Post: #1

At the end of my high school career, I quit playing video games that were wasting my valuable time. With a shift to working on personal self-improvement, my involvement in the Neomasculinity and red pill community as increased.

one thing I have incorporated into my learning is a number of seasonal projects, something that I do every three months. This has become my version of hobbies, and I am here to talk about the last one I completed a few months ago. During the winter season, I decided to build a computer, and now that I am finished, I would like to discuss the pros and cons of the experience.

 Pros Of Building A Computer

Gents, I would not suggest making this the conversation piece when you take that annoying iPhone-addicted dumb loser special someone back to your place.

Customization

Everyone including myself prefers certain hardware specifications for certain parts, while usually being apathetic towards some specifications as well. This means that customization is a big part of any computer, and the only way you can get complete customization to fit your needs is to build a computer yourself. You can only go so far with customization when buying a computer compared to when you build your own.

Cost Effectiveness

Building a computer is cost effective for two reasons. The first goes back to the issue of customization. Because you are buying individual parts, you can save money by buying bare essential hardware that you are indifferent towards. The second aspect is the fact that you are cutting one of the middlemen out the computer business, which means you will be saving a lot of margin that a company would typically make on assembly and sale, etc.

Cons Of Building A Computer

Time requirement

One of my computer science professors loves to say: “When dealing with computers, allot three times the amount of time you think it will take you to finish,” and he could not be more correct. When I was building a computer, I ran into multiple problems that took a lot of time to fix. Be prepared to deal with malfunctioning hardware, BIOS issues, and other configuration problems.

When you are done, you are on your own: If something is not working on the software end and you cannot fix it, you do not have a fallback like a refund. You will only be refunded for deficient parts, and this could be a serious issue if you are not heavily versed in troubleshooting.

When Is It Worth It?

You should build a computer when you need something really advanced to handle a very specialized workload. If you are just searching the internet or writing Word docs on your computer, I would not suggest doing it. The money you save on building your computer becomes greater as your computer becomes more advanced and specialized.

Tips and Tricks

Because computers are very idiosyncratic in nature, I unfortunately cannot give you a large amount of detail on how to exactly build/configure your PC; however, I am going to pose a few general guidelines.

How to search for parts

You first have to find out what you are looking for when it comes to computers:

• RAM: An acronym for random access memory, this is the part of the working memory that currently in use software/programs have access to currently. This is measured in gigabytes, and the more the better. If you like to multitask on your computer, pick up more RAM. If you are a hard core programmer, the bare minimum to have on a Desktop is 8 gigs for laptops and 16 for desktops; however, if you are in data analytics, and other areas of computing that are computer intensive, I would move up to around 32/64 for desktops.

CPU: The CPU is in essence where all computations and calculations occur in a computer. The more power your CPU has, the faster the computer is going to be overall. This is generally something you want to put your money towards regardless of what you are doing. There are two specifications that you need to look for when searching for a processor: cores and speed (in Ghz). Usually when there is a tradeoff between cores and GHz, you go for more cores.

CPUs is an industry where consumers are very brand-oriented. You either are an Intel person, or you’re not. Intel CPU’s are without a doubt more reliable compared to CPU’s such as AMD; however, AMD’s are a lot cheaper and definitely a possible option for the price conscious without sparing performance

Motherboard: This is where you connect everything on your computer. Now there are some tech specs to motherboards, but I would suggest buying a gigabyte motherboard that matches all of your parts. If you do not know whether all of your parts will be compatible, I would suggest using the site: http://pcpartpicker.com/

Hard Memory: This is the actual storage for things on your computer when they are not in use. If you have a lot of shit that you store electronically, beef up on this; however, even as a data analyst, I do not use more than a few terabytes. Also, an important thing to note is that there is regular hard memory and SSD memory. SSD memory is faster in boot time; however, it is a lot more expensive, and is generally not worth it unless you do not use a lot of memory.

What I did for my computer is get one small SSD, and put my two operating systems and software on there for a fast boot time, while buying the rest of my memory as external hard drives, which is a big plus if you need portable memory.

Other stuff: There is a lot of other stuff I would like to discuss, but cannot due to the lack of brevity already apparent in this article. What I would say is if you are a gamer, look into very strong video cards (or maybe multiple) and high resolution monitors.

Building the actual computer

This is where the process gets very sticky. The hardware part was not that hard for me, but the software was rough. You are really going to need to pay attention to drivers, but a great place to start the building process is with this sequence of videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_56kyib-Ls

Conclusion

Building a computer was something that challenged me a lot more than I would like to admit, but now that I have finished, it is a great feeling. I want to emphasize that it will take a lot of time. If you also live in an urban area like where I am from, Chicago, it is easy to find little computer shops where people would build it for you. It will cost a good chunk of money, but typically no more than what you are saving from buying all of the individual parts, so it is something to look into.

However, if you are into computers, and want to learn and cherish a system that you built from the ground up, it is worth it. Happy building.

Read More: Are We Living In A Computer Simulation? 

Posted on Sat, 22 Aug 2015 20:00:29 +0000 at http://www.returnofkings.com/69274/my-ex...a-computer
Comments: http://www.returnofkings.com/69274/my-ex...r#comments

Post: #2

The only part I would disagree with is the advice on 'who should build a computer'. Computers today are like the cars of yesterday. If you didn't have a car to get to work, you were fucked. Today if you don't have a computer...you're probably fucked. For that reason, if someone has the time and even a mild interest they should try to build a computer or at least fix parts on one. Its a good thing to know and understand, especially when they are such essential parts of our lives.

If someone said to me "if you don't race cars, there is no reason why you should be opening the hood...just obey the dash warning lights and take it to the dealer" I might slap the hipster moustache right off of their face. Know how your own shit works and know how to fix the minor things yourself, thats called being a self reliant man. That goes for cars, and computers.

Post: #3

(08-22-2015 09:44 PM)Dr. Howard Wrote:  The only part I would disagree with is the advice on 'who should build a computer'. Computers today are like the cars of yesterday. If you didn't have a car to get to work, you were fucked. Today if you don't have a computer...you're probably fucked. For that reason, if someone has the time and even a mild interest they should try to build a computer or at least fix parts on one. Its a good thing to know and understand, especially when they are such essential parts of our lives.

If someone said to me "if you don't race cars, there is no reason why you should be opening the hood...just obey the dash warning lights and take it to the dealer" I might slap the hipster moustache right off of their face. Know how your own shit works and know how to fix the minor things yourself, thats called being a self reliant man. That goes for cars, and computers.

I have to disagree with your argument. Computers are relatively cheap if you are looking for a computer to do simple tasks. I was able to find a computer that did what I needed for $300. Usually a poorly built computer will break within one year, hence why most computers come with a one year warranty. After that, most computers are going to last up to 3 years.

If you need a powerful machine, than learning to build a computer is a worthwhile pursuit. A decently powerful machine is going starts around $1000. You will also need to upgrade parts as you will see fit when you need superior specs. A customized computer provides that control.

However, I agree that everyone man should learn to fix a car. The cheapest car you may find is $500(not working) or maybe $1000(working but poorly maintained). Also, the cost of repairs can be hell lot cheaper if maintained by oneself. The cost of changing my own brakes cost me about $25 plus two hours of my time. For a mechanic to do it from where I am from, it costs $100.

A few months ago, I had to replace my entire exhaust system, because it was rotted out. It was so bad that I couldn't properly take the apart the catalytic converter from the header pipe. That made things more complex because I had to start removing the exhaust manifold, which was held by rusty bolts. Those bolts busted and had to be removed, which led to the threads on the engine block being stripped. So I had to put in a helicoil into the engine block, but I had to repair the threads with a tap first. Had a mechanic done all that, it would have been $1000+ job. Doing the job myself cost about a little under $500.

Post: #4

(08-25-2015 09:56 AM)PolymathGuru Wrote:  most computers are going to last up to 3 years.

I would disagree with this, properly taken care of manufacturer built equipment lasts a LONG time. My Dell PowerEdge 2500 server is from 2000 and still runs part of my business, I'm going to replace it because one of the power supplies is failing and it's finally too expensive to buy a refurb one, plus the thing is getting pokey, no 64 bit support, no DVD drive, etc.

I also have an HP desktop that has been on 24/7 since 2001 running a piece of my business as well, it's about to die. It's a business grade desktop so I might give it a little edge because of that, but I also have a Dell Dimension 1100 that was purchased new from the Dell Outlet in 2004 and has been on 24/7 as well.

Post: #5

(08-25-2015 04:48 PM)DJ-Matt Wrote:  

(08-25-2015 09:56 AM)PolymathGuru Wrote:  most computers are going to last up to 3 years.

I would disagree with this, properly taken care of manufacturer built equipment lasts a LONG time. My Dell PowerEdge 2500 server is from 2000 and still runs part of my business, I'm going to replace it because one of the power supplies is failing and it's finally too expensive to buy a refurb one, plus the thing is getting pokey, no 64 bit support, no DVD drive, etc.

I also have an HP desktop that has been on 24/7 since 2001 running a piece of my business as well, it's about to die. It's a business grade desktop so I might give it a little edge because of that, but I also have a Dell Dimension 1100 that was purchased new from the Dell Outlet in 2004 and has been on 24/7 as well.

I was talking about the low end stuff for the most part. Those are servers for commercial use. I was talking about more on the Personal computing end.