So recently I built a PC. First time in my life I've done it and it only took me 30 years. I thought I'd detail the process and some of the bumps I encountered maybe it'll be of use to someone somewhere.

Mobo: b450 VDH Pro Max
CPU: Ryzen 5 2600
GPU: RX580
RAM: 16gigs (8x2) Ripjaws G. Skill 3200
PSU: 650 wats

It goes whoop whoop and I can actually.. like.. see what happens in game now..


So lets start at the beginning. I was given a hand-me-down PC from my cousin a few years ago and today that system would be reaching around its' 7th or 8th year of heavy duty use. Needless to say it was not able to facilitate what was required of it and this has essentially been the theme of my IT systems for the last 30 years of my life. I think the last piece of reliable tech I've ever owned was an old school Nokia with snake. Battery charge that could last a week or two and I didn't have to look at the screen to type. Ah those were the days. In any case.. the old system needed to go and I started with changing the graphics card and through that I was able to identify a weak processor and insufficient RAM. In order to pick up a new processor though I needed a new MOBO as well and so thats where we are. The PSU remained unchanged and the case is a good case so I've kept it.

So I had been studying parts and the like on the internet with a heavy bias on following along with Linus Tech Tips. I just find him the easiest to consume. Anyway taking the system old system apart and out was relatively straightforward. Pull out plugs, unscrew screws, remove parts. The first hiccup I almost landed into was.. thermal paste :| fortunately the CPU I ordered came with it pre-applied. It's really important to know about this when building a PC. I think for future builds I will definitely pick up my own tube but this time I just wanted to get the system running. The MOBO comes with 4 slots for RAM and I didn't know it then but it actually matters which slots you put them in and I'll get into that a little later. Plugging the front of PC cables was another lesson I needed to learn and although I followed along correctly, I was not getting post. My graphics card light was on, the mobo light was on, nothing showed up on screen. Lucky I took the time to re-watch the Linus clip where I realized I had forgotten to plug my CPU to the PSU lol. OK so now that was done everything should have been up and running.. right? No. I had two HDD's plugged in, one was the old system unformatted and the secondary was from an older defunct PC. I swapped the HDD's to boot from the secondary and it worked! Kind of.. it booted with a warning saying my RAM was not optimized but I was happy it was just running so I went to bed for the night. Next day I turn it back on and no post again, figured it was the RAM so I swapped those around a few times until something showed up on the screen. Anywayh I finally found the correct config for the RAM, booted from the original HDD and walah, I have a new computer! I'm so happy with the way it performs and I've never had that sensation before with a system. It just does what I need it to and thats great. My precious frames don't disappear in the middle of combat and the screen doesn't suddenly freeze the moment I jump into combat. This is great for racing games as well as I don't get screen tearing when I hit a corner at speed. Ah.. I have yet to test video and audio editing on this system for now but so far so good! I'm thinking of maybe giving this thing a name.Well I'll put something up here if it goes well.