I’ve been talking about building a PC forever. Before the PS4 came out. I even created a wish list on Newegg with all the stuff I was going to buy for that PC. Multiple lists, because invariably whatever list I’d made would have been out of date by the time I had the inclination to buy the parts. So, finally, in 2020 I decided to buy those parts and build that PC. My first PC build ever.
A good question to ask, then, is why would you spend money on a PC build during a global pandemic? I have a few good reasons. One, my job is doing quite well because it is apparently pandemic resistant. I’m a mental health therapist and moved to working remotely going back to the start of March 2019. My client attendance is high because teleconferencing is convenient and insurance companies have adapted their payment methods to support remote therapy. Plus, I’m not going anywhere so I’m barely spending money any other way aside from this build. Also, I’m an idiot.
So, I bought nearly all the parts from Newegg, aside from a CPU cooler and GPU (we’ll get to the GPU in a second). Here’s what I got:
Ryzen 9 3900XT
RTX 3070
Patriot Viper Gaming VP4100 M.2 1 TB NVME Drive
Western Digital Black SN750 M.2 1 TB NVME Drive
G.Skill TridenZ RGB Series 32 GB DDR4 3200 Memory
EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G3 Fully Modular 850W Power Supply
MSI MAG B550 Tomahawk Motherboard
Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Midtower Case
Noctua NH-U12S 120mm CPU Cooler
The new Xbox Series controller and a USB Bluetooth receiver
Let’s talk about that 3070. As I’m sure you all know, getting a 30 series card is like finding a needle in a haystack. Unless you pay a scalper. So, I could have either waited or try my luck on Ebay, which I’d never bought anything more than $100 on Ebay. Since I’d bought everything else, I was pot committed to see the build through and had little patience and money to spare. So, I went to Ebay. I got the Gigabyte OC model which already sells about $50-100 over the MSRP of the base, reference 3070 model, which goes for $500. But, well, I paid a bit more than $550-600. It came to around $800. Which is a lot. Too much. But I was willing to take the hit for the reasons I mentioned. And, again, I’m an idiot.
Eventually, all the parts came in and I was ready to start my build. I’d watched videos online, making me basically an expert, so I was ready to go. It was all going great till I got the CPU. See, originally, I had planned to get the 3900X but saw that the XT, which is a bit faster, was on sale. So, I bought it, but it turns out the XT model doesn’t come with a fan like the X model. Which I wasn’t aware of until I opened the box. Leading me then to Amazon to get that CPU cooler and pausing the build a few days. Then the cooler came in, and the mounting brackets didn’t fit my motherboard as expected. But I’m stubborn, so I tried a good dozen different ways to mount the cooler in unique ways using hardware I had all around the house and the extra hardware from the other computer parts. Eventually, I found a way to mount the cooler. Then came wiring everything. Which I messed up. Not once, twice, three times, but an uncountable number of times. Did I mention I’m stubborn? That comes into play here. So, I thought I’d wired everything properly until I plugged the tower in. But then, it didn’t turn on. Repeatedly I tried but it didn’t turn on. Turns out, I should have read the motherboard instructions to see what I was plugging in. After being a smart guy and reading the instructions, the tower turned on.
I forgot to mention, but I also bought a Windows 10 Home USB stick from Newegg to install Windows. Which also caused some difficulty. So, at some point in the installation, you are asked to pick either an express installation or a custom installation. Express didn’t work for me; I’m assuming because I had two drives and it didn’t know what drive to install. After three or so times of trying the express install, I went to the custom install, picked the drive I wanted, and then it all went off without a hitch.
Except that the Bluetooth receiver I had for my mouse and keyboard and my new controller couldn’t connect with the mouse, keyboard, and controller through my entertainment center to my couch (I have my tower behind my entertainment center and my couch is about 8 feet away). So, I had to buy extenders from my USB ports and run them through my entertainment center so I could have a direct connection with the devices.
Then, finally, everything worked. For a month, then the Patriot NVME drive died, suddenly. So, I got a refund from Newegg, bought the Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB NVME drive, and reinstalled everything because the drive that died was my boot drive and reinstalling windows formatted my other drive (luckily all my game saves were in the cloud). Now, I think we’re all good (unless a month from now the Samsung drive dies).
In terms of game performance, it’s amazing. Cyberpunk runs great. Everything else runs perfectly. The computer is fast. Videos look great through my TV. It’s all a great experience following the initial hassle and the whole NVME drive dying part. When it works, and 99% of the time after the build it works, it works amazingly. What I’d suggest for those that do plan to build a PC is that if you are planning on getting a high-end PC, but not the top of the tier PC (like getting a 3090 for example), expect to pay more than you thought you would. Also buy the parts over time. And read instructions, have more patience than me, and plan for bits to go wrong, like my Bluetooth kerfuffle. But I’d also say the build was completely worth it.
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