Build1

This is my first post from my new computer. I built it myself. This was one item on my list of summer projects. My old computer seemed to be getting slower and slower for some reason. I didn't use a book or instructions from anywhere on how to build a computer I just figured that since I'm familiar with the various components inside a computer, how hard could it be? It wasn't really that hard at all. The only thing I did wrong was I didn't reset the bios to the defaults after I flashed to the most recent version. I just flashed the bios and then installed Windows. The only effect that it had was that my onboard audio didn't work. I was going mad trying to figure that one out. Windows just said that there was no audio device detected. I had all the bios setting correct and I checked and rechecked them. I thought at first I had gotten a defective motherboard but when I finally decided to reset the bios to the defaults and reinstall Windows everything worked out after that. Windows found the onboard audio before I got as far as the reinstall and it's been smooth sailing ever since. It doesn't say anywhere in the motherboard manual that you should reset the bios to defaults after you flash them. That seems sort of strange since I never changed any of the settings in the original bios to being with. Whatever. Rookie mistake I guess. I don't really feel bad that I didn't know that. Build #2 should be even easier now....whenever that is.

I gotta say this new computer really rocks. I don't wait for anything. Programs and documents load in an instant. Mainly I got this going because of another project I have in mind which is to transfer some videotapes to DVD. My grandfather used to shoot a lot of home movies with a film camera. This was before the days of regular VHS video cameras. When I was little we used to watch a lot of them on a projector screen when we got together on Sunday evenings. He had film of vacations my grandparents took and a lot of other family get togethers. All that sort of stuff that people take with video cameras now, only then it was film. Sometime in the early 90's he transferred a lot of what he had to VHS. Some of his films were getting old and deteriorating. He had this done at a camera shop and he did like a commentary track over it. We have 10 videos altogether of family history going back as far as 1938. I thought it would be an interesting idea to play around with transferring some of this stuff to DVD but my older computer just doesn't have the processing power to do that very efficiently. One time I authored a DVD out of a couple of movie trailers I ripped from some DVD's and it took several hours. I tried that same thing with my new computer recently and it took maybe a minute.

build1 details:
Case: Ultra Grid ATX, clear side
Motherboard: EVGA nForce 680i SLI; socket 775
Video Card: EVGA GeForce 7900 GS KO; 256MB PCIe w/Dual DVI
CPU: Intel Core2Duo E6420; 2.13Ghz
CPU fan: Zerotherm
Memory: Crucial Ballistix DDR2; 2GB
Drives: Seagate 80GB and
HP 16X SATA DVD+/-RW with LiteScribe
Power: Ultra X-finity 600W
OS: Windows XP Pro
Monitor: 22" LCD Samsung SynchMaster 226BW
Mouse: Logitech MX Revolution
Keyboard: none yet; using borrowed Dell keyboard from work.
Speakers: Altec Lansing VS4121

I shopped at Dell first to customize a computer system to see what one might cost these days. I put together a pretty decent system and noted the dollar amount. Then I went shopping for parts and did the same thing. I decided to spend around the same as I would have on the Dell only I got a lot more computer for my dollar. Yeah it took some doing, getting it all together with unboxing everything and putting it all together getting up and running and all that, but for what I spent I think I did pretty good. On top of all that, now I have a feel for what I'm doing and knowing what I know now, I probably won't buy a prebuilt computer system ever again.

TigerDirect deserves some credit. They have great pricing, fast shipping, and the product reviews on the site were helpful when I was choosing components. They are worthy of a new link on the right side of my blog.