I’ve learned through hard experience that “maybe I need to use lots of additional force” is never the right answer when it comes to building PCs
Now, that’s not always true. True, it wasn’t a self-built machine, but at one of my former offices we got a bunch of IBM servers. None of the staff could get the things open. Finally, we let an intern at it. He just hammered away at the case until it opened. Brute force and ignorance at its finest.
in case you wondered:
a.)the pair of video cards Jeff is using are NOT mid-range by any specs that i’ve seen
b.)the heatsink gets bolted to the case
c.)the standoffs come disattached
At the beginning I was wondering what you were going to use the wire cutters for (I couldn’t think of anything). (Of course, that was the last mention of them.)
another comment:
snipping the sleeves that hold the HD cables is BAD. they’re intended to be like that to improve airflow.
Bravo Jeff,
I’m going to buy all the parts and build one too!
Putting together a pc is so much easier these days, all the parts fit nicely and the cases are so much better. I remember putting together a 486DX and having to cut off parts of some of the cards because they didnt fit properly etc ;).
Cats are curious arent they ? This whole excercise is one big adventure for them. There are boxes (!) involved, cables (!), and usually they take off with one or two screws you can laying around, and you cant find once you need em ;).
I used the wire cutters to snip a preinstalled zip-tie on the power supply cables that was preventing me from reaching the full length of the cables around the back of the motherboard tray.
I also used them to cut away the plastic sleeves on the “rounded” IDE cable included with the motherboard (which is really just a flat IDE cable twisted into a tight cylinder), which makes it more flexible.
Sometimes add-in cards will have long metal tabs on the bottom, which bottom out on the case. I use the wire cutters to cut then twist that bottom “tab” off the cards.
But mostly I use the wire cutters to snip zipties, either removing or adding. I included them in the photo because I had 'em out.
Indeed, they’re very durable. Worst thing I’ve ever done to hardware: Re-inserted an A64 a bit off, bending a pin. Wondered why it wouldn’t post, stripped it and found that, had to get frisky with a pocketknife, a paperclip, and needlenose pliers, if I recall. But it works to this day. =D
It’s amazing that you generally need nothing but a Phillips screwdriver to completely assemble or disassemble a computer, even a laptop. (Though a flathead sure helps for prying things up.)
Hey, my little programming helper just showed uzk;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;/
At the risk of sounding conceited, I’ll say that I’ve been building computers since I was in high school and I’ve totally given up on the whole thing. It’s not worth it for people in our position. Let’s look at the reasons why:
It’s just not worth our time. We bill at a pretty good rate. Even if we considered our time “free”, it would be better spent looking for/going out with/whatever with a RLG*.
What happens when a component is DOA? This has happened to me a couple of times. What a friggin’ PAIN in the ass it is to return a component and blow your whole day (or be out of a computer for a week returning the component to an online store…) Not to mention some vendors are quite reticent to accept returns. Then again, that’s the vendor’s fault…
There’s freakin’ nothing left to learn by building a PC. They go together in pretty much the same way as they did 10 years ago, give or take some form factor changes. What are we learning now that we haven’t learned before? Learning is what makes it interesting. I think every techie should build his or her own PC a couple of times, but once you’ve learned how to do it, you’re basically just a factory worker in your own home.
New pre-bought machines are physically better engineered than what you can build yourself. Take a look at what you’ve built there. Nice rig. But look at that heatsink, with its enormous hanging mass when the tower is upright… Do you think that travels/moves well? Not to me. Is the case designed for just the right airflow over that brand of heatsink with the CPU in that position? No. If you get a Dell or an Apple, a team of engineers (probably mech E’s) has sat around a table and designed how the airflow will go around the components. They’ve put in clips and snaps to keep everything tight during shipping, and the result is a better, more durable physical box. This is probably my biggest deciding factor in buying pre-built now.
The cost argument doesn’t hold water for me. You are building a cheaper machine, but it’s, well, cheaper (see 4). And like I said, our time is worth a lot more than the cost differential on the box.
-Dave Markle
You guys really seem to know much more about software than about hardware.
For example, you would have saved $250+ just by waiting until July 22, when the Q6600’s price will drop to 50%.
Number 2, that motherboard is really far from being the best $150 can get. I can think of a number of P35 and more future proof MoBos around that price point.
The Raptor is good for snobbish people, because it’s not much faster than the 3 Gbps drives. Plus it’s noisy. The 7200.10 is noisy, too.
And buying that RAM is the frosting on the cake, when you had something like Crucial Ballistix for about the same price in June, when you guys bought the components.
I can see a blind man and a deaf man walking on the highway…
I always build up the motherboard first. Place the motherboard on top of the anti-static bag it came in so it’s easier to work on
Be careful with this advice Jeff. It can be easy to bend any excess solder or exposed pins/wires on the underside of the motherboard and cause a short circuit. Cases that come with a removable motherboard plate are better as you can mount correctly on the screws where the motherboard is designed to be supported and still have accessibility.
John:
“2 x Kingston ValueRAM 2GB (2 x 1GB)” is TWO sets of Kingston ValueRAM. A set contains TWO 1GB sticks. 2*2 = 4. 
Cheers.
I used to build all my own PC’s. Haven’t built one in several years, other than a couple servers, which I don’t upgrade nearly as often. When I started, over 15 years ago, you could save yourself serious $$$ by building it yourself. I know I saved over $1,000 over what Gateway was charging at the time, and Gateway was by far the cheapest.
Lots of times now, you can’t even save. The big names get their components far cheaper than you could (buying in bulk helps) and the profit margins are so slim, that it’s hard to beat their prices, at least by anything significant. What you do get though, still, is the opportunity to get something spec’d out exactly as you’d like it. And, if you’re doing something like a dual-video card, or RAID, then it’s worth it. Because you will pay extra for those kinds of premiums, if you can even find them.
However, there’s another reason I don’t build my own PC’s anymore. I’ve gone totally laptop. Turned off my last desktop computer over 2 1/2 years ago, and I’ve never looked back. I know I don’t get the performance, but the only time that’s ever been an issue for me is when I’m gaming, and I just don’t do as much of that anymore, and when I do, it’s usually “classic” games, like the Gabriel Knight series from Sierra On-Line. Those are so old, the challenge isn’t getting good enough hardware for them, it’s getting them to run with Windows XP or Vista.
Anyway, good luck and enjoy yourself.
@Dave M
#1 reason to build your own PC is as Jeff explains in this and many other articles is to have it with your custom parts. Low power/silent was one of his goals. If you have someone else build it with all the custom parts is it worth the extra bling.
#2 you talk about billing more then the time to build, I would agree I would never build a customers PC, but for myself or close friend that needed something custom, it would be worth it.
#3 sometimes it’s just fun to build stuff hardware wise. most of us spend all day create/modifying programs all day long, let us play with the hardware too!
Cheers,
Brad
Cats and computers are a perfect pair. I used to have two (I “borrowed” them from my sister while she was moving house). There’s nothing as satisfying as coding on a winter’s day with two cats on your lap.
I remember a time I was upgrading the harddrive in my Mac. I opened the box, disconnected the drive and turned around for the new drive. When I turned back, not one, but both cats were inside the box pretending to be innocent. It was one of those “You little bastards!” moments.
As both a PC enthusiast, and a LEGO Enthusiast (we prefer the term AFOL), Kudo’s on the LEGO mention!
As my wife and I have said frequently during computer assembly days “[our cat] is putting the IT back in kITty”…
Speaking of Legos and computer building have you ever seen the modded computer cases made completely out of Legos?
Yeah, but does it make coffee?
Once you’ve finally managed to get all the front panel wires plugged into the motherboard, you should wrap a piece of tape around the whole bundle. It makes it much easier to reconnect them all, should you ever need to.