Poll: Did you build your own computer?

[sinterklaas]

Build my own PC a little less than a year ago. Was my first time, took me 6 hours but the first time I booted, it immediately worked and has been working ever since.

One of those little plates blocking the videocard holes (you know, those holes in the case where the HDMI, VGA, DVI, etc. connectors of the card stick out) just wouldn't come out so I had to smash it through. Nervewracking because I had already installed the motherboard...

Also, when I installed my CPU it made a loud grinding noise. I seriously thought I just broke all the CPU pins. Turns out that sound is normal because it's the motherboard bending when you push down that pin holding the CPU in place >.<

 

[BoredAussieGamer]

I built myne with the assistence of a mate of myne, although the only real part I needed assistence with was mounting my Cooler Master V8.

After building it all and turning it on to see if it all went right, I discovered I didn't plug in my power switch header correctly. Sounds straight forward to repair, but I had about eight thick cables in the way. One of them was my mobo power cable.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

Yeah I built my own computer, surprisingly without any problems. I did have a problem with it crashing two months ago and after nearly a month of trying to fix it I found a single RAM stick had died was the cause of all the craashes.

 

[Saulkar]

anymore than 8GB is completly wasteful

I already made it clear the 8GB is far bellow what I do as I large scale scene I test rendered in 3DS max used over 13GB of RAM when I had 16 available (not including what the system was already taking up). With 8GB Max would have to of relied on a scratch disk which would greatly slow down not just the render but the pre-render preparations and model translations.

as you've proven, more trouble than its worth

Upping the voltage required the alteration of a single value in the BIOS as a direct result of mixing kits. An issue independent of quantity of RAM.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Usually, I find the best option is to just get a local store to build a computer to your specs. You avoid the horrendous prices of Dell and the like and get a computer tailored just for you without the hassle of putting it together yourself.

 

[lunavixen]

I built my own computer this time, though I had to have my brother walk me through it as I've never done it before, that was interesting, building a computer at midnight over messenger with a tenuous connection on my brothers end. It crashes occasionally though i think that might be a driver issue, either that or I have a faulty RAM stick

 

[Snowbell]

I'm a woman so I went for the option 'sexist' since that's how society expects me to respond.

I have a heavy duty gaming laptop (emphasis on the heavy) since I'm a student and I need to move around a lot. I didn't build it myself and I'd have absolutely no idea how to build my own rig if the need arose, c'est la vie.

 

[Zack Alklazaris]

No I originally had a Alienware Notebook back in 06

3.6ghz
4gb of ram
Nvidia 7900 gtx 256mb

it was a beast for its time, but because it was an Alienware it kept burning up. I had to threaten to sue before they would build me another one for free. Now I have an Alienware desktop. Its really pretty and have had no problems.

I don't think I've lost too much geek cred for ending up with a pre-built desktop considering the circumstances.

 

[BlackStar42]

I'm using a laptop, so no. It can run EU3 and New Vegas, so I'm happy enough for the moment. That, and I'm totally broke- I can't afford a new computer.

 

[ActionDan]

I recently built my own from scratch, it has;

NZXT Lexa-s Case
An MSI Z77-G45 Motherboard
Intel 3rd Gen i5 3570K 3.4GHZ Ivy Bridge CPU
8GB's of Corsair Vengeance at 1600mhz
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB HDD (From old setup)
ATi 5770 1GB GDDR5 GPU (This was a card from my previous set-up, still runs games well but looking to upgrade that too)
An OCZ 850W PSU

Pretty much no problems actually putting it together, can't seem to get the fan controllers working though, probably due to some confusion on my part. I almost lost EVERYTHING when I got working because took it for granted that I could just switch the HDD over and everything would be fine. But it corrupted Windows in the process so I had to reinstall it. Fortunately it made a windows.old folder with everything from my previous installation in it. Thank youuuu Windows 7.

 

[Griffolion]

-snip-

Yes I did, twice now for myself, and countless times for others. And it went fine, I've gotten so used to all the best practices that anything going wrong will usually be down to a faulty part. To be honest, with how easy it is to build your own PC these days, any hiccups are a result of faulty parts, or sheer idiocy.

-snip-

Oh no, you haven't lost geek cred for having a pre-built desktop. You can get many that are amazing, like Scan's 3XS systems. You've lost all your geek cred, and are actually in geek cred debt, because your pre-built desktop was a frickin' Alienware...

-snip-

Wait, don't tell me you've built the PC up before you're turning on for the first time...

 

[DugMachine]

I prefer to build it myself. I enjoy building them for friends and family though if they'd let me. Most think i'm going to break their computers or something as if it's brain surgery but when they see how great a PC is for lower than retail price they start to come around.

 

[hazabaza1]

I got the parts, and my cousin made it while I watched and dismantled my old one for spare bits.

 

[Joccaren]

I've always built my PCs myself. When I was too young to do so, my dad built them. Buying a pre-built PC is a rip off, and I've generally had a more reliable experience with mine than with my friends pre-built PCs.

Never had any major issues either. I had a dud power supply once that I just swapped into my home server, and a loose SATA cable that kept falling out and causing my PC to freeze, but beyond that the only issues I've had have been with Drivers crashing occasionally, or not booting up at all. Quick internet searches have yielded that its a problem caused when a Windows update replaces drivers like my mouse and keyboard ones with default Windows drivers, which work only about half the time. I hate windows sometimes, and wish gaming would just move to Linux.

 

[Greni]

Yeah, build my own and am always upgrading, use the old/outdated parts in another box I have so I have two gaming rigs, one is of course far superior but the other holds down pretty well. It's also convenient since I kinda live in two places now.

Sadly no stories to tell, it's always a bit unnerving to turn it on the first time after a major upgrade but when something fails its a minor thing like I forgot to plug the motherboard power for the CPU or something.

 

[Calibanbutcher]

I have a Mac.

 

[Angry Camel]

-snip-

Wait, don't tell me you've built the PC up before you're turning on for the first time...

Yeah I know I should have done a test boot, but I already had the mobo inside by the time I remembered to and I couldn't be bothered to pull it all back out. And good news, it's working just fine.