Posted on the October 13th, 2024, happened in 2021 - 440 Words

An easier build - but I'm still proud of it

My father's computer is the second(and last) computer I've built. It was built at the end of 2021, almost exactly a year on from my first build. My father's work laptop broke, and I suggested to him that I would build him a computer, just like how I built mine. After a little convincing, he accepted.

My father was hesitant to get his own computer as he was worried about the size of the machine. So, I knew I had to make a smaller computer, and I chose to make a mini ITX build. Computers generally have 3 different standard motherboard sizes. ATX, mATX and ITX. ATX is the largest and most common computer motherboard size. It provides the most functionality. The other two sizes are smaller, with mATX usually being used for budget builds, and ITX being the smallest. With that in mind, initially I wanted to make the computer as small as possible, but the relationship between size and function is proportional. As parts get bigger, they get more powerful. So, I settled for the NR200P as my case.

For my components, I decided to stick to AMD, choosing the Ryzen 5 5600x and the RX 6800 XT, and for the extra functionality, I went with a big fan tower CPU cooler, and packed my case with Noctua fans. When all the parts came, I realised that the case also came with extra fans, and I wasted money on an extra Noctua fan. However, customer service was great, and when I asked to return the item, they just refunded it and said I could keep it. Thanks Noctua!

With that, the build was mostly a breeze, but cable management was a pain again, especially in a smaller case. Due to the tight fit of all the components, there was no room for error, and I had to painstakingly organise and make sure cables didn't interfere with any fans. At least this time, I learned from my mistakes and got a more premium power supply, so at least this time the cables stayed in when I plugged them in.

My dad wanted his monitor to be touchscreen, but for some reason no one makes a large touchscreen monitor. So we settled on a large, but also cheap curved monitor from Xiaomi. However, I didn't learn from my mistake - don't cheap out - and the monitor broke almost instantly after the warranty expired.

I think building computers will always be fun and rewarding, but saving on the important things is probably a bad idea. Also I am guilty of being too lazy to clean the dust out of the fans.