no subject
Sun, Mar. 27th, 2022 05:18 pm
I MADE A COMPUTER. I'm very proud of myself. I've been toying with the idea for a few months, figuring my old graphics card was on its last legs and also wanting a shiny new 4k monitor. My second monitor has for YEARS had some sort of a loose connection inside it which means having to go desk diving every time I'd turn the computer on, unplug and replug the monitor until it stops with the alarming light show and just shows desktop. So I was going to ditch that one and downgrade first monitor to second monitor... then first monitor started getting horizontal grey pixel lines across the whole screen, and I decided stuff it, let's just upgrade the whole damn system.
I had no freaking clue what I was doing except that I know what parts a computer requires to function (processor, motherboard, etc and so on), and I can Google. So. Started with a swanky 12th gen Intel Core i7 processor, under the assumption this thing will last for a solid decade like the last one has done and, honestly, continues to do. Googled to find a motherboard from MSY's stock list (MSY is a computer bits shop in the city) which would support the processor while going 'I don't know what I'm doiiiinnnnng but this looks fine, right?' Then the only 8GB graphics card they had for less than a grand because holy shit graphics cards are expensive, but they have been since a) covid destroyed supply lines and also b) data mining has made them a thing data miners buy to run into the ground and make money off them till they're dead. So. I hate crypto. Anwya. 2x 16GB of ram, which was the most I could get for said motherboard, and... frig what else. Power supply and a new case. Figured I'd need a new power supply, since the last time I got a new PC (which brother built, I just paid for it) and we tried reusing the power supply from the old one, it didn't have the guts. Got a new case because I didn't trust myself to put it together right and still wanted the old machine functioning in the inevitable case I screwed it up. Also new case is WAY smaller and cuter.
Thing to know about MSY: they are famously zero service. You go in with your list, if what you want isn't in stock they won't give a recommendation of an alternative so it's up to you to pick one, no advice if the bits your buying will actually function and if you fuck it up, that's totally on you because you picked the wrong thing. This is fine, this is what they are, you expect it. I took my list in and dude looked it over and went 'yep, all looks pretty good, but how about this motherboard instead because [reasons]? Oh and I think we've got this other graphics card which is cheaper but actually technically better than that one... no wait they dropped the price of this one, you're good! Also how about this RAM for another $10? It's more stable than the one you've picked.' DUDE SO HELPFUL OMG. I was not expecting that, so so grateful.
Went to Hardly Normal to get screens, only to see them pulling the security door down just as I got there. So. That sucked. Officeworks was out of the same screen and JB HiFi was also closed, so called that a bust and figured I'd pick them up tomorrow.
So I took all my bits home, found a manual online for the motherboard and set about plugging everything in, sticking all the teeny weeny little plugs in the case onto the teeny weeny little pins on the case, trying to figure out the difference between 'Audio' and 'Sound' plugs and generally having NO idea what I was doing but being excited when the CPU fan made a satisfying click. Also discovered my old machine actually had four disks, not the two I anticipated--three SSDs and a monster 3TB hard disk. So, added a 1TB and a 500MB SSD to my list for tomorrow.
Hardly Normal put the price of the monitors up by $300 each overnight, arseholes, so got them from JB HiFi instead, stoll $150 each more than what I'd seen on Hardly Normal the previous night but whatever. Two new SSDs, took them home and opened them up and they are tiny. It's literally just a chip, like, twice the size of a USB stick. No cables or anything it just plugs straight into the motherboard and clips in there. So weird. How long have they been that tiny for? Idek.
Plug in one monitor, plug in power, turn on power and LIFE HAPPENED. The LED on the keyboard turned on and the laser on the mouse and all its power LEDs on the case and the sodding RAM lit up with rainbows, which I wasn't expecting and I DID IT I MADE A COMPUTER AND IT FUNCTIONS. The screen didn't turn on at first, but Sallie helped me find out I needed to plug it into the graphics card, not the motherboard, so did that and the monitor, too, turned on! My thinking was that you'd want as few connections as possible when you're testing the thing out to make sure it works, but nope, works on the graphics card, not the motherboard. Whatever it's fine, this was the only error I made on my FIRST PC BUILD I'm so proud.
I did need some extra bits. Fans, because the case didn't come with fans and it was overheating in the beginning. HDMI connector, because the new, smaller case puts the back of it far enough away from the backof the desk now that the 2m cables which came with the monitors aren't QUITE long enough to reach and a connector is way cheaper than a 3m HDMI cable. HDMI to... DisplayPort convertor. Because three of the four outputs on the graphics card are DisplayPorts. So many new things. And they look almost identical to HDMI ports so I was trying to shove the cable in and wondering what I was doing wrong and it just would not go. Anyway. Got that in.
AND NOW GLORIOUS. 4k monitors are SO BEAUTIFUL. I can barely see the pixels. And they're smart monitors, too, so they've got their own apps in the sodding screen, so I put the cricket on Foxtel on monitor two while I was installing drivers and software and rebooting the computer a dozen times on monitor 1, while monitor 2 just keeps on with the cricket.
When I went back to get the fans and the cable bits I talked to the same dude and he was so impressed I did it first time on my first build and I just alkjshghklajshd I'm stoked. I already drew a thing, which have previously been getting drawn at 900x900 because that'd fit perfectly on my old screen in Photoshop. For the redraws I've been making them 300dpi for printing at around A4, making them a tad over 2000x2000. It almost completely fits in the window without any zooming, and with my refs off to the left so I can still have videos on monitor 2.
I'm so happy. I MADE THIS and it WORKS.
I had no freaking clue what I was doing except that I know what parts a computer requires to function (processor, motherboard, etc and so on), and I can Google. So. Started with a swanky 12th gen Intel Core i7 processor, under the assumption this thing will last for a solid decade like the last one has done and, honestly, continues to do. Googled to find a motherboard from MSY's stock list (MSY is a computer bits shop in the city) which would support the processor while going 'I don't know what I'm doiiiinnnnng but this looks fine, right?' Then the only 8GB graphics card they had for less than a grand because holy shit graphics cards are expensive, but they have been since a) covid destroyed supply lines and also b) data mining has made them a thing data miners buy to run into the ground and make money off them till they're dead. So. I hate crypto. Anwya. 2x 16GB of ram, which was the most I could get for said motherboard, and... frig what else. Power supply and a new case. Figured I'd need a new power supply, since the last time I got a new PC (which brother built, I just paid for it) and we tried reusing the power supply from the old one, it didn't have the guts. Got a new case because I didn't trust myself to put it together right and still wanted the old machine functioning in the inevitable case I screwed it up. Also new case is WAY smaller and cuter.
Thing to know about MSY: they are famously zero service. You go in with your list, if what you want isn't in stock they won't give a recommendation of an alternative so it's up to you to pick one, no advice if the bits your buying will actually function and if you fuck it up, that's totally on you because you picked the wrong thing. This is fine, this is what they are, you expect it. I took my list in and dude looked it over and went 'yep, all looks pretty good, but how about this motherboard instead because [reasons]? Oh and I think we've got this other graphics card which is cheaper but actually technically better than that one... no wait they dropped the price of this one, you're good! Also how about this RAM for another $10? It's more stable than the one you've picked.' DUDE SO HELPFUL OMG. I was not expecting that, so so grateful.
Went to Hardly Normal to get screens, only to see them pulling the security door down just as I got there. So. That sucked. Officeworks was out of the same screen and JB HiFi was also closed, so called that a bust and figured I'd pick them up tomorrow.
So I took all my bits home, found a manual online for the motherboard and set about plugging everything in, sticking all the teeny weeny little plugs in the case onto the teeny weeny little pins on the case, trying to figure out the difference between 'Audio' and 'Sound' plugs and generally having NO idea what I was doing but being excited when the CPU fan made a satisfying click. Also discovered my old machine actually had four disks, not the two I anticipated--three SSDs and a monster 3TB hard disk. So, added a 1TB and a 500MB SSD to my list for tomorrow.
Hardly Normal put the price of the monitors up by $300 each overnight, arseholes, so got them from JB HiFi instead, stoll $150 each more than what I'd seen on Hardly Normal the previous night but whatever. Two new SSDs, took them home and opened them up and they are tiny. It's literally just a chip, like, twice the size of a USB stick. No cables or anything it just plugs straight into the motherboard and clips in there. So weird. How long have they been that tiny for? Idek.
Plug in one monitor, plug in power, turn on power and LIFE HAPPENED. The LED on the keyboard turned on and the laser on the mouse and all its power LEDs on the case and the sodding RAM lit up with rainbows, which I wasn't expecting and I DID IT I MADE A COMPUTER AND IT FUNCTIONS. The screen didn't turn on at first, but Sallie helped me find out I needed to plug it into the graphics card, not the motherboard, so did that and the monitor, too, turned on! My thinking was that you'd want as few connections as possible when you're testing the thing out to make sure it works, but nope, works on the graphics card, not the motherboard. Whatever it's fine, this was the only error I made on my FIRST PC BUILD I'm so proud.
I did need some extra bits. Fans, because the case didn't come with fans and it was overheating in the beginning. HDMI connector, because the new, smaller case puts the back of it far enough away from the backof the desk now that the 2m cables which came with the monitors aren't QUITE long enough to reach and a connector is way cheaper than a 3m HDMI cable. HDMI to... DisplayPort convertor. Because three of the four outputs on the graphics card are DisplayPorts. So many new things. And they look almost identical to HDMI ports so I was trying to shove the cable in and wondering what I was doing wrong and it just would not go. Anyway. Got that in.
AND NOW GLORIOUS. 4k monitors are SO BEAUTIFUL. I can barely see the pixels. And they're smart monitors, too, so they've got their own apps in the sodding screen, so I put the cricket on Foxtel on monitor two while I was installing drivers and software and rebooting the computer a dozen times on monitor 1, while monitor 2 just keeps on with the cricket.
When I went back to get the fans and the cable bits I talked to the same dude and he was so impressed I did it first time on my first build and I just alkjshghklajshd I'm stoked. I already drew a thing, which have previously been getting drawn at 900x900 because that'd fit perfectly on my old screen in Photoshop. For the redraws I've been making them 300dpi for printing at around A4, making them a tad over 2000x2000. It almost completely fits in the window without any zooming, and with my refs off to the left so I can still have videos on monitor 2.
I'm so happy. I MADE THIS and it WORKS.
