First Build, "THOR"

Posted by Cpsgames on Jan. 18, 2013, 9:19 p.m.

As the title suggests (and some have read from my Facebook post), I've finally built my own PC! After my old PC (really not that old, actually, from '08) died, I decided I wanted to build one rather than deal with another pre-built.

Pre-Build Plan

I did a lot of research from /r/BuildAPC and various other websites before building my parts list. I was on a budget, but figured I should spend more on the "core" functionality. I always wanted to get a full case just so I had lots of room for wire management, CrossFire (if I decide to in the future), and liquid cooling (depends on the previous, and if I decide to do a lot of overclocking). I eventually got this part list.

The Build

I had a friend come over to help assist me with the building, since he built one about 4 months ago, to make sure I didn't end up breaking something. We also both wore "grounding wrist band" things just to make sure we didn't accidentally static shock anything. I started taking pictures late, which I regret :(. Note: The video card in the pictures has been updated, as it was ooooooooooooooooold.

Yay!

Got the motherboard mounted with the RAM, CPU, and graphics card on it. PSU mounted, and various case wires hanging down.

Here I got the drives mounted, and the wires "somewhat" organized. There are 3 drives because my one from my old PC was thankfully working! I later spaced them out just to help with air flow and cooling.

Here's a picture of the wire management side. It wasn't the cleanest, but I managed to clean it up a bit more after this picture was taken.

The end result! I love the case. :3

Here's a picture of the LEDs. My phone's camera didn't do it very much justice. The front LED is a bit dimmer than I had hoped, but the top lights are great.

Post-Build

I named it THOR, mainly from what you see in the last picture. That was fun. Took us about 6 hours. I had a lot of issues getting some of the drivers to work at first, or even boot at all, but that ended up being the second hard drive I ordered being DOA (dead on arrival). I sent it back, and should get it back in the mail by next week. Sad, but it isn't a "required" part or anything, so I can still use my computer. I got to say I love the quick boot time :3.

That's that. Add me on Steam if you haven't yet "Sir Boner Hardalot, III" and maybe gift me a game to test my build? :)

Comments

LAR Games 11 years, 2 months ago

You have no idea how many jealous fumes are around me right now…

I am still looking forward to the day I can build my own PC.

Cpsgames 11 years, 2 months ago

@LAR: All the fumes. You'll enjoy it!

Cesar 11 years, 2 months ago

the case is similar to mine. In any case, sweet build. Pun not intended but it turned out great.

Also, I didn't realize there was such a huge difference in price between AMD and Intel. My PC cost me ~$1500 but I got an i7 Ivy Bridge K processor which is like, 50% more expensive than your processor for the sameish speed. Then again, I bought mine in July before the AMD GPU price drop

Cpsgames 11 years, 2 months ago

Thanks. Oh yeah, the difference is huge.