I decided to build my own computer so here I will document what I learned and what I would do differently the next time. I found a website called "How to Build Gaming Computers". I found this website to be very useful in my pursuit of building my first computer. It answered a lot of questions and demystified a lot of myths about building your own computer. It is step by step to a degree but there were times I had to figure out on my own how some things went together and how they worked. I used to be an Elevator Mechanic for the City of Los Angeles and it was this experience combined with the research I did over the course of many years that helped me immensely in making this happen. So, without any further ado, I will put down my thoughts, ideas, mistakes and lessons learned from this experience. And by the way, if your asking yourself, "would he do it again" the answer is a resounding "YES" which you will find out the reasons why below. The build also includes two USB 3.0 expansion cards that, as I had hoped, really added a lot more ability for the peripherals I have such as external SSD, Raildriver for my Run 8, keyboard and mouse all of which are tethered rather than wireless.
This is my build:
The complete build for this computer can be found here: Best $1200 Gaming PC Build under $1200
Now the total I know states it should cost $1180 to $1200 dollars but after the dust settled, this entire system cost me $1563 dollars all of which I purchased from Amazon. Could I have bought a computer for less? Probably but I would not have had the experience or the enjoyment I derived from building my own computer. I must say, it was like old times sitting in front of an Elevator controller in the heat of battle. I really enjoyed it and I have a much better understanding of what things are, what they do and how they work. It's not the mystery it once was when I would open a pre-built computer and not know what it was I was looking at. Building your own computer is like growing your own food, you have complete control over what goes into it and how to fix it if something goes wrong. Another big plus is the upgradability that comes with building your own computer.
Lessons Learned:
1. I purchased The Complete Digital Manual for DIY Newbies e-book from BGC so I could have it on my IPad while doing my build in the Garage. This was a good idea as everything in the e-book is on the website but without all the Ads. However, there are deviations from the e-book that I had to figure out (Thank goodness for YouTube!). For instance, he seriously recommends putting the thermal paste on the CPU chip NOT the Fan. However, the manufacture of the fan recommends you apply the thermal paste to the Fan rather than the CPU. So, after watching a couple of videos, I did it by applying the thermal paste to the Fan. Seemed to work pretty well as the test he has you do for the Motherboard showed a temp of only 39 to 40 degrees C which is well within range. The point I'm making is, don't be like me who expected there to not be any deviations as the learning comes from your ability to overcome the deviations and twists and turns. This is what makes it fun!
2. This wasn't nearly as hard as I had thought it would be. A lot of people when I told them what I wanted to do, told me I'd be sorry I ever attempted this. But I persevered and made it work! And so can you. Don't be afraid to make mistakes as this is what doing this is all about. Making mistakes is how you learn and now days, we have sooooo many resources available to us e.g. the internet, Google, YouTube, etc. that if you make a mistake, it's easily solved.
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