GuitarAngel.net

Corny titles aside, this seriously is my dream computer. I did not just purchase a pre-packaged retail machine this time around...with the help of Chaz, I built it myself! 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? 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. 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:

1. It is the only OS that can run DirectX 10...
2. ...and my computer has superpowers.

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. 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! There are captions to describe each photo, be aware that there are 21 photos total. You can also browse the entire set on Flickr.

The box containing all the parts and the lovely white box with my tower inside!

Here is the empty tower. I love that sliding panel! It covers the CD/DVD drives.

The tower with the sliding panel down.

Inside the case, still without parts. That plastic black thing you see on the side folds back over the tower to help circulate the air from the processor fan. It's a nice addition and is one of the reasons why I got this case. More cooling = happier computer.

All the parts out of the big box! The hard drive just came in some bubble wrap, heh, thanks Newegg.

Chaz is sliding in the motherboard. It's pretty colorful isn't it?

The end of the motherboard snapped into this section of the tower, this is a view from the back of the case.

Tools, little parts, wires, instruction booklets. Had to keep track of it all.

Another view of the motherboard from the back of the tower.

The pretty motherboard installed and ready!

The processor in place. The yellow thing holds the fan that keeps it cool.

Processor fan installed, along with the hard drive (the flat red cable). The frame for the hard drive rotates up and out of the case for easy installation or removal. Another plus to this case.

Power supply installed! It's the black box with those fat cables coming out.

Once the CD/DVD drives went in (I have two) it was only a slight challenge to keep the cables organized, hehe. The drives are those two grey boxes next to the power supply (black box).

Graphics card installed (the long black rectangle with "EVGA" on it), RAM installed (the comb-looking things under the red cable) and the plastic air circulator folded down over the whole thing.

Air circulator thing folded up, a full view of all the parts installed and plugged in.

Standing on it's feet, full of parts! The CD/DVD drives are mis-matched, I know, but that's another reason I'm thankful for the sliding panel.

The back of the tower with its fancy back panel on, hehe.

Ta da! The beautiful thing, completed!

My new monitor (22" widescreen) and somewhat-new desk, hehe!

Here is my new setup, looking fabulous.

There you have it! I am quite satisfied with everything. 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.

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!