This is a bit of a story, stats below. :)

Right now I am marveling at the customization abilities of a PC after being on mac for 10 years (used pc prior to that). I cannot believe the insanely wild stuff you can build. I am so excited. I recently got this wild hair idea about building my own computer. What a lofty and novel idea for me! I thought, wow, you really must need to know what's going on in order to be able to conquer such a feat. Well, yes and no. For me, it was flying by the seat of my a** but also carefully picking apart the manuals and making sure I don't become a source of static electricity. I have to give credit to my friend John, who gave me pointers, inspired me, and poked the bear awake.

It all started with me trying to rehabilitate my old HP from 2012. It survived floods, evil exes, college, and multiple moves. I was feeling attached and had plans of gifting it to my daughter for learning purposes. It was so slow.

In addition to the HP being incomprehensibly slow, the only mice I had were bluetooth, and of course the bluetooth wasn't working. It was a nightmare. So, being undefeatable I navigated that old thing with my keyboard for a few days and picked up keyboard navigation skills along the way. That was the silver lining. As I dove into the completely dysfunctional obsoleteness, I realized it was time to let go. I had to let go of my attachment to move forward. My HP has been dismantled and is ready to go to recycling. (oh, such emotion)

I used the old hard drive from my HP to keep a copy of windows and some nice apps.

I spent roughly 3 days looking at parts online, trying to figure out what is going on and what works with what, ect. This was all new territory for me. There is so many parts, brands, variations and styles. A true rabbit hole! I soon caught on to name brands and was cross referencing stats to non-name brands. Boy, what a money pit. I was working with a strict budget and managed to fit in some good stuff. Microcenter refurbs and bundle deals are a big money saver when starting from scratch. Highly recommend.

What I took home:

Building

As a first timer, I had a fear of breaking brand new expensive parts. I was extremely cautious and moved very slow and was researching things like "How much force should it take to insert a RAM?" Turns out, up to 30 pounds of pressure might be needed to get it to snap in. Researched proper thermal paste application, learned about grounding so I don't fry the mother motherboard. And thank goodness, because there was definitely a static shock at one point on the case before installing anything. (THANKS JOHN!) I was careful not to touch anything I didn't have to.

Getting the Processor installed and attaching the fan wasn't so bad. Tiny proud moment. It's so pretty!

Keeping the motherboard manual open to the diagram, I inserted each component, cable, and power cord ever so carefully.

After everything was installed and I was certain everything was connected, I inspected every connection again to be absolutely certain. I found a few minor things, like making sure the power connectors were fully snapped in, those can be a little tricky! I have now gotten to the point where I can look at the motherboard and have an idea of what's what. Cool! It's not a mystery anymore.

The Big Moment

After hemming and hawing about whether or not it was ready to be powered on the first time, I decided I was being excessive and I needed to face the fear and hit the power button. It turns on the first time!!!! A baby is born.

Alright, I got everything perfect except for 1 fan. I fixed the fan and put the case on. After many transfers, updates, and installs, we have a quietly purring kitten on the desk.

This is truly the nicest thing i've ever had, not because of some specific hardware or price tag, but because of the tremendous pride that comes with it. Invaluable.

I always thought building a PC was some fancy tech thing for the elite. It turns out it's just allowing yourself the time to learn the details. Some basic electronics safety, ability to read and handle a screwdriver. You can do it if you give it a proper try.

What I learned:

• Keyboard navigation
• BIOS
• Building a PC
• Transferring OS from one hard drive to another
• Anything is possible
• I want more LEDS

You can do it! Build a computer!
<3