So recently, my partner graduated from pharmacy school, and as a “Congrats! / Now You Finally Have Free Time!” gift, I decided we would build a gaming computer together. It was a process we began all the way back in January, and completed a few weeks ago. Due to the cryptocurrency caused graphics card shortage, we delayed purchasing anything until we could acquire the hardest to come-by part. Luckily, keeping my ear to the ground, I found a cheap, brand new GTX 1070 on Reddit for sale. Even more luckily, it wasn’t a scam! With this purchased, we went ahead and bought everything else.
A large amount of parts, at least within a price range, came down to a difference of a few features (that you may or may not care about) and looks. After showing her many, many options, I was given the direction “RGB LIGHTS ON EVERYTHING!”
We chose a higher end Intel i5 process since she’d only be gaming and not video production. We chose an ASUS motherboard with built-in RGB lighting, which can be controlled by software. GSKILL makes wonderful RGB RAM, and at only about $30 more per stick, it was a no-brainer. RGB Power supply from Thermaltake? YEP! We even picked up a GIANT CPU cooler from Cooler Master with an RGB fan. And finally we got a white case (the only other design guidance I was given) from Corsair complete with its own RGB fans and a big side window to show off all of the pretty, pretty colors.
Putting everything together was pretty straight forward (except for the CPU cooler, which came with instructions ripped out of an IKEA worst-practices handbook) and thankfully everything worked on the first try. We loaded Windows 10 and were playing Rocket League together within three hours (nobody is immune from Windows Update).
She’s ecstatic with her new computer and I’m glad I could help bring another into the techie-fold.
