furi.blog

I built a PC on my own for the first time, three days ago. Here are some takeaways:

• It is possible to build a great gaming PC that costs less than $2k.
• The guides are not kidding when they tell you to check the pins on your CPU/motherboard; mine had some sort of gunk or debris on the pins! 😨 The pins were not bent, though; which was a relief.
• Using a precision screwdriver may be necessary, even for those with small hands like me.
• Applying thermal paste is nothing to be scared of.
• RGB components are so 2018. I like my build for having none of these gimmicks in it.
• Getting my preferred make of the AMD 9070 XT graphics card was worth the wait. We arrived at Micro Center five hours before they opened and almost froze off a limb while waiting. We were not prepared for the windchill.
• If I ever even think about buying anything Alienware again, just have me committed to an institution; because I’m clearly unwell. Their pre-built PCs are awful. Mine had no airflow. It had maybe one case fan? The thing was probably fried by the end of my first week of using it.
• A GPU support brace is cheap (it was like $10 on Amazon,) and I think it’s worth installing one.
• Please don’t forget to Read The Manual, for all of the components you put together for your PC, but especially that of the motherboard.
• Speaking of motherboards, I don’t think I will ever opt for one that requires me to update the BIOS again. It was a troubleshooting nightmare. (Tip: you may need a flash drive that is exactly 32 GB in capacity.)
• Despite what people say about engaging in questionably legal acts in order to install Windows OS on your PC, I don’t regret getting it through (expensive, but) legal ways. It sucks that Windows forces you to sign in now, though.
• If a component doesn’t seem to fit, triple-check what you’re trying to do to make sure you’re doing it correctly. Forcing parts in where they don’t fit is not a good idea.

All in all, I’m feeling accomplished and very happy with how my PC functions so far. Good luck to you all too if you decide to build one for yourself!

If you are curious, here’s a link to a list of the parts I used.