Solewaif
Description
This was surprise built by me. It is mainly used for gaming in my spare time and a school computer for when I go to university. The whole process of finding what parts to use all the way too installing windows took about a month or two.
The reason why I wanted to build a computer was because of my neighbour who also build his own around 4 years ago said that it was a very interesting and educational experience.
With a budget of around $1000 set out by my parents as a "happy graduation from high school", I set out and completed my dream of building a computer.
This is a significant upgrade from my previous computer which was a laptop with a Pentium n3530, so I think you can see how much of a step-up this is.
Missing Parts on List. I got the case from a friend, its pretty old so I couldnt find it here on PCPP, also the keyboard I couldnt find the multicolor backlit version so the price is maually put in.
Update Aug 2 2018 After working a lot this summer I have made enough money for some upgrades. The first upgrade is a second set of RAM, I will be buying the exact same set just to keep things simple and pretty on the inside, also A GTX 1060 6GB is on its way right now.
Update Aug 8 2018 GTX 1060 6GB and the second set of RAM came in a few days ago, installed them yesterday and so far everything is working great. There is only one problem, heat, my case has no fans at all the only fans are on the CPU cooler and the GPU that is all. I was thinking about making a space for a fan near the bottom of the case because its mostly the GPU creating all the heat, I was also thinking about installing a fan where a case fan should be on the back and maybe getting a fan controller with tempurature readouts to easily see the temp and for some extra fan connectors.
Update Sept 28 2018 I have had the extra fans I ordered for about 2 weeks or so, they do a very good job and keep my mind at ease of having my GPU get too hot during long gaming sessions.
Update Oct 18 2018 I recently tried my hand at some overclocking using EVGA's Precision X OC tool. I havent really pushed to too far due to the GPU already being "Super Clocked" out of the box. I also ran the Unigine Superposition Benchmark on 1080p Medium preset and got a score of 9129.
Update March 03 2019 Forgot to update this when it happened but my hard drive that I got from a friend died, it was around 8 years old. In its place my overkill WD Black drive is doing great! although it can get rather clicky when windows decides to do a virus scan or I am downloading a game, it does make some sound when loading games but it usually stops pretty quick as it has a good read speed. Recently I was able to get an idea of how hot my CPU would get during a stress test as I was downloading a rather large total conversion mod for Fallout 3 and throughout the entire install my CPU was pegged at 100% for about 2 hours so it defiantly gave me a good idea of max temps.
Part Reviews
CPU
Its a 4 core CPU that has a nice amount of turbo boost, I like it and so far there have been no problems at all.
CPU Cooler
It was a little hard to install and one of the radiator fins bent when I was installing it, other than that it works fine.
Motherboard
I got it because it was one of the cheaper ones that had 4 RAM slots, now that I actually have it I should have gone for a more expensive one that had some more features (Faster RAM speeds and SLI support) but for my first computer, this is a great board.
Memory
Its works like RAM should, there is nothing else to say here other than it looks pretty cool and it comes with stickers. If you think you might use lots a RAM I recommend getting an 8 GB stick rather than two 4 GB sticks so you can easily add more later if you want too.
Storage
Nice SSD, a little small now that I actually have started to use it should have gotten the next step up, but if you are looking for a SSD around $50 (At the time of purchase) this is a good choice.
Video Card
Plays all my games (Arma 3, Sleeping Dogs) at a smooth 60 fps on medium selection for most settings, can get a little hot sometimes but most of the heat is because of my case's poor ventilation, but if your case has good air flow you'll be fine.
Power Supply
Power comes out when its plugged into the wall, that's is all I need. Might go for the Semi-Modular model next time.
Operating System
Its Windows. First thing you should do is disable automatic updates on pretty much everything that you wont use because I find that it tends to hog a lot of bandwidth away from stuff that you actually want to update. (I have uninstalled Candy Crush so many times now, I finally found a way to stop it thankfully)
Wireless Network Adapter
Love this adapter, I have had no issues with it at all, no random disconnects at all and it does a good job.
Keyboard
I wasn't able to find the version I have on PCPP (I have a backlit RGB, but everything else is the same). I chose this one because a friend had a non-backlit version and I really enjoyed typing on it. Side note, RGB on a keyboard is lots of fun.
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