I Did the Unthinkable! (for me, anyways) in New Beginnings

I actually made my very first PC. Let me rephrase that, this isn’t my very first PC. Rather, it’s my very first PC that I made myself. I’ve wanted to do this for a while, but I was too afraid to make the commitment. I had been viewing some YouTube videos about how to build gaming PCs, many of which have links to PC Part Picker detailing the build. I stumbled across this glorious machine (http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pYBH4D). After wavering back and forth for a few weeks (or months, possibly), I took the plunge and purchased all the necessary parts plus Windows 8 and an optical drive.

My final required piece, the graphics card, arrived Monday. I started assembling it Wednesday. It was endlessly frustrating, mostly because I was trying to be as delicate as possible while handling the components, but my own foolishness made that near impossible. You see, I didn’t realize I was supposed to install those risers on the case to keep the motherboard separate from it. I screwed the mobo directly to the case. In doing so, my graphics card wouldn’t install all the way because some metal extending beyond its edge was posting against the case. I can’t tell how many times I pulled it out so I could force it back in. When I finally MacGuyvered a means of installing it, the mobo didn’t align with the I/O shield like it was supposed to. It wasn’t until I went to Fry’s Electronics to ask if putting some plastic spacers between the case and the mobo would be all right that I learned I was supposed to install those risers.

I also spent a couple of days trying to get my graphics card to send a signal to the monitor. My monitor kept displaying a message that I needed to plug in my PSU to the GPU, which I did. I knew for a fact that my graphics card was getting power because its fans were running. After a couple of days of resigning myself to either enlisting the help of Geek Squad or Walter, the IT guy from work, I somehow stumbled upon the idea of trying different plugs from the PSU. I’m really, really glad I didn’t embarrass myself by taking that problem to Geek Squad. Basically, I almost had to pay out $50 because I couldn’t figure out to use a different plug.

Regardless, I finally got my computer fully running yesterday. I even installed the OS and all the drivers all by myself, along with Google, through which I asked my questions on my work laptop. I guess one good thing about being so far behind the technology curve is that my problems have already been encountered by someone else. What’s awesome is how much I’ve learned in the process. I feel like all that knowledge is going to pay me back 100 times over throughout the rest of my life.