Corny titles aside, this seriously is my dream computer. :D I did not just purchase a pre-packaged retail machine this time around...with the help of Chaz, I built it myself! :dance: After researching for days and consulting other geeky friends, I finally purchased each part from Newegg in one order:
- In Win Allure MicroATX Mid Tower
- BioStar T-Force MicroATX Motherboard
- EVGA GeForce 8800 GT 512MB Video Card
- Thermaltake Modular Power Supply
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 3.0GHz Dual-Core Processor
- Corsair Dominator 4GB DDR2 RAM
- Seagate Barracuda 500GB Hard Drive
That's all there is to it. :) It was about $900 with shipping. Not bad for some awesome parts, right? :D Of course, I didn't get the face-melting, top-of-the-line stuff...I really have no need for extreme things. I only wanted a ton of space, ton of RAM and amazing graphics. The efficiency is needed for my profession (web design/programming), along with the best graphics capability I can afford to upgrade my gaming experience.
The building process itself was smoother than I could ask for, as I've heard lots of horror stories of getting malfunctioning parts and having to wait weeks for replacements. Luckily enough for me, after installing everything the BIOS popped up with no problem! I then only had the task of installing the OS and my games/software, then importing all my files.
I bet you all are wondering what OS I went with. :P After much consideration, I bought Vista Home Premium (64 bit). Don't kill me, ok? I know the majority of you are anti-Vista and that's just fine. I've always had XP with no problems and was initially going to get that instead. However, there are two reasons why I chose Vista after heavy research:
- It is the only OS that can run DirectX 10...
- ...and my computer has superpowers. :D
Sure Vista is technically more bloat than XP and the other popular operating systems out there and, generally speaking, it sucks to try to run it efficiently on a regular computer. However, consider the parts I installed in this machine: they are awesome! I have so much RAM that every program takes hardly any time to boot up or run. I have so much hard drive space that I will probably never fill it up, if I do that would be poor maintenance on my part. Although a bit less important, I also like having the ability to run games that are DirectX 10 ready, even though not many games are not yet that advanced. I consider it one of the qualities that will keep this computer high quality for as long as possible.
I don't care to debate about Vista with anyone, so please refrain from going "blah vista" at me. :P Besides, it's lame to assume that something is "bad" because that's just what you've heard or randomly read. If you have actually tried the software and honestly do find it to be as annoying as you say, then you are justified in your opinion. I happen to really like it so far and have had no problems whatsoever. ;)
I promised I would take pictures of the whole building process, so here is the adventure from the box to the desk! :goodie: There are captions to describe each photo, be aware that there are 21 photos total. You can also browse the entire set on Flickr.
Here is my new setup, looking fabulous. :D
There you have it! I am quite satisfied with everything. :D Probably one of my upcoming blog posts will be a review of the software I've installed to maintain and monitor the system. Since I didn't get a pre-built computer, it was my own responsibility to download and install all the stuff I needed. Since I have a 500GB hard drive, I also partitioned it out to keep my files and programs more organized. I have five total: OS, Programs, Files, Music, & Pictures. :D
I love my new computer and I think from now on I will always try to build my own. Not only did I save a couple thousand dollars (no joke) but I learned a lot about the parts themselves, which will help me better care for my machine and really get my money's worth!
That is one hot peice of kit right there. *drools*
I want it. :wah: I LOVE DEADLINES. :D
That’s my witty sign flipbook I got from ThinkGeek! :D
It looks great :) The thing about Vista though is that it will be 64 bits if you have 4 GB RAM. Some programs don’t like that >.< I have a new laptop with Vista Business, and it won’t run The Sims 2 :(
Yeah, I have the 64 bit version of Home Premium. :D Runs everything perfectly. That’s blah that the business version won’t run Sims. :( But aren’t business-versions of OS’s limited in some way feature-wise?
blah blah blah vista :P
Is that all you have to say about my bootiful computer? :wah:
Blah blah blah vista blah windows blah blah
Pretty computer, *drool* Pictures remind me of my computer engineering days ;)
No, that’s not all, but I’m trying to get myself sorted out with email etc while site5 take their time sorting out my problems XO so, that was me just being silly, and should I remember to leave a proper comment at some point, I will :P
AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME!! I have the same video card. I love it. Your case is absolutely gorgeous!! I think that’s seriously awesome that you built your own. I love it when people do. I have built my own in the past, but haven’t had enough money to build another.
So purty. I miss the days with my ex for the sole fact he built pcs & had all the best.
Why hello there gorgeous computer! :D
Congratulations on the beautiful new computer! I’m glad the build your own project paid off.
I want your case!!! *runs to the house & steals it* My new one is black & grey. I love yours.
I wish I could have built my own, I can only imagine how big I could have gotten then, lol. Have fun with it, Melissa.
Very nice! Make me one next please ;) I love the flowery decoration on it, so cute. The monitor is awesome, I’d like to get a large monitor to hook my laptop in so I can play WoW on a bigger screen ;) *end nerdism* I also like your desk, I love how it has levels on it.
What is that all along the top of your monitor? Is that your programs? If so how do you do that?
It does look like a dream computer, congrats on getting it done! :dance:
I built my own desktop computer too. My dad told me that if I wanted a computer I’d have to built it myself. He helped a little of course, hehe. It was many years ago so I’ve been upgrading it little by little, but it recently died again. So maybe you should send yours over to me because, you know, it is too cute!
Weird thing to say about computer but… awwww it’s so lovely!
I want to build a computer too!!!
Mmmm, that is one nice computer (exterior, hardware and everything). I am envious. XD
Looks great!! Your tower is also really damn nice lookin’. I’ve been itching to buy computer parts myself and build it as well. This post makes me want to do it even more! I’m in the same position as you for Vista… even though I’m used to XP and all, and I know Vista would take just that bit more to run (well, XP themes take a little bit more to run than classic =P) but custom built means ability to get more powerful parts, sooo whatever! Lol. When they are ready to phase XP out we’ll already be ahead of the times then too ;)
Gorgeous! You make me wanan build my next computer myself as well, I’m gonna need a new desktop when the sims 3 comes out.. lol :p
I have vista on my laptop, and I have no problems with it, personally I love it, so I think you made a good choice :)
(I see you got a sims2 prima guide. =P)
I LOVE YOUR COMP. Both my parents built their own but still they’re quite rubbish. x[ Haha. Nah, my mum’s is quite amazing while playing the sims, but we don’t know how it’ll cope with the sims3. Dad’s is just bizarre but has quite alot of hard drive space, so it’s all okay. I won’t even get started on mine. =P
Hope you have alotta fun with it, Melissa! I would say ‘blah vista’ but I haven’t actually experienced it yet. XP is my baby right now. ^_^ Love your desk area btw. I wish mine was that un-cluttered. =P
Thanks all! :dance:
OMG, I know it’s so great isn’t it?! It was an amazing deal on Newegg, so great that Chaz even got one for himself, hehe! Soooo nice! :D
Hahaaaa, that’s actually the sorry reason why I got it. XD Well, to play any game in a larger resolution. It’s so nice, I especially love having more screen space when I customize my UI for WoW! :D
I hate having icons on my desktop because I rarely have things minimized, so I figured out how to get a bar at the top of my screen with my shortcuts! On XP it’s pretty easy, you just right-click on your task bar at the bottom, go to toolbars and click “Desktop”. Make sure your task bar is unlocked, drag the new Desktop toolbar that appeared on it out onto your desktop and a square thing will appear. Drag that to the top of your screen and it will align itself all along the top. Right-click on it to customize further. :D Then to hide the desktop icons, right-click on your desktop, go to View or Show (not sure which on XP) and uncheck “show desktop icons”. Whenever you want to add a new icon to the toolbar just drag it to your desktop! :D
On Vista you actually have to make a folder on your desktop and drag that folder to the top instead of making a toolbar. That got a bit annoying as I didn’t like having to continually drag icons to a folder and it didn’t really look that great up there. So I researched a bit and discovered ObjectDock which is sort of like the Mac dock, but for Windows. You still have to drag shortcuts to the bar, but it’s much nicer to use!
I’ll email this to you too, Hev, to make sure you see it. :D
OKAI! :D *boxes up and sends* … *weeps for days*…. XD
Exactly! :D If I had gotten anything less I would have just bought XP. But since my computer is woot-tastic, I thought “why not”. :D
Girrrr, I got them ALL!! :D Except for FreeTime, I couldn’t find that. The first 7 came in this pack thing and then I got Apartment Life in a larger book. You convinced me from the BBS! XD
O mai, LOL. Thankz! But to be honest, it’s really only clean because my future mother-in-law was coming over and I wanted to clean everything, hehe! You should have seen it before…eep! XD
ME TOO! Seriously, I don’t know what the bid deal is. I find it to be a prettier version of XP and I love it! It’s like the new Facebook… I LIKE IT! :cheer:
Other than that, GORGEOUS PC! I heart your monitor and case!
I’m really jealous. I knew I shouldn’t have clicked on this post lol. That chair looks really comfy too.
I would love to do this myself one day. Would it be okay to ask you for advice?
Seems like a successful project, so congrats! And yes, I like Vista too, I’ve had zero problems with it so far (Vista Home Premium, 32-bit). It has tons of tiny features that are so much better than in XP, for example the calendar altogether (soo much handier!). Also when you rename a file, it doesn’t select the file type – unlike in XP, where you had to re-type that as well. It’s the little things! And of course the candy look is a bonus. :)
That is such a beautiful computer *_* Both inside and outside.
Nice job. Congrats!
I love it! It’s so pretty. I have a custom made computer too but not nearly as amazing. Just a clear case with some pink lights. I’ll admit it, I bought a 24 inch screen because of WoW. It’s amazing, even if it makes me a loser. :goodie:
I wish I had Vista… it’s so cool. I use my sister’s vista and sometimes I just wanna steal her computer! hehehe. Your new computer looks purty, I love it! BTW, I love your desktop wallpaper too :)
I would be happy to help you in any way! :D You’ll find it’s much easier than most people think…I thought it would be a nightmare but there’s so few parts the only challenge is to figure out what plugs into what! ;)
I think I might need to come steal that computer, it’s amazing.
*drools*