Monday 8 November 2010

Building my own cheap computer

Weather is turning. We only got 5 degrees Celsius today, and  a cold drizzle. I hate this weather. I am more a summer person, with temperatures of 25 degrees or more (but preferably below 35°). But anyway, that's life.
I'll be around with my computer, did I ever mention I build a system myself? I'm quite proud of it, it's not a killer machine but buying the parts separately and mounting everything provided me wit ha middle-class machin with better-than average performance. And for about 80% of the price of a new one.

In fact, I upgraded the machine, the last time, but to be honest, I only kept 2 Hard drives, the graphic card and the DVD R/W from my old system. I bought a new case (to build a silent system), a power unit that was strong enough to meet the needs of the system, a new motherboard for a 64 bit quad core AMD, new memory (DDR3), which was cheap so I installed 4GB in one go, dual channel.
Software is mostly freeware, except for Windows (got me an OEM version) and MS Office.
Now the thing is almost silent and invisible, But almost never comes over 30% load (except for crunching tasks or flashy graphics)

Streaming movies while making a skype call. Sometimes I'm working on different things at the same time, find out I have more than 20 open windows in 10 different programs... no delays. No hiccups. Couldn't be said from my old system.

I plan to do this again every two years.It's fun, and I know exactly what the machine is capable of. And cheap.

So, if you have some computer knowledge (I mean hardware), some time for research and you are not afraid to use our hands, you should give it a try.

30 comments:

  1. Sounds like a cool new build. I like building my own computers as well, but for right now I invested in a very nice laptop for ease of transport and everything else.

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  2. I built my own comp too. Too many problems come though. I've had to RMA 2 mobos and now RAM :(

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  3. Sounds awesome. That is above my head tho. Nice post

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  4. selfbuild computer next to me...just need a new harddrive

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  5. I've always wanted to do this.

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  6. I builded my own computer and the time you'll invest doing this and actualy learning new stuff will be worth it because the ones you buy at the store are always WAY TOO MUCH overpriced!

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  7. You should seach every computer store in your area for the best price. Building a comptuter online is usually the most time efficent way though.

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  8. There is only one downside to having a kick ass computer...going on anyone else's.

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  9. I wish I'm smart enough to build my own :/ Thanks for checking out my post! Be sure to follow! :)

    WereAndWillBe.blogspot.com

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  10. I want to build a desktop monster soon

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  11. now that I'm older and have more cash, I'm willing to pay a little more for a packaged product instead of building it myself

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  12. I'm a laptop guy, so I don't have many options

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  13. good luck with it!

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  14. I'm on my 2nd pc that I built myself. far cheaper than buying a new one if you can find the parts at the right price

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  15. wow, it sounds like you know what you're doing

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  16. I've always did that way. But thanks to share your experience!

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  17. I build my own workstation every couple years myself. I wish Video cards would get smaller, its getting ridiculous.

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  18. Oh wow. No hiccups? I have to look into this.

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  19. I've been meaning to do somehtign similar for some time now

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  20. wow, that's something that I've always wanted to do

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  21. I've decided that I'll be undertaking this type of project with Black Friday discounted parts

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  22. I'm thinking twice now... in addition to my laptop, I'd also like to have a desktop powerhouse at home

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  23. Ah I love building my own desktop PCs. Seems like your doing good so far!! I still have the one I built a few years ago at home, you just feel so much more attached to it!

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