Unprofessional Fridays: 10/21/2016

I REALLY wanted to watch this but the music turned what could have been a relaxing PC build video into one of the most annoying nightmares on the internet.

Just couldn't do it in the end, had to walk away. Sorry guys.

Don't let this video discourage you from building a PC. Instead, have a look at this (for inspiration) and know that even if you take four times as long, it's still just a bit over an hour's work.

Some patience and a good place to work is half the battle.

This was a good idea, but they really should have had someone with more knowledge and who had recently built a modern rig along for the ride. Mixing the misconceptions of the guys with the misconceptions of the chat just ends up convincing people that building a PC is harder than it is, when in reality once you know a few things, it's easier than putting together some modern lego sets.

Actually this is a pretty good representation of what building a PC is like if you haven't done it in a while. I built a PC two weeks ago that was the exact same to Jeff's setup except for liquid cooling. It took me like four hours, and I used to build/repair PCs and laptops for a living.

The thing is, once you've done it once, you pretty much can fumble around building a PC forever. It's just that initial hurdle you have to clear that scares people from doing it. In which case, you're right, having someone knowledge around helps a lot.

God knows motherboard manuals haven't changed in decades. If you've seen one, even if it was in the 90s, you've seen them all, in all their convoluted glory.

@kryplixx: that actually doesn't sound too bad. i think the price benefit of BYO has somewhat diminished. still nothing wrong in building your own so you have complete control over the config and are able to tinker/adjust with as you please. and some people just like putting that shit together *cough*

just a couple of married men trying to figure out how to spend more time together, and alone, at once. what beautiful content.

@creme: I consider myself very "into" PCs and tech and the idea of buying a Radeon graphics card hasn't crossed my mind in about a decade. The 480 is incredibly ignorable and to be honest, I don't think the fact that they didn't mention it is criticism worthy.

The fact of the matter is, in the mind of the majority of PC gamers, the GTX series of cards is pretty much the only one worth buying into right now. My friends and I talk shop all the time and the RX 480 simply has never come up.

@castiel: Incredibly unfair that you'd take a single video of people who, self admittedly have not built a PC in years and haven't read any instructions as evidence that PC building is hard and that anyone who says otherwise is a fanatic.

If you don't buy something ridiculous like a water cooling system, then building a PC IS easy. If you read the instructions that come with your hardware or even just watch a video on youtube, you can easily build a machine in under an hour. No one is out to harangue you for playing on a console, to each their own, but for many people, many people who aren't "fanatics", the small bit of effort that goes into making your own machine is worth it.

Building a PC while having DDR music in the background is the most video games ass video game thing ever. My first time building my PC took around 2 hours and it was constantly interrupted by watching a video on youtube to make sure I wasn't destroying my parts. I felt quite accomplished though when it turned on the first time I plug the power into everything. I'll agree with Jeff that the one part that is a nightmare is having to plug in small dinky cables into a dark case.

@grimluck343: Yes, I get that. It's just, looking at so many of the other comments of "this is why I stick to consoles" and so much of their discussion being "uhm, I'm not sure", could turn off people like Dan who are starting from absolute zero. There is a lot here that makes it seem harder than it is.

I built a rig like this, sealed water cooler for CPU, etc. about 6 months ago, (spilled a 64 oz soda on my old rig, doh! oh well great excuse to upgrade everything). Took me an hour or so to put it together. Then again my first build was a Pentium 233 MMX almost 20 years ago.

@blikketty Ha you got me beat there, my first PC build was just a Pentium I. I would say that if anyone is interested in what it's like to build a PC, there are plenty of YouTube videos out there that show how easy it can be when you're not worried about entertaining people on a livestream and interacting with chat at the same time.

Building a PC isn't hard (it definitely isn't rocket science - if I can do it, anyone can) but it can be time consuming if you aren't familiar with what the inside of a PC looks like. It's definitely way easier now since you can go online and watch someone guide you through it step by step.

@gregalor I feel like racing stripes and giant bulky plastic covers are the only differences between motherboard layouts from the 90s to today.

Great video!

-I decided to do a "case transfer" of my own while watching this video in the background which made it even more enjoyable (like building with legos next to a friend doing the same)

-Production-wise, this is why I love GB. The guys building and having a conversation where in the corner of the screen in the same room you've got folks playing DDR and having their own conversation. As always, everything about this site and crew makes me feel like I'm just hanging out with friends. Premium4Life baybayyyyyyy

@rossco81: The 470 is currently a better deal than the 1050 Ti for 30$ more, and the 480 is a good alternative to the 1060 6GB, with consistently better DX12/Vulkan performance and extra VRAM. Also, I've had way less problems with AMD drivers than Nvidia, and I use GPUs from both vendors.

But Nvidia has the mindshare so I understand.

Watching them build a pc is making me squirm, but I guess you have to learn somehow.

@blikketty: When I built my first PC in 2008, knowing less than the guys here, literally all I did was look up how to build a PC on youtube, followed the video directions and put things into the case. It POSTed first try. Building a PC is incredibly easy.

Really enjoyed this one. With this one and the Tested PC build videos, I've come to really enjoy watching people build PCs. Hopefully one day I could try it myself.

@phourniner: What was your rig back then? Just curious.

Jeff was going for a quiet build, then put an H100i cooler. Why? So many quieter air options.

@creme: i3 CPU, GTX 460, (upgraded to 760 later on) 6 GB RAM, can't remember the mobo or power supply. It did the job for a while.

@gyozilla: The stock Intel coolers do come with thermal paste applied. Most after market coolers do not come with thermal paste already applied. But, even if an after market cooler does come with thermal paste pre-applied, you still might want to use your preferred brand of thermal paste.

@nagafen: Definitely. ITX is the best. Went ITX back in 2010 or 2011 and never wanted to go back to monstrous towers. But, I know for more novice builders, like the GB crew though, it is just more comfortable for them to work in a bigger enclosure.

So I put a new computer together after about 8 years earlier this year, tend to buy expensive and keep a long time. My parts list is extremely similar. I didn't bother with water cooling and honestly if you aren't overclocking it isn't needed. I've always built my own pc's and this is the first time that it has been literally silent, even putting my ear close to it I hear nothing. Mostly wanted to vouch for the parts and especially the case and cooler if anyone is looking to build a pc. My parts list is:

Case: Fractal Design R5

CPU: 6700k

RAM: 32GB GSKILL Ripjaws V

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 Ti STRIX (you'd get a 1080 now for high end)

Hard Drive: Crucial MX200 1TB (other form factors like M2 are potentially faster now though there is some heat concern, to be fair have looked at this since the build though)

CPU cooler: Noctua NH-D15 (they make great fans and coolers is silent)

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1200 P2

Motherboard: ASUS ROG MAXIMUS VIII RANGER, would've gotten the Hero version but at the time getting the CPU required buying a bundle, it has been great though. Gigabytes are really good as well from everything I've heard, have only ever bought ASUS though. More of a they've always been good no no need to change type thing.

Also put in a Blu-Ray drive, didn't bother with a sound card. If anyone is looking to build their own pc it's a great starting point. Can't recommend the case or cooler enough it is wonderful having a pc you can't hear at all.

This video is fucking fantastic only an hour in. I have NO rythm or skills, flat feet and I watch Dan start to dance and it's just terrible, he looks awful and less than an hour of dancing later and he's totally clicked and got it. Really cool, good work Dan.

He also has a founders edition video card, why he purchased that baffles the shit out of me, because he bought it long after the launch. Those noisy things suck.

Oh man, it's like Dan's doing The Mario, haha. I love it.

Man, I really want to play some DDR now. I'm awful at it, but it's so much fun.

The song selection of this DDR mix is great...

I'm not sure who is braver, Dan for dancing on camera or Jeff for building a PC on camera.

Is that looped music during the last 50 minutes from DDR as well? Or one of their royalty free jams? I seriously bookmarked this video today so I could listen to that section while working on my own frustrating projects.

@barrenmind:

Jean Jacques Perrey - Brazilian Flower

My friend, you rock. Thanks much!

Now to flex my 10+ year old Cool Edit muscles if I can. Or maybe look into what the kids are doing these days. I hear something called Audacity is a thing.

The best part of this was listening and watching them build and then going back to Dan and seeing how into it he is. He's progressed so much as time goes by.

Man going in blind on water cooling is a bad idea. Should have at least watched a YouTube video before hand.

What is the music that plays over the back portion of this video that sounds like Mario Party music on loop?

What is that Mario Party style music playing through the back end of this video? It haunts me!

In hindsight I shouldnt have expected them to have watched a tutorial on how to build a pc, seeing as they dont pay attention to tutorials in games either.

I always loved this video.

@genericbrotagonist: yes