My Computer Project

As many others, electronics and computers are my passion. Since I disassembled my father's 13" color TV when I was about that same age, I knew that messing around with electronics was something I wanted to do. However, instead of following that career path, I chose to become a turbine engine mechanic. Though it is an exciting career, as a turbine engine mechanic there's little room for creativity and imagination.

I have worked with computers since 1988 and, slowly at first, I became addicted to them. A few months ago, I began building my own PC. Though I have built other computers, this project is different. At first, I wanted to just simply build a PC around old parts I had laying around the house, while keeping the budget down as much as possible. And, though I have been able to maintain the budget down, some older parts have been replaced by newer and more efficient components.

Through this blog, I hope to detail my journey as I build and continue to make improvements to my new computer. Perhaps someone can learn from my experiences and put them to practice, or not. Or maybe someone can point out some of the mistakes I made or perhaps offer some expert advice. But regardless, my hopes are that readers can get motivated to enjoy the satisfaction of building their own "mean" machine. The way I see it, we only live once (at least that's what I believe) so why not spend sometime doing what we really enjoy.

Before I leave for the day, let me provide you with a few details about my PC project. During the next few days I will provide you a better detail description of each component and why I chose them. Additionally, I will talk about the thrill of building the PC and the agony of not being able to sleep because of the many ideas floating about my head at any given time; but, it's all worth it.

Here's a quick detail about my PC project:

About the case

The PC case I selected for this project is an all thick-aluminum full tower case, manufacture by Dragon, but the model is unknown. It incorporates a clear side panel and can mount up to five 80mm cooling fans. It also has a 600 watts modular power supply incorporating two 80mm cooling fans.

Additional features

• Four 5.25" and two 3.5" bays.
• Removable 3.5 and hard drive baysOther components Motherboard: WinFast NF4UK8AA Foxconn
• Processor: AMD Atlon 64 4000+, Code Name: San Diego
• Graphics: NVidia GForce 7300 GT, 256MB of RAM
• Memory: OCZ 2GB DDR
• OS: Dualboot Win XP Home Edition and Win Vista Ultimate 32Bit edition
• Thermaltake CL-P0401 110mm Full-Range Fan CPU Cooler
• Six USB Port PCI Card
• Multi-Card Reader with USB
• Four input fan controller
• Creative, 60 watts speakers
• LightScribe DVD Drive
• LG 17" LCD Monitor
• One SATA 500MB HD
• One EIDE 250MB HD

On my next post I'll tell you a little bit more about my PC project. Until them, happy computer!