Poll: Did you build your own computer?

[Greni]

-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.

Actually it's not nearly as necessary as some people claim. Stress tests/boot tests are generally for systems one feels will likely be unstable and of course computer shops do it to be sure not to sell a buggy product.

Trust me, I'm a doctor.

 

[Griffolion]

-snip-

Breadboarding is your friend. MASSIVE time saver in the occasion something is wrong with one of your components.

Spoiler

 

[Snotnarok]

I've built many a PC, infact I've built all but the laptops I got mostly because it's 100x cheaper and just feels less like the garbage I've seen elsewhere.

It's a bit old but it runs battlefield 3 if need be, I guess that's the current benchmarking game?

Best part about it is that I got a Wacom 12wx hooked up to it so digital painting is fun and more directly shown.
Second best thing is it's hooked up to my TV, so with the press of a button on my receiver I can turn around and play games with a PS2/360 controller super easy.

 

[IndomitableSam]

I need all of you to live near me, then. For some reason I have zero confidence in being able to build one myself. I'm not sure why, but I'm terrified I'll screw it up badly.

Though I have figured out a build through help on the advice forums and I'll have it built and sent to me anyway. Though with the Torchlight release date coming tomorrow I might want to get on that...

Does that count?

 

[Rinshan Kaihou]

I've beuilt many computers over the years.

1st one was freshman year of high school (6 years ago)
Intel Pentium II 450Mhz
Tyan S1854 Trinity 400 Mobo (VIA Apollo Pro133 chipset)
Radeon 9600SE
Maxtor 160GB HDD
512MB PC133 SDRAM
Windows XP
HiPro 305W PSU

likeaboss.jpg. I had that computer in one form or another for a year. I eventually upgraded
it to a Pentium III 866Mhz (that mobo had both Slot 1 and Socket 370)

Next was
AMD Athlon XP +2700 T-Bred B @ 2.27Ghz
ECS K7S5A mobo (SiS 735 chipset)
Radeon 9600SE
Maxtor 160GB HDD
1GB DDR-266 (PC2100)
Windows XP
HiPro 305W PSU

Had that for about a year as well. Next computer was inherited, and upgraded.
Gateway 832GM
Intel Pentium 4 630 (3Ghz, Preshot 2M)
Intel D915GSE BTX mobo
BFG Geforce 6600GT (eventually upgraded to a Radeon 2600XT)
WD 250GB SATA HDD
2GB DDR-400 (PC3200)
Windows XP
Kingwin ABT-450mm PSU

Had that for about another year, and the next one was first brand new build.

Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 (OC to 3.6Ghz) (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler)
Gigabyte GA-EP43-DS3L Motherboard
4GB Patriot DDR2-800
AMD Radeon HD 4670
WD 640GB Blue HDD
Windows Vista (Windows 7 once the beta was out)
Kingwin ABT-450mm (Upgraded to Antec Neo Eco 400C PSU)

Had that for 2 years, and then upgraded again.
AMD Phenom II X4 965BE (3.8Ghz) (Corsair H50 Cooler)
ASUS M4A88TD-V EVO/USB3 Mobo
2x XFX Radeon HD 5770 in Crossfire
8GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333
WD 640GB Blue HDD + Intel X-25V 40GB SSD
Windows 7
Antec Neo Eco 400C PSU (Upgraded to XFX 650W Pro PSU with the 2nd GPU) Currently has the
Neo eco for file server duty

(Still have, use for network file server, less the graphics cards, and adding
-Hitachi 320GB HDD (boot)
-500GB Samsung HDD (Music+pics)
-WD 2TB Green + Hitachi 750GB (Anime)
-4GB Crucial DDR3-1333 RAM

Had that for a year, and now I have my latest system which I will be keeping for a while.
Intel Core i5-2500k (OC 4.3Ghz) (Cooler Master Hyper 212+ EVO)
ASUS P8Z68-V Pro/Gen3
8GB Corsair XMS3 DDR3-1333
XFX Radeon HD 7850 DD (OC 1050Mhz Core)
Crucial m4 64GB SSD + WD640GB Blue (Games/apps) + WD 1TB Green (Storage)
Fractal Design Define R3 Case
Windows 7


phew. and yes, I remember all of that off the top of my head.

 

[Something Amyss]

I didn't build it, but I've upgraded so much of it I might as well have. I think about the only thing left is the case.

 

[Arakasi]

Poll option 'a' is more mainstream than I anticipated.
I am disappointed.

 

[antidonkey]

I've been building my own machines since 1996. Built machines for several other people too. Most recently I did one for my ex-wife. That was niffty little machine. Things were harder back in the day. Modern machines are way easier to slap together. Still, I much prefer it to a factory machine.

 

[jbm1986]

Yes. I built (and assembled) the one I use at home and the one I use at work.

 

[winginson]

I've built my last two, recently just finishing one which is my dream gaming PC. Now I'm going through the process of transfering 1.5Tb of stuff from on to the other and getting all my Steam games with mods working.

 

[Inconspicuous Trenchcoat]

I bought a meh pre-built and have built it up since. My goal was to replace the parts one-by-one as a way to slowly learn to build my own from scratch one day. I've replaced the GPU and my GPU's thermal paste. I've installed RAM, I've replaced all my case fans. I've upgraded my CPU, I've installed a new HDD. So, I learned it's not nearly as hard as I thought, and could have probably built my own from scratch with the help of the internet. You just have to take it slow and be cautious.

 

[Signa]

Not-sure-is-joke-thread-or-not

In all seriousness though, yes I did build my PC. It was one of the first i7s when they came out. 3 years and one dead video card later(I cannibalized it from the last PC) my PC is as top-tier as I could ask for. I know the new i5s outclass it significantly, but this baby is running just about everything at max settings at 1080p. Metro 2033 is the only exception at this point.

It also was the third PC I built. The last was a Pentium D dual core, preceded by a Pentium 4 HT. My first PC was a Hewlett-Packard Pentium III 900MHZ. I've come a long way.

I also have an AMD Phenom something or other as my server PC. I built it last year with a 8TB (6 usable) RAID5 to store my shit. It's got enough juice to game on if I have a guest over, so I'm pretty happy with it. I didn't want to build it at first because I had been using my Pentium D as my server, but when the HDD died on it, I wanted the ultimate replacement. Sadly, the RAID controller on the board wouldn't support volumes over 2TB, so I had to build a whole new PC.

 

[Amaror]

I bought my first pc myself, my brother assembled it. Then i sometimes had to do some stuff on my own, like exchanging graphic card, installing wlan card, changing harddrive, etc.
Then i decidet i wanted a new pc, i saved for it a while and build it for aroung 800 euros.
Assembled by myself this time.

 

[loc978]

If I didn't build it, I don't trust it. Been building PCs since... 1994? First one was a 386DX2 40 in an old AT server case.

In my experience, pre-built systems are overpriced and underpowered, usually with a great processor, slow RAM (but plenty of it!), shitty factory-underclocked GPU, and slow HDD (with just enough storage space to look impressive!)... for about twice the price of its component parts... three times if its an Apple product.

My current rig is dated, but it works well enough for now. Built it in 2007 and have only added HDDs since (through a mashup of different hard drives, it has around 3.2TB of storage space now). I plan to keep it running as a file server when I do get around to building a better system... which won't be until I either cave and decide Windows 7 isn't as terrible as my experiences with it have been thus far, or I start getting the option for Linux-native gaming in every game I want to play.

*edit* oh right, how did the build go... no issues. Haven't made a mistake in a build since before I was legally an adult. Also, the case didn't require any metalworking, so that was nice.

As for the semantic difference between building and assembling a computer... you can assemble a motherboard, but did you etch all of that silicon by hand? Those ICs aren't your work. I suppose there's no such thing as a computer any one person "built".

 

[Hoplon]

I've been building my own machines since 1996. Built machines for several other people too. Most recently I did one for my ex-wife. That was niffty little machine. Things were harder back in the day. Modern machines are way easier to slap together. Still, I much prefer it to a factory machine.

When I read an article about overclocking back in the day by using the pins on the CPU board I was just like "wat".

I mean, the very concept of a CPU being mounted on a circuit board is pretty out there seeing as how they are made these days.

...what do you think the main board is if not a circuit board? or are you talking about the Slot 1 riser that Intel used to use for the... PII and PIII I think.

 

[Hoplon]

I mean shit like this:

Like, the CPU was essentially a card from the way it looked.

Yeah, that's called a riser card, as in it rises away from the main board, the bit in the middle is the CPU which is more or less the same as the ones now.

It was done so that in theory it was a more secure connection, but in practice was a bit of a bottleneck.

Apple still use riser cards for memory in the big Power Mac towers, makes adding and removing ram really easy.