Poll: Can you build a PC?

[Serenegoose]

Yes, I can. Put my last one together a few years ago whilst teaching my girlfriend how to do it for future reference. I hate hate hate building computers, because I'm always paranoid about doing something wrong. I build them because it's cheaper and gets me a better computer, but that's it.

 

[CatmanStu]

Not my current machine, but have built one in the past. If you are going to be a PC gamer then it is nearly always the cheapest solution if you want a decent rig. Store bought PC's usually have pretty mediocre components.

As far as funny stories, when I built my first PC I had a mate who had done it before helping. I wanted to read the documentation that came with the motherboard but he wanted to go by his instinct. To cut a long story short, there was three RAM slots but I only had two sticks, I trusted my mate to choose the slots we used, we booted it up and nothing worked, it turned out the slot we DIDN'T use was the primary slot and it resulted in the secondary slots being damaged and me having two sticks with only one slot to use. I never let him forget that

 

[Pjotr84]

Over the years I've built about 15 computers, for myself and for friends/relatives. I'm normally not a technologically savvy person, so I'm actually quite surprised I've taught myself to build computers.

By the way, the downside to building PC's for others is that whenever they have a problem with their computer, be it hardware related or otherwise, they think I must have done something wrong when building it. Yes, not updating DirectX when prompted is kinda my fault, now isn't it?

 

[Rayansaki]

Seagate 80GB 7200rpm, 2x160GB 7200rpm, 320GB 7200rpm, 500GB 7200rpm, 2x1TB 7200rpm

Damn dude, couldn't you just get 3x1TB :O!

 

[Mr.Numbers]

Mine is a custom made Naughty Dog machine costing over 6000 dollars. Raptor liquid coolant System. Everything else is from early 2005 But it can still run Crysis on Max settings so hey, I'm not updating yet

AMD Athlon FX-53 CPU: $1450
Abit AV8 mother board: $230
Twin 1gb Corsair X1024-3200XLPRO memory sticks: $625
Abit RX800XT video card: $990
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro soundcard: $479
Logitech Speakers: Various
Logitech Keyboard: $179 last updated
Razer Orochi Notebook Gaming Mouse: $70
Currently a Blu-Ray player: $140
2x Western Digital 74GB Raptor WD7400 Raid type O: Sure it's small size, but it's the fastest on the market at the time, I can always back things up on an external and run them lightning fast on the Tower: $780
And a 1337 400 dollar case.
This computer has low capacity but EXTREME performance if your willing to mem test reguarlarly, those Corsairs just....MAN...I swear those things should have MELTED by now XD
I know this total is probably closer to eight or nine thousand, but I sourced the parts from work and my Dad got various job related discounts so the total was a lot lower.

 

[purf]

I could, probably. Whenever I had to deal with the innards of my computer for one reason or the other, I was doing fairly well. But it fills me with all sorts of anxiety and stress. I pretty much hate it.

 

[kurokenshi]

Seagate 80GB 7200rpm, 2x160GB 7200rpm, 320GB 7200rpm, 500GB 7200rpm, 2x1TB 7200rpm

Damn dude, couldn't you just get 3x1TB :O!

lol still busy phasing out smaller drives.

 

[ZeeClone]

I've built every computer I've owned since my first year of uni. I've been through 6 revisions and about 4 different cases. I'll post the specs when I've finished building in it's current form - fun and games with the motherboard.

 

[Bad Cluster]

I often build for friends and family, and I like doing it. Its easy, all you need is patience to research the market and take your time with it, experience only helps to speed it up.

My current PC:

MOBO: EVGA E758-A1 LGA 1366 X58
CPU: Intel Core i7-930
RAM: 2x Corsair Dominator 6GB DDR3 1600 Triple Channel
GPU: 3x(3 way SLI) ASUS ENGTX480 1536MB GDDR5
HDD: 2x Crucial RealSSD C300 128gb (1:system, 2:apps/games)
HDD2: Western Digital Caviar Black 7200RPM 1TB (storage)
PSU: Corsair AX1200
Case: Cooler Master ATCS 840 RC-840-KKN1-GP Black Aluminum
+ very long list of extra wires, fans and sinks

I'm not going list peripherals since they are not important.

I've built it 4.5 months ago, a bit of an overkill, but it'll last me for 3-4 hassle free years. My previous PC lasted me for a little over 5 years, with RAM and GPU upgrade.

 

[Taldeer]

Built three of them for myself and watched friends build many others throughout the years. There's a nostalgic part of me, masochistic as well, yearning for the olden days when you had to worry about hardware conflicts and driver mishaps ) All my mishaps stem from that era (curse you, Matrox Millenium 64 MB graphics card drivers for Windows 98!!!). Pretty smooth sailing ever since...

 

[Reshkar]

Yes, build one 3 days ago

Spoiler: PC specs:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6950
RAM: Corsair Dominator 8GB
HDD: Corsair SSD 60GB & 2x 1TB WDC
Power Supply: Chieftec Super Series 750W
Case: NZXT Phantom(black)

 

[DeadEy3]

i used to but now i'm into laptops...
last build was a 2.4ghz p4, 1gb ram, 6600gt.
my laptop is hp pavilion dv6 2.2ghz core2duo, 4gb ram, 4650 radeon.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Built Friday night while lying on my bed:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE
Motherboard: MSI Fuzion 870A
Graphics Card: HIS Radeon 6870
RAM: 8Gb Corsair DDR3 1333
HDD: 200Gb Samsung & 250 WD Caviar SE (pulled out of old rig) + 1Tb WD external
Power Supply: CoolerMaster eXtreme Power 700W
Case: Silverstone Precision (black)

Nifty little unit that cost me under AU$1k and will easily last me until AMD releases it's 22nm desktop CPUs.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

i used to but now i'm into laptops...
last build was a 2.4ghz p4, 1gb ram, 6600gt.
my laptop is hp pavilion dv6 2.2ghz core2duo, 4gb ram, 4650 radeon.

It is possible to build a laptop from scratch but it's so much fucking around I wouldn't advise for anyone to do it unless they're being paid a large wad of cash for doing it... Hell, even finding components is a pain in the arse.

 

[latenightapplepie]

Wow. I was not expecting so many PC builders...

Fair enough. Kudos to you Escapist community, kudos.

I personally have not the faintest idea how I would go about doing it. That is why I play videogames on a console and use a Mac.

 

[TheDandyHighwayman]

Yes I have. I put it's pretty awesome if you ask me, due an upgrade soon though.
I put it in a dell case just for some irony, my Dad saw it and was all like "You got a dell *pfft*" and I was all like "crack it open" and he was all "ohhhh".. it feels good to out earn one's parents put together.

as for antics, I tend to build a lot of static easilly, esp. in my fingers (seriously I'm like a sith) so when I break stuff and don't know why, things get broken in other ways (hulk smash)

 

[Kabutos]

Yes I have.

I'm thinking about getting another GTX 460 for my birthday and throwing it in SLI.

Who needs a 580 when you could get two 460's?

oh gosh

A GTS 450 doesn't do that computer justice.

 

[Samwise137]

I used to help operate a computer store out of my apartment a few years ago. I should hope I can build a computer from scratch!

 

[MariusUt]

I suppose I could make one if I had enough time and a truckload of transistors... the specs would suck, though.

 

[olfelix]

Yes I have. Can't wait to do it again.

Current build as follows:

Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD3 Motherboard
Intel Core i7-870 Lynnfield 2.93GHz
Corsair TR3X6G1333C9 XMS3 6 GB DDR3 (3 x 2GB)
Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750 Watt
Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1 GB GPU
Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB HDD
Antec Three Hundred Gaming Case
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit System Builder OEM

I'd encourage anyone who's curious about it to just dive in. It's a lot of fun and there is plenty of resources for first-time builders out there.