Super Nerd Sundays Presents: Building A Computer!

I built my first computer when I was twenty-three. I was living with my parents in Massachusetts, working a job I hated. I was saving my money to move somewhere, anywhere, which would eventually narrow down to Portland, Oregon, but part of saving money is having money for the first time ever. And having money made me want to do things that I’d always wanted to do but never been able to do due to lack of money. Things like build a computer. So I set myself a budget of $1,200 (three weeks or so worth of pay) and set to it.

I had a lot of great resources available to me. Most of my friends in Cambridge were in tech support, and had insight on how to assess hardware. They were also extremely poor, and had a lot of advice on how to comparison shop and spot a bargain, sorting out true finds from rip-offs. I talked through my system with them, learned a lot about how all the parts fit together and what I should consider while constructing my theoretical computer, and then I learned what could go wrong. I learned about things that aren’t listed on item’s profiles when you’re shopping for them, things like rate of failure and the pros and cons of certain technological operations I’d previously viewed as entirely beneficial (read: I learned why I should RAID and why I shouldn’t RAID). I learned what OEM meant and learned why buying OEM was smarter and cheaper than buying products with warranties. In a way, I learned how to do something awesome on the cheap, a skillset I’ve carried over to other things in my life.

I still use my first home-made computer, despite some technical failures since then. I’ve had a power supply brick during a heat wave, which taught me both how to assess a failing power supply and how nasty a failing power supply can be for your motherboard if you let it go long enough. Each of these issues, thanks to my home-brewing ways, became a chance to learn something new for me about my system and how it worked. I learned, for example, that a fluctuating power supply can cause problems with almost every part in your system, that it can damage a motherboard and that re-seating a CPU on a motherboard is actually quite easy.

I’ve had to replace almost all of the major parts in my computer by this point – only the original RAM case, and CPU remain. I’ve learned how to navigate warranties on products that had warranties and how to replace products that are out of warranty quickly and effectively. I’ve learned how to get as much performance as I can for my buck and how to differentiate poorly optimized software from poorly optimized hardware – for me, building a computer has been an experience just as much about learning how the system worked as it has been about assembling a platform for playing games and storing information.

My friend Alex had a slightly different take on system building. With a very different situation, economically, and a very different mindset, Alex focused on building mechanical beasts of machines: the best that money could buy or nothing. Quad core processors, SLIed video cards and multi-disk arrays, and damn the expense. In the end, he’s certainly come out with more potent machines that I’ve ever made, but he’s also missed out on some of the learning experiences that I’ve had: the troubleshooting and DIYing that I’ve done is alien to him. He thinks it’s insane to enjoy doing it, and think it’s a sign that I built a bad system that I’ve had to tune it and repair it. We’ve both wired cases and selected products, but the mentalities we brought to the table lead to very different experiences with building systems. I was interested in simply meeting my requirements. Alex wanted to destroy them. We also, as I mention, live very different lifestyle, with very different spending habits: I’m in Graduate School, and have hovered near the poverty line with minimal to no benefits for half a decade now, Alex has been steadily employed and, until recently, lived rent free.

What’s interesting to me, and what prompted me writing this, is another friend of mine who has decided to build a system. This friend, Dan, had never built a system before. He purchased performance laptops (a VAIO, techies lament) and had some technical difficulties getting them to perform as-advertised consistently, but when it came to assembling a system he took to it well. Dan’s also easily the most responsible of my circle of old friends: he doesn’t have any of Al’s trouble with keeping money or my trouble with “living like a normal person.” As a result he came to the process of system building with a healthy bank account, a stable life and job and a balanced mentality on the whole process.

I’m not sure how he’s come out of it yet: I still don’t think that you can really know what you’re doing with your system until something has gone wrong, until you actually have to sit down and patch your computer, make sure it’s working. But I’ve already noticed a renewed sense of excitement in him (as much as Dan displays) when I talk to him about games. He’s no longer concerned with technical requirements, he’s actually playing The Old Republic (which his Vaio had previously prohibited) and he seems to be genuinely excited about the process of making, updating and maintaining his new computer. It’s been kind of incredible to see, and regardless of how he continues to develop I’m excited to watch as he grows into a member of the system-building community.

Watching Dan make a computer has done more than just make me excited to see how he’ll grow into using his system. It’s made me long for the days when I had the disposable income to build computers on my own. There’s a certain magic to making a computer, in assembling a complicated piece of equipment, using it and fine tuning it. Upgrading systems, growing them and ironing out the kinks is tremendously fun in its own way (also stressful and frustrating). It’s inspiring to watch someone go through the process of building a computer for the first time, and it makes me long for the days of disposable income when I could afford to build my own computer. The repairs I’ve had to do have kept my system functioning well enough for my purposes, but sometimes I do long for the days when I could build a new system from the ground up.

There’s a power in building systems, a sense of competition and completion, a realization of philosophy in an act of creation which is almost always beautifully, accidentally unique. It’s a singular, wonderful, informative experience and it’s something any gamer, or any moderate to heavy tech user in general, should do at least once. I’m excited to see how it turns out for Dan in the long run, and I look forward to the day when I can sit down with a nice fat stack of money I don’t need and turn it into a brand new system of my very own.