If you enjoy building computers?......

I'm like this, I just love tinkering with machines and am always monkeying around with my own. I've built three machines with custom water loops now (my own, my wife's and my son's) as well as numerous specialist builds like a DIY NAS, a hackintosh etc. I regularly look for opportunities to build them for friends too but the expectation of lifelong technical support stops me spreading the love too far :cry:

I should probably get a job building PCs or something (and yes I've played pc building simulator!)
 
Nasher said:
The problem with this is they then expect you to do it free/dirt cheap, go round and spend hours fixing it after they fill it with malware, or provide unlimited technical support. Also for free.
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That's why it's offered as a service - It's only a problem if you don't lay out the terms and conditions beforehand.
Make it clear that this is not a free service, even if you're friends with the client, and that they will be charged for the service (explaining the set fee, if needs be) and they will only be getting that service. If they want, and you can give, ongoing support then that also will incur a fee.
Fees can be whatever you like, so if you're just doing it for fun then a nominal fee would be appropriate. If you're concerned about your business suffering losses or the financial impact of your undervalued time, then you're probably outside the scope of the OP who just wants the fun of speccing and building stuff.
 
As much as i loved building PC's back in the day, and i though the builds and performance would be far superior, there became a time where i would spend a lot of time in work at my desk, and if i was ever to use a machine at home, i wanted to be a little more mobile


So sitting at a desk at home didnt appeal to me after i think 2015, i stopped using a PC less and used a laptop more. Then i would just use a laptop on my bed or the sofa and a table.

I think my last PC build was an i5 2500k era build.

Also another factor was cheap good performing Xeon based CPU dell power edge t20s and VMware esxi so I was using laptops to connect to vms..
 
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ttaskmaster said:
That's why it's offered as a service - It's only a problem if you don't lay out the terms and conditions beforehand.
Make it clear that this is not a free service, even if you're friends with the client, and that they will be charged for the service (explaining the set fee, if needs be) and they will only be getting that service. If they want, and you can give, ongoing support then that also will incur a fee.
Fees can be whatever you like, so if you're just doing it for fun then a nominal fee would be appropriate. If you're concerned about your business suffering losses or the financial impact of your undervalued time, then you're probably outside the scope of the OP who just wants the fun of speccing and building stuff.
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I did that, started asking for payment. They lose interest :D
 
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Manbatius said:
If so.... how do you not have numerous machines? or more importantly get the build lout of your system?
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With me there is a very simple explanation why I don't umpteen machines made out of old PC parts I have let build up over the years. It is because I am very, very, VERY lazy. Seriously, all the PC's I have built over the years I have never sold anything and just kept piling up the old bits. This is until very recently when I sold some AM4 bits I never even actually used because I was too lazy to put it together after buying it all, and I knew if I didn't sell it now it would have just been added to the pile.

I've had this long term plan to build various retro PC's out off all these bits, on for DOS, one for Win 3.1 and so on up to Win XP. But as mentioned, I am just too lazy to actually do it.

I did however lovingly restore my first proper laptop not so long back after I re-possessed it from my nephew who I had given to as a Christmas present years and years ago. At the time he was your typical teenage oik who never looked after anything and I could see it being abused like it was some kind of disposable Fischer Price object. Anyway, years later I found it abandoned under a pile of junk at my Dads house. must be 15 years old now. Keys had been pulled off, the coke had been spilt all over it, feet pulled off, the charger was smashed, all sorts. Now this was my first proper laptop which had a proper dedicated GPU and I had an emotional attachment to it, and even though by todays standards it was ancient with a Core2Duo processor and a 280gtx gpu, I felt honour bound to save it. So, new keyboard, and SSD and max memory, cleaned polished it is like new. Totally unusable with Windows 10 on it still, but it just had to be done, **** the expense. It would probably be OK with Linux on it though. It gets occasional use as a player for Sky Go on my telly HDMI.
 
Just building with a board with m.2 drives and not much else is indeed bland. The loss of additional add in cards, various drives and loads of cables certainly lessens the experience. I guess moving to a better OS and a custom loop would reinvigorate many though.

Personally i find it fun if it all goes well, but it's ultimately not that indepth now. It would have been nice to experience the earlier days. I guess it's just another hobby that's getting outdated and soon to be a thing of the past, maybe?
 
Once you've built one PC, you've built them all imo - they're all pretty much the same, it's like changing brake pads on a car or motorcycle; it just becomes a bit of a non event. Same for tearing things apart to fix, laptops and the like
 
Feek said:
It hasn't been a skilled job for years. The last PC I built was in 2007 and even then, it was impossible to get anything wrong really.
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Yep - built my first one aged 14 with a windfall from selling digital furniture (lols). Had no idea. Predated YouTube. My lucky moment was realising the little standoffs were a think - pure luck I put them in.
 
Manbatius said:
Hi all,

So I enjoy building computers, I am currently considering a cheap ITX gaming build (super cheap)
I mainly just want to build something.... really I know it won't get used. But the research of getting bits and putting it all together I love.

Surely there are others on here like this?
If so.... how do you not have numerous machines? or more importantly get the build lout of your system?
I'm running out of reasons to build stuff and likely have too many machines as it is (not a brag, one of them is a Lubuntu based Am2 build that I built over a decade ago for family, which I received back and have refurbed)

Last build, Itx plex server rehoused into a tiny case with a laptop brick psu....
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I am like this, I think the research is the best bit especially finding the optimal price to performance ratio.
 
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