First self-assembled 'value' build

Balverine · April 30, 2014

Hi, everyone!

Earlier this year my trusty companion of 6 years died - R.i.P. Medion Akoya MD8833 (Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 @2.4GHz, 3GB DDR2 RAM, nVidia 8600 GT)

Since I needed a new one as soon as possible (working on a 2 year old Netbook can be quite annoying) and as inexpensive as possible - but with durability and upgradeability in mind. I only need it for Office work (essays, spreadsheets and some PowerPoint presentations) and some mild gaming (mostly action-RPGs and action-/adventures; nothing fancy or hardware hungry).

The pre-assembled stuff from the big electronic stores weren't a choice, so I decided to buy the parts myself and assemble my own PC at home.

It was quite nerve-wrecking some times since I haven't been up to date with all the progress in technology (for example: I didn't even know that there was a new BIOS like UEFI).

After about a month of gathering information (which was - in retrospective - only mild scratching on the surface). I bought the parts in different stores (didn't mind traveling around the city to get parts a few bucks cheaper than in other stores). Unfortunately there was nothing I could re-use (except for the SATA cables). Also I don't have a car and a credit card, otherwise I could have gotten some parts even cheaper.

I settled for these parts -> http://de.pcpartpicker.com/p/3BdlB

The assembling process went something like this (documentation is a bit incomplete, I didn't take a picture after every step):

Afterwards I also added a Samsung HD154UI from my ext. LaCie drive because the SATA-to-USB converter seemed to be broken and 3 more fans (2xCorsair AF140 & SP120)

In the end it didn't really turn out to be a budget build but unfortunately it isn't even close to a mid-class build. Also it's far away from perfect (just look at the cable management).

But for the first try I'm quite satisfied and I'm never ever going to by something pre-assembled.

Thanks for reading!

SirRoderick · April 30, 2014

Always nice to see someone get round to doing it themselves man. It might not be perfect, but you're gonna care about that little plucky rig more than you know