So... What was it like building your first computer?

[BinaryShadow]

For me it was easy.. my first build was an AMD K6-2 450 and I had already owned and pulled apart several 486's, p100 and other computers of that era. I was also studying electronics so that helped. I suspect most of the members on here never saw a 486dx2 66 let alone over clocked it to 75mhz.. the powaaaa! I'm getting old

 

my most recent build was/is much scarier purely because its crazy expensive and custom water-cooled after taking a break from pc building.

[18358414]

My first computer was the worst, most unrewarding experience of my life and it pains me to this day.  I worked delivering newspapers to save up the money, and it took me 2.5 years to save up enough.  I bought an AMD Duron 1800, a PCChips K7 motherboard, 512mb of DDR memory, a 320GB hard drive, 450W power supply, and re-used an old case and GPU (I figured the GPU could be updated later and I didn't need much).  I also had an old AMD Athlon XP on hand in case I needed to do a bios flash.  At the time, socket A was already a bit outdated by a year or so, but the price was right. 

 

Motherboard was DOA, but I didn't know that until about a month later when the RAM and CPU arrived.  Thus, the refund period on the mobo had lapsed and I had to go through the manufacturer, who wanted me to ship it to them at my expense.  The shipping would have been twice the cost of a new motherboard, and I definitely couldn't afford that without saving up for another few months.  I spent my entire summer vacation trying different things to get the motherboard to at least post, a bunch of different troubleshooting, but to no avail.  I was about 14 or 15 at the time so that was pretty disappointing. 

 

Not like I had a lot of money to throw around on that stuff either.  At the end of the day, I was stuck with my old Pentium II at 366 MHz for another 3 years.  Spending the entire summer indoors probably wasn't a good move for me because I was going through a bunch of crap at school and the social isolation only made the rumors and the bullying worse.  My parents felt bad and tried buying me a pre-built, but it died within a week to a cheapo power supply (returned since it was in warranty).  If I wasn't such a stubborn person, I'd have given up on computers entirely. 

 

Hey, I found a listing for it the mobo on newegg: https://www.newegg.com/pc-chips-m811lu/p/N82E16813185010

 

It was another 3-4 years before I saved up enough to build another (because socket A was so far outdated by that time that they were falling into short supply).  The second computer I built, a Phenom II X4, is still running. 

[Underi]

My first real PC build was in late 2017. It's the rig that I am currently using. I had been studying electronics engineering at my school for half a year then and we could order a bunch of PC parts through the school and get them VAT free (24% off everything). This is quite nice for a student. We just have to build the PC at school as a project and it'd get evaluated.

[kaiju_wars]

The first PC I built myself was late 2015... and yeah, it went okay enough.  Hardest part was cable management.  Also didn't realize I didn't have the 24 pin motherboard cable plugged in right.  So that took some working with.  But other than those two parts, it wasn't bad.

 

[lordoftime79]

Jesus how old are you guys? Like 7 or something? My first pc build was a socket 7 pentium 200mmx back in 1997 I feel 100 years old reading this thread!!! Do 40 year olds like me not pc these days or am i missing something???

[Mr Nobody]

21 hours ago, lordoftime79 said:

Jesus how old are you guys? Like 7 or something? My first pc build was a socket 7 pentium 200mmx back in 1997 I feel 100 years old reading this thread!!! Do 40 year olds like me not pc these days or am i missing something???

I'm 44 and I just built my first PC a month ago.

[lordoftime79]

On 2/10/2020 at 8:21 PM, Mr Nobody said:

I'm 44 and I just built my first PC a month ago.

What??? so have you not been into computers until recently? or was you sick of getting shafted by PC World? (that was what made me start building my own - PC World fucked me over twice)

[AngryBeaver]

My first truly custom build was a very long time ago. I went from a prebuilt 1ghz intel system with the cartridge cpu. To making myself an AMD system (wish I remember the exact model number) it was something like a 2800 ran at like 1500mhz, but was actually the same speed as a 2800mhz intel chip. I think it was one of the first 64 bit cpus, but I could be mistaken.

 

I had this god awful looking case with blue LEDs in it. It had nowhere to manage wires so it looked like a spider web in the case which also had a plexi window on the side. I want to say the gpu was a 9700 pro. Ram was probably 4gb.

 

I might be able to dig up an old picture of I browse some old forums lol.

 

Now I did do some upgrades on the 1ghz system since it had a GPU die that was lifetime warranty,  but I upgraded it to some TI card.

 

Now on my first build the thing would not boot to windows. I looked online to see troubleshooting steps. Turned out it was a bad memory stick which I did get replaced (got parts from a local pc shop).

 

I have been hooked ever since.

 

[Letgomyleghoe]

Actually pretty decent, had some fries employees hook me up back in its glory days.

did a pretty nice phenom x4 build with the Coolest (no pun intended) vrm cooling solution I’ve ever seen. I got a cpu cooler with some “fancy” heat pipes . 

[IdlePX]

Surprisingly easy. I'd been using laptops until 2004, when I built my first PC. I was determined to not use Windows XP, so used Mandriva or Madrake Linux and it all went so smoothly I spent months expecting something to blow up at random. Which, to be fair, Mandriva Linux could do on its own at any point, back then. I had a Radeon 9200, AGP, which I think got upgraded to an x1950 in 2007'ish. I think I started with 512mb of ram, which eventually got upped to 1gb. I can't remember the processor.

 

I do remember when the x1950 died, in 2010, good second hand AGP cards cost more than first hand PCIe cards. I don't think I could upgrade the ram anymore. So I ended up building a new PC.

 

The second PC build was a lot harder. I had nobbled myself a beautiful Lian Li case, which was big and sexy and smelled awesome. But it was a horrific pain in the bum to put anything into. I needed plasters afterwards, I'd cut myself so much. I didn't know if bleeding on components could kill them... 

[BinaryShadow]

1 hour ago, AngryBeaver said:

My first truly custom build was a very long time ago. I went from a prebuilt 1ghz intel system with the cartridge cpu. To making myself an AMD system (wish I remember the exact model number) it was something like a 2800 ran at like 1500mhz, but was actually the same speed as a 2800mhz intel chip. I think it was one of the first 64 bit cpus, but I could be mistaken.

Probably an Athlon XP2800+ used to run Athlon chips, 1700+ used to OC well then the Phenom 64bit CPUs came out

[The King of the Undead]

I was scared as heck. it was 2018-2019 and it was just an experiment with old 775 pentiums it worked but it was nerve-wracking.

[Mr Nobody]

6 hours ago, lordoftime79 said:

What??? so have you not been into computers until recently? or was you sick of getting shafted by PC World? (that was what made me start building my own - PC World fucked me over twice)

It was just recently that I had the means to get a proper gaming PC instead of using PC's that were inadequate. I was ready to purchase a prebuilt from Cypberpower or IBuyPower, and I was watching LTT and Jayz and Kyle's videos, and they kept listing advantages to building it yourself, so I decided to take the leap and do it. I am glad I did.

[CreativeName6426]

The one, and only computer I've built booted up on the first try. The only problems I had were software related. My computer's BIOS wasn't seeing the flash drive I was trying to boot off of, and I had to call a more experienced friend of mine, they told me to flash the BIOS. It worked, and now that I know more about computers I realize that it was just because my mobo is dated. It really did freak me out because I had reached the very top of my budget and I could pay to replace anything.

[RoryRB]

Blood, lots of blood. I still have the case and mobo from my first build with blood stains still on them. Top tip: don’t cheap out on your case, your fingers will thank you.

[CreativeName6426]

8 minutes ago, Zvoid said:

Top tip: don’t cheap out on your case, your fingers will thank you.

I disagree, I got my case used and in bad condition (the front panel was supposed to have have a door on it, it was supposed to have feet, which were also broken. The magnetic filter that was supposed to be on it was missing). The case was originally ~$120 but I got it for $10. Pretty cheap to me.

 

Edit: It also has a shroud and has plenty of cable management holes that are spaced nearly perfectly

[BrygonSan]

It was a lot of fun! Granted that I had YouTube to watch people do it first and then attempt it myself. The moment you press the power button to only find out that your machine doesn't turn on hurts. lol. Took me an hour to figure out that the switch on the PSU was set to off. Seriously, seeing the screen turn on and going to BIOS or Windows Installer Tool is the best feeling ever. 

[RoryRB]

1 hour ago, J4C0B 4W3S0M3 said:

I disagree, I got my case used and in bad condition (the front panel was supposed to have have a door on it, it was supposed to have feet, which were also broken. The magnetic filter that was supposed to be on it was missing). The case was originally ~$120 but I got it for $10. Pretty cheap to me.

 

Edit: It also has a shroud and has plenty of cable management holes that are spaced nearly perfectly

Well that’s not quite what I meant, you case is a decent case (somewhat old I assume but still a nice case new) where as mine was £14 new and everything was sharp and no screws were included.

[Bramimond]

All the parts fit together easily, but the thing wouldn't POST. After excessive trouble shooting it turned out the beeper thing was broken. Y'know, the helpful thing telling you want went wrong. Which were a lot of things. A few months down the line I also had to swap the RAM, since it apparently was incompatible with the CPU and led to hang-ups infrequently.

 

I thought we'd come a long way from parts like RAM and CPU being incompatible with each other, but apparently we haven't.

[BrygonSan]

5 minutes ago, Bramimond said:

All the parts fit together easily, but the thing wouldn't POST. After excessive trouble shooting it turned out the beeper thing was broken. Y'know, the helpful thing telling you want went wrong. Which were a lot of things. A few months down the line I also had to swap the RAM, since it apparently was incompatible with the CPU and led to hang-ups infrequently.

 

I thought we'd come a long way from parts like RAM and CPU being incompatible with each other, but apparently we haven't.

Ahh yes this is what I was afraid of when I was first putting together my PC but thankfully I was able to use PCPARTPICKER to help me with compatibility issue. It lets you know if the parts you have on your list are compatible with each other. Sounds like I'm sponsoring them lol.  

[TempestCatto]

On 2/8/2020 at 8:41 AM, kokakolia said:

My ex has the PC now

Damn if I don't know how this feels. It wasn't even that great of a pc, FX 6100, 8gbs of 1333mhz ram, and a HD 7750. I don't miss the parts, I just don't like how I feel when I think about the fact that I built that for her because I loved her. I have the empty boxes in my boxes pile and I think about it a lot tbh. This was almost 4 or 5 years ago now. But I always wonder what she'll do with it when she doesn't want it anymore. Is she gonna give it back, or just toss the thing? I should stop thinking about this and go back to eating my Burger King meal..

[kokakolia]

11 hours ago, TempestCatto said:

Damn if I don't know how this feels. It wasn't even that great of a pc, FX 6100, 8gbs of 1333mhz ram, and a HD 7750. I don't miss the parts, I just don't like how I feel when I think about the fact that I built that for her because I loved her. I have the empty boxes in my boxes pile and I think about it a lot tbh. This was almost 4 or 5 years ago now. But I always wonder what she'll do with it when she doesn't want it anymore. Is she gonna give it back, or just toss the thing? I should stop thinking about this and go back to eating my Burger King meal..

That's not even the full story. It goes deeper. Last year, I was living with her in Alberta. I paid for most of the expenses, and I was running out of money. I worked in the oil patch and there was a huge downturn at the time. So I was desperately praying for my boss to give me call and put me to work. When I was vacationing to my parents' house in Paris, I decided not to go back to Canada since I realized that there is a huge demand for construction jobs in Paris (due to the "Grand Paris" public transit system overhaul and the Olympics). So I left all my belongings to my ex behind: car, 49 inch Samsung series 7 TV, sound bar, vinyl collection, stereo system, computer, kitchen appliances, EVERYTHING. 

 

Now I feel good having a five digit bank account (woohoo), a stable job and my Ex found "Paul" shortly after. He's better than me in every way. And best of all, I don't live in Alberta anymore. 

[RasmusDC]

we had no support at the time, remember my brother have given me his old 386 DX40 and he had a 486, and i had worked the whole summer, so bought myself a 75mhz Pentium, did not know much about it, so got the parts and tried, did not get it to function, an ended up using a couple of IT experts that supported my fathers company.. and they fixed the small issues on it.

 

did not know anyone that had put together a full pc at the time, so could not call anyone, and my brother has bought both the 386 and 486 used and assembled..

 

but after that and playing around with the pentium, it became easy, and after that i never had any issues.

[BinaryShadow]

16 hours ago, Zvoid said:

 Top tip: don’t cheap out on your case, your fingers will thank you.

Agreed! I still have the scars...

[ObsidianAura]

Remember when the CPU die was exposed and you had to leaver on a big old heatsink with enough force to get the clip over the bracket but not so much force that you crushed the chip die, all while trying not to smoosh the paste around too much?