I can't deny that i have a bit of experience when it comes to assembling, cleaning and fixing PCs, but I've never built one from scratch, I've always had someone to do it (normally, the guy from the shop i bought it), and all that was left for me to do was deal with upgrades. So how would it be, having to disassemble and reassemble nearly 3 at the same time?
It all started when i decided to get a new gfx card for my old PC, dubbed "PD-Station I". I had it running with a problematic Foxconn Nvidia 8600GT, 256MB model. It keept conflicting, overheating, getting all sorts of driver errors, I would at least get BSOD per week on Vista, I also sort of messed with my onboard audio card. Strangely, i would get this problems only when:
- Running Games
- Running iTunes
All other times it would run fine. It would even render stuff on 3DS with V-Ray without problems, either way, i got tired of it and went on searching for an upgrade. But i had some problems to deal with that. 1st, my PSU. It was a old 420W Seventeam model, and as much as good as it was (never failed me once, protecting my PC from burning specially when all went haywire during the blackouts here), it didn't produce enough juice to allow me to get a really decent Nvidia card. So i had to look on lower levels. I ended up settling for a 9600GT model, 256bits, 1GB memory from Zogis. Good brand, enough memory to run some of the last gen games, cheap to my pockets. Everything seemed fine, but after sometime, i noticed that while playing games, it would heat up pretty fast. The problem? My PC Case, A WiseCase Dolphin BK-9959.
While it was a somewhat good case (you should see the other ones available when i went to pick my old PC), it lacked of several key features for a more modern PC. So to replace it, i went on and got a Cooler Master CM 690. Man, i was happy, everything now was perfect, temps were cool, the case was great looking, lots of space, i even had a go at cable management for the first time of my life XD. And since I was happy, i decided to help my younger brother with his PC by changing his case with my old one, since his didn't have enough coolers nor front usb / sound connectors. That's when it all went downhill...