Exactly what the title says. I know the prices of computer parts have been skyrocketing because of all the “generative” “AI” bullshit that’s been forced on the world, and I’m lucky my computer is just good enough to still be doing what I need it to several years later. It’s a laptop, though, so basically no ability to swap components.
I want to get into PC building, more out of necessity then desire, but I’m nervous about ruining good parts. I’m totally fine with building a mediocre machine with cheap, old stuff just to get a feel for how everything goes together. If I can make it run Linux and maybe emulate a PS1 game, I’ll be happy. Additionally, I have a HUGE rack mounted server PC from the mid 2000s that, if nothing else, can be gutted for it’s spacious casing.
Is building a cheap test machine like this worth while? If so, I’d appreciate any advice on what parts to scoop up and maybe where I could find them.
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Compared to the old days, it’s even harder today to “ruin” good parts unless you’re going to use liquid nitrogen or water-cooling. What kind of activities did you have in mind that you think could ruin your PC?
It’s simply that I’ve never taken one apart or put one together before. I’ve heard the stories of people frying things, fucking up the CPU while trying to install it, and just general small mistakes leading to big costs. It all makes me feel I need to do a test run before tackling whatever my final rig ends up being. I need it to last a long time, so that means it’ll be costly, and I don’t think top-tier parts are fit for my untrained hands lol
Building a PC is basically grown-up Lego. All the parts (except a few very rare cases) are designed to only fit where they are meant to. If something doesn’t fit right, then that’s not where it goes.
CPUs in particular nowadays are much easier to install than they used to be. No pins to mess up anymore, and the top is covered by a heat spreader, so you’re not going to chip the core like what used to happen a few decades ago.
Any computer that uses DDR3 memory will be about 10 years old, extremely cheap and if you get an i7 CPU it’ll still be totally usable. Buy 3 incomplete ones and grab the best bits from each and mash them into your old case.
I’ll have a look into this, thank you!
What do you want to do with it? If you’re just going to throw linux on it, there’s a ton of older solid pcs out there for cheap on ebay. Bonus you don’t have to mess around with AI prices on the old hardware. Since you mentioned pc building, you can also grab a decent pc, and depending on what you want to do with it, upgrade it. Grab some office pc and slip in a used but decent graphics card. Best part of this tactic is if you mess up something, you’re only out $20-50 for that part max.
As I should have mentioned in the post (and now have thrown in another reply), I mainly want to use the rig for audio recording, video editing, and gaming. Basically an all-rounder, but I don’t need a god-tier machine. It’d be nice to run everything in 4K but I super do not need it. I appreciate the recommendation of taking a pre-built and going from there, since I thought PC builders hated pre-builts. It’s a good idea and what I might go with at first. Would you happen to know any places I can get a unit other then Ebay or Amazon, though? I’ll check locally myself but as for online stores I try my best to avoid them.
Some collages sell there old computers when they get new ones. There generally very cheap. No hard drives and not super old but kinda old. You could buy a couple there and just fuck around with them.
