Building My Gaming Machine

My pride and joy, isn't she beautiful?

About 3 months ago I was fortunate enough to have the chance to assemble my very own PC from scratch (at someone else's expense :) ). So I thought I'd use this opportunity to share my experience with you all (Who knows maybe you'll want to build your own someday and it'll come in handy). Whether you're looking to build the custom gaming rig of your dreams or just a bare-minimum machine for a relative, the process is the same. Now, where should you begin? Well, there are hundreds of excellent step by step guides out there to help you navigate safely through the process that is DIY computer building. While I encourage you to check out as many as you can, here are the ones that I found most useful while going through the process myself (Two of which are among the first few listed in a Google search).

DIY Computer Assembly Guides
kitchentablecomputers.com - While this site isn't completely up to date with the latest and greatest technologies, it provides a clear and thorough explanation of all the necessary steps to building your PC and it's the site that I relied on most to get to the finish line.

Builder's Bible by PC Gamer (2008 edition) - The nice thing about the Builder's Bible is that it is updated each year to include the most current hardware. However, if you want the most current issue, you're going to need to purchase it.

Lifehacker's Guide - This guide does a really nice job of getting you over some of the concerns you might have before you commit yourself to the project and helps motivate you to just go for it.

Quick Tips
- First of all, if you don't know much about computer hardware (power supply, motherboard, CPU, RAM,  hard drive etc)... Then your first step should be to research, research, and research some more.
- Once you've become acquainted with the previously foreign objects above I strongly suggest you read as many customer reviews as possible on the individual parts you're looking at. I obtained the majority of my hardware from Newegg, TigerDirect and Amazon, all of which have thousands of customer product reviews.
- When it comes to picking out the right combination of parts, compatibility is important; if your parts aren't compatible with one another, you're going to be very sad when you find out after putting everything together :( .
-Whatever happens.. Don't get discouraged! If you run into a problem or two, just go back to the guide you're using and the motherboard manual and double check all of your connections.
-Most importantly, enjoy yourself!! It may be hard work but the payoff is more than worth the effort!

Problems I Ran Into

Front panel connectors (sorry for the poor
lighting)

After physically assembling my computer successfully I couldn't wait to get it up and running. I double checked all my connections and plugged in the power supply to the nearest outlet. Now came the moment of truth, I finally would get to see all the shiny lights on my new case! So I pressed the power button and BAM!.. nothing happened :(. I waited. Pressed it again... still nothing. It turns out I had plugged the front panel connectors in vertically instead of horizontally. This was mostly due to the poor instructions in my motherboard and case manuals. Not to mention the nonexistent standards when it comes to front panel connectors.

 The other problem I ran into wasn't really under my control. With both of my 4GB sticks of RAM (8GB total) in my PC I would get a blue screen error after anywhere from 30 minutes to a couple hours of up-time. However, with just one of my RAM modules (4GB) in I had no problems whatsoever. It didn't matter which module I had in by itself (they both worked fine separately), my machine would only crash if they were both in like they were supposed to be. I tried anything and everything I could to fix it. It wasn't until Asus (which I've learned is pronounced 'A-Seuss', A as in the letter name and Seuss as in the doc) came out with an update for my motherboard's BIOS to specifically "Improve system compatibility" that my problem was solved at last :) .


My Build
Thermaltake 775W - Power Supply
Asus M4N75TD - Motherboard
G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL - RAM
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz - CPU
Western Digital WD1001FALS 1TB - Hard Drive
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT - Video Card
Raidmax Smilodon - Case
Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit - OS

Not sure of your computer's specs? It's easy to find out, just open the start menu, type 'dxdiag' or 'msinfo32' into the search window, hit enter, and read.

Things I'd Do Differently
The Western Digital Hard Drive can be pretty loud at times (although I had read some reviews saying just that, I assumed it wouldn't really bother me). In my next build I'll definitely be looking for a quieter model. On the software side, I'm not satisfied with my Windows 7 Ultimate. If only I heeded the fact that the latest and 'greatest' operating systems are known for being buggy and not nearly as stable as the more seasoned OS's. If I hadn't been able to snag it at an absurdly low price thanks to a relative that was working for Microsoft at the time, I'd be pretty upset.So far the Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit OS has more compatibility issues at the moment than perks. For instance I can't install the software for my Garmin Forerunner 305 because it causes constant blue screen errors, it runs fine on my girlfriend's computer which is running Vista. Additionally, I experienced some more problems after I installed my antivirus software. After starting my computer up after it had been off over night it would stall at the desktop until I restarted it. The solution was to turn off the real-time scanning of my McAfee... Next time I think I'll be happy settling with one of the more stable (and most likely older) operating systems on the market.

Overall though, it was a great experience and I can't wait till I can do it again. The feeling you get when everything finally comes together is one you won't soon forget. Your machine turns on for the first time, the fans start spinning and the lights come on... good times.

Thanks for reading. Hope you found it helpful :)