First Build Gone Wrong Thrice (Macbook Killer)

The Right Honourable Jimmy · August 23, 2018

So I've owned a 13" Macbook Pro 2017 (touchbar) which I've used for Premiere and Lightroom for about a year and half. About two weeks ago it died. Motherboard issue. I conducted some research and fixing it would have cost me around £800 with Apple. I made a bold decision. I decided to build my first ever pc. I had a spare Radeon RX 580 8GB lying around which I used to use as a eGPU, so I decided it can't be that expensive.

1st attempt - Being Stupid

These were the initial parts I ordered.

7th Gen Core i5 7400 3.0GHz

Gigabyte H310M S2H MOBO

After I ordered those two I realised I did a silly thing. I thought if they share a plug, they're compatible. That's what I get for not doing extensive research.

...

Thermaltake TR2-Series 600W 80 Plus Non-Modular Power Supply

BitFenix Nova Mid Tower case, Black

Corsair Vengeance LPX RAM Module - 8 GB (2 x 4 GB) - DDR4 SDRAM - 2400 MHz

Windows 10 DVD

WD Green 240GB 2.5" 7mm Solid State Drive

2x be quiet! BL046 Pure Wings 2 Case Fan 120mm ......... When the parts arrived, all i could do is stare at them till payday. Computerless and sad.

2nd Attempt - Frying Pan

I ended up ordering a B Something 200 Series motherboard. I followed all the pc build instructions. The only thing I didn't do is place my GPU on the mobo, thought I'd do it later, after I set up windows. I owned an old external dvd drive which I thought I'd be alright to install windows from. I did not have a usb stick or a computer to download it. The external DVD player required external power......I plugged the wrong cable. The system shut down and a terrible smell was in the air. I was shocked. The motherboard was on a booting loop. I spend hours trying to make it work. Took it out the case, tried to manually boot it. Nothing. The cpu light was on, so I thought I fried my CPU.

3rd Attempt - Bad RAM

Considering I had an 8th gen mobo, I said to myself sod it, I'll get an i5 8400. I replaced the case, the psu and the cpu and this time I got an internal dvd drive. The computer wasn't posting. I removed one of the ram sticks and then it did manage to post. After further inspection, it seemed that the ram stick I took out was fried from the previous attempt.

I managed to however boot from windows but it was playing up. Kept getting corruption messages and BSODs. Finally I managed to install windows.

Then I kept getting more BSODs and the system wouldn't let me download any drivers, I was getting corruption messages. I tried to do a clean reinstall and then windows just wouldn't install. So I did some deductions and research and I decided to replace all the ram, I bought a used 8GB DDR4 3000MHz ram stick and with relief, I can say it managed to make everything work perfectly. In a few weeks I'll probably buy another 8GB stick and run it on 16GB dual mode.

SUCCESS

After all those incidents I managed to build my first PC. And it still worked out cheaper than repairing my mac.

CONCLUSION - Do Research, look at voltages and watts of cables before plugging them to things and DON'T BUY APPLE.

FINAL SPECS - Intel i5 8400 6 Cores 2.8 GHz / Radeon RX 580 8GB / H310M S2H Mobo / 600 watts non-modular supply / 1x 8GB DDR4 3000Mhz (mobo not as fast) / Bootable 240GB SATA SSD / 1TB SATA HDD / 2x Nova Tech Fans 120mm & 1x 120mm Be Quiet Fan ...................all plugged in on my 4K monitor, woop, woop.