How long did your first PC build take to build?

[GeekJump]

It took me 3 months!

 

Pieces came slowly so I built it as they came...(i'm impatient)

 

if they came at once it prob would've been ~45mins-1hr

[maria2244]

I just want to khnow how long it took you

to build your pc ,install windows ,drivers.programs ,and steam ?

for me it took 3 days .

[Nosfy]

I think it took me one day.

[Matt_98]

it took me about half an hour but i just threw  everything in (who needs tidy cables)

[paprikman]

Depends on the build. For simple stuff it's 2-3 hours, for hadrline watercooled - 2-5 days.

[AlwaysFSX]

25-30 minutes? Two hours to install windows and programs though.

[sarfraz]

4 minutes ago, maria2244 said:

I just want to khnow how long it took you

to build your pc ,install windows ,drivers.programs ,and steam ?

for me it took 3 days .

With the new build, it took 2 days. 

[RollinLower]

my build is softline watercooled, so it took a bit longer than usual. the entire build with some light case modding took me about 7 hours.

[Guest]

2 afternoons.

[OLS]

Usually the build takes like 1-2 hours.. The time it takes to install drivers and software really depends on how many problems I encounter but normally I just use https://ninite.com/ to download all the "main" software.

[OLS]

<Managed to qoute myself>

[TrigrH]

it never ends

[porina]

I'd go with "it depends". A simple build maybe a an hour of assembly. Much longer if the case is fancy or you want to put a lot of bling in the build, like replacing fans and other lighting. OS install takes as long as it takes. I've not actually timed it as I only intervene when I need to. Start install, go away while it finishes. Create logins, install drivers and essential software, allow to do Windows Updates... WU can be a long one, which I don't sit there and watch. 

 

I'd say, on average to get a usable desktop, without necessarily all updates or software, maybe a few hours.

 

Just re-read the OP, if you include steam games... my library is about 1.5TB. I'll let someone else work out how long that takes to download, but it isn't going to be quick!

[VerticalDiscussions]

I didnt build mine  (just added parts after having been built, 3 years ago). It took the shop staff a day or two i think? I suppose they had more builds to deal with afterall.

[samcool55]

5-6 hours. I build and rebuild my machine multiple times through the years and the last time was one of the first times i was finally happy with the cable management.

It's tricky with a lot of cables and extensions when here's not much room.

[AresKrieger]

~8Hrs and most of that was fighting with windows update

[Ctown0812]

I was about 45 minutes in when I realized I didn't have any SATA cables.  I bought my motherboard used weeks before i started building and totally forgot that it didn't come with any SATA cables.  Sadly, by the time i realized this, it was 1130 at night so stores were closed.  It ended up taking me about 2 days to get everything up and running  the way I wanted it to.  If I had everything I needed right off the rip, and didn't have to constantly stop for family issues and whatnot, it probably would've taken less than two hours.

[Ryujin2003]

The fastest I've built a PC from Newegg boxes is about 1 hour  this included some basic wire management. Installing Windows is  shorter than an hour, but running updates will take you some time. Probably 2 to 3 hours, depending on your download speeds. Steam only takes 5 minutes, but installing the games takes much longer. If you have them on an other HDD, it's much quicker to transfer them over.

 

On Windows update, make aureus you have the most recent image from Microsoft or W10, it'll save time if you've got an older ISO or USB. Updates are already included for the most part.

 

Cable management took me about 2 hours on my case to get it near perfect-ish. Takes a while.

[Coral]

about 8 hours for the build, but it's watercooled. Software took about a day

[Wayne Geissinger]

1 hour ago, maria2244 said:

I just want to khnow how long it took you

to build your pc ,install windows ,drivers.programs ,and steam ?

for me it took 3 days .

My build time was about 4 or 5 total hours the last time I rebuilt. I was very meticulous with my cable management at that point. I've built(or re-built while upgrading) my personal computer probably 7 or 8 times total, and each time the build time goes up because I get more meticulous. Installing windows last time took ten minutes (thanks, SSD) and after that I had all my drivers on a flash drive because I knew what I needed beforehand. If I didn't have drivers on hand, add another hour or two. Probably about 2 days download time for my steam library, because my internet is 3 megs/second.

[LogicalDrm]

Maybe 4h. It took me 2.5h to move from case to another while reapplying thermal paste and changing cooler orientation. But I had done some prework by moving 5.25" devices and placed front fans to new case. Plus extra 30min-1h to troubleshoot boot issue and do cable management next day.

 

E: Oh, and the said 2h for Windows and software. Since I'm still on Win7, it takes about 1h just to install all updates while just OS install is about 30mins. I do install software while Win is updating.

[kerradeph]

From everything in sealed boxes to first post is generally between 1-3 hours depending on issues that I run into. I don't count the install time on Windows because that is limited by DVD read speeds, maybe another hour to get all drivers installed and basic utility programs installed. Then it's onto updating. 

 

Having drivers and the install .Exes for your utilities on a thumb drive is a good way to get started. 

 

The 2-3 hours builds are my personal computers where I'm putting time into making everything look really nice, and I have a more convoluted build so there's more stuff to work on. 

[spellmanuk]

first pc i ever built took me about 16 hours over two days i was making sure i cable managed everything corectly but now i could put one together in about 2 hours fully operational and neat and tidy

[m2234323]

I think it took me some day but only work on for like 10 minuts eac hday as parts cam then like 3 hour to set up window it took me more time fix issue like the pc not start up first or to learn how to buld

and I speed week or month watch video to learr more about what part to pick for t

[benny_r_t_2]

The first time I built a PC in recent years (I had built a few back in the early and mid 90s) was a linux server and took me a few day to get the hardware setup properly.  I ran into a few issues with the onboard LAN not being recongnized at startup, but that was resolved with a startup script adjustment.  It took me a month or more to get all the file system and partitioning and services configured and setup the way I wanted.  Even today, three or four years later, I'm ALWAYS fine tuning the system... so it is never "really" done.  The hardware itself took me a day or two to setup though.

 

I've setup a few linux servers since then and the hardware seems to be the easiest part of setup... it's the installing and configuring of services, planning the storage and logical volume groups, firewall and network setups, etc that takes the most time.