Boy, building a PC is easy

[Kaido]

You might be surprised. The Skylake board in my current build has 3x m.2 slots on it, just tied into the pcie lanes. That's totally seperate from the 6? 8? SATA connections on it. It'll usurp SATA very soon (another generation or two) for SSD connections. SATA will be left to the platter drives.

I agree, even laptops are using the new storage form-factor now. And it's sooooo easy just screwing in those little NVMe sticks into the motherboards...no mounting the drive, no a running power cable, no running a data cable. And on the more modern desktop CPU chips, you don't even need a crazy-huge cooling system for the CPU if you don't OC due to the shrinking die size. The new 4.2ghz i7-7700k Kaby Lake only sucks up 91 watts TDP, which is pretty insane for a processor that turbos up to 4.5ghz!

 

[Red Squirrel]

You might be surprised. The Skylake board in my current build has 3x m.2 slots on it, just tied into the pcie lanes. That's totally seperate from the 6? 8? SATA connections on it. It'll usurp SATA very soon (another generation or two) for SSD connections. SATA will be left to the platter drives.

Ohhh did not realize these were a totally separate connector, I thought it was PCI-e for some reason.

I hope SATA sticks around for a while though, as I have quite a lot invested as far as hot swap bay chassis etc. But this form factor does have a lot of potential for high density storage in a smaller form factor. You could probably fit over 24 of those in 1U. (technically more if you have a setup where you can hot slide out the server)

 

[Leyawiin]

I'm not sure how many times I need to say this didn't mean it's hard for people here, it's about appreciating what someone who hasn't done it - telling your friend who has no idea to build one - goes through that people familiar with it take for granted.

That was my first time I'm speaking of. A computer savvy friend encouraged me to give it a try when I showed an interest in PC gaming. I had ZERO knowledge and again, spent about a month taking my time doing homework to learn how to do it and what to shop for. Again, in 2003 I had no idea of how to build one until I did a bit of homework. Anyone can do that.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Ohhh did not realize these were a totally separate connector, I thought it was PCI-e for some reason.

I hope SATA sticks around for a while though, as I have quite a lot invested as far as hot swap bay chassis etc. But this form factor does have a lot of potential for high density storage in a smaller form factor. You could probably fit over 24 of those in 1U. (technically more if you have a setup where you can hot slide out the server)

They have PCIe 'adapters' for them (this was the original iteration for those on the bleeding edge), but they've since been integrated directly into the boards in the m.2 form factor.

This is the one I have, you can see the three m.2 slots on the board:

 

[Craig234]

That was my first time I'm speaking of. A computer savvy friend encouraged me to give it a try when I showed an interest in PC gaming. I had ZERO knowledge and again, spent about a month taking my time doing homework to learn how to do it and what to shop for. Again, in 2003 I had no idea of how to build one until I did a bit of homework. Anyone can do that.

Don't think you have a lot of experience with 'anyone' doing things like this. Some can do that.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

Don't think you have a lot of experience with 'anyone' doing things like this. Some can do that.

I'd wager at least 90% of the world population could build a computer if they cared to, if they were given proper instruction. The bar is not high for plugging objects into slots (in fact, humanity depends on that).

 

[ch33zw1z]

Lol, I wish I agreed. Color coded connectors are still elusive to many

 

[Crono]

Not everyone is going to be into every hobby.

 

[MrSquished]

I'd wager at least 90% of the world population could build a computer if they cared to, if they were given proper instruction. The bar is not high for plugging objects into slots (in fact, humanity depends on that).

Putting the pc together is like playing legos, with a screwdriver. It's super easy. I can put furniture together and hang stuff on the wall but that's about the extent of my handiness. Although one time I did install a new kitchen faucet. And I can put together a PC just fine. Just stay grounded.

The harder part is doing the research to get the best parts, and the ones that play friendly with each other.

Most people will just assume that assembling a custom PC is way beyond their skills and some super complicated shit like rocket science. Instead it's fuckin legos.

 

[biostud]

That is why we help people who find it hard, in these forums. Because for us it is pretty easy.

 

[Craig234]

That is why we help people who find it hard, in these forums. Because for us it is pretty easy.

Good comment.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Not everyone is going to be into every hobby.

My bro-in-laws are mechanic savants, totally into that stuff. Just naturals. I cannot get myself to give a shit about cars or trucks, just want mine to work.

 

[TeeJay1952]

Oh the number of house calls to plug a tower up.....It always boggled my mind. Same houses all had big TV hooked to yellow connector. In 80's they had VCR flashing 12:00.

 

[foghorn67]

I'm going through a process myself. Should I resurrect my Antec P180 case and "build" my own rig?
Should I wait for Ryzen, benchmarks, competition pricing?
I can get something like an iBuyPower for $150 or so less than any of the desired components added together for my own build.
But some of the fun is mix and matching parts in the cart or checking out the stock at the local retailer and dreaming of it before finally pulling the trigger and just buying it.
My first PC build of my own since I built my E8400 Wolfdale rig.

 

[BUTCH1]

It's never been easier to build a PC like it is today. I don't miss the IDE master/slave setup or needing a floppy drive.

Yup, my first build was in '91, I used an AMD K5@ 100Mhz. Everything on the Mobo had to be set correctly by using jumpers, the frequency, multiplier, voltage, + more all had to be done correctly or you ruin your chip. Then you had to go into the BIOS and tell it what type of HDD you were using, there was no "auto-detect" ANYTHING. Today's PC components are about as easy as it gets. I know many now just buy a Dell because the cost-saving of building your own is pretty much gone vs the old days but f*** getting a POS power supply that will croak in less than 3 years vs buying an Antec which will last forever and have enough in reserve to upgrade the vid card down the line.

 

[MrSquished]

Yup, my first build was in '91, I used an AMD K5@ 100Mhz. Everything on the Mobo had to be set correctly by using jumpers, the frequency, multiplier, voltage, + more all had to be done correctly or you ruin your chip. Then you had to go into the BIOS and tell it what type of HDD you were using, there was no "auto-detect" ANYTHING. Today's PC components are about as easy as it gets. I know many now just buy a Dell because the cost-saving of building your own is pretty much gone vs the old days but f*** getting a POS power supply that will croak in less than 3 years vs buying an Antec which will last forever and have enough in reserve to upgrade the vid card down the line.

Man my first build should have been close to 20 years ago, but maybe it was a few years later.

It was a long enough time ago my memory is hazy and I was doing a lot of drugs at the time.

I don't remember needing to use jumpers on the mobo on any of my first builds though. Do you know around what year those jumpers fell by the wayside?

 

[BUTCH1]

Man my first build should have been close to 20 years ago, but maybe it was a few years later.

It was a long enough time ago my memory is hazy and I was doing a lot of drugs at the time.

I don't remember needing to use jumpers on the mobo on any of my first builds though. Do you know around what year those jumpers fell by the wayside?

Probably by '98-'99 I'd say, in 1991 there were not a lot of home-builds, it was a trend that was just starting because the cost savings vs buying one were significant. You could also overclock which was not possible with the BIOS on a store-bought machine. Anandtech and the famous Celeron overclock that made a $100 CPU run like a $500 CPU brought me here.

 

[ElFenix]

I'd wager at least 90% of the world population could build a computer if they cared to, if they were given proper instruction. The bar is not high for plugging objects into slots (in fact, humanity depends on that).

 

[Chaotic42]

Lol speaking of cases anyone remember that giant cube case on wheels? I remember seeing that thing as a kid and thinking "woaaaah that would be so cool for a server!" And now something like that would not really interest me, now it's all about going rackmount. There was a period of the mid 2000's where it was all about the bling too, there were much more case choices, and all sorts of mods etc like CFCL lighting, and case windows were pretty much standard. Fun times. Though now it seems that is making a come back with RGB Ram and stuff. I'm sure some people must be using LED strips too, you could make a pretty interesting blingy setup with the addressable ones and an arduino stashed in there that you can control from within the OS.

I think this is the one:

Think there was a brushed aluminium version too. If I recall you could fit two computer systems in there, like there was two separate motherboard, psu etc spaces.

I loved my Codegen S-201. I did a big review on it when I first got it, and there are a lot of pics from my review all over the place on Google Image Search, apparently. I've still got it, hoping to one day put something in it. Here's a pic (not mine):

This one is mine:

 

[Kaido]

I loved my Codegen S-201. I did a big review on it when I first got it, and there are a lot of pics from my review all over the place on Google Image Search, apparently. I've still got it, hoping to one day put something in it. Here's a pic (not mine):

Could pull a card from back in the day when people were fitting Mini-ITX motherboards into the power supply housings...hehehe

 

[spacejamz]

Probably by '98-'99 I'd say, in 1991 there were not a lot of home-builds, it was a trend that was just starting because the cost savings vs buying one were significant. You could also overclock which was not possible with the BIOS on a store-bought machine. Anandtech and the famous Celeron overclock that made a $100 CPU run like a $500 CPU brought me here.

you are making me miss the Fry's ECS combos

 

[master_shake_]

speaking of easier than ever.

 

[MrSquished]

speaking of easier than ever.

You gotta be kidding me. Never had bent pins before in 10 builds. If the chip just doesn't fall into place, try another configuration. When it's right, it just falls into place. How hard can it be?

 

[StinkyPinky]

It used to be more difficult until about 2005, as i remember you had to use little jumpers to set the correct frequency etc. These days it's just lego with a screwdriver.

 

[ctbaars]

speaking of easier than ever.

Did he just touch his fingers on the CPU pads to press it in the tool? I have greesy skin. Even if it's OK, I'd never do that.