Got my new computer built and running!

[csziggy]

It was a bit of a journey. Originally I ordered a computer through NewEgg.com through their PC Build Service since they offered graphics cards at a lower price that way than I could find any where else. Plus, they only charged $99.99 to actually build the thing. It's been over a decade since I built my own computer so that seemed safer.

Well I screwed up and the order got cancelled. It was completely my fault but it took NewEgg two weeks to actually process the cancellation, then another week to refund my money.

So I took my list of parts and sourced most of them from Amazon. I got the case from NewEgg since they had it cheaper. The parts trickled in between last Thursday and Sunday. Sunday afternoon I got a good start on building and got the motherboard (with RAM, NVMe M.2 SSD, and CPU installed) into the case - with the CPU cooler ready to install. My husband helped my finish it up Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday I installed Windows 10 Pro 64 bit, drivers, and some of the software. Yesterday I finished installing the rest of the software.

Today we took the two big hard drives out of the old computer and installed them into the new one. Now the new computer has a 2TB NVMe SSD for the OS and programs, the old 4TB and 6TB hard drives from the old computer with all my data, and the shiny new 12 TB drive for more data! I'm actually planning to move the data off the 4TB - it's probably 10 years old or more and I'm not sure I trust it anymore.

Plus we found out why my old computer had been shutting down randomly - the top fan was not working at all and the front fan had a desiccated frog stuck in it - I suspect the front fan is not working either after that abuse.

[ret5hd]

1. Ahhh...a desiccated fan frog!

I could have replaced that for you at a very reasonable cost. While I was in there I would have checked/replaced your Wi-Fi belt. Your data injectors probably need looked at also.

[csziggy]

3. LOL! I should have gotten that old computer out to check it a couple of years ago

When it started just randomly shutting down. But the last couple of years have been hectic and that computer is now eight years old. So a new computer was in my plans anyway.

For one thing, I'm about halfway through scanning and editing the old family photos to post online so I needed more storage for them. Do you think 22 TB will be enough?

[msongs]

2. amazing how easy the assembly process is...once you've done your homework nt

[csziggy]

6. Working on computers is so easy these days!

My husband and I taught ourselves how to work on computers when we were given old family computers that ranged from 286s to 486s. With the 286 machine you had to tell the BIOS where to park the hard drive heads.

We refurbished about twenty old computers and gave them to people who had none.

Now, it's more like Legos - plug parts together and that's it. The hardest part is making sure that the parts are compatible - but there are resources to check. PCPartsPicker.com is one, plus they will give you suggestions where to buy.

But since it'd been so long, I watched some YouTube videos to catch up on the technology. I used Belarc Advisor to check what I had on the old computer so I wouldn't forget any "essential" programs. Since I have been using data drives to store all my program output, rather than where Windows wants to put stuff, I didn't have to worry about losing anything when I transferred computers, just transferred the drives.

The three weeks waiting on the NewEgg refund was not wasted!

[Marthe48]

4. Impressive!

And congratulations

[csziggy]

8. Thanks! I'm not a newbie to computer building

But I was worried I was getting too old to do it any more. It is so much easier these days!

[canetoad]

5. The frog

Beats the dried mouse in the A3 tray of my printer.

Well done.

[csziggy]

7. We still have a dried mouse from one of our bookcases

Poor thing probably went in to hide from the cats and got trapped when we closed the glass doors. Now the mouse and it's gnaw marks from trying to get out are part of the history of those already historic cases - they came out of the Florida Governor's Office when the old Capitol Building was restored in the late 1970s.

[3Hotdogs]

9. My grandson, 11 years old, built his own gaming computer. Took him one day and hours on YouTube.

Alls I know about it is that it has five fans.

[Kali]

10. lol!

a frog! we had two scorpions in the contacts for our house water pump earlier this year and I have had a dead rat up in the body of a portable dishwasher before (that was particularly gross) but a frog in the computer fan is right up there!