5 Tips For Building Your First Gaming PC

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*DISCLAIMER* I do not know if this article is a joke or not but it is definitely funny. I could have died laughing when he said he just figured out hard drives, SSDs and optical drives needed power cables. :D

Hey everyone, my name is Joe, Reviews Editor for TechRadar, and I've never built a PC. Until now. Yes, I work for a technology media outlet and have never tangled my fingers in SATA cables. This is my shame. But recently all that changed.
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Wow.
 
Editor for TechRadar, yet doesn't know the basic stuff how a computer works

Why do I feel like this is one of the "Tech expert" guys milling around a Best Buy who managed to get lucky?
 
since when do you need to install video card drivers for it to display an image? i dont think ive had that happen with any recent cards. it wont perform right, yes, but my cpu doesnt support integrated graphics and it still displays an image so i can get to the site to download and install the drivers.
 
Jeez. I can understand that from a non-techie person...but a long-time PC gamer working for a tech site? That just seems crazy. Especially with the drivers.
He's lucky he didn't try building in the age before Plug & Play.
 
Number one piece of advice, take everyone else's advice with a grain of salt. Everyone will spec out a computer they would want for themselves. If you're not a gamer and ask for advice from a gamer you'll have a good chance to end up with a standalone graphics card recommended. And visa versa if you're a gamer and you talk to a budget builder, you'll be unhappy if you follow their advice. People just can't really empathize with the other person's wants.
 
Domingo said:
Jeez. I can understand that from a non-techie person...but a long-time PC gamer working for a tech site? That just seems crazy. Especially with the drivers.
He's lucky he didn't try building in the age before Plug & Play.
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The whole concept of IRQ planning would have blown this guys mind!
 
jpm100 said:
If you're not a gamer and ask for advice from a gamer you'll have a good chance to end up with a standalone graphics card recommended. And visa versa if you're a gamer and you talk to a budget builder, you'll be unhappy if you follow their advice. People just can't really empathize with the other person's wants.
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Maybe if you get advice from people without Aspergers...

Seriously, do that many people having trouble suggesting competent builds? I always ask what they want to use the system for. Some people would be well met with chromebooks, others just need budget machines, even gamers, it depends on what kinds of games. Of course the ideal computer depends on the individual person's needs, I would think that's obvious.
 
These are super novice mistakes, like not plugging things in or not loading drivers, oddly i have seen come up. That being said these tips could have been summed up in a checklist of todo.
 
The problem we have with the internet as it gets older and more popular is that it is more accessible to novices, and invalids. Internet megaphones are in the hands of complete idiots. You can hardly visit a forum (not this one), read a comment or message without having to keep your brain on filter mode, keeping the misinformation and retarded postings from the real answers and logical statements. Having to drudge through nonsensical opinions where technical information should normally be provided is becoming more and more common.

Back in the golden era of the internet, only people who were smart enough to work modems, do basic networking, afford a relatively expensive computing device and generally be conscious enough to work on a computer proficiently were the ones who posted and interacted online. Now every bum, tween, and invalid has a smart phone with a wireless connection where they can post nonsense without any filter or even comprehending the things they are responding to.
In some ways I blame Apple for all this.. for some better, but mostly at the worsening of my sanity, the iPhone did dumb computing down enough that it put it in the hands of everyone.

I've worked with people who called themselves a "Techie"(wtf is this term anyway) because they owned an iPad, yet they had no concept on how to configure their email account on said device, let alone any basic concepts of protocols or anything else remotely "tech" related.

This problem is particularly bad on the microsoft forums where it seems like they just encourage posts, even if the posts make absolutely no sense and is not a solution to the problem described. Now it seems like these types of people have even infiltrated the Editor ranks of tech websites. I don't really detect any hint of satire or tongue in cheek in the article. Looks like techradar is taking anyone to write for them, not caring about quality, but simply SEO real estate. They probably pay out 20 bucks a pop on articles like that. Good on Joe for taking the plunge and actually making the computer work (I'm assuming so... he didn't even mention what components he used for his build.) at his level, but he should not be posting articles or giving advice.

In short, thank God for tech saavy old school forums like these where crusty old computer geeks can still get together and discuss.
 
This is still my favorite noob way to build a rig. I now always build my rigs listening to this video's soundtrack while I badly lip sync Korean phrases to myself!!

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"Hold the power supply. Careful, it's heavy!"
 
cbutters said:
In some ways I blame Apple for all this.. for some better, but mostly at the worsening of my sanity, the iPhone did dumb computing down enough that it put it in the hands of everyone.
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Plenty of people were online well before the iPhone launched in the summer of 2007. While smartphones and tablets have made it easier on get online and vastly increasing the mobility of the Internet, the socialization of the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, etc. has increased active participation online, moving past the web as a way to simply look at information. Now, everyone can have their say for the world to see on Twitter and FB.

As for the article, I can appreciate the idea of a tech site doing a piece on building a PC from novice's perspective with the assumption that a novice might have to insight to share with other newcomers that a veteran would miss. But this piece didn't do that IMHO.
 
tetris42 said:
Maybe if you get advice from people without Aspergers...

Seriously, do that many people having trouble suggesting competent builds? I always ask what they want to use the system for. Some people would be well met with chromebooks, others just need budget machines, even gamers, it depends on what kinds of games. Of course the ideal computer depends on the individual person's needs, I would think that's obvious.
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Yay for you. My post was an observation of others giving advice to other. Agree or disagree, the a dick attitude adds nothing.
 
LoL...;) I'm pretty sure it was on this guy's "site"--linked to by an established site that I frequent--that I once read a "review" (of something) that just happened be about the worst, error-filled, incomplete "review" I've a memory of ever having read...;) Now I know why. Not that it was any kind of burning question, mind you. I understand why the "review" was so critical (scathing) and so poor (hardly anything in it was accurate)--the guy didn't have a clue.

This guy is the kind of gaming customer that consoles were made for--with a console you don't have to learn advanced, nuclear-science theories about "power cables and their functions" and so on. Still, he at least has enough sense to start out in the right direction, though--even if I cannot understand what makes him believe he's qualified to run a computer oriented website. (I mean, it has to be his own site because obviously no one's going to hire someone with his complete lack of experience and knowledge for the position of "review editor". Nighttime janitor service I can see, but nothing else.)

I remember 1995 as the year the Internet really began to take off, and it's now obvious that everybody with a cell phone thinks he understands "technical things"--when he doesn't--and that's kind of sad. Building a PC is among one of the easiest, simplest things it's possible to do in the tech world today--it's literally a Lego blocks story. It's obvious that this guy needs some quality time with computer components to get to know them and their functions within the complete assembly. Hands-on learning is by far the best way to learn the technology because unless you are looking at programming *theory* (as opposed to practice, mind you), formal liberal arts colleges and even most "technical institutes" are way, way behind state of the art in their course curriculums and majors. It stays that way, too--so hands-on is really the only place to learn because the pace of computer technology development is so incredibly rapid. By the time colleges get their courses approved for accreditation, get their textbooks printed, and so on--state of the art hardware tech has moved on and already made all of that regimented, formal stuff obsolete.

But the smartest, most successful people are the ones who know their limitations and know they have a lot to learn (when and if they do.) There was a time, long ago, when I knew about as much as this guy--it's that way for all of us. But one big difference between he and I is that no one had to tell me I wasn't qualified to run my own site and review hardware because I was painfully aware of my ignorance but hungry and eager to learn! What I love about this stuff is that there is always, always something new to learn about...! I wish this guy and his site luck--but it will take more than that to make a go out of his venture.
 
Okay you guy are going crazy. A lit of the things in the list are errors that noobs can easily make. I forgot to pkug in SATA power cables on my first build. I've seen many not install graphics drivers. Mini ITX is pretty small for a noon (but this point is a little silly).
 
jpm100 said:
Yay for you. My post was an observation of others giving advice to other. Agree or disagree, the a dick attitude adds nothing.
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Well you're making a blanket statement about every user, what do you expect? Especially when "People just can't really empathize with the other person's wants" is describing a mental disorder, not some sage-like advice regarding all system builders.
 
Insula Gilliganis said:
This is still my favorite noob way to build a rig. I now always build my rigs listening to this video's soundtrack while I badly lip sync Korean phrases to myself!!

xlarge.jpg


"Hold the power supply. Careful, it's heavy!"
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Wow, this is... AWESOME. And HILARIOUS. Thanks for sharing! Wow, I had no idea MSI had a video like this made. At first I thought it would have been better to stick with native language + subs, but the English dubbing is part of what makes this video fucking great.
 
To be honest, if someone is a complete noob at building a pc and it is their first time, i could see them assuming SATA is powered for devices in the the same way USB powers devices since they likely rely on a lot of usb powered items from their phone to an mp3 player ect.
 
I don't get the GPU no image before drivers thing. Makes no sense.
 
tetris42 said:
Well you're making a blanket statement about every user, what do you expect? Especially when "People just can't really empathize with the other person's wants" is describing a mental disorder, not some sage-like advice regarding all system builders.
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You made a counter point about yourself we're suppose to believe because you said so an act as if that would refutes it for every user. Injecting personal bias is a human condition and not necessarily a mental disorder in most cases. I've rarely seen good advice given from the other person's viewpoint.
 
jpm100 said:
You made a counter point about yourself we're suppose to believe because you said so an act as if that would refutes it for every user. Injecting personal bias is a human condition and not necessarily a mental disorder in most cases. I've rarely seen good advice given from the other person's viewpoint.
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I think we're defining terms differently then. Injecting bias is not the same thing as an inability to empathize with the person's wants. Say the builder prefers AMD over Nvidia or vice-versa and tries to recommends cards of similar price points from his preferred brand for a gaming system, that would be bias, it's just a personal preference. Then say somebody says they need a system that can run World of Warcraft at 30fps because that's all they play, and the builder recommends a Geforce 780. Or somebody wants a top-performing system and the builder recommends a HDD over a SSD for the system drive. That's ignoring the requirements and like you said, inability to empathize with the person's wants. That's purely dysfunctional, since it's ignoring the parameters, like saying 2 + 2 = 8 because I like that number better than 4. I call an inability to empathize with a person's a mental disorder. In the case of system building, obviously not an extreme one, but it's dysfunction either way.
 
TechRadar..not going to dignify them with a click as I can assume it is written by a complete retard. That of course seems to be confirmed by most responses in this thread.

I will just boil it down to one simple tip. Just do it. You aren't nearly as retarded as you believe and computers aren't nearly as difficult to put together as you believe. The ONLY difficult thing in building your own PC is mounting the HSF to the cpu and using the correct amount of thermal compound. Even then it isn't the end of the world as you can just snap on the OEM as a basic user and call it a day. It will indeed work. Honestly at this point if you can build a piece of furniture of Ikea you can build a PC. As others mentioned, it isn't like you have to deal with IRQ's, dip switches or non PNP anymore.
 
World of Warcraft players are total idiots that migrated to the game Rift who are now Rift addicts.
If you watch the Rift general level 1-29 chat you can tell WOW players have no idea of what reality is.
Which is ok if you don't care =)
 
I think this is more about a demonstration and proof for the general technically starved pedestrian (given the metaphor for "walking" the internet).

The US was gutted by the "offshore" and "outsourcing" boom - so, now we're seeing the effects/side-effects across the industry.

The "first gaming PC" article is just a small, fringe example of what's to come. You should all witness the lack-of quality supporting today's generally creaking infrastructure.

So, all the power behind our poor neophyte... demonstrating the shit now required pass for shinola. He didn't get a tool-set for Christmas, was raised/fed on bogus-blue-ribbon 'ata-boy, and now he sucks. These are good first steps.
 
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