BFMracing
General Category => Tech Support and Chat => Topic started by: BFM_JANE on March 08, 2016, 11:20:42 AM
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Look what I got in the mail!
(http://i.imgur.com/ygPfVTM.jpg)
I ordered it, it's not a mystery package from an anonymous sender. But that would be exciting!
I'm kind of nervous about putting it all together, or "see how quickly and completely I can ruin $1000" as I've been putting it. I spent a good chunk of the last two weeks researching and studying computer bits. All the "How To Build A Computer" guides say it's easy and that it's like Legos for grown-ups, which is a little dismissive and emotionally unsupportive, but the videos do make it look easy.
So instead of putting it together, I'm going to read all the instruction manuals. Can't mess that up! Probably, but we'll see.
Note: Don't worry, after logging millions of hours looking at other people's computers, I know how boring it is looking at other people's computers. Posting anyway :winkgrin:
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WOOHOO!!!!
Congrats Jane! Good luck with the setup, I'm sure you'll do fine :)
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I think the case should be OK, it's pretty hard to break a case. You might scratch it a heap but it should still function.
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Congrats Jane! Good luck putting it together, i'm sure it will work fine, biggest thing is don't bend the prongs for the cpu. That graphics card looks pretty d_b
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I haven't put it together, but I did take everything out and look at it. Opening that graphics card was like an important event. I felt like there should have been applause in the background. It's in this nice cardboard box, and the paperwork inside is also in a nice envelope, and there's quality foam holding the card in place... It was a lovely moment.
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It's actually less complex than LEGO to physically assemble.
Fitting a non-stock CPU cooler is the only thing I'd consider hard (easy to mess up)... unless you're using a case like the TJ08-E. Annoyingly fiddly, that.
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So that most definitely was NOT like putting together Legos. More like defusing a bomb but, you know, in reverse (not building a bomb, that's illegal and suspicious, please don't flag my IP).
I kept having to get up and check the internet for practically everything. But hours and hours later, after the sun had gone down, I finally got it all put together. Plugged it in and some little LEDs came on inside. I plugged my current (old) monitor into it and... It powered on but no display. :mike:
The internet has a lot of suggestions. I'm hoping it's because I plugged the monitor into the motherboard and not the GPU (someone said a GPU automatically disables mobo graphics). So I'm going to go get a VGA to DVI adapter. And maybe I'll reseat my RAM, that's easy enough.
Fingers crossed!
** Update: You can uncross your fingers, it worked! We have BIOS! Now I can start spending money again :D
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Photographic proof of my computer building prowess:
(http://i.imgur.com/HkBYvUEm.jpg) (http://i.imgur.com/HkBYvUE.jpg)
I guess cable management is a thing, but I just don't know what to do with all those cords coming out of the PSU. But it otherwise looks pretty good.
I ordered a GPU brace to hold up my saggy graphics card but until it gets here, I have it propped up on a popsicle stick. Very effective.
I have a Windows 7 disc that was mailed a few months after I got my current computer. It was supposed to replace Vista but I didn't feel like installing it. Vista's fine! And now I have a Win7 ready to go. I just hope it works, I don't know if I have the product key for it.
And if it does work, I can then upgrade to Win10 for free (before July)! They won't let me upgrade as a Vista user. Hmpf!
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I'm on the new computer! The old one has been taken apart for its reusable junk (the DVD drive, the HDD, and their cables). The new computer is enormous, twice the size of the old one, which was a compact model. It's like having a suitcase sitting up next to me, or a monolith from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Despite Microsoft's efforts to keep me from upgrading to Windows 10 from Vista, I managed to figure it out, so this new computer has Win10. And let me tell you, if Windows 10 is annoying -- and it is -- it's nothing compared to Microsoft Edge.
While watching a video to see how to set up a storage drive (I hope that's worth the effort), the video started going all crazy, just like it would if the graphics card was failing. Yay! But it only did it once. It's probably okay, right? Eeeeeee...
So I'm going to transfer files from the old hard drive to the new one, and hope it survives. It's very old.
I hope you enjoyed my computer building experience! I know I didn't and don't want to do it again for a long time ;D
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Stick with windows 7, everything else is either too old or garbage
When can we see you on the servers again :toughguy:
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I wouldn't say anything newer than 7 is garbage. I've been using Windows 10 for about 6 months now, and I've enjoyed it a lot. It is buggy at times, and clearly not all the kinks are worked out. For instance, on my laptop the display driver has a moderate freqency to crash at odd moments. But it has a very smooth intuitive feel to it, and a lot of nice improvements over the older OS's, such as a fast built-in search ability that helps a lot to track down elusive files on over-loaded hard drives. Overall I like Windows 10 a lot.
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I think the part I don't like about 10 is the start menu, and all the other menus, which is basically all an OS is as far as I'm concerned :P
Microsoft's vision of everything being done with a touchscreen or voice command has left 10 with very big buttons/icons and a lot of them. Where you can make them smaller, like on the start menu, it takes the label away. One folder icon looks like the next and I don't have time to hover over everything. I'm a very important person. And since I'm neither touching nor talking to my computer, and I don't have a smartphone, the new layout annoys me. Otherwise, it doesn't matter. Still, I want Vista back! Or maybe 7...
And then there's Cortana. I might not have minded her until she asked if she could share my search habits with Microsoft to enhance my (ad) experience. I opted to not share and she said "I'm sorry, I can't do that" and then she died. :LOL:
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THats exactly why I dont like windows 8 and up, its all designed for touch pad screens and phones, not proper desktops :AOL:
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Nice balanced build Jane. I like that you got a top of the range PSU too, the G2's are great.
GTX 970 + i5 6500 is a good combo.
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= ) Nice set up Jane. I wonder if I'll ever "grow up" to a desktop, muchless a self built one. Laptops for now (which run the few PC games I do play just fine). If I was going to build one right now it'd look a good bit like yours, though I always feel as though you can never have too many fans so I'd try find a way to squeeze another one in there.