Poll: Can you build a PC?

[SpAc3man]

I was curious about how many Escapists can actually get all the parts for a PC together and assemble it? Its a skill I regularly take for granted and has actually earned me some good money.

Post your rig if you have built your own too. Have you had any interesting (mis)adventures while building a system? Let us know!

I shall start with my PC

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9400 @3.2GHz CPU
Gigabyte EP45-DS4P motherboard
GSkill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-1066 Cl5 RAM
Galaxy GTX 260 896MB (216sp) GPU
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200rpm HDD
Samsung Spinpoint F1 1TB 7200rpm HDD (for movies etc)
Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium sound card
Cooler Master V8 CPU cooler
Silverstone Raven 2 (RV02) case
Corsair TX750 750W PSU
LG 22" 1920x1080 LCD
Microsoft Sidewinder X8 mouse
Microsoft Sidewinder X6 keyboard

Needless to say I love it. I will be hanging on to it in its present state for as long as possible. Next big upgrade will be the CPU, motherboard, RAM and GPU. Not for a long time though.

EDIT: better mention my misadventure. My friend spilt beer on my PC somehow. One of the RAM modules stopped working and prevented startup. A week on top of the hot water cylinder saved it. Lucky my mobo was smart enough not to boot with a shorted RAM module thus saving me a lot of hassle.

 

[Admiral Stukov]

Of course, comes with being the resident PC-nazi.
I'm on my fifth built by yours truly right now. But I'm too lazy to write the specs.

 

[kurokenshi]

This is my Hodge-Podge!

Intel i3 540 Dual Core
Intel Kinsburg Extreme DP55KG Motherboard
Cheap ass 2GB DDR3 1333mhz
XFX GeForce 260 GTX 896mb
Leadtek TV Tuner
Seagate 80GB 7200rpm, 2x160GB 7200rpm, 320GB 7200rpm, 500GB 7200rpm, 2x1TB 7200rpm
Cooler Master 700watt Real Power PSU
iCydock Internal harddrive bay
Antec Performance Plusview 2 case
Samsung 26" 1920x1200 LCD
Logitech G-15 Keyboard
Logitech MX518 Mouse
Saitek X52 Flight Control System

 

[Cowabungaa]

Partially. With some research I can assemble a pretty nice PC, if I may say so myself, and I'm cool with putting in RAM, a GPU, PSU, hard drive or something along those lines. Cable management is no stranger to me either, fans are probably no biggy either though I've never tried that before.

I'd rather not toy around with a motherboard or CPU though, they look so much more fragile and prone to screwing up. Maybe I should practice with old hardware.

Overal I'm not that much of a hardware geek. Even less so with software though, programming and all makes my head spin.

 

[TheHecatomb]

Yes. Been buildig my own pc since I was 14, so that's almost 10 years now. Never bought an entirely new system, always upgrading part by part. Next big upgrade (processor, RAM and mainboard) is planned next month.

Current setup:
Asus P5B mainboard
Intel Core2Duo E4400, clocking @ 3GHz (Steady 60°C after several hours of maximum stress)
4GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2
ATi HD5770 Vapor-X OC, 1024MB GDDR5, love the quiet vapor cooling
About 2TB of HDDs.
Running a legit copy of Windows7 Home Premium, 64-bit

Next upgrade:
Asus P8H67 (socket 1155) mainboard
Intel i7-2600 "Sandy Bridge"
16 GB DDR3-1333, not yet sure which brand.

16 GB of RAM might seem over the top, but since I'm a graphic designer working in highres 3D a lot I'm quite demanding.

 

[TheDarklite]

I build my own, and yes I do make money with this skill from time to time.

My current specs:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 955 3.2Ghz
Mainboard: Gigabyte GA-890FXA-UD5 AM3
RAM: 4GB Corsair DDR3 1600Mhz (timing is 9-9-9-???? I forget lol)
Video: Sapphire Vapor-X ATI HD5770 1GB
HDD: 1.5Tb Western Digital
Case: AeroCool VX-R Limited Edition (really wish I grabbed a CoolerMaster or something though)
Optical: Samsung 22x SATA DVD Burner
PSU: Corsair HX-750W (the modular one)
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64-bit

And I can't be bothered going into all the accessories and such.

Essentially, I did the best I could with what was available to me and with the funds I had

 

[Throwitawaynow]

I did, and I shall be buying a pre-built computer next time. The amount of time I spent troubleshooting because of using new + old parts at the same time to save money was not worth it.

New motherboard, new processor, new case at first. New RAM, this was my first computer built and I didn't check I was using the old kind and they don't fit. Broke the sound card because the website I bought my motherboard and case from didn't fit correctly together, had to modify the case, new CD drives because the front wouldn't be able to fit if I tried to shove the old ones in.

Had some major trouble with the bios and setting up the old hard drive I bought but never used because I couldn't get it to work with my old computer. Just days of frustration, screw that I'm paying a few hundred more dollars and a comforting warranty.

 

[Ashsaver]

Well,yes i have build my own rigs,the last one i built was 5 years ago,I haven't got the time nor money to upgrade it yet >.>

 

[Elanthil01]

I've built dozens of PC's from scratch, populated and set up dozens more while working for a manufacturer, and even put together server cabinets (at the same manufacturer), but I've never been able to break into doing it for a living, because the overhead is steep and the competition is brutal, especially combined with the idiotic American mindset that 'if it doesn't come from a store with a catchy name, big facility and flashy sign, its garbage'.

I have pretty much dedicated my life on gaming forums to trying to gently drill into peoples skulls that the Dells, Emachines and IBM's of the world are soulless, evil corporate cesspools who manufacture cheap crapola designed to appeal to the widest spectrum of idiocy by doing everything in a mediocre fashion and doing nothing well.

 

[JediMB]

Not counting upgrades, I suppose I've built three or four PCs for myself in the last 14 years, plus at least five for other people.

Doesn't stop me from making mistakes, though. Mutilated a motherboard two years ago because of my unfamiliarity with a new CPU socket type. Expensive mistake that I didn't repeat, and hopefully never will. (Luckily the CPU was unharmed, though.)

 

[Nalgas D. Lemur]

Have you had any interesting (mis)adventures while building a system? Let us know!

Too lazy to join the e-peen comparison and list what's in my current main computer, but I do at least have some silly stories. Like that one time, back in the day, when I built a PowerBook from parts I salvaged for free from other people's broken ones. I eventually got every single thing in it working perfectly and had a free laptop, but for a while there it was pretty silly when it wasn't fully assembled yet:

Spoiler

 

[Nimzar]

Yep, I've never owned a computer that I didn't build myself. If I'm going to invest money into something like a computer I want to have exactly what I want the way that I want it.

 

[Smooth Operator]

Surprising results on the poll, I thought this was a more casual forum audience.

Ya I put some PC's together, lots and lots of them actually, it's the only way to be sure things are done right.
And the ones that were mine I also modified, they usually have badly designed venting so I'm more then happy to improve.

Oh misadventures... ya I built a water cooling system for my previous rig, which worked incredibly well considering I made most of those parts alone, but then I got a new comp and gave the old one to my sis, explained that she should never ever unplug the water pump, but ofcourse she forgot about that in a week.
So she wanted to charge her phone and the water pump didn't seem that important... 2 minutes later the room was smelling of barbecued PC, GPU burned up completely, and so did the power supply, luckily the CPU survived, but my "well designed" water blocks were bolted together too tightly so when the aluminum base expanded they cracked.
Basically it all went to sh*t.

 

[Merkavar]

i have done it once with my current computer.

the hardest part i found with it was with some of the cables like the power and usb plugging into the motherboard

 

[suitepee7]

i had my PC built by somebody else, but i've made quite a few adjustments and updated/upgraded quite a few parts. could possibly build one myself, but might have to read up a little first

 

[Koshok]

I built my PC about two years ago now, and she still runs like a champ.

Intel Core2 Quad Q9550, 2.83Ghz
4GB DDR2 Ram
EVGA 790i FTW Motherboard
GeForce 9800GT
AOC 23" 1920x1080 LCD
Logitech G500 Gaming mouse
Logitech G15 Gaming keyboard

As for mishaps, nothing exciting. I managed to break my OS reinstalling video drivers once, but that's why you back up before messing around with drivers.