The Computer that Phill Built: The background story

Late one night (or maybe early one morning) I was sitting at my desk opening my laptop to do a little bit of work. My old trusty Toshiba, which had been left turned on for quite a while, was up to its old tricks again in that the screen remained black and would not respond to any stimuli from the keyboard, mouse pad, or the power button. Usually I would smile at its antics, turn off the power at the wall, unplug the battery, and then restart the machine. This time was different.
With a howl of rage I threw the infuriating beast against the wall, smashing it into a hundreds of pieces.

A computer in a thousand pieces

No not really, I swore once or twice and called Dan Rose, IT expert to ask his advice on how to build a bitchin computer'. The following is the result.

Me and my motherboard

It turns out that building of a computer is the exact opposite of building a bicycle. The actual building of the unit is fairly straightforward because everything is standardized, unlike a bike which requires quite a lot of practical and mechanical knowledge.

Briggs, Michael and I putting the computer together

However, the choice of components is extremely complicated. For the bike you decide what you need, how it fits on, find a brand you like and item purchased. For a computer you decide what you want, realise that there are two types, spin you head around the various numbers that get thrown at you, pick a model type and then realize that company that develops the technology doesn't make it. All of a sudden you find a hundred companies take the technology all with their own spin on what peripherals should be added, make a few different versions and then sell them off at a variety of prices that seem to make no sense. For the rank amateur such as myself it is stupendously overwhelming...but possible. And you learn a LOT!

Even professionals occasionally need help

After lots of consideration (I won't bore you with the details), this is what I bought:

Processor: AMD Phenom II 955 Black Edition
Memory: 2x2 GB Kingston HyperX RAM
Motherboard: Gigabyte 890GPA UD3H
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon 6870 OC
Power Supply: Corsair TX-650(v2)
Hard Drive: 1TB Samsung f3 spinpoint
CD ROM: LG GH22-NS50 (OEM)
Case: NZXT Guardian 921
Monitor: Samsung 23.6" B2440L
Mouse: Tte sports black gaming mouse
Keyboard: Logitech USB illuminated
Operating system: Windows 7 64 bit (OEM)

including postage it cost $1385.69. There is a further $95 added to that for my logitech Z523 2.1 sound system, but I am waiting on it to be repaired as it arrived broken.

This is the inside of the case after everything had been installed

After the bits and pieces arrived I gathered the most technically savvy people I knew and we got to work. After about 2 1/2 hours of humorous antics and it was finally ready for a test run.

Turning it on for the first time

I am super satisfied with the results, and personally I think I have the prettiest computer in Fenner - which was my original intention the while time.

I'm all about pretty!