in...and it worked! Best sight ever.

 

After a little bit of cable management and closing the tower...

 

Shiny.

 

Here's the specs:

CPU: Intel i7-2600k @ 3.8 GHz

CPU Heat Sink: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO

GPU: Nvidia GTX 670 (Gigabyte's model)

RAM: 2x Kingston HyperX 8 GB DDR3 (Total of 16 GB)

HDDs: (2 1 TB Caviar Black HDDs) in RAID 0 configuration.

SSD: Samsung 256 GB

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LK

PSU: ASUS EarthWatts Platinum Certified 650w

[wonton55912]

*drools* that is one boss machine.

I've never gotten farther than taking RAM out of a laptop with a broken video card and keyboard (it was pretty screwed up) and putting it into another one

It felt so awesome when it worked.

[snave]

The last one I built was a quad core w/4GB of RAM. I wanted to make sure it wouldn't overheat.

 

 

I called that a "wind tunnel with heat pipes".

 

And the result was awesome!

 

 

You can see a DragCave page up on the left of the monitor. The blue LED semi-circle inside the transparent cover is the fan.

[Gsea]

I've never built a computer in my life and maybe never will But my dad is a total computer geek. He builds, repairs, and practically collects them. I used to watch him putting them back together, sitting at the kitchen table looking at the small parts.

[7Deadly$ins]

Nice, that's better than my build. My poor, poor build that is currently dead.

[TikindiDragon]

We build our own. Have done for years. The thing that always get me is when it'll work fine before you close the case up - then when you've closed the case and put it where it needs to live it suddenly decides it doesn't want to boot again. Bloody machines....

[demonicvampiregirl]

We've had like 2-3 or maybe 4 computers built here. Mine current one is one of them. It was my graduation gift. Took all the money I got from graduation and my dad got the parts and built it himself. Have installed one video card on my own and my dad put one in recently that I helped with.

 

I prefer custom built ones over pre-built ones anyday. The only one time I can admit to liking a pre-built one was this Northgate computer we had. Ran perfectly and never went bad until the RAM decided to quit on me during a reboot.

[sushi9]

I'd like to build a computer someday. BTW, that computer is pretty awesome. I've just recently taken intrest in computers, I've only been exposed to laptops so... But my dad just bought a Mac Mini for my grandpa, and I was like what the heck?? Because I was so confuzzled. But now it's my dream to build at least one computer.

[macosten]

Come back with more than 50 GB of RAM, better yet, 100 or more. THEN we'll talk.

[SilverX7Studios]

Facinating. I'd like to build a computer, I just don't have the time or resources. :< My dad and brother are also quite interested in it, and we even have several ancient computers in the basement which we eventually plan to dissemble and use the parts to make a bigger computer.

 

...or something like that.

[TikindiDragon]

Come back with more than 50 GB of RAM, better yet, 100 or more. THEN we'll talk.

Commercially available motherboards max out at 96 GB of RAM. And even then, there's no sodding point. Unless you're trying to build a server there's nothing you'd want to do with a home computer that would realisticaly require much more than the 16GB she's putting in there already.

 

Total fail on trying to look like a computer whizz there, mate.

 

Edit: to change a gender pronoun. My apologies Cynder.

Edited September 16, 2012 by TikindiDragon

[7Deadly$ins]

Commercially available motherboards max out at 96 GB of RAM. And even then, there's no sodding point. Unless you're trying to build a server there's nothing you'd want to do with a home computer that would realisticaly require much more than the 16GB she's putting in there already.

 

Total fail on trying to look like a computer whizz there, mate.

 

Edit: to change a gender pronoun. My apologies Cynder.

Hell, you'd have a hard time getting up to 16 unless you're doing some really, really intensive work. I do juuust fine with eight, any more for what I do would be overkill.

[ghrowl]

We build our own. Have done for years. The thing that always get me is when it'll work fine before you close the case up - then when you've closed the case and put it where it needs to live it suddenly decides it doesn't want to boot again. Bloody machines....

that happens to me ALL the time!!

so annoying...

[Syaoransbear]

Come back with more than 50 GB of RAM, better yet, 100 or more. THEN we'll talk.

What a waste of ram. There's nothing that would utilize that much ram, and by the time something does utilize that much ram your existing ram will be incredibly obsolete and inefficient. Waste of money.

 

I've been building all of my own computers for maybe 8 or so years. My current one is a little old, I think the newest thing I added is the case. The case is a beast and really sucks to move. My last one had a handle which was really convenient.

 

I like my cords tidy.

Edited September 17, 2012 by Syaoransbear

[TheDarkCynder]

My tower isn't the best for cable management. I don't like that part of building. ;P My management looks okay, but I'm probably going to pop it back open sometime this weekend and put a few more ties in there.

[gjhhhhhh]

I'd like to make a computer > The finished stuff you see in stores look too good to be true until you get them

[Windnose]

A couple years ago, my brother and I both bought almost identical used laptops. Not even a year later, my brother started having all of these problems with his laptop and got tired of throwing his money away so he went out and bought a much better desktop; my laptop is still barely kicking. Over the past few months, I've been taking advantage of my brother's broken laptop and have been swapping parts when needed. This has made me become very interested in building my own laptop. A month or two ago, I had someone take a look at my laptop again and they gave me 6 months to a year before my laptop's motherboard will finally bite the dust (it's already not recognizing my wireless module or battery, it's freezing daily, and about once every two weeks my laptop will do emergency crash dumps).

 

Once income taxes come in, I want to buy a new laptop. But would it be better or cheaper just to build one (I've never built one before)? Or should I just buy one?

After more googling on this, it looks like it will be best to just buy one for now. >.<

Edited November 3, 2012 by Windnose

[7Deadly$ins]

Yeah, building laptops is not really a thing that people do.

[Fuzzbucket]

So far all I have done was design my own and get someone else to build it (that way if it went pearshaped they had to fix it.) But when my old reliable does die, I shall use the tower to create a new one running Linux. A challenge to get things in to an existing old fashioned tower, but I shall try !

[Sylvan_Moon]

Well, my idea of "building" my own computer is picking out the parts from the computer store and have the technicians (or my boyfriend) put it together. Lol. I'm familiar enough with the hardware types or what's compatible with what board, or what components do well with resource-intensive games, but I just don't like doing the manual labor.

 

*I'm drooling over Cynder's specs*

[Shienvien]

Have always built my own computers. Sometimes do it for others, too - mainly when they ask me to.

[Switch]

i dont really know anything about it but my dad's built every computer in the house except for all mine for some reason

[whitebaron]

In my experience, its only a good idea to build your own computer if there's specialised needs/wants or you like it as a hobby.

 

The money you save is typically annuled by:

- buying better parts you might never need

- lots of own time spent.

- shipment or driving costs

 

 

So, I stopped building my own once I graduated and had a job.

[Shienvien]

The money you save is typically annuled by:

- buying better parts you might never need

- lots of own time spent.

- shipment or driving costs

 

I disagree here.

 

1.) ...You are supposed to take account of your needs before you order or buy the parts, you know. It is no different from not buying a top-notch gaming computer to someone who only uses it to read e-mail, really. If you don't think your options through, you're going to lose money either way.

 

2.) Going through the properties of different parts takes about the same amount of time whether you are comparing those contained in preassembled computers or taking all of the components individually. Actually assembling the computer once I have all the parts at hand takes maybe hour or hour and a half.

 

3.) Most of the time I can buy the parts from a shop which shares parking lot with the mall I generally buy food from... And plenty of companies here offer free shipping (plus the components themselves are cheaper online than in store).

[Crockturtle566]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Zury

Finale build figured out.