Just Start- one mans jouney in the hobby of pc building(long post)

[eastexas]

Part 1
The one thing I always say to the people who would like to get into computer building is JUST START. Whether you are building for personal use or you want to get into the hobby of pc modding, just start somewhere.

You do not need a lot of money to enjoy pc building(as I will prove to you). Only a desire to create something useful and a willingness to learn new things.

We all had that moment (mine was watching Logan talk about a motherboard all those years ago) that we saw that one gpu,motherboard or complete pc that made us all say, I want something like that. Well, you can have something like that or better, if you Just Start.

You are going to make mistakes and have a lot of questions but you will not be alone in your quest. There is a whole world of people to help you on your journey including the wonderfully members of the Tek Sydicate forums.

I have built many computers over the years and even I still have questions. Do not be afraid to fail. I have learned more from messing up than when it all went well.

So let us Just Start and I will take you on my journey into pc building over the years.

My first build: Having no experience and little money, I kept an eye out for super deals on computer hardware for months(all the while educating myself on pc building). Found a new motherboard and cpu on craigslist for $50. Salvaged a hard drive, DVD drive, keyboard and mouse from a old pc that a friend was trashing. Used my TV as a monitor and Linux(free) for an OS. Picked up used Crucial ram(life time warranty even used) on ebay for $20. Help a person I never met on Craigslist who was stumped on hooking up a pc to a TV just to be kind. A week later he shows up at my house with this Apevia case with power supply. Just to say thanks. We got to talking while I helped him so he knew I needed a case but I never asked for one or anything in return for helping him. Good people everywhere.

And here is the result of that first build. Nothing extreme or expensive. But rock solid and is still used today as a daily HTPC. Only mod was I spray painted the DVD drive (was white) with $2 can of black spray paint.
Total cost: $72

When I finished building this computer I hit the power button and nothing happened(NOOOOOOOO). Every PC builders nightmare. Turned out that I had over tightened the motherboard stand-off screws and was shorting the board. Ten minutes later it powered right up and has been running with the same hardware all these years.

That was my introduction into PC building. Nothing fancy. Just a man and his machine. But this time it was mine and I made it. A proud moment indeed. I was especially happy with my cable management.

Now that you have built your first PC and everyone of your friends and family know it, life will change. They will all look to you to fix all of the computer problems from now on. To them you are the Yoda of technology now. Get use to it because there is no going back. It is one of the downsides to PC building.

If you are okay with being Yoda (and even if you are not) let us continue our journey into bigger and better horizons.

Part 2 coming up.

[eastexas]

Part 2: Bigger and better

Now that we have built our first PC, we want more. We know we can do better and have bigger dreams that must be achieved. In the first build I mentioned that one piece of hardware that grabbed our attention and led us down this road. Now we want it. That one thing may have changed over time but our goal is the same. Get that one thing for the next build/upgrade.

For you it may be a graphics card or cpu but for me it was a case. I have a fascination with open air cases(not everyone’s cup of teas but it is mine). I wanted a Danger Den Torture Rack(some of you may remember them) and was determined to get it. And so I did.

This was my first major purchase in PC building and I have never regretted it. I had nothing to put in it for the longest time until a friend who bought some parts for a build decided he was not going to see it through. I picked up his new parts for a fraction of the cost and I was off to the races on another build.

Got a motherboard,cpu and ram from him($100). Those sat on the self for a long time while I gathered more parts. Grabbed a Corsair power supply on sale for $30(a steal at the time) and recycled a DVD drive from an old PC again.

Now I wanted this build to be better than before so I saved up and bought an after-market heatsink from Thermalright for $30. Also picked up 3 fans from Thermalright(quietest fans I have ever used)for $25.

By now SSD's were becoming affordable and I managed to find one on sale at the local store for $90. A big cost at the time but the right move.

Got a sound card for $1 at a garage sale

Later I picked up a cheap USB 3 port ($10)because,as you will see, the case I bought has nothing. And inverted the SSD under the motherboard tray.

Keyboard, mouse and monitor stayed the same.

There was no modding on this build because I really had no idea what I was doing with this case I wanted so badly. As you will see.

Now this build did cost me much more than the last one. It was over a long time of saving pennies. Little by little it came together.
Total cost : $436 which includes the case I bought for $150
Far to much for me at the time but I was playing a long game. As you will see.

Here is the disaster that resulted in my eagerness to have the case I wanted

Before the USB add on

The final product. What a hot mess. Do not get me wrong. I really liked this PC at the time. It was dead quiet and I used it this way for a long time. Mainly, because I blew all my money building this Frankenstein.

it had a lot of good quality parts. Some of which I used in a build for a friend. Every one of these parts is still running flawlessly to this day.

So we have built our second PC. We made some progress in picking better parts and trying new things but still have a long way to go. We are learning and enjoying our new computer.

Hopefully, your PC turned out better than mine. But we got that one part and we were happy to get it. Now let us see if we can bring the whole package together next time so that it might look like we know what we are doing.

You might come from a humble place and have very little else. That does not mean that you can not create some awesome piece of technology. Remember Yoda might have lived in a swamp but he still made his own lightsaber. We just need the desire to see it through.

The dream is still to come. Follow me, the road is this way..........

Part 3 coming

[eastexas]

Part 3: Modding our way out of this

Now that we have two builds under our belt and spent all our money, we need to fix this mess.

I started by selling my first build and parts from the second build in order to pay for the third build. With the selling of those things I could now afford a new motherboard,cpu and ram. Hoping I could manage to do it all better. But I also wanted to unify the look as well. Marriage the form with the function. So my first real attempt at modding to place.

After picking up the new parts at a cost of $420(covered by selling the old stuff) I was ready to design. I was not happy with the new motherboard color but it had all the function I was looking for. So I decided to run with it anyway and embrace the gold theme.

But how do I get started with modding in a way that does not risk damage to the parts I can not afford to replace? In the end I opted to put some fan grill covers on. Simple but maybe it will add that touch that was needed before. Found some grills I liked but you could no longer buy them(that sucks). So I made them instead. Took the design and made a CAD file(my first time in CAD). See how the computer is building the computer?

Took that file to a local metal shop and had the grills (laser) cut out of stainless steel. Cost me $20. They gave me the steel because it was a scrap piece they could not use. Worked for me.

Needing to paint my newly cut grills, I did some research and found out I could have them powdercoated at fare price. Turned out I knew the guy who owned place and got them done for free. Had to wait longer but it was free.

Reused the old heatsink, power supply,DVD drive,USB,fans,keyboard,mouse,monitor(TV) and yes, that case I had to have.

Put it all together hoping the gold theme I decided to use would work out. I was wanting to see a dramatic change using only the few fan grills. And I did. As you can see below.
Total cost:$20 and my time learning CAD

Not a bad effort but I still have a long way to go. My education in PC building continues and with each build I am closer to the dream. The grills helped pull it all together and I was happy with the outcome. I mean, what more could I have expected from two pieces of metal?

If I am to build another one in this quest for the dream computer I really need to get serious. Or at least as serious as I can afford.

The road has been long with many turns and potholes. Many people along the way do not understand why we want to do this. They just can not understand the beauty we see in computers. The form and function of living art. Let us show them why we travelled so far. And when they see our creation they will stand in awe of it.

Time to dive into the deep end. Here goes nothing.........

Part 4 coming soon

[MaxTheMonster1]

I'm digging the gold.

[eastexas]

Part 4: Design

I want to start with saying that in the past I was working with little to no money. That is going to be thrown out the window on this build. Not that you can't achieve similar or better results without money but it will take ingenuity and patience. You will need to be crafty and creative.

Spent many hours,days and even weeks trying to make this a reality. So just understand that without unlimited funds things will progress slowly. That is okay. It was that way for me as well.

Knowing that, here we go.

Could not find a motherboard, that had the same features I had grown use to(bios flashback and direct to bios button) in the color I wanted, Decided to keep the one I had. I would have changed it but if it was going to be the wrong color anyway, then what was the point?

Things I salvaged form the gold build are
motherboard,cpu,USB,DVD drive,SSD,fan grills,heatsink and my beloved case
^^^^^^^see how past purchases have led to the long goal^^^^^^^^^

Things I bought:
new power supply(fully modular)
graphics card R9 380(one that fit all the specs I wanted)
fans x5
fan controller
fan grill(another)
ram(Corsair platinums)
sata cables
cable sleeving plus heatshrink
wire plus connectors
tie straps
clear coat spray paint(had black paint left over from before)
momentary switches x 2 (had a power button already but added reset button and a direct to bios button)
screws and nuts of all sizes
model paint and brushes
clear paint sealer

Think that is all of it but I could be missing something.

Began by taking the graphics card apart to get the backplate. Then I took the tops off of the Platinum ram sticks. Next I had another fan grill made. Took the backplate, ram tops and all the fan grills down to be powdercoated. Had to strip the gold off the old fan grills first(pain in the butt). In the end I had them all sand blasted and primed before powdercoat was applied.

While waiting on the parts to be powdercoated I went to work on sleeving the cables. This was a pain staking endeavour. Quickly realizing how long this was going to take I decide to make sure the cables would be long enough to reach any motherboard connection point on future motherboards. So I made them longer than I needed. I also added sata and molex connectors along the cables for any future add ons. This took away from the look I wanted but I feel it was the right decision for the long run. My cables are less than perfect but I am happy with my first attempt at sleeving.

By the time I finished with all the psu cables (made enough to cover any future add ons), fan cables and switch cables weeks had passed and my parts were back from powdercoating.

After removing all the stickers on the front of the graphics card (they were red)(see Asus R9 380). Including the fan stickers. It was time to paint the gpu. Broke out the model paint and gave it a go.

I will not lie. This did not come out as well as I would have liked. That is the life of a modder. But I learned a lot from the process and believe if I decide to try it again the results would be great. But for now, at least it is not red. lol

Put the gpu back together with its painted front and powdercoated backplate. Hoping that I didn't break it because the warranty is out the window at this point.

The fan controller was next. It came with a clear ring around the knobs and blue leds. None of which I wanted. So I took it apart and painted the clear rings black and sealed it with a clear coat. Cut a hole it the back of the controller so I could feed the cables inside. that way I could conceal all the connection. Painted the leds black and even stuck small pieces of electrical tape on them to hide all the light that might seep through.

Painted the DVD drive black while I was painting the fan controller. Sealed it with the same sealer as the fan controller got.

Took an AMD logo off the web ( I did not design this logo so all credit to whoever did) and resized it to fit all the different fans on the build. Printed them off on to label paper. Cut out the new stickers and applied them to all the fans including the gpu.

Put the powdercoated ram tops back on the sticks. They look great. If I do say so myself.

We have come to the part where we put it all together. Now let us see if all of our design and hard work combines to create that dream we had so long ago. The vision that only we could see and nobody else believed was possible but us.

The waiting is over and here it is...................................

Part 5 coming soon

[eastexas]

Thanks

[anarekist]

looking forward to moar

[eastexas]

part 5: The Dream

Here it is. My dream computer in all its glory. My vision of it anyway.

The Jolly Rancher

There it is. Some of you will not like my choices. Like my devotion to an open air case or air cooling. That is okay. We all like what we like and build what we build. We do it for our own enjoyment . The variations of how to build a PC are endless. That is what I like about my chosen hobby.

This dream journey comes to an end but it is not the end to my PC building. I have built many computers over the years. Some of them with custom water loops. This was just a brief history of my journey into the fascinating world of custom PC building.

May your quest for the ultimate PC bring you as much joy as mine has. Remember to not get discouraged. Stay focused.

You too can have your dream machine!

THE END

P.S. I would like to say thanks to my special lady who encouraged me to write this. I only build these for my own enjoyment and till now really never shared them. I am not a professional modder, photographer or writer. Just a guy trying his best. But lately my health has be failing me and she thought sharing my passions with other like minded people would cheer me up. She was right. As always.

Also would like to thank all my friends and family who put up with my crazy hobby. Along with all the companies and employees who helped make the dreams possible.

Let me send a special thanks to the helpful members of the Tek Sydicate forums. Who constantly get me out of jams and even showed me how to make this post.

And last but not least to Logan. Who inspired me, those many years ago , to dream and showed me how to make those dreams a reality.

Thanks for reading