Poll: Can you build a PC?

[DTWolfwood]

I was curious about how many Escapists can actually get all the parts for a PC together and assemble it? Its a skill I regularly take for granted and has actually earned me some good money.

Post your rig if you have built your own too. Have you had any interesting (mis)adventures while building a system? Let us know!

I shall start with my PC

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 @3.2GHz CPU
Gigabyte EP45-DS4P motherboard
GSkill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-1066 Cl5 RAM
Galaxy GTX 260 896MB (216sp) GPU
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200rpm HDD
Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB 7200rpm HDD (for movies etc)
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium sound card
Cooler Master V8 CPU cooler
Silverstone Raven 2 (RV02) case
Corsair TX750 750W PSU
LG 22" 1920x1080 LCD
Microsoft Sidewinder X8 mouse
Microsoft Sidewinder X6 keyboard

Needless to say I love it. I will be hanging on to it in its present state for as long as possible. Next big upgrade will be the CPU, motherboard, RAM and GPU. Not for a long time though.

EDIT: better mention my misadventure. My friend spilt beer on my PC somehow. One of the RAM modules stopped working and prevented startup. A week on top of the hot water cylinder saved it. Lucky my mobo was smart enough not to boot with a shorted RAM module thus saving me a lot of hassle.

dude i didnt build my computer, because i don't know how but can if i tried, but i swear that spec is near identical to the computer i bought from IBUYPOWER. only difference is the HDD and it has some kind of liquid cooling system. lol

 

[stormcrow5]

Currently im just useing a prebuilt PC with a better graphics card, it gets the job done, but i have looked into makeing a custom PC but i dont have the money to actualy go through with it right now

 

[Jiefu]

I've never built a full system, but I have tinkered with pre-built ones. I've upgraded RAM, installed an ATi 4650, and removed the processor fan to clean it and successfully reattached it. I think I probably could successfully do it.

 

[SNIPERFOX ft. Harry P.Ness]

I did it with my brothers, and i overclocked my CPU and GPU recently:

AMD Athlon X64 3.0GHz Overclocked to the max
Nvidia 7800GT all latest Driver overclocked to 612MB
AMD 1TB hardrive, and 4 GB hardive
ABIT motherboard(forgot the model)

well, i forgot a lot of stuff, but this is the basics

 

[murphy7801]

Easy to easy to build.
Oh I recent rebuilt system specs:
I7 970
Rampage Extreme 3
2000 mhz DDR3 6gb
GTX 570 Gainward GLH
9800 gt physx card
Corsair H70
Corsair 1200w gold PSU
Fractal design XL
OCZ 64GB SSD
2X Western digital SATA 6GB/S raid 1

 

[RabbidKuriboh]

nope not even the foggiest

 

[NezumiiroKitsune]

Easily, I've made many upgrades to existing PCs, dismantled a number including the occaisonal laptop, and have experience in modifying hardware with overclocking to achieved the highest reliability and performance ratio.

However, due to have always been a student, having no employment and only ever buying laptops as my primary PCs now, I haven't ever built from scratch (unless you count stripping a PC and putting it back together). I do frequently build them theoretically though (every month or so) using the best sources I know to see how the market is going cost to performance wise across the spectrum (from the unlimited budget PCs to mid range gaming rigs, to under £300 and see if I can still get it considered gaming worthy).

I'm in the process of salvaging my last laptop for parts and to see if I can identify the problem myself, run some tests on bits of the hardware and such. Was hoping to salvage the screen but it turned out the cost and time involved in the effort was more than buying a new LCD monitor.

 

[Atmos Duality]

Yes, and I did so professionally for about 4 years.

As long as you get the proper case for the motherboard, hardware assembly is very easy (the part that seems to intimidate people the most is this for some reason. Just don't do anything stupid and it'll be just fine).
Hell, there are some modern mobo-case combinations that are easier to assemble than Legos.

 

[Aeshi]

Could if I really had/wanted to but I find it too much of a tedious chore to be worth the extra power.

My computer as is fills the minimum requirements for most games (and due to most PC games these days being console ports said requirements are probably here to stay for quite a long time.) and that's good enough for me.

 

[Quesa]

I bought my first pentium, a p100 IBM Aptiva, to play Mechwarrior 2, and that convinced me never to buy a pc someone else puts together ever again. I've made lots since.

 

[PastTheFeeling]

No, and I would have no clue how to.

 

[antidonkey]

I build all my computers except laptops. Last one I build for myself was about 3 years ago. It's till going strong so I'm getting a new video card. My 8800GTX is showing it's age but sadly the 6870 I got to replace was DOA. Hopefully Newegg will have a quick turn around on the RMA.

 

[Wolfram23]

Yes I have. An i5 750 build with crossfire 5850s.

I would like to make money off it. I was thinking about making a Kijiji ad about custom building PCs, but thinking about the logistics of it, it's not entirely sound. I don't really have a problem with going to someone's house to put all the parts together and get it running, but my gf seems to think it's very risky. But then she's from China, and who knows what kind of shit has gone down there...

 

[lacktheknack]

I've upgraded my entire machine, multiple times, but have yet to do it from scratch.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

there are 3 (and growing) intel sockets on the market that are still being commonly sold (1156, 1366, 1155), it is a high possibility that the 'new intel proc' needs a new motherboard too

The new extreme highend SB and IB CPUs (the ones not saddled with shitty integrated GPUs on the die) are going to be Socket R... think of it as the successor to Socket 1366.

there is 1 amd socket common on the market (AM3) and it is still being supported (and should be for a while), the 'new amd proc' will probably be released on this, meaning u can upgrade your processor without buying a new motherboard as well

Nope, Bulldozer 32nm CPUs will use Socket AM3+ and it's up in the air if their successor 22nm units will use AM3+ or if AMD will release Socket AM4 for them, although with Intel already announcing their 22nm Ivy Bridge CPUs will use the same sockets as their 32nm Sandy Bridge equivalents (1155 and R) AMD would cop a lot of flak if they introduced a socket change for the same thing.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

I've been building computers ever since I was a small child of... let's see, when was the 486/DX2 released again? Ah yes, 1992, so I would have been about 9 years old when I first put together my first computer; I've been doing that ever since - buying off the shelf is for suckers!

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

I've built my own from scratch, and i've helped a few friends do a few upgrades and i upgraded my grandma's computer

i didn't get paid from it, which i dont expect to..i find it fun and i wouldn't expect my friends to pay me for that.

my current specs are:

amd phenom II x4 965 (quad core 3.4 Ghz)
Asus m4a88td-5 EVO/usb3
8 Gig's of ddr3 1600 mhz ram
698 hdd at 7200 rpm
ati radeon hd 5770 gddr5 (x2 crossfired)
generic mouse
generic keyboard
rosewill destroyer case
660 W psu

 

[Xanadu84]

I Probably could. The difference between probably and definitely is not worth the risk of several hundred dollars, however.

 

[CactiComplex]

I've never attempted it, but I know roughly what to do, and with a little more poking around in the subject (and someone on hand to yell 'NO! That doesn't go there/fit into that part/connect with that!') I think I'd be able to put together something reasonably good. I will do it one of these days, you know, when I've got the money.

 

[Robyrt]

While I answered "Yes," I actually hate doing so and I would rather pay a tech-savvy teenager to do it for me.