Techie Talk Computer Build

[Slazer]

I believe I found a WD Black on Newegg for $85, so I should be good,

[moonshineTheleocat]

Good. You won't regret it. Now the only thing I need to warn you about is that shipped hard drives tend to fail more often than store bought ones. But, good news is, the chances of that is so low you have a better chance of being bitten by a rattler in an urban neighborhood.

[arrowghost]

Well, take care and all the best. Hope you enjoy. Once your new rig is set, do take a picture and share it online. I would like to see what kind of casing you use too.

[Slazer]

Quick update on this: I finally gathered the parts and spent five hours this afternoon assembling it. First thing's first: I would like to recommend people stay away from the Blackhawk case I used. I ran into so many problems resulting from either shoddy construction, questionable internal design, or a combination thereof- ranging from the case wires blocking off access to the top expansion bay because of where they emerge from the case itself , to my motherboard's back-plate barely fitting where it was supposed to; I almost mangled the thing trying to get it in, and cut myself twice in the process.

Second, I made a... rather embarrassing error and ordered a monitor that only had VGA output for a video card with only DVI and HDMI inputs- probably the only model of LCD monitor still using VGA in 2014. So, I have no idea if the [yay] thing even works yet; I have to buy a bloody VGA-to-DVI adapter, because I cannot afford to buy a new monitor and cannot return this one since I've had it for beyond the 30 day refund period. Typical of me to spend months making a plan and yet still manage to overlook something as simple as checking to make sure your video output device actually supports your build.

I should have an adapter within the next four to five days, and I'll post again with pictures and opinions on the build shortly after I know how (and IF) it works.

[Dio]

Things happen and you learn to roll with them and not to repeat the same mistakes in your next build or your next upgrade. Good to see this build taking shape.

[arrowghost]

Yes, I'm looking forward to it, once done, don't forget to unleash your PC specs.

[Slazer]

Well, as you can see, I finally got this blasted thing up and running. I had an issue with my RAM not registering for a while, and bounced ideas back and forth between a couple of online tech buddies of mine until we settled on getting a second set of RAM to replace a pair of apparently DoA sticks. It was only after I'd spent another $100 and received my new RAM that I discovered the real problem: I hadn't been setting the sticks into the sockets properly. :x :x

BUT, at long last, this thing is working in all of it's hexacore glory. I'm probably going to switch out the current RAM sticks for the old ones, since these are apparently only 1333 even though the packaging stated they were (and I paid for) 1600 Mhz sticks; the old pair, a couple of G.SKILL Ares, are 1833. Not gonna miss out on that power boost.

UPDATE:

A little more delving into the matter revealed that there's apparently something I can do in the BIOS to get the RAM clock up to where it's rated to be. If anyone knows how to do that, I'd appreciate advice.