how long does it take to build?

[sitheris]

My first build I spent about 5-6 hours on because I didn't really know what I was doing and I couldn't figure out how to get the case wired so it would actually turn on. But I enjoyed the entire process ... was a challenge, and fun even though I had some problems building it.

The best part is the excitement you get from arriving home from work and having a large shipment of computer hardware waiting on you, and knowing that you'll be spending the rest of the evening building a computer from it all :-p

I still spend a lot of time tinkering around in my PC after building it just installing new hardware as I can afford it. Just this past weekend I put a raptor in it and rewired the entire system for better cable management.

 

[The Doc]

Set aside as much time as you need, work slow, and document all of your results. There is no reason at all to rush when it comes with building a computer (Unless you're running your own small business and you need to assemble five to ten systems a day). If it's your first computer build then relax, take a deep breath, and set aside a large chunk of time (a few hours) so you can pace yourself and do it right the first time. If you plan on getting into building computers as a hobby (as many of us here on [H] do) then you'll want to invest in a decent tool kit, and then generally add to your tool kit as time goes on. Once again, work slow, and document all of your results.

 

[Jonsey]

This is a funny thread. Most everyone is responding with pretty much the same information, without acknowledging the contributions of others. Is this a form of concensus building? Is it just that some don't care about what others say? Too eager to post their response and not read what might have been said already?

You'll find these kinds of threads are very popular. Why?
1. You don't have to read what other people have posted.
2. You can't be wrong... it takes no knowledge to post in a thread like this.
3. Easy way to boost your post count.
4. Makes you feel 1337 if you put that it takes you only 10 minutes to put a computer together.

You'll find these threads on every subforum: How much hard drive space do you have? What's the worst movie ever? Etc, Etc.

And for the topic of the thread... I've been putting my latest computer together for several months now.

 

[mikeblas]

You'll find these kinds of threads are very popular. Why?
1. You don't have to read what other people have posted.
2. You can't be wrong... it takes no knowledge to post in a thread like this.
3. Easy way to boost your post count.
4. Makes you feel 1337 if you put that it takes you only 10 minutes to put a computer together.

Yeah, I think all those reasons are accurate. But the thread ends up being not useful. Even if I was curious about how much disk space other guys have, or how long it takes to build a rig, people lying because of #4 makes the information useless.

And for the topic of the thread... I've been putting my latest computer together for several months now.

And there's no definition; when is the machine really done? Some drives went on sale, so I bought a couple and added. Does that count to my time?

I can't even get the case out of the shipping box and unpacked enough to work on it in ten minutes. Bolting in the power supply, finding and inserting the motherboard mounts? That's at least half an hour total. So maybe the starting point definition is equally vague.

 

[Fryguy8]

Short of heatsink mounting (what a bitch), and getting the motherboard properly lined up in the case (what a bitch), about 10 minutes. If the 2 pain steps take a bit longer, then 20-30 minutes.

 

[bob]

Yeah uhm it takes me 2 minutes to build a pc. I is a 1337 hacker yes i am...

Ok really, it took me a few hours to build my newest one, a S939 athlon. I had all the peices and everything was so different, and half the instructions were in french and chineese. Also, a big fold-out picture diagram of how to install the cpu, grease it, and put the heatsink on had the pictures all wrong, it showed wich what to have the gold tab on the cpu pointing, but the cpu wouldnt go in that way ...

my computer is never complete

Yeah. Same here. My K7 took 4 years to build. Started out as a K7-500 with 64mb of ram, 2 gig hard drive, Mach 64 2mb PCI graphics. I just couldnt stop adding to it. It was a piece of crap when I started in 2000, and a modest internetting machine when I finished in 2004 and sold it for $100.00

Ended up as:
K7-500 512k cache
512mb PC133 ram
10.8Gb hard drive
2 - 4.3Gb hard drives
PCI AiTech tv tuner card
Dvd-rom
52x32x32 cd RW
Geforce2 Ultra O/Ced with a big fatty heatsink epoxied on
big K7 heatsink with 3 fans on it running @ 5v
2 10/100 ethernet cards
sound-Blaster 16 sound card

 

[AlexStenka]

1 hours 30 minutes to 2 hours for me, I like to make sure all my sutff runs good, I take my time not rush through, and fuck something up because I rushed.

 

[Nazo]

4. Makes you feel 1337 if you put that it takes you only 10 minutes to put a computer together.

Have you actually LOOKED at these posts you're so quick to knock down? Most consist of people emphasising how one should take their time and it takes them over an hour because they don't want to screw up. Some of us are saying even longer. Seems more "1337" to say "take your time, be careful so you don't fry something" than "oh, I'm so special I can put together a computer before you've finished blinking an eye."

 

[mikeblas]

Have you actually LOOKED at these posts you're so quick to knock down? Most consist of people emphasising how one should take their time and it takes them over an hour because they don't want to screw up.

Some are, some aren't. Until someone takes an accurate tally, we don't know which advice is more common, or which time ranges dominate the survey responses. Meanwhile, people will take away what they remember, which probably isn't wholly accurate.

Short of heatsink mounting (what a bitch), and getting the motherboard properly lined up in the case (what a bitch), about 10 minutes. If the 2 pain steps take a bit longer, then 20-30 minutes.

Getting the motherboard on the motherboard tray is a PITA. This is one step that I just hate. I hate it so much that I rush through it, and usually forget to install the I/O backplate. Or, just push against the backplate until the motherboard seats and only after bolting everything down find that one of the backplate tabs has bent down over the connector it was protecting.

Guh!

 

[Jonsey]

Have you actually LOOKED at these posts you're so quick to knock down? Most consist of people emphasising how one should take their time and it takes them over an hour because they don't want to screw up. Some of us are saying even longer. Seems more "1337" to say "take your time, be careful so you don't fry something" than "oh, I'm so special I can put together a computer before you've finished blinking an eye."

By my quick count, we have about 15 posts of people saying it takes less than an hour. Around 7 said more than an hour. About 5 took the time to say "take your time." A dozen or so conversation type posts. This is before my post.
I could have miscounted my hash marks, but I don't think the slow types dominated the discussion.

Anyways, it's not worth arguing over. I was just responding to they guy that wonders about these survey type threads. I spent over and hour cutting holes in my motherboard tray to route the power supply cables, so what do I know?

 

[Jonsey]

Getting the motherboard on the motherboard tray is a PITA. This is one step that I just hate. I hate it so much that I rush through it, and usually forget to install the I/O backplate. Or, just push against the backplate until the motherboard seats and only after bolting everything down find that one of the backplate tabs has bent down over the connector it was protecting.

Guh!

I hear you there. I had a hard time even getting the I/O plate to seat properly in my Lian-Li case. You'd think with an abit board and a $200 dollar case, they would be compatible.

 

[Nazo]

By my quick count, we have about 15 posts of people saying it takes less than an hour. Around 7 said more than an hour. About 5 took the time to say "take your time." A dozen or so conversation type posts. This is before my post.
I could have miscounted my hash marks, but I don't think the slow types dominated the discussion.

Anyways, it's not worth arguing over. I was just responding to they guy that wonders about these survey type threads. I spent over and hour cutting holes in my motherboard tray to route the power supply cables, so what do I know?

My point really is that it's hardly commonplace for everyone to say they install a system in some insanely short period of time. Actually, if you look more carefully, you'll note that some of them are essentially double votes. Saying they can do that if they really try, but, don't. I mean, heck, even _I_ could slap together a computer in only a few minutes time if I really really tried, anyone can do this if they just slow down and take care about the cpu installation part for a moment and then rush through the rest, but, I think it's pretty clear on average that the quality of your results is directly proportional to the amount of time spent on it. Overall, the number of people who are truly implying that they honestly think you should spend no more than 20 or whatever number of minutes is pretty small. The fact is, people are rather quick to complain about the uselessness of things and how horrible all the responses are, when, in fact, there are some perfectly valid responses with plenty of info.


You know, on the subject of the mbs, funny thing. Mine went right in my cheap case. d-: It's funny to learn that people's lian lis are troublesome even. Actually, the most annoying thing is those midtowers where you have to kind of slide it under the PSU and the drive holders to get it in there, but, the CPU, memory, etc get in the way. Now THAT'S a pain. It's kind of the cost of a cramped case though I guess. At least you have to really work at it to screw up your motherboard (maybe get a screw stuck under it shorting something I guess.) That CPU, if you bump the heatsink hard enough, you're ruined (mind you, you have to bump it hard I know, but, still, it's a worrisome task... Then again, I'm a little more paranoid thanks to having ruined that palomino I spent so long working on those bridges to unlock so I could raise the FSB and all more and the tbird that served me so well for so long that would have made a good server chip or something.)

 

[mikeblas]

The fact is, people are rather quick to complain about the uselessness of things and how horrible all the responses are, when, in fact, there are some perfectly valid responses with plenty of info.

I'm sure I'm not quick to complain and haven't called anything "horrible" (at least, not since lunch), but I don't doubt that you're trying to single me out with this comment.

"Plenty" of info seems like an exaggeration. Some responses are valid, sure. The bulk aren't for reasons we've already discussed.

The thread as a whole seems not very useful. What does an unscientific survey of a bunch of anonymous board mongers tell you about assembling computers?

At least you have to really work at it to screw up your motherboard (maybe get a screw stuck under it shorting something I guess.)

It's really not that hard. You can loose a screw, sure. Or you can miss a screw and a support altogether, letting the board flex so it contacts the backplane and grounds out the onboard voltage regulator. Pfaff!

Once, I bumped a danling connector and it put +12 volts onto one of the USB header pins, and that let all the magic smoke out of the southbridge.

Bend a pin or crack a connector? Game over, hoss.