Posted on October 12th, 2024, happened in 2020 - 1145 words

The Building Process & Pain

I began building on Christmas morning 2020. I saw on Youtube that building a computer was a quick process, and I'd have my finished computer after a few hours. I was very wrong.

Initially, it went smoothly. Like every other tutorial I had seen, I began by placing the motherboard into the case, and I forgot the step that everyone emphasised - Don't forget to install the IO shield. After that mishap, it generally went slowly, but smoothly. I methodically installed every component with slightly shaky and sweaty hands, and I made sure to double check, and triple check, and sometimes even quadruple check that components were seated right. I was frightened when I heard the crunch of the GPU being mounted into the PCIE slot, but I soon learned that computers, and their parts, were much more durable than I imagined. The process of installing parts took me a few hours.

After all the parts were installed in the case, there was one thing left - cable management. And this pained me to no end. Organisation has never been my forte, and squeezing the power cables through small holes in the case was rough, and making sure that the cables didn't interfere with any of the fans or parts was difficult. I was terrified of putting the wrong cables in the wrong holes and short circuiting my machine when it turned on. Additionally, I cheaped out a little on the power supply, and the cables were of lower quality, so sometimes they didn't sit right in their designated slots and slipped out many times. The process of wiring took me another few hours.

Once the wires were done, I got to setting up the peripherals, which was much, much easier. Monitors were mounted and speakers were plugged in. I also had an equally colourful mouse and keyboard to match my computer's own rainbow. The moment of truth had arrived. Did I mess up my build? Would I short circuit something? Were some parts faulty? All questions were answered when I watched my machine brilliantly spin to life, in all its rainbow glory. I was ecstatic to say the least. I waited for my screen to light up, so ready to celebrate, but the lights that mattered most never came, and I was left wondering. Thus began an arduous, week long troubleshooting process.

I dismantled and reassembled my machine ten times over. I had no way to test my parts, and was relying on the hope that none of them were faulty, especially the CPU or GPU. Since I bought these two parts in Australia, I had no way to get warranty for them in Singapore. If they were broken, my dreams of having my own computer would be crushed. I tried over and over again, searching through reddit forums to see what went wrong and what could be fixed and what I could've done different. No answers seemed to solve my unique issue, until I decided to reduce my machine to its most basic state.

I read the manual for the extra card I had ordered to give my computer more USB slots. It stated that it needed firmware to operate, and I realised that this card I had purchased for functionality was causing the lack of functionality. I removed it in a haste, and my dreams were fulfilled. The boot cycle I had seen so many times finally completed, and I was taken to the BIOS screen. I celebrated in joy as my week long toil had finished before the start of the new year. Installing the OS went smoothly and I had the computer setup I wanted.

My Computer upon Reflection

It will soon be 4 years since I built my computer, and I think I've used it everyday since I built it. It is an integral part of my life now, which seems almost insane to me. In hindsight, although I love to save money, I did not save enough when building this computer, and went way over my original budget. Additionally, I am no longer a big fan of the RGB lights, and in the next computer build I made, I didn't include the bells and whistles (read about it here). Although they were aesthetically pleasing to 12 year old me - 16 year old me is more practical and boring and I wish I saved the money and just bought something functional. Also, the computer originally sat on top of my desk, but now it rests under, so I don't get to see the lights as much. I think I was a little too extra and ambitious with my original build, and should have dumbed it down to something easier for a beginner.

Although there are things I would change if I did it now, I won't ever regret the decision to build my computer. It was memorable, educational and sparked a new passion. You should spend your money on a new computer!!!!!!