Henry Quach
Mechanical EngineerSmall Form Factor PC
Fulfilling my self-promise for passing the 2019 written Ph.D. qualifying exam, I built myself a computer in late August.
Build specs were driven by a variety of needs, such as # of cores for parallel computing, sufficient RAM for active 3D modeling, and a sufficient GPU to rear my zoo animals in the upcoming Planet Zoo.
| Component | Model | Specification |
|---|---|---|
| Case | Sliger Cerberus | 19L, Powder-Coated Steel, Machined Al Handle |
| Motherboard | ASRock B450M Steel Legend | AM4 Chipset, mATX |
| CPU | AMD Ryzen 7 2700X | 8-Core, 3.7 GHz Core Clock, 4.3 GHz Boost Clock |
| CPU Cooler | Noctua NH-C14S | 142 mm Fan, 82.52 CFM |
| GPU | EVGA GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 6 GB XC | Core Clock: 1500 MHz |
| RAM | 32 GB Corsair Vengeance LPX | (2x16) GB, DDR4-3200 |
| SSD | Samsung 970 Evo M.2-2280 | 1 TB |
| HDD | WD Caviar Blue | 1 TB |
| PSU | Corsair SF450P | Modular, 80+ Platinum Certified |
| Top Intake Fan | Noctua NF-A12X15 | 1X, 120 mm Fan, 55.44 CFM |
| Bottom Intake | Noctua NF-A12X25 | 2X, 120 mm Fans, 60.1 CFM |
| Rear Exhaust | Noctua NF-A9 | 1X, 92 mm Fan, 46.44 CFM |
Not surprisingly, building a PC for the first time took far longer than budgeted. I budgeted for 5 hours, but took closer to 9. I fell prey to all the rookie mistakes: 1. forgetting to connect the separate CPU power cables from the PSU to the motherboard. 2. plugging in the power/reset paneling buttons incorrectly. 3. not flipping the power switch before mounting the PSU. 4. Even after hardware was "done", I realized I had installed Windows onto the HDD partition; basically I resigned to doing things the right way - I reinstalled everything from scratch onto the SSD the day after.
All in all, it was a 5/5 experience and I can understand why everybody goes down this computer-building rabbit hole and never returns the same. I'm really looking forward to doing this again in a couple years.
