Narrator: [Tyler steers the car into the opposite lane and accelerates] What are you doing?
Tyler Durden: Guys, what would you wish you'd done before you died?
Ricky: Paint a self-portrait. The Mechanic: Build a house.
Tyler Durden: [to Narrator] And you?
Narrator: I don't know. Turn the wheel now, come on!
Tyler Durden: You have to know the answer to this question! If you died right now, how would you feel about your life?
Narrator: I don't know, I wouldn't feel anything good about my life, is that what you want to hear me say? Fine. Come on!
Tyler Durden: Not good enough.
I like this scene because I deliberately bypass the main content of it. I can't enjoy the narrator's whinging ('whinging') has supplanted 'whining' in my vocabulary). No, I like the responses from Ricky and the mechanic. They name tasks that are both substantial and mundane. They make absolutely no claim as to the quality of their work. They're just going to do it. Or would do it if given the chance. Or will do it as soon as possible lest they die soon. I was totally sidetracked by this scene and subsequently missed much of the film due to deep consideration of the question. I thought about the sorts of things I'd like to accomplish myself. One of those things was traveling on the Trans-Siberian railroad. Another is building a computer.
I've finished one of those so far. Russia sure is cold, and there isn't a whole lot to see from the window other than a great expanse of-------
Nay, I built a computer.
Utterly talked into it by friends (2) and family (1), my goal was to inexpensively construct a desktop PC with fundamental components purchased from an online computer parts store. Here's what I got:
AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition CPU
Foxconn A7DA-S 3.0 Motherboard
4 GB of DDR3 RAM
Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 1GB
some DVD drive...some hard disk drive...
White case with soothing blue LED on front panel; is otherwise generic and has a 450W PSU
By far the most challenging task was doing the research on parts compatibility and power. I wanted a machine that would function harmoniously and offer good cost/performance. Much was learned about computers before I finally arrived at the above configuration...
Getting the parts was painless because most businesses in Japan offer cash-on-delivery and shipping is absurdly fast, even when moving things out here to Miyako.
Building the thing itself was mostly smooth and uneventful. I had some trouble fitting the motherboard-video card combination into the case (jiggling the boards and whatnot to get them situated was pretty nerve-racking). But anyway, pictures:
The CPU (AMD Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition) uses the Socket AM3-type of motherboard-CPU coupling armature interface (keep your wig on-- as a philosophy major I'm qualified and licensed to make up terms as needed).
The Foxconn A7DA-S 3.0 motherboard has the appropriate socket. I believe it also supports Sockets AM2 and AM2+ (is that the same as AM3? I think I saw that somewhere...). It can also rock the DDR3 RAM, a feature of which I took advantage. <-- Do we go so far as to risk awkward sentence formulations just to avoid the commonplace but proscribed ending of a sentence with a preposition? I do sometimes.
The GPU (Sapphire ATI RADEON HD4870 1GB): The card was probably the most difficult thing to decide upon (gah!). I chose this one because it isn't the most powerful card on the market this year, but it offers great performance on all games at far higher resolutions than I intend to run. I love high-definition as much as the next guy, but if I can run 60 fps on nearly anything at 1680x1050, I'm more than happy. I intend to keep the adequate-yet-modest LCD I have now for a while yet, and until I change the display, a better card would be overkill. Also, the HD4870 seemed to be where the performance return from getting a higher end card began to drop off sharply while the increase in price did not. In other words, I think the HD 4870 was the sweet spot of value when I made the purchase. Of course, you may notice that I did get the 1 GB version; apparently the memory helps when you're dealing with lots of textures. If it becomes a necessity next year, I'll grab another 4870 (even cheaper by then) and do some Crossfire action.
I seated the GPU into the PCI-E slot without incident. This particular card is something of a beast, requiring two connections to the PSU rather than drawing power from the motherboard via the PCI-E connection. There is a hot, masked CG babe on the card as well. My friend says she makes the processors run faster.
Installing the CPU was a lot easier than I expected. It's somewhat taxing because you are conscious of how fragile and crucial the CPU is but nevertheless have to secure it in a high-tension retaining device and then install a (possibly) massive heatsink-fan assembly on it. And the pins...so many... Fortunately, the CPU dropped into place effortlessly once the pins were lined up with the socket (motherboard-CPU coupling armature interface). I could feel slight resistance as I pulled the retaining arm down to secure the CPU, but it wasn't particularly concerning. The original AMD heatsink-fan came prepared with a patch of heat transfer paste, and I merely had to remove the plastic film on it before setting the whole thing against the CPU.
In a rustily ironic turn of events, one week after finishing the system, I went poking around the inside of the running computer to gather cables so they wouldn't get caught in the fans only to succeed in making a cable leap into the CPU fan, thereby chipping a blade and rendering my computer the sonic equivalent of an air compressor.
I deserve it. Moving on...
The silver lining here is that I ended up buying a replacement heatsink-fan setup for the CPU that works much better than the stock one (CPU temperature now sits at about 34 C instead of 45 C). It's a Cooler Master-- it has a larger fan, massive heat sink, and the four copper pipes running through actually contact the CPU itself by being flush with the base of the assembly. I put some extra heat paste on there to fill in the tiny gaps where the pipes cut through the base. It's been working great so far.
Anyway, I connected all of the SATA junk, power cables, and whatnot (but only after first trying to start it without plugging in the CPU power cable-- it didn't run very fast then). Connecting the small connectors from the hard disk activity light, the soft power and reset switches, et al. was sort of mendoukusai, but the helpful labeling of everything made sense. I turned it on, heard the test beep, got the BIOS screen, and enjoyed the mellow satisfaction of having built a computer.
First I installed Windows 7 RC, but I found out that the version of 7 that I had downloaded in the summer was the 32-bit one (limiting me to 3.3 GB of RAM or whatever) and the drivers that came with my computer parts weren't working perfectly. I had Vista on it shortly thereafter and got everything in order. I think playing Team Fortress 2 was the first thing I did. It ran well. I was pleased.
Naturally, I was curious about the limits of the machine. I installed Oblivion and it ran absurdly fast-- it had that strange (to me) look that high FPS motion creates. Awesome. It froze once or twice in the two hours I played, but it seemed to work well when it worked. I downloaded the single player demo for Crysis for the next test. The first run caused the computer to freeze during the opening skydiving sequence (just before the player hits the water). A second try yielded better results-- 45+ FPS. As I mused to myself about how mediocre the shooting was and the in-game dawn broke, the screen suddenly went black. The computer's fans were quiet, and no light came from the mouse, keyboard, or front panel. It was a complete power failure likely caused by the weak-ass Scythe PSU included with the case. I think. I have no proof. Some time afterward I decided to break the CPU fan as described above.
Acting on my feeling, I selected a new PSU (Kurotoshikou 650W) when I ordered the replacement heat sink fan. It rocks; it's got two 12V rails wielding 30A. People who say you shouldn't cut costs by getting a cheap PSU are right.
Since the installation of the new PSU and heatsink-fan, I've had absolutely no problems with stability. Oblivion crashes to desktop from time to time, but that's probably more to do with the volatile combination of mods I'm running to make it look and play better rather than the machine itself. I ran Crysis on 1680x1050 at very high settings just to see what would happen. Sure enough, I managed to slow the framerate to 4-player Goldeneye levels (not so low as 4-player Perfect Dark), but only at first. Once the game got moving, it was quite playable. I'll take it. That's one life goal accomplished...
TL;DR: I ALWAYS WANTED TO BUILD A COMPUTER. I HAVE NOW DONE IT; IT IS AWESOME.
Next time, Letters from Novosibirsk
OR
A DIY Era, Part 2: Painting a Motorcycle...
One is slightly more likely than the other.
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