I told myself I'd never build another PC again... (1 Viewer)

[KeithAP]

I was looking at this build service from NZXT for $99. Name brand components (although limited selection) plus a two year warranty.

-Keith

 

[John Dirk]

Time

Well, when you're right you're right. Still, even as my available time continues to diminish, I remain a DIY guy at heart. I get a great sense of satisfaction seeing something humming along and remembering what it took to make it do so.

 

[DaveF]

Well, when you're right you're right. Still, even as my available time continues to diminish, I remain a DIY guy at heart. I get a great sense of satisfaction seeing something humming along and remembering what it took to make it do so.

If it’s a hobby, fun and satisfying, more power to you.

I enjoyed building my HTPC. I’ll do it again if I stay with the media computer thing when I go 4K. But for normal home computering, I’m an Apple user, so no build option there.

But if it’s not fun: I’m ever more a promoter of the concept that I can exchange money for goods and services, to minimize time on tasks I don’t enjoy and maximize time spent on tasks I do enjoy.

 

[John Dirk]

But if it’s not fun: I’m ever more a promoter of the concept that I can exchange money for goods and services, to minimize time on tasks I don’t enjoy and maximize time spent on tasks I do enjoy.

Couldn't agree more. In my case, yard work has been the casualty.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Couldn't agree more. In my case, yard work has been the casualty.

I now gladly pay my lawn guy $50 per lawn mow of my yard these days...

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I now gladly pay my lawn guy $50 per lawn mow of my yard these days...

Wow, that’s pricey. I pay $18 per cut, including edging, trimming and cleanup. I haven’t owned a lawnmower in over 25 years!

 

[John Dirk]

Wow, that’s pricey. I pay $18 per cut, including edging, trimming and cleanup. I haven’t owned a lawnmower in over 25 years!

It's relative. I pay $60.00 but it totally depends on the yard. Mine is huge so I understand why I have to pay a bit more than some of my neighbors.

 

[ChristopherG]

Not really being a gym guy I love my yard work (mostly) - keeps me active and when I'm done the satisfaction level is high.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I love how all over the map this thread has gone.

I finally got all my PC parts in. Now to find time to put it all together!

 

[Gary Seven]

You'll want to check out IBuyPower.com then. You can specify almost all top brand components for whatever slot you want.

Thanks for the tip. I looked at the website and I see it is a gaming site. I will keep it in mind for next time.

 

[Mike Frezon]

Oh man...you are going to keep eyeing those parts sitting on your table...waiting for you...calling out to you.

Then, let the all-nighter begin!

 

[Patrick Sun]

Looks like rain from now through the weekend, so I guess I know what my weekend project is gonna be...

 

[Patrick Sun]

Here's the obligatory parts photo...

 

[Patrick Sun]

Having taken my sweet time today putting this PC together, I'm fairly certain this will be my last PC I put together. My presbyopia just made it a pain to see things inside the case easily when making all the connections needed to put things in running order. Plus, I detest diddling with the CPU heatsink/fan assembly and messing with the thermal paste.

But that being said, this sucker posted on the first try (minor miracle, I'll take it!), and I got Windows 10 up and running on it fairly quickly. Now the painful process of data / programs migration commences from my previous PC to this one...

 

[Mike Frezon]

 

[Mike Frezon]

Oh....

You've gotten it built already!

 

[Patrick Sun]

Oh....

You've gotten it built already!

Finally got most of my software / settings installed on the new PC yesterday. Trying to install 6 years worth of software (mostly photo-processing-editing related) in one day was sometimes daunting as far as hunting down serial numbers, and finding the proper add-ons to get things running smoothly again, mainly the programs I edit from when launched through Lightroom. Some of the installations and pointers weren't quite the same on the 2nd go-around for the installation. But for the most part, I think I think I'm back up to being functional on the new PC. Just waiting for one more case fan, and, believe it or not, a PC case speaker, as they don't include the little bitty PC speaker in cases anymore, but I miss having the diagnostic beeps upon boot-up, and luckily I didn't need to troubleshoot anything when I first fired it up. So hopefully I'll post one final photo when I get those last parts in, and can slap on the side panels finally.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Waiting on one last part (an 8TB hard drive to consolidate two 4TB hard drives) to arrive today, and I think I'll finally be done with the overall construction of the new PC. Slapped in the PC speaker doo-dad, and another case fan, and a 4-port SATA PCIe card. They are all up and running fine, tossed in 2 data hard drives from the old PC (connected one of them to the new SATA PCIe card to make sure it work with the rest of the system.

Copying files from one m.2 NVMe SSD to the other m.2 NVMe SSD is ridiculously fast.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Sounds pretty painless (as such things go) so far... almost(!) makes me consider doing the same for my next main PC... though I'm hoping my current 5-yo, 4th(?) gen core i7 Dell XPS 8700 will last me another 5 years or so (after upgrading the RAM... and HDD to a couple TB SSDs... plus a basic, networked RAID drive for nearline archival storage)...

I've found enough of Dell's machines to be good enough compromises for value and expandability for me to not go back to the complete DIY route over the last couple decades... but then again, I haven't needed to upgrade the graphics hardware during most of that time so haven't done anything to push my Dell machines' upgradability.

Kudos! And enjoy your new build!

_Man_

 

[Mike Frezon]

Kudos! And enjoy your new build!

+1