Some Assembly Required

someassemblyreq, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

WARNING: the post below is LONG and GEEKY -

Jon, my sweetie, got a Christmas bonus this year, and he wanted me to spend it on a new computer. I jumped at the opportunity because my old one has become too obsolete. Okay, what really made me want to get a new computer is several games that have been released which would not run on my old rig. Every time I upgrade to a new computer it's because of a new game. Hell, I remember the first time: I upgraded my 386 to a 486 because Ultima 7 wouldn't run. I also learned the value of %100 compatability. The sound card I bought claimed %100 SoundBlaster compatability but Ultima 7 wouldn't work with it so I returned it and bought a SoundBlaster sound card. Lesson learned: If you want %100 SoundBlaster compatability, buy a SoundBlaster.

But I digress: that was then, this is now. Every other computer I buy I assemble. After I assemble I tend to mutter "never again" and buy a prebuilt. Then I get disgusted with the prebuilt and mutter "never again" and assemble my own. For the record I'm not a fan of Dell, by the way.

This cycle of the phase was a DIY machine and why not? I had the time while I was convalescing.

Phase one is always research. Here's one of my favorite places to do said research: Tom's Hardware Guide. I have to balance three factors: price, quality, and my own preferences. When I build a machine, I start with the heart, mind, and soul - or, the motherboard, CPU, and memory.

Of those I start with the CPU: I have built an AMD machine and liked it, but I have no problems with Intel and the latest generation of CPUs from what I have read Intel has the edge. I have a machine with 2 CPUs at work which I love (when I have to rebuild the world (that's all the code we use and it's a SHITLOAD) at work it takes a quarter of the time it took on my old 1 gig Pentium. Maybe even faster). But the latest from Intel are Core 2 Duos and Core 2 Quads, which instead of 2 or 4 CPUs physically located on the same machine, the Core 2s have multiprocessors built within the CPU chip itself.

In case you are wondering how useful a machine with 2 or more CPUs is, it depends on if the software can utilize more than one CPU. I went with a Duo instead of a Quad, to make a story short, because it was cheaper and ultimately I would not get much of a performance boost.

So I knew the CPU (Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 - 2.66 ghz), then I picked the motherboard. I went with an Abit IP35 Pro. Why? It was the right price, utilized a chipset I had heard good things about (Intel P35), utilized the type of RAM I wanted to buy (DDR2 - DDR3 was more expensive and again, the price vs. the performance boost just wasn't worth it to me), and I have had good experienced with Abit motherboards (super-easy to configure and dependable).

I also bought 2 gigs of DDR2 RAM (Corsair). The motherboard can hold more, but from what I have read, again, more would not have done much. Windows XP Pro can only utilize 2 gigs and I refuse to upgrade to Vista.

I did splurge on the Video card - I had my heart set on a Radeon GeForce 8800 GT. Again, bang vs buck. This one was expensive, though but worth every penny.

Then I had to get a case and power supply, both of look ostentatious, but I bought a 650 watt power supply (too much is always better than not enough), and that monster case because it was quite roomy and has a lot of fans for circulation. I did not buy it for the nifty kewl neon lights.

Lastly I bought a Western Digital Caviar hard drive - 500 gigs. A HALF A TERABYTE. Also a dvd/cd reader/writer.

3 things are noticably absent: 1) a sound card, 2) a network card, 3) a 1.44" floppy drive. The first 2 items came integrated in the motherboard, and with the proliferation of memory sticks the floppy drive seemed superfluous. Besides, if I really needed any of these parts I planned to cannibalize them from my old machine.

I also planned to use my old monitor because even if it's a Dell it rocks.

Another mitigating factor, I just realized, was that I wanted to buy everything on line from the same reputable place. Jon and I have had good dealings with Tiger Direct, so I ordered everything from them on a Monday and got everything the next Thursday. I only paid for standard shipping, too.

That left the Friday before Christmas as my assembly day.



It went smoothly - power supply into the case, then motherboard into the case, the power cables to the motherboard, then cpu on the motherboard. Then came the only fly in the ointment. The big, honking heatsink/fan that goes on top of the itty-bitty CPU was a MAJOR BITCH to install. Really, people, what the BLEEP is wrong with using screws???!!??



Anyway, after getting the fan installed I realized I had installed it wrong and the case wouldn't close. So I had to take it off and wrestle with it again after a little pity-party.

After that I installed the ram, video card, hard drive, and DVD drive then hooked everything else up to the power supply.

Then came the moment of truth: firing it up and seeing if it explodes. It didn't explode, but it did screech at me. So I powered it down and discovered I had missed a power connection to the video card. Once it was fixed it powered up just fine.

By the end of the day, when I went to get B and Jon came home, I was installing the operating system. Other than the heat sink, nothing else miraculously went wrong. I may just be masochistic enough to DIY again for my next machine.



All told I spent about 1300 bucks and my new rig ROCKS!