First desktop build since high school

CrazedRaven · June 27, 2023

Hello, everyone!

Back in 2005, when I was a wee lad, I built a PC for the first time. It should've been my pride and joy, but looking back, it has been a source of shame. While it was powerful, featuring an AMD Athlon 64 3500 and an nVidia 6800 Ultra in a small tight Shuttle XPC case, I had a lot of help (read: someone did most of the building and I just handed him parts and screwed parts in). Moreover, while the system was fast, it barely worked, thanks to a heavily underpowered PSU and an overheating small chassis. The system had a very short, troubled life before finally being disposed of a few years later.

18 years later, I wanted to try again and set right what went wrong with that system. That and the fact that my latest gaming laptop went kaput with gaming a few months ago. I waited for a big sale while obsessing over what parts it would have. I eventually settled on these parts.

Motherboard: Gigabyte AORUS Elite AX DDR5

CPU: Intel Core i7 13700K

AIO Cooler: NZXT Kraken 360

RAM: Corsair Vengeance CL600

SSD: Samsung 980 Pro 1TB

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 4TB

GPU: XFX Merc 319 Radeon RX 6950XT

PSU: Corsair SF 1000L

Case: Lian Li O11 Dynamic Mini

The parts turned out to be cheaper than the last system I built (and that's before adjusting for inflation). I waited for a big annual sale in China to pull the trigger on many of these parts to ensure I was getting the best deal possible.

I watched several tutorials (including LTT's own) for reference, but it still didn't prepare me for how nerve wracking the process was. I felt like I messed up every step of the way. Still, despite it all, the system posted. I still ran into several problems. I originally wanted a Kraken X73 Cooler, but due to a discount on the new 360 (with the LCD screen), I decided to buy the new one. The LCD screen didn't work. Turns out, in my infinite wisdom, I plugged the USB cable into the SYS_FAN motherboard pins. It *looked* like I should've done that in the manual's diagram, but I didn't read it thoroughly enough that it should've been in the USB pins. Then, the LCD came to life.

Then, there was every nightmare that every builder has: rolling restarts and BSODs. My computer would go for 1 hour before restarting or encountering a BSOD. Every game could crash frequently. Once again, I called into question whether or not I built the thing right. Further research and investigation pointed to the RAM. After contacting the online vendor who sold me the RAM, they told me to switch the slots from A1 and B1 to A2 and B2. Apparently they were the main slots on the motherboard. People will accuse me of not reading the manual. I *did*, but maybe not thoroughly enough. Either that or the instructions were very confusing in terms of explaining everything. Either way, the system works!

Thanks to everyone from PCPartPicker, r/BuildaPC, and this forum for offering advice on buying parts. This system, in a way, was a redemption arc for the failure of a system I built in 2005, and now it looks to be setting off to a promising start!

PcBeExpensive · June 27, 2023

1 minute ago, CrazedRaven said:

Hello, everyone!

Back in 2005, when I was a wee lad, I built a PC for the first time. It should've been my pride and joy, but looking back, it has been a source of shame. While it was powerful, featuring an AMD Athlon 64 3500 and an nVidia 6800 Ultra in a small tight Shuttle XPC case, I had a lot of help (read: someone did most of the building and I just handed him parts and screwed parts in). Moreover, while the system was fast, it barely worked, thanks to a heavily underpowered PSU and an overheating small chassis. The system had a very short, troubled life before finally being disposed of a few years later.

18 years later, I wanted to try again and set right what went wrong with that system. That and the fact that my latest gaming laptop went kaput with gaming a few months ago. I waited for a big sale while obsessing over what parts it would have. I eventually settled on these parts.

Motherboard: Gigabyte AORUS Elite AX DDR5

CPU: Intel Core i7 13700K

AIO Cooler: NZXT Kraken 360

RAM: Corsair Vengeance CL600

SSD: Samsung 980 Pro 1TB

HDD: Seagate Barracuda 4TB

GPU: XFX Merc 319 Radeon RX 6950XT

PSU: Corsair SF 1000L

Case: Lian Li O11 Dynamic Mini

The parts turned out to be cheaper than the last system I built (and that's before adjusting for inflation). I waited for a big annual sale in China to pull the trigger on many of these parts to ensure I was getting the best deal possible.

I watched several tutorials (including LTT's own) for reference, but it still didn't prepare me for how nerve wracking the process was. I felt like I messed up every step of the way. Still, despite it all, the system posted. I still ran into several problems. I originally wanted a Kraken X73 Cooler, but due to a discount on the new 360 (with the LCD screen), I decided to buy the new one. The LCD screen didn't work. Turns out, in my infinite wisdom, I plugged the USB cable into the SYS_FAN motherboard pins. It *looked* like I should've done that in the manual's diagram, but I didn't read it thoroughly enough that it should've been in the USB pins. Then, the LCD came to life.

Then, there was every nightmare that every builder has: rolling restarts and BSODs. My computer would go for 1 hour before restarting or encountering a BSOD. Every game could crash frequently. Once again, I called into question whether or not I built the thing right. Further research and investigation pointed to the RAM. After contacting the online vendor who sold me the RAM, they told me to switch the slots from A1 and B1 to A2 and B2. Apparently they were the main slots on the motherboard. People will accuse me of not reading the manual. I *did*, but maybe not thoroughly enough. Either that or the instructions were very confusing in terms of explaining everything. Either way, the system works!

Thanks to everyone from PCPartPicker, r/BuildaPC, and this forum for offering advice on buying parts. This system, in a way, was a redemption arc for the failure of a system I built in 2005, and now it looks to be setting off to a promising start!