Current Events > Why is building a computer these days so god damn hard?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I used to build mine back in the 00s and it seemed a lot easier than today. Why they gotta make is so god damn complicated?

what's tougher about it? i havent put together a pc in a few years

No IRQ's or jumper pins to worry about and driver support has vastly improved.

Mostly nostalgia. It was vastly harder to put rigs together back before they made all of the shifts towards consumer friendliness.

Sounds like PEBCAK

dont forget to buy your anti static bracelet before building a pc

It's way easier today.

There's just different stuff to watch out for. Consumer boards can cause crashes with their shitty overclocks at factory settings, and giant NVidia cards that crack under their own weight without a bracket

I found it a bit tricky replacing my power switch for an external one the other day.

I feel like I needed some tweezers or something. Whose hands/fingers are that small?

It's because there's more tedium than problem solving. Challenge is fun, but these days there are introductory LEGO sets that are more complicated.

Not that this is bad in my book, it just is what it is.

TendoDRM posted...

It's way easier today.

Especially since the cases have adapted. When I first built one I had zero wiggle room to install anything. Not to mention it was snowing and uphill.

BewmHedshot posted...

Sounds like PEBCAK

whats that?

BewmHedshot posted...

Sounds like PEBCAK

Lol.

SHRlKE posted...

whats that?

Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard

Edit: fixed. Damn I'm more tired than I thought.

Basically used when the person can't figure it out.

R_Jackal posted...

Problem Exists Between Computer and Keyboard

Also known as a layer 8 issue.

R_Jackal posted...

Problem Exists Between Chair and Keyboard

Edit: fixed. Damn I'm more tired than I thought.

Basically used when the person can't figure it out.

Oh right. I actually work in IT and have done for 20 years. Not heard that one before. I guess similar to PICNIC then. Im mainly server side though and networking Not client computing or support. Not built a machine for over a decade.

Its not so much building the PC I have an issue with. Im its trying to work out whats compatible with what and whats a good price for something and what the recommended graphics cards are etc. I saw some for upwards of 1,000 which just seems ridiculous lol.

ellis123 posted...

Also known as a layer 8 issue.

Ah I know later 8.

SHRlKE posted...

whats that?

It's another name for the ID10T error.

Yeah I cant deny that lol.

ellis123 posted...

Also known as a layer 8 issue.

Or PICNIC

Problem In Chair Not In Computer

It actually feels a lot easier now than it did back then. Don't have to worry about master and slave jumper pin connections on hard drives, IDE cables, lack of PnP support, etc.

If your problem is just specing out what you should build, I recommend doing some research into it.

Thats the issue. Im 40. I just cant be arsed with the research any more.

SHRlKE posted...

Thats the issue. Im 40. I just cant be arsed with the research any more.

I'm getting there.

It's too much of a pain to take notes on my phone. I'm back to actual notebooks.

Everything is pretty much plug and play now though. Maybe it's just old age?

RetuenOfDevsman posted...

I'm getting there.

It's too much of a pain to take notes on my phone. I'm back to actual notebooks.

Aye. One of the reason I actually like going to bootcamps etc and the rest of the team dont is because I enjoy the free merch which usually includes hardback notebooks!

Was sorely tempted to get one of these. Work offered to buy me one but I wasnt sure Id use it so didnt take them up on it.

https://remarkable.com

You don't even need to spec shit out any more honestly, unless you need something specific for work.

For general use/gaming, it's either going to work at least moderately well or be a burning tire fire of an optimization mess. No in-between these days

SHRlKE posted...

Thats the issue. Im 40. I just cant be arsed with the research any more.

Yeah this is the issue. Not it being harder.
I just built one a couple months ago with my last build being over 20 years ago. Once I figured out the parts, it was dead simple to put together.

Head over to the buildapc subreddit. I read a lot over a few days to get a vibe of what to order.

It is easier to build, as everyone else is saying. But I agree there is a fuck ton more marketing right now than there used to be and that can make it kind of overwhelming when you dip your toe in. I know dudes who will not shut up about whatever latest GPU came out any given month and yet wouldn't have the slightest idea what a PCI-E slot is.

Conveniently, the rule of thumb in computing is that there are diminishing returns the more expensive you go. Which is to say, whatever super high-end thing is being advertised everywhere is probably marginally better than something half its price. So you can fairly safely ignore a lot of the nonsense. The nerds proselytizing the tenets of their new GPU are much louder than the nerds doing benchmark comparisons. I think the former category of people also likely have some weirdly asymmetric computers, where they fell for the marketing on the super high-end stuff and probably skimped on the other components.

I have always liked the logicalincrements builds (google them). For 99% of usecases they'll probably get you something very appropriate for your price point.

Whats a good motherboard brand these days? Used to be ASUS (I think) back in the day but no idea what is these days. I guess if I start with that I can take it from there.

The only annoying thing about building my PC was the CPU cooler, because that thing put up a fight.

UnholyMudcrab posted...

The only annoying thing about building my PC was the CPU cooler, because that thing put up a fight.

Seems every time I install one of those I chicken out a number of times before finally applying the gigaton of force you need to put it on it.

It's not that I'm not physically strong enough for it; it just feels like way too much for delicate hardware.

Back in my early IT days we built 200 machines by hand. Hardware is surprisingly resilient or at least it was in the late 2000s.

The first few probably took the longest as I was worried Id break something. Generally the heatsink or memory but by the end caution was thrown to the wind and we were wizzing through them.

SHRlKE posted...

Whats a good motherboard brand these days? Used to be ASUS (I think) back in the day but no idea what is these days. I guess if I start with that I can take it from there.

They're all relatively good motherboards brands if you spend enough money on them. ASUS had some Ryzen issues a couple of years ago, and high end 14th gen Intel chips have stability issues from rumoured silicon degradation. Most people go Gigabyte or MSI. Asrock is decent, if unspectacular.

Mine is an Asus and it's perfectly fine. I wish it had more USBs, but no doubt they make them with more.