It’s been a little quiet over here (not that anyone is looking at my posts lol), because I have been spending the last few weeks putting together my new PC! My old PC, a custom build by an engineering acquaintance, is almost 10 years old, and while it still functions, it is very slow and can only play Genshin at low quality. I heard that people replace their computers (and phones and other high tech) every 3 to 5 years and I feel like that is so wasteful and harmful to the planet! I replace my computers slowly because I take care of my stuff which, to be fair, I’m not taking my tech into the wilderness or public transport where they can get damaged or stolen like other people do. My laptop I have used since grad school which is almost 16 years now. Also it’s a pain to remember my passwords and re-download all my stuff from device to device.
I have been watching random youtube videos on my algorithm of tech influencers from American and Japan or Korea with the latest and shiniest gadgets and builds and decided it was past time for me to play Genshin on high quality and experience the speed of SSD hard drive that my brother talks of. I gathered a couple of the shiniest build lists on PC parts picker, tried to search on newegg.com for the same pieces, couldn’t find some parts, had to research replacements, then had to decide whether to order parts online for a few dollars less or patronize my local computer parts store and be assured stuff won’t get broken during delivery. I finally broke things down into the luxury build list that was over $2500 and my own build list which was $1900 (about the same price as my old PC but way better specs obviously). The PC builder was supposed to ensure all the parts are compatible but I ran into a few incompatibilities that I will mention later, although for the most part, everything worked fine and hasn’t exploded… yet…
Here is the list I ended up using!
https://newegg.io/e64dabf
Most of the parts are white with grey and black accents, and emphasis on RGB lighting to be visible within the clear case. I had a notion of making a pink PC but I decided white would be easier to source. I also did not buy a new monitor, keyboard, mouse or any audio/video or peripherals, since I had slowly replaced each of those over the years except the monitor. That would have added another thousand dollars easy lol. The monitor was an Asus gaming monitor that still works fine, and they don’t really sell white or silver monitors to match anyway. Or, I guess they do, but I would have to wait months for overseas delivery and I’m afraid of it breaking in transit, and I don’t really need a dual monitor setup if I’m not streaming… do I??? Everything was purchased at a reasonable lowest or only a few dollars more expensive than lowest price per newegg, no rebates, no Amazon, and fortunately a few parts were allegedly on sale due to Black Friday.
As I was putting together the PC using mentioned influencer videos and also videos on the official Corsair website and other PC building tutorials and some reddit threads, I found I had to buy even more stuff, like extension cables, hub device, a new power strip just to be safe, static bracelet and the Windows operating system lol. I still need to “buy” Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop unless I want to use some ancient installs from decades ago. I did buy stuff I didn’t need, a box of extension cables and some thermal paste, and now have 3 fans and their controller leftover, but maybe I’ll need it later or my brother will want a new PC and I can pass these over to him.
Mesmerizing rainbow lights. These are the default settings, since then I just changed it to watercolor rainbow, which is a softer, more pastel rainbow.
I will link some of the videos I used here.
Oops, forgot to link them lol.
Corsair Lab – How to set up ICUE Commander Core
How to build RGB PC with Corsair Airflow 5000D (plus other videos from Provoked Prawn’s Channel)
I also filmed me putting together the PC but I made a lot of mistakes and it was hard to get a stable tripod shot or zoom into the dark interior of the case, so it would not be a useful video to anyone except me if I decide to make another PC (probably not right now).
Finally, a list of problems I came across that I will note here so I won’t forget and maybe it will help someone else. They were not mentioned in the tutorials lol.
1. The Corsair case has a type C input in the front panel but the motherboard does not have a type C header for the front panel, only the back panel. I would have to buy an adapter to use the type C charger in the front, and it looks bulky and may damage the motherboard. This is the main issue that should have come up in the PC parts picker, but if it did, I didn’t see it. The other solution is buy the latest motherboard but I’m not doing that lol. I just won’t charge from the type C front panel, put a piece of tape over it.
2. The cable from the power supply to the 24 pin port on the motherboard is way too short, there is no possible configuration in which it could have reached. I had to buy an extension cable, and while I was doing so, I decided to get an RGB Lianli Strimer extension. I’m glad I did because it’s very cool looking, but it was an added cost and had its own controller which needed space and cord control. And now I have an extra box of white cables (not RGB)….
3. The case I bought came with black fans and a simple lights controller, so I had to buy 4 white fans to match the aesthetic, which also had their own controller, as well as the white AIO cooler unit that had yet another controller. In the end, I hooked up all 6 white fans to the newest controller so that was convenient to handle the RGB lighting from just one controller, but to be extra safe, I attached one of the cooler fan wires to the motherboard. Idk if I had to do that, but it sounded like the reasonable thing to do.
4. Another issue, attaching the massive graphics card to the motherboard. I dunno if maybe the power cables got in the way, or I accidentally bumped the connectors when I realized the plastic cap was still on the graphics card, but my first attempt did not work. I ended up reattaching it to the lower second slot and it works fine. So be extra careful to not damage all the little pins and connectors on the motherboard and also take off the plastic wrap and covers before handling the graphics card.
5. I also was so intimidated by the CPU, but the attachment process apparently worked because the computer works (so far). I had to install new standoff screws for the AMD connection which is different from the standard Intel setup and they felt so loose on the board. It all works out after you attach the cooler to the CPU though, the thumbscrews tightens all the connections afterward. Also I kinda had to set the cooler on twice, so there was a bit of thermal paste on the CPU before I screwed the cooler in place. Probably should have redone the thermal paste…. but as long as it works!
6. Also related to the Corsair case, they do not have all of the front panel options that other cases might, like a system beep sound, so the tiny separated wires were a little confusing to put on the motherboard even with Youtube help. Fortunately the only thing you have to get perfect is the power LED positive/negative nodes, the power button and reset button just have to be slotted next to them in any direction.
6.5 (lol) I have yet to figure out how the front panel headphone/mic jack works. Apparently it’s a driver issue, but I’m too lazy to figure it out. I don’t normally use headphones anyway.
7. Finally, be sure to “buy” the operating system if you have a new hard drive, you can’t really share OS across multiple computers, which was what I tried to do except I lost the product key. You can share Office across 3 computers with the same account, but I already logged into my own account, not my mom’s, so I have to “buy” Office. Once you’re in Windows, download all the updates and restart as many times as it asks you to, otherwise the various system drivers won’t work and the RGB lights will look funky.
Anyway, hope that is helpful to any newbie PC builders! It was a satisfying and frustrating process, complete with sweating and crying and cursing, but if I could build a PC that works, you can too! If you have any thoughts or solutions to my issues, I would love to hear them. Thanks for reading all that.