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| layout | title | author | tags | |
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| post | Worst First Build - Live on PCPartPicker! | Ta180m |
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It's time to go full circle! I first started planning my build using Logical Increments and PCPartPicker and I can't appreciate how much they've helped me the confusing world of PC building. Now that my build is "finished", or more accurately, functional, it's time to publish it on PCPartPicker!
Here's some anticlimactic images of the completed build:
Here's the writeup that I did for the build:
What a perfect time to build a PC: massive supply chain disruptions, cryptocurrencies driving up GPU prices through the roof, (scalper) bot wars, and a pesky little thing called the coronavirus murdering 2.5 million people (that last one probably sounds completely alien to anyone before 2019). Just perfect!
You just have to admire the perfectness of this perfect desktop/server/workstation build. And as an extra bonus, it's $666.66, just like the original Apple I. OK fine, not quite, but it's close.
And admire how well balanced the CPU and the GPU are. Just imagine this setup at 4K 144Hz...
Anyways, I first started planning for this build in November, and it only took... 5 months of patiently (actually impatiently) waiting for deals. And I did get some good deals, including the PSU for $20 less and the motherboard for a stunning $90 off. The motherboard came with an old BIOS, but fortunately it could boot to the BIOS setup screen to let me update it for my Zen 3 CPU.
Getting the CPU involved lurking in a Micro Center Discord for months watching for days with stock, but it finally payed off when I managed to get the 5600X at MSRP, albeit with some pretty hefty taxes.
Next up was RAM, but prices kept trekking upwards! I finally pulled the trigger and bought it at $86, but taxes brought it up to $94.
The final ingredient was the GPU. For a few weeks, all that was between me finishing this build was a GPU so I could get a display output for configuring the BIOS and installing Arch Linux. I managed to snag the GPU for free (OK, maybe a dollar for the gas I used, but it was basically free) by asking on a Discord server if anyone was getting rid of really old graphics cards, and I got this great deal! 100% off MSRP! Still, this card is as powerful as you would expect from a free GPU, so I guess I'm not going to be doing any gaming any time soon. For server stuff, it works perfectly fine.
As for the case and CPU cooler... who needs cases anyways? Cardboard box for the win! And stock coolers work perfectly fine. Sure, I can't boost past 4.5 GHz, so I'll probably have to get an aftermarket cooler eventually, but...
Anyways, it's been a long journey. Hopefully GPU prices can plummet soon so I can replace my temporary graphics card with an actually decent one. And I still need a real case, an HDD, and a WiFi adapter... Oh well, I guess this build isn't finished quite yet!