Poll: Have you ever built your own computer?

[TheScottishFella]

I bought one 3 years ago from alienware, because I thought it would be too complex to build my own, what a fool I was. In short I haven't technically built my own, but I have replaced every single component apart from the CD drive. I voted yes because as it stands I have assembled all the hardware in the PC.

Fair enough.

 

[TheScottishFella]

I'd love to learn, but alas, I have no money for a new computer anyway.

Parts are cheaper than a pre-built you would be surprised.

 

[Ruairi iliffe]

Love Building and upgrading Computers, nothing like Poping the case off, unscrewing the components, and putting something new and shiney in it, but they rather hate me...

 

[HK_01]

Yep, and I'm planning to continue doing that because it's a lot cheaper for the same result.

 

[barash]

My first self-made pc was a 486 dx2-66 with 16mb ram and a 120mb drive back in '92. Back then it was pretty rare to have 8mb ram, let alone 16mb. Never bought a desktop from a store, go me!

I kinda miss tweaking autoexec.bat & config.sys to free up that last 1k of memory to get going, though when QEMM was released that got fairly streamlined. Ah, the memories.. *sniffles*

 

[dthvirus]

I'd love to learn, but alas, I have no money for a new computer anyway.

Parts are cheaper than a pre-built you would be surprised.

I'm aware, but even with the lower cost I'm still strapped for cash. University is a pain sometimes.

 

[Serenegoose]

I've built my own computer a few times - it usually goes... my partner researches and organises the buying of the components, and I sit there with a screwdriver, kicking the case and crying every so often until I hit the power button and TRIUMPH! it's all working, hooray! Oddly enough, for someone who's fairly good at putting it all together, I don't actually know much about the componentry. All I know is that it runs most if not all my games on highest specs - beyond that, it could be running on pixie dust.

 

[nickjastrzebski]

I did some work experience in a PC shop, so I've built them before but I've never built my own. I could if I weren't so lazy though.

 

[TheScottishFella]

I'd love to learn, but alas, I have no money for a new computer anyway.

Parts are cheaper than a pre-built you would be surprised.

I'm aware, but even with the lower cost I'm still strapped for cash. University is a pain sometimes.

Boy that sucks.

 

[StBishop]

Well I've never had a gaming pc before, I only started pc gaming last year. When I get some money, first thing I'm doing is building a computer. I'll need a lot of help though, I'm pretty clueless about good parts/good prices/compatibility/putting it all together.

It all depends on how much you are willing to spend. I have this great rig, that will last me for years to come but will cost a bit. If you want I can find the parts and send you the links, see what you think. There was dip in price for a great quad processor, but look at any computer stores nearby before venturing the internet. And you can always ask them for help they will tell you what you can get on the budget you have. Remember the internet isn't always a legit place.

Dude, five posts in a row. Wow.

Just so you know you can edit your post down the bottom right hand corner of it. If you want to quote more than one person make your original post, hit quote on the next post you want to quote, copy it, edit your current post and paste it in the bottom of your original post.

It's generally frowned upon to double or more post on purpose.

No, because I'm terrified I'll screw it up.

Don't be. It's easy. Anyone could do it.
If you're worried about compatability just goto the thread on this very website and order the parts suggested in one of the builds.

OT: I built my first at 12 with my brother, haven't owned one not built by either myself or him since. I'll be building a new one after christmas.

Thanks for the help. It'd be nice to play Crysis without any lag.

Hah, no problem man I just posted a link and gave some encouragement.

But you're welcome nonetheless. Have fun building a pc!

 

[Vhite]

Im 17 and I was always a PC gamer yet I havent ever build my own PC, mostly because PCs arent cheap and Im afraid to screw it up and also because I dont know how to choose a motherboard...

 

[TehCookie]

Never on my own, and never entirely. I got my first computer when I was like 8, I'd help my dad upgrade it and now I do some parts on my own. Now it's over a decade old and falling apart so I'm just going to buy a new one.

 

[Stoplesteimer]

I built my first computer about 6 months ago.
Actually assembling it wasn't hard, but it was a ***** to find all the parts I wanted on sale and making sure that they would actually fit together.

 

[TheScottishFella]

Im 17 and I was always a PC gamer yet I havent ever build my own PC, mostly because PCs arent cheap and Im afraid to screw it up and also because I dont know how to choose a motherboard...

Well there is a whole world out there if you are going to choose a manufacturer go for ASUS there instruction manual is very helpful but remember there is a whole world out there.

 

[DanDeFool]

Spoiler: Snip

First computer I built went amazingly badly. Took me about a month of troubleshooting to figure out I had a bad memory stick. After I RMA'd it and got a new one, my computer still wouldn't run stable. I never found out for certain what the problem was, but I think it was a CPU bug which caused the system to become unstable when running with four sticks of memory (which I had). I took out a couple sticks, and it ran fine for a while.

I also had a Koolance external water cooling system, which worked really well. However, because I had wired it through another component in my system (I think it was a cathode lamp or something, the Koolance stopped getting power and shut off while my system was running. Unfortunately I was AFK at the time, so it sat like that for about two hours. When I came back, the processor die was thoroughly overheated, almost to the point of catching fire, my CPU water cooling block was burned, and the coolant in the block had started boiling and spraying out of the hoses all over my mobo and graphics card.

Fortunately, the only thing I lost from that debacle was the CPU block and the CPU itself. I was able to clean up the motherboard and the video card, but I never used the motherboard again. I imagine it still worked because the video card still worked. I wound up getting a new CPU/Mobo combo, which ran stable with all my memory in it. I made sure to plug my Koolance directly into the PSU instead of running it through another component, and I didn't have any more problems with it.

After a while, I gave that PC to my sister and built a new one. This time I decided to go with all aircooling instead, since it's simpler, doesn't require maintenance, and I never got around to learning anything about overclocking anyway.

I've been steadily upgrading my system since then, but I think I'm about a year away from retiring it and building a new system with more up-to-date hardware. When I do, I think I'm going to try to turn the old one into a mineral-oil cooled system, just to see if I can get it to work. I also had some crazy ideas about taking the cooling system out of an old mini-fridge and making a refrigerated mineral oil system. If that works, it'll be awesome.

My case has built in fans, about 3 to prevent this sort of problem IT'S A HUGE ASS CASE.

Overheating and dust are your worst enemies I think.

Yeah. I had case fans on the computer that killed itself too. Problem is, watercooling blocks are completely enclosed heat sinks, and without any fluid flowing over them they overheat very quickly.

Remember kids, case fans are a big help, but if that CPU heatsink falls off all the fans in the world aren't going to help you.

 

[crudus]

I built a computer. We shorted out two motherboards and partially fried a third. It was quite hilarious. I will build the next one I buy.

 

[Outright Villainy]

Well I've never had a gaming pc before, I only started pc gaming last year. When I get some money, first thing I'm doing is building a computer. I'll need a lot of help though, I'm pretty clueless about good parts/good prices/compatibility/putting it all together.

It all depends on how much you are willing to spend. I have this great rig, that will last me for years to come but will cost a bit. If you want I can find the parts and send you the links, see what you think. There was dip in price for a great quad processor, but look at any computer stores nearby before venturing the internet. And you can always ask them for help they will tell you what you can get on the budget you have. Remember the internet isn't always a legit place.

Sounds pretty cool. I'm not really looking for something that's going to be super high end or anything. I'd like something that could play tf2 on the highest settings, and newer games on medium-high. I know Tf2 doesn't make much use of multicore processing though, so I think dual core would be a better option than Quad (I think), seeing as single core clock rate would be generally higher. How much would that kind of rig cost, generally?

 

[robmastaflex]

I put other as I dislike the term 'built' in this context. I bought the parts and put them together, but saying I built it is like saying you build a jigsaw.

 

[Andalusa]

Yep, well, kind of. I helped my brother build the one I'm using now. But he's built quite a few and my one's getting some new parts in a couple of weeks.