Author:
Alright, so. As anybody who's talked to me recently knows, I've been planning, and hoping, and planning on a gaming PC build for several months now. I've gone through about fifty redesigns, ranging from under 300 dollars up into the low thousands. I've debated between producers of this and that, what features I needed, even what to name the damn thing.
Well, last week I finally got the money together to purchase the parts.
I spent just over 350 dollars, and got what I was thinking would be a great build. Fast, powerful, and easy-to-use, all that I needed to do was assemble it, and everything would be A-OK.
As we all know, the best laid plans are usually the ones that fail most spectacularly.
I had an older computer laying around the house I was planning on using as the base for the build. Heck, it even had A DVD-ROM drive I could use, so I was thinking that would help save me money.
Well, the computer parts finally came in, and being the impatient sort, I set about assembling the thing.
Everything was going fine, until I came across the mysterious lack of a heat sink.
Okay, call me silly, but I had assumed that my processor chip would come with one, since it's listed in the packaging. Unfortunately, I forgot to take into account the fact that I had chosen to purchase a refurbished processor chip, which negates the inclusion of the heat sink.
Okay, that sucks.
So, with everything assembled, but unable to turn the thing on, I ordered a decent PC cooler and some Arctic Silver, just to be safe.
And waited three days for THAT to come in.
Meanwhile, it completely escapes my notice that I never remembered to attach the DVD-ROM drive to the motherboard, the ribbon cable laying loose in the case.
So today I finally get in the heat sink and silver. I install it. Yay! I can finally move on to installing the OS, right?
Right?
Wrong.
Turns out, the motherboard I picked out for having every feature I wanted? The one thing it DOESN'T have is any IDE ports to speak of. And the DVD-ROM drive I have? IDE.
So, now, I'm out of money and can't afford to purchase a DVD-ROM drive 'til this coming Thursday. But, hey! I can create a bootable USB drive, and install it that way, right?
Nope. I can load the BIOS menu fine, navigate it great even with a USB keyboard and mouse. I can even change the boot order through the HDD, or any of the USB ports on the thing.
But, no matter how much I try, I can't seem to get it to boot the USB drive I made from any port on the unit.
So, now I'm stuck waiting 'til this weekend, hoping I can bum a drive off my cousin to install the OS, after which I can FINALLY start seeing what the thing's made of, and where to go from there.
*sigh*
To be fair, this IS my first custom PC build, and I was expecting some problems from the get-go. On top of that, I'm frankly awed out of my mind I didn't simply blow the thing UP messing with things I didn't understand. Missing a few (usually) non-essential parts isn't as big a mistake as, say, getting a processor with the wrong socket, or trying to shove an ATX board into an ITX case, or some such thing.
Still, it's annoying, and really drives home just how inexperienced I am with the technical details of computer hardware.
I wanted this to be a learning experience, and beLIEVe me, it has. Still, I wish it was a learning experience that had been at least a leeeeetle bit less frustrating.
Melanie E.
PS:
For those interested, here are the specs on the build:
WD Caviar Blue HDD, 250 Gb, 7200 RPM, 6.0 Gb/s
Team Xtreem DDR3 RAM, 8 Gb, 1600 speed
ASUS A75M Pro m-ATX mobo
AMD A-8 2.9 GHz quad-core
I'm using the built-in graphics for the CPU, since the most graphically intensive game I own is Oblivion.
Diablotek 350w power supply
No, it's not gonna run the latest games at extreme resolutions and with 32x anti-aliasing and all that, but it's light years ahead of my lappy's Athlon II x2 2 GHz system, and should run Skyrim when I eventually buy it. On top of that, even after all the extra expenses, the overall build's still under the 400 dollar mark, so I can't complain too badly.
Comments
gaming computer specs
My gaming computer specs.
2.2 ghz intel quad core
4gb ddr3 ram
2.5 tb disk space
dvd drive
nvidia gt520 video card 2gb ddr3 video ram
dell dual 22.5" multi-touch touch screens.
razor mouse
wireless keyboard.
wired and wireless networking setup
p5 virtual reality glove.
7.1 surround sound speaker setup
on the router additional 2tb of disk space
Hugs,
Jenna From FL
Moderator/Editor
TopShelf BigCloset
It is a long road ahead but I will finally become who I should be.
It happened to me to! I was
It happened to me to! I was building my and my boyfriend's gaming computers so we can play high-end games together and I thought I would be able to reuse his old DVD-ROM but it turns out the newer motherboards we bought didn't have IDE ports even for DVDs! The best laid plans...
That sounds all too familiar...
It took me a second to realise you were referring to your motherboard as a "CPU," I've never heard that before. Building a computer for the first time can be a huge pain. I started "building" PC's when I was 12. Mostly it was just buying small upgrades over time.
The first upgrade I ever bought was a graphics card, I had to return it because it wasn't compatible with my motherboard. Later, when I was buying a new processor, I very nearly bought the wrong one (wrong number of pins) but I'd learned from my last mistake and caught it before hand.
These days I couldn't imagine not building my computers. It's a lot of fun, to nerdy me, researching and comparing and assembling all the bits and pieces. When it all comes together, and your gaming experience has been improved, it just feels good.
Starting on a budget was a great way to test the waters on building a PC. Now that you know all the hiccups to watch out for the next time you build a gaming rig it will go much smoother. This post really pointed out the need for me to build a new computer as well.
My computer's about 6 years out of date: 2 GB DDR 1, ATI 5670, and a Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz. Still plays newer stuff like Skyrim nicely (with shadows turned off >.>) but I know the games over the next few years are going to stress my machine out.
Now you get to sit back, enjoy the wonders of a lag-free gaming experience, and revel in the extra $800 you didn't waste buying a store bought monstrosity. :)
When I get Skyrim
Judging from user reviews of the processor I chose, I should be able to pull a playable 40 FPS on High settings at 720p, which is what I was going for. I don't care for anti-aliasing on most games, so I probably have a better chance of making good use of a weaker system than most "gamers" would, especially since I don't have hideously outrageous expectations for the system. Who cares if I can't play Battlefield 3 at better-than-1080p resolutions with 32x AA and 16x Anisotropic filtering and get 150 FPS while doing it? Most people can't really see a difference past 45 or 60 frames, anyhow, and when, like me, you've grown up with everything from the Atari 2600 on, you learn to deal with a little pixellation :P
The nice thing about the build, though, is that if I do end up needing a little bit more oomph in the future, another 200 bucks and I can drop in a nice graphics card and a larger power supply to power through just about anything that should come out over the next five years or so. After all, for 125 I can get the EXACT SAME GPU they're putting in the next Xbox. Can't complain about that, can ya? And I'd STILL be under the 600 dollar mark even after that.
In fact, probably the biggest limiter on my build is the hard drive. 250 gigs is TINY by modern standards, but I felt it was better to start with something small and fast, and add a bigger one later, when they're reasonably priced. Or, heck, just get a larger external HDD to hold my music and things, that way it's easy to move between my two computers.
Melanie E.
FPS
60 fps is computer industry standard. However, the eye can and does see beyond that. Anything below 45 FPS can cause eye strain. FPS is often misrepresented by the console manufacturers to justify their games running at 30 FPS.
They run them at 30 FPS because their consoles cannot handle anything higher, after all they are running on out of date technology (6 years old). By reducing FPS they're able to keep up (slightly) with modern graphics while not worrying about lag. That's also why FOV is reduced on console games as well and why textures are lower resolution.
On a TV, most people won't have a big issue while sitting far back on a chesterfield. On a computer it's an entirely different story. I more than agree you won't be needing "150 FPS", however if you are planning to sit in front of your monitor for extended periods of time playing with a low FPS (and FOV) has been known to cause eyestrain, headaches, and nausea in many people.
Skyrim is defaulted at a rather low FOV. I actually had to change my FOV to 90 but luckily it's just an easy console command. But Skyrim does have a good FPS. Although for me to have 60 fps, and have good looking textures, I had to sacrifice having shadows (they really do tax a computer).
You did very good leaving yourself room for upgrades. You can find great, cheap, graphics cards. I was actually forced to replace mine a year ago because my geforce 8800 broke. The thing I replaced it with was an equivalent of running two 8800's in SLI and only cost me $90. That was top of the line in 2007 (so I assume it's close to what they were putting in XBOX's at the time?). It's amazing what they have on offer these days.
The hard drive does seem a bit small to me but only because I download so much stuff. I get too paranoid to delete anything (what if I need it later?!). My next computer I hope to go for a TB. Honestly though, if you're not playing a huge selection of games (or downloading a lot of stuff) 250 GB should suffice.
With your current computer I should think you're set for a good number of years. Now I just need to get the money together to do the same.
Games
I'll be playing quite a large collection on it, actually.
I've got a lot of titles I've bought through gog.com, and a fairly extensive Steam library as well. Between the two, plus my Humble Indie Bundle purchases, I've got somewhere around 200 games I'll be putting on the thing, ranging all the way from Ultima IV and Might and Magic all the way up through Fallout 3 and Hunted: The Demon's Forge. There's going to be maybe fifty gigs of room left after I install everything, and that's before getting into emulation of some of my older consoles. Since gaming is all the computer's gonna be used for, I'm not too concerned about things. Heck, I'm not even going to be connecting it online except for the rare occasion I'm at my cousin's place -- that's what I've got a lappy for, after all.
By the time I get around to dropping in a dedicated graphics chip, the one I plan to get will probably be around 90 bucks. I'll get a 6770, and probably crossfire it, with my onboard graphics being used for physics (that's what the A-series APUs are designed for, after all.) With a setup like that, I should be able to match a GTX 480 or so for performance, and even with their comparatively-slow clock speeds, my quad cores should keep me sitting pretty for quite a while.
Melanie E.
did she edit it?
I only see her calling the cpu a "processor chip" and the mobo a "motherboard"... certainly not incorrect, though definitely not what a geek would call em.
Anyways... I actually never had any problems with these kinds of mistakes on my custom builds, even my very first one... of course, by then, I'd already gutted and rebuilt a number of older machines in new configurations such that they may as well be custom, I'd already installed early Gentoo from stage 1 several times, and well... Lets just say I spoke computer.
My current version of Behemoth:
i7 920 CPU
Radeon HD 6870 GPU
MSI X58 Platinum mobo
6 gigs ddr3 (one or more chips are going bad, need to replace the whole kit one of these days...)
Corsair HX850 PSU
I think like 2.5 terabytes hdd, three drives.
MountainMods Twice7 case
6 killer case fans all set to exhaust, generating a low pressure partial vacuum inside the case
I was running it on a very hefty oc, but the ram started to go bad, and I had to clock it down some to keep the ram stable. Once I replace the ram kit, I'll be clocking it up again. Need dat dere juice to run dem dere games, don't'y'know.
Abigail Drew.
Amusingly enough...
I've just built my own box - even thought the most intensive thing it's likely to handle is SimCity 4, since that'll be running on a Virtualised copy of Vista running simultaneously with my main OS (Mageia), the more resources my box has got, the more I can devote to the VM.
Gigabyte GA-880GM-USB3 Motherboard + Micro ATX case + 650W PSU
AMD FX-4100 Quad Core Processor (3.62 GHz)
8 GB DDR3
500 GB SATA HDD: / 10GB, /tmp 0.5 GB /var 27 GB, /usr 27GB, /usr/local 5GB, /home 376 GB, /swap 17 GB
80 GB 2.5" SATA HDD: Windows Vista Home Premium SP2 (rescued from a dead laptop)
SATA Multi DVD-RW (with LightScribe)
Onboard graphics and 7.1-capable sound.
The only hitch was persuading it to boot of the Mageia HDD after installation rather than the Windoze HDD - a jumper setting solved that one.
Oh, the previous box (again self-built) which I've got to get around to selling sometime:
ECS GeForce 6100PM-M2 Motherboard + standard ATX case + 450W PSU
AMD Athlon 64X2 Dual Core Processor
3 GB DDR2
250 GB SATA HDD
EIDE Multi DVD-RW (again with a Mageia install)
NVidia GeForce 9400GT graphics
Creative SoundBlaster Live! Player 1024 (the oldest component - sitting in its third PC!)
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
Would you recommend Mageia?
Once I have the gaming computer built, I'm going to turn my laptop into a strictly-business internet and writing machine, with my music as well. As part of that plan, I was planning on switching the OS over to Ubuntu, since I'm somewhat familiar with it, but I'm also always interested in trying new things.
Melanie E.
Yawn!
So this is the latest excuse for the delay in posting, Princess for Hire, is it?
If it doesn't have Shimano or Campag mentioned somewhere, it's gotta be kids toys. Now get back to using the 'puter for what it's meant to do, writing stories for us lot.
Angharad
(who has no idea what happens under the bonnet of her laptop)
Angharad
I'm'a Workin'!
It's just... slowly, at the moment.
Especially Princess For Hire.
I've gotten myself into a bit of a pickle, in that I know where and when the story's going to end, and I have a rough idea of the events in between. I just don't know how to connect them, and keep the story flowing well as I do so. On top of that, I want the characters to show legitimate GROWTH through the story, rather than just seeming like flat characters who never learn anything their entire existence, and that means taking into account how the events affect them, and how that changes their own reactions later.
It's hard work, it is.
On top of that, Switcheroo's at a standstill, not because of lack of ideas but, dare I say it, because of too many.
Then there's my story for EoF's DarkRealms universe, that I've already got plotted out and writing, it's just gonna be slow going, partially because it's a whole new branch of the universe and we're gonna be having to establish the rules as I go along.
The computer's not been a distraction at all. If anything, it's all that's kept me SANE.
Melanie E.
wait.....
The computer was for just writing? And all this time I've referred to it as my access to the *cough* adult entertainment.
Oh and the lol cat pages too.
Power supply warning.
I've used Diablotek, and probably still will, but here's the caution.
They're the bottom of the barrel of power supplies. If you bought a 350, it's probably 'safe' at 250 watt. It'll also last between 16-18 months.
That said, I've also never seen one fail and kill anything but the power supply itself.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Thanks for the warning
This pretty much follows along with the reviews I saw of it on Newegg.
I felt it was a decent choice (for now) for several reasons:
1. I ran my computer's specs through several "power supply calculators," from Extreme through Newegg's own, and came to a mean power need of about 275 watts at peak load, and that's giving the capacitors time to age.
2. It has two cooling fans, which all my research tells me is the way to go if you want to keep your power supply safe for as long as possible.
3. It was cheap. At under 20 bucks including shipping, it's one of the least expensive elements of the entire build, and if it lasts me eighteen months, well, I'll probably be looking to update it by then anyhow for the graphics card I might put in :P
4. While it was generally agreed it wouldn't have the longevity of some others, most people agreed that for it was unlikely to hurt my system even if something did go wrong.
When I eventually get what I *want* for the power supply, I'll be dropping in a 500 watt or so Antec EarthWatts unit.
Melanie E.
Antec uses garbage parts.
Antec uses garbage parts. Great design, but using the lowest chinese capacitors means they don't last. They fry as fast as the Diablotek.
Check at badcaps.net's forums for some suggestions. Usually, PC Power and Cooling and SeaSonic are solid brands.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
about Antec and garbage parts...
Actually not at all universal. Antec is NOT a PSU OEM, they're a case OEM, they just relabel PSU's built by other companies... so it depends on the line.
And actually, the Earthwatts are kinda midline. They're ranked as "good" units, not awesome, but they'll do what they're supposed to with a minimum of garbage on the line for the price.
Honestly, the absolute best PSU review guy I know: http://www.jonnyguru.com/index.php
Anything he says about a PSU take as gospel truth. The man tests the HELL out of the units, and I picked the one I have because back when it came out it was the only 850w unit with a nigh perfect score... by a guy that doesn't GIVE perfect scores. I could've bumped up to 1kw, where there were a lot more great units, but I really didn't need THAT much juice for my build.
Abigail Drew.
Re: If it's not one thing...
Hello Rasufelle,
So, I assume the ports you do have are SATA (Serial ATA)?
You don't have to but a new CD-ROM, you should be able to get an adaptor that will allow you to connect a PATA (Parallel ATA) (IDE) drive to a SATA port for a lot less than a new CD-ROM!
Regards,
Dave.
while true...
It's really a good idea to replace the unit. Why? Because IDE/SATA adapters tend to be mediocre at best and crap the majority of the time and NO ONE is making mobos with IDE support anymore, it's a dinosaur.
At best, if you run the old drive through an adapter, you'll have so much noise from the adapter that you CAN'T get 100% from the drive, and if the drive was mediocre to begin with, it becomes crap through an adapter.
So, imo, using an adapter is as good as throwing money away, it's an OK stopgap, but you still gotta replace the drive.
Abigail Drew.
This is such a girly conversation
I mean no mention of the colour of the case, or how pretty it is, you have a cute motherboard. Gee, my video card is gorgeous!
Angharad
(Yawns again.)
Angharad
Well...
My case is mostly black, with blue, red, and silver accents. It's really not pretty, it's a monster. Definitely not a cute mobo, it's another monster. And my video card is pretty much a monster too... hmm... OK, yeah, definitely not girly at all! At least, not stereotypically so... but I happen to know quite a few geeky natal women who can talk geek better than me.
Abigail Drew.
I love how mine looks!
Nothing on the inside's gonna be seen, but that doesn't mean it's ugly by any means.
My mobo has some really pretty, nice crisp Pepsi Blue heat sinks on it, and since I'm using the bare minimum of parts those really stand out first thing when you open the case. The RAM has a set of fairly sharp looking black heat sinks of its own, that doesn't clash with the mobo too badly either. Everything else on the inside's kinda dirty looking though -- the case I'm using was an old Gateway of my mom and dad's, and though I took time to clean it up, it's still a case that's seen more cigarette smoke, metal filings, and general grime than most cases should be able to survive.
On the outside, I kept the original glossy black for the side panels, but used a can of cheap black spray paint on the plastic front and top panels to give the unit a rough, sketchy matte-black look there, the scuffs as I move it around revealing the light grey underneath just enough to give it character.
The Whateley fan in me even already has a name for it -- Shroud. And, if I ever have the money to build my 1600-dollar dream build, I've got a name for that already as well, thanks to Diablo -- Horadric Malus.
Melanie E.
Yeah.
I love the way mine looks too, but it's good looking in a monster sort of way, you know? You take one look at the thing and your first thoughts are "that's a beast". That's why he's Behemoth ;)
Abigail Drew.
I get a laugh...
I get a laugh out of folks talking about building their own computer these days (assembling all the parts, etc.)... Because my first thoughts go back to the first computer I built... I built a Heathkit 150... And, for those of you who might not know what that was... It was a PC clone. I had to solder all the sockets onto the cards (no mother board - just a system bus that the CPU card, Memory Card, I/O Card, Video Card, etc... plugged into, and yes, I had to solder the bus together too...
It was an experience, and I saved well over $1,000 (which back in the early '80s was a LOT of cash... It's not a little today, but back then it was humongous!) doing it this way. Never having touched a soldering iron before the project (yes any of you reading this are free to laugh at my naivety), and attaching the hundreds of resisters, capacitors, transistors (yes, there were some of those), diodes, sockets, etc... Was an experience.
I got it built, and looked at the included CGA adapter and realized that the high resolution monochrome adapter I'd purchased didn't work... So I was back to the store... I initially got the CGA monochrome kit, but I splurged and purchased a Hercules adapter so I could use my old monitor right away while I built the CGA one...
Oh - the crazy thing... Despite all those hours of soldering and assembly... The danged thing started on the first try, booted DOS 2.11 on the first try, and it worked!!! Call me lucky!
I later assembled some later kits (much closer to modern assembly, little or no soldering, etc.) for one Aunt and my father-in-law (they were very happy with the results)!
Have I done anything but plug-in upgrades since? Nope. LOL That was enough for me. I expect my older daughter to take your assembly route some time in the next 6-12 months... :-) But, we'll see.
Fun hearing others experiences.
Annette
actually...
Most real hard core custom builds still involve much of that sort of thing... well, taking apart the existing and reconfiguring, anyways. And I don't just mean sockets and cables. There's a lot of serious desoldering and resoldering that goes on in some modern extreme builds.
Of course, the difference is that back then, "custom built" pretty much MEANT getting out the soldering gun (or iron, or both) yourself, today, that's largely just a very extreme subculture of a subculture of a... yeah.
I wasn't even alive then ;)
Abigail Drew.
*sighs*
Seriously, I'm ONLY 38... I have it on the best of authority - the god mother of my younger daughter is just short of a year older than I am, and she tells me she's 39, so who am I to say otherwise.
Yep, I guess I was serving in the US Navy at the tender age of ten (10) when I built that computer!
Thanks for the info on the hard-core types. Way beyond me today.
Annette
giggles
Well, I may have been "technically" alive, but I wasn't really aware of being alive... if you can get my meaning? Eventually I gained a little bit of equilibrium and become a little more aware of the world beyond, but even then... I think I've said it several times already, I wasn't -really- alive until last year.
Abigail Drew.
Update!
I am currently typing this up from my BRAND NEW GAMING MACHINE! Yay! :D
Not that there weren't a few hiccups along the way...
The hard drive I bought? DOA. So, let's just say I'm not gonna have a lappy for a while and leave it at that. Other than that, everything's working great, and I've got it filled to the brim with games already!
Now to just transfer over the backups of my writing work, and I'll be set to go!
Melanie E.