"Addicted" to building computers (56K warning!)

[VirtualLarry]

Well, I did it again. I had some spare CPUs, some RAM, HDs, etc., so I went out and spent money on the rest of the components to build some S775 dual-cores.

I had an E5200 and an E3300, so I bought a couple of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

And then a couple of these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

Figure I could turn them into nice little HTPCs with the addition of a low-profile GT430 or the like ($60-80 additional).


So here's the build list:
$43 - E5200 (TD through Amazon, they were blowing them out some time ago)
$43 - BIOSTAR G41D3C LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687
$35 - Sentey Slim 2420 Slim Flex Case w/ Power Supply SECC .7mm 2x USB/1x Fan/Micro ATX-ITX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687
$37 - WD 500GB SATA WD5000AAKS (Newegg Memorial day special)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073
$20 - Sony/NEC Optiarc 7260 DVD burner SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118039
$30 - Half of an 8GB (2x4GB) GSkill DDR3-1333 1.5v CAS 9 ram kit ($60 at Newegg, even cheaper recently)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231311


Total: $208 in parts for a decent dual-core slimline desktop

Add $50 for one third of a Win7 Family Pack for the OS, $258 for a working computer, with 4GB RAM, and a 500GB HD, and a DVD burner.
Not too bad, I don't think.

Edit: Geeks.com wanted $380 for a similar system some time ago:
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=H210H3644U-OB

$300 on ebay, with Vista, and an 8400GS video card:
http://cgi.ebay.com/INTEL-E5200-500GB-HDD-4GB-DDRII-GS8400-512MB-/320624026405

Another one from Geeks.com, this one was $220:
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?Inv...7AA-R&cpc=RESX

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

saweet!

im addicted to building computers too

 

[Zargon]

yup same addiction here too

wife let computers 1 2 and 3 go by without a work this year

I looked at #4 and got shot down though

 

[Zap]

It's not an addiction. I choose to build computers. I can stop anytime. Srsly!

 

[Spikesoldier]

i recently gutted and downgraded my htpc and replaced it with zacate in order to obtain a second gaming rig using all spare parts.

i too did a calculated 'buy' like you and it ended up very well for me, as i got a memory upgrade and blu ray drive out of it for the main rig as well.

 

[VirtualLarry]

PICS!

 

[Blue_Max]

I suspect I may have an overactive upgrade bug. I thought I might get it out of my system by volunteering to fix computers but it didn't cure it - only lessen it. Having spare parts/computers around the house drove the ex-wife nuts.

Now that she's out of the picture, I've finally treated myself to a modern, affordably-top-of-the-line system and will sell off all the excess stuff for a song. Let's hope this 2500k lasts until the world blows up, eh?

 

[mfenn]

Larry, your pics broke my Internets!

What are your impressions of the case?

 

[Patrese]

This is one of the very rare times in which I thank God hardware prices are so high in Brazil. If I had capable, new motherboards for 40 bucks like the one you found, I'd be building stuff like crazy and my house would never be big enough...

@topic: nice build!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Larry, your pics broke my Internets!

What are your impressions of the case?

Sorry, I thought that they would come out sharper, using the full 4000x3000 size (12MP). Seems when I look at those pics expanded, that they are blurry as heck, actually.

Which is wierd, I took pics of a car show last year using the 12MP setting, and things came out fine. I guess I didn't have enough light, even with the flash.

I think that the case is decent. The price on the case went back up to $45 shipped at Newegg. I got them for $35 shipped.

The PSU seems weak according to the label (only 8A on 12V rail), but even OC from 2.5 to 3.0, my E5200 running OCCT linpack 64-bit didn't crash, reboot, or error.

I doubt I would be able to put in something like a GT430 low-profile card. (I had been toying with that idea.)

I haven't hooked it up to a KAW, but if my prior G31/E5200 rig was anything to go by, it was at 40W idle, 80-85W load.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Good thing I found this thread again. I sold these two rigs, to my friend and his mom.

He was using the mom rig, and watching twitch.tv, and said it was shutting down. I asked him for more details, and he said that it wasn't just the video shutting down, but the whole PC.

So, until I test it, I'm just presuming it's the cheap built-in PSU.

At the very least, it lasted four years so far.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Or it's overheating. That'd actually be easier to fix, probably.

You say you "sold" them. For, like, actual money? That was more than you spent on parts and an OS license?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Or it's overheating. That'd actually be easier to fix, probably.

Yeah, that's definitely a possibility too. Especially if it's been running 4 years without a good cleaning.

You say you "sold" them. For, like, actual money? That was more than you spent on parts and an OS license?

"more"? I wish...

 

[VirtualLarry]

Or it's overheating. That'd actually be easier to fix, probably.

Looks like you were right? I dusted out the PSU and CPU fan, and it passed an OCCT stress-test. It shut off a few minutes in, when I ran that at the client's site.

 

[mikeymikec]

I think I could only be addicted to building new PCs if the rate of performance innovation was similar to the days of say the Pentium / P2, or the time of hot CPUs like the various generations of Athlon XP/Thunderbird, in search or something cooler, faster and quieter.

I kept hold of my Athlon XP rig for way longer than I originally intended (due to cashflow), so the AM3 upgrade was well worth it. I upgraded from the AM3 rig to Haswell last September because the AM3 board had a few problems (and I thought it had a few more but those turned out to be the graphics card). In terms of performance I noticed little difference, Firefox's 3 second cold boot delay (while ABP kicked in) disappeared, LibreOffice starts a bit quicker, and SC2 was a bit smoother. For the amount of faffing around involved in doing a clean install on my computer for a platform upgrade that I wouldn't be able to tell any difference for, there's simply no way that I'll be doing another platform upgrade (assuming something doesn't blow up).

I build PCs as part of my business, I once fantasized that it might become the majority of my business but I think it would get incredibly repetitive.

 

[nerp]

It's like fixing cars. After changing the oil of yet another Toyota Camry, you begin to daydream about other stuff. But every once in a while, a Ferrari comes into the shop.

Oh wait, that never happens. Ferraris stick with the Ferrari dealer.

Nevermind.

 

[Charlie98]

I have to stop looking at the daily Newegg ads and AT FS/FT...

I've upgraded just about everything I can on my 3 Sandy machines... even my HTPC has 16GB RAM! I've got a spare PSU. I have spare HDDs and an SSD stacked in the closet. I spent the money on a GTX950 for the HTPC.

...but I can't justify a platform upgrade???

...hmmmm, the totally useless GTX760 in my desktop could use an upgrade...

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Looks like you were right?

It's been known to happen. ()

I dusted out the PSU and CPU fan, and it passed an OCCT stress-test. It shut off a few minutes in, when I ran that at the client's site.

In networking, there's a saying: "Always double check layer 1." (In the ISO 7-layer network model, layer 1 is the physical stuff - cables, connectors, power, etc.)

Similarly with desktop computers - environment, dust, ambient temperature, even how "clean" the power in your office, all can have a pretty big impact on system reliability, but nobody pays them much attention, preferring to think "Windows Vista just sucks" or something.

One reason I think laptops are so popular - they essentially have a built-in UPS and power filtering, which keeps them from glitching the way desktop computers might if you're the last house in the circuit with the lights that dim when your neighbors turn on their microwaves. People aren't thinking about it that way, but they know their laptops work "better."

</soapbox>

 

[Torn Mind]

It's been known to happen. ()

In networking, there's a saying: "Always double check layer 1." (In the ISO 7-layer network model, layer 1 is the physical stuff - cables, connectors, power, etc.)

Similarly with desktop computers - environment, dust, ambient temperature, even how "clean" the power in your office, all can have a pretty big impact on system reliability, but nobody pays them much attention, preferring to think "Windows Vista just sucks" or something.

One reason I think laptops are so popular - they essentially have a built-in UPS and power filtering, which keeps them from glitching the way desktop computers might if you're the last house in the circuit with the lights that dim when your neighbors turn on their microwaves. People aren't thinking about it that way, but they know their laptops work "better."

</soapbox>

Laptops don't filter power after the PSU. I tried a super crappy Ebay charger and better universal one. The laptop was suffering from jerky mouse pointers and other flaky things with the really bad Ebay PSU but the better universal one removed those instability issues.

Basically, buying a laptop means that it is practically impossible to get a crappy PSU out of the box, but you still need to beware if you go too cheap on the aftermarket. Whereas with building your own desktops, everything is bought from the aftermarket and someone could choose that Diablotek.

 

[Insomniator]

I used to love building computers but now its all meh. Unless its some custom gaming system I'd rather just buy a refurb dell for $50 more than what the components would cost me myself.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

I used to love building computers but now its all meh. Unless its some custom gaming system I'd rather just buy a refurb dell for $50 more than what the components would cost me myself.

Yeah.

We need to get Larry a newer hobby.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

I used to love building computers but now its all meh. Unless its some custom gaming system I'd rather just buy a refurb dell for $50 less than what the components would cost me myself.

fixed

Building only makes sense for special purpose boxes any more.

 

[VirtualLarry]

fixed

Building only makes sense for special purpose boxes any more.

Eh? What if you want to overclock? Can't do that with a stock Dell.

 

[XavierMace]

Overclocking would fall under special purposes.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Weird necros Larry. Is this a cry for help?