Mom Build

[kaiju_wars]

So my mom wants a new computer.  Since I upgraded my computer recently, I decided to build her something from my old parts 

Specs so far, AMD Athlon X4 860K, Asus A68HM-Plus,  8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport at 1866MHz.  

 

I am thinking of giving her my 680, but I'm not 100% sure yet.  Haven't decided on a PSU yet.  I've already ordered the case, and it had to be red or purple.

I'm thinking of nodding it though to paint a side panel with spray paint, and maybe a side panel window.

 

Anyways, pics so far:

 

[ProjectBox153]

And now even your mom has a better computer than me. Oh well, my mom does too. Looks pretty decent. What will the computer be used for? 

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

And now even your mom has a better computer than me. Oh well, my mom does too. Looks pretty decent. What will the computer be used for? 

Crysis 3 4K triple display ultrawide 60fps gaming /s 

Well I believe mom things, browsing web and facebooking

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, deXxterlab97 said:

Crysis 3 4K triple display ultrawide 60fps gaming /s 

Well I believe mom things, browsing web and facebooking

True. I've been seeing people (especially lately) talking about their "old" sandy-bridge i7's and who don't know what to do with them, and I'm sitting back here with my Core 2 Duo going "That's really not old, you know". I won't need an upgrade for at least another year or probably more. All my mom does is browse the web. I guess that's a pretty typical "mom" thing to do on a computer. 

[Guest]

Just now, Jamiec1130 said:

True. I've been seeing people (especially lately) talking about their "old" sandy-bridge i7's and who don't know what to do with them, and I'm sitting back here with my Core 2 Duo going "That's really not old, you know". I won't need an upgrade for at least another year or probably more. All my mom does is browse the web. I guess that's a pretty typical "mom" thing to do on a computer. 

my mom has an iPad Air 2 and an iPhone 6 Plus for that yeah,... 

[ProjectBox153]

Just now, deXxterlab97 said:

my mom has an iPad Air 2 and an iPhone 6 Plus for that yeah,... 

My mom has an HP Envy with an i7 7500U, 16GB DDR4 and a 1080p display. I've got a Core 2 Duo, 8GB DDR3 and a 1366x768 display (worst resolution EVER), and I do more computer related things than she does. 

[Mello]

120GB SSD and an EVGA B2 or B3 450 PSU.

And maybe an HDD if you don't have an extra.

[Princess Luna]

5 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

1366x768 display (worst resolution EVER)

It's fine enough for 15,6inchs.

 

I do not miss 1024x768p old CRT monitors.

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Jamiec1130 said:

My mom has an HP Envy with an i7 7500U, 16GB DDR4 and a 1080p display. I've got a Core 2 Duo, 8GB DDR3 and a 1366x768 display (worst resolution EVER), and I do more computer related things than she does. 

Not if you know how to utilize that resolution

[ProjectBox153]

34 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

Not if you know how to utilize that resolution

Even with almost nothing on the screen, it still sucks for web browsing. Most of my laptops have the same resolution. 

[kaiju_wars]

1 hour ago, Jamiec1130 said:

And now even your mom has a better computer than me. Oh well, my mom does too. Looks pretty decent. What will the computer be used for? 

 

 

1 hour ago, deXxterlab97 said:

Crysis 3 4K triple display ultrawide 60fps gaming /s 

Well I believe mom things, browsing web and facebooking

My mom is actually a gamer.

She'll also use it for Web browsing and such, but she'll also be playing games on it.

 

52 minutes ago, Princess Cadence said:

It's fine enough for 15,6inchs.

 

I do not miss 1024x768p old CRT monitors.

No its not.  It's not enough for anything.  In 2017 there is no reason to use anything less than 900p (on laptops).

I used to have a a 15 inch laptop with 768, my current laptop has a 1080p panel.  Difference is night and day and I'll never go back.

768 ain't even good enough for basic Web browsing.

[kaiju_wars]

So more parts came in today, and the build is pretty close to done.  I went ahead and put most of the computer together.  Alright, time for some pictures.

 

here's the case, nothing special.  Cheapest Micro-ATX case I could find that had something red with it (the fan).  

 

Here's the power supply, it's my EVGA 600B that I was using before I upgraded.  I know I know.  People are going to freak out saying, "taht aintz da hgoozd PSUuuuuuuz!!!!11!!"
It'll be fine.  I've used it every day for two years with no issues.  

Now for the GPU, here's my GTX 680.  It's still a decently capable GPU, especially at 1080p.  I figured this would serve her well, and allow her to get into more AAA gaming if she so desires.  

 

Here's the primary drive.  A Sandisk SSD.

 

Here's everything so far put into the case.  Cable management is such a bitch in this case, but I think it turned out... decent.

 

And the case all closed up.  Barely had enough room due to the CPU cooler.

 

 

I'm still waiting for the monitor, 1TB hard drive, and the WiFi adapter to get in.  Once those various parts get in, I'll do an update to this.

[kaiju_wars]

If anyone cares, I got more updates today.

So the USB card, hard drive, and WiFi adapter came in today.  I got the monitor also, but I didn't take pics of it yet.

Anyways.  There was a couple of challenges with this.  But more on that later.

Here's some pics.

 

 

Then here's the first challenge.

When I was installing the hard drive, the last remaining 3.5" drive bay overtook the 2nd RAM slot.  (I had to remove the other drive cage to fit the GPU).

So I removed the heatsink on the second RAM stick.

Yeah, it ain't pretty.  But it works now.  I don't know why my phone took the photo with inverted colors, but it did.  

Anyways, as you can see, one of the RAM sticks no longer has it's pretty blue heatsink.

The USB card is almost against the 680.  Luckily the way it's shaped it doesn't get in the way of the first fan.

Here you can see I had to push the hard drive all the way in to fit it in.

 

But the build, for the most part, is complete.  I still have to install software and an OS on it, but it should be good now.

 

 

 

 

Once I install Windows and get everything set up, I'll add shots of benchmark results.