Phase 1: Complete

Last time, I asked a couple of questions that had been bugging me about my new build. Thankfully, all those questions have been answered.

Lucky for me, the processor was the step E1, but it didn't matter anyway; the motherboard's firmware was a few versions past the minimum needed for either version of the chip -- 1.50 if I remember correctly.

The heat sink came with a small amount of thermal compound on it; but I went ahead and bought a pack of generic stuff from a nearby computer store (Schroeder Software in Dodge City, if you're interested). If I was planning on overclocking at all, I probably would have spent the extra money for Arctic Silver, but since I was trying to ensure coverage rather than maximize efficiency, what I got will work.

The salvaged hard drive did indeed work as intended, even though I hit one hiccup with the previous install of Windows XP on the drive before I figured out that I had to use the drive menu interrupt to boot from USB.

The power supply appears to be adequate for my needs, at least for the time being. I'd be nervous if I had a discrete video card, or multiple drives. But as it is, a single hard drive, the motherboard, and a USB memory card reader don't seem to tax it beyond reason.

The biggest issue I've actually run into was my own stupidity. I never thought about the MTX suffix on the salvage machine's motherboard indicating that it was a MicroATX board. Since the Z77 Pro3 is a full ATX model, I had to go out to the shed and dig (and clean) out a larger case. Unfortunately, this case does not have a ventilation solution. Or rather, there is a single fan mount in the front, and the rest is passive cooling. So I declined to replace the steel outer shell, and have it open to the air. I'll need to keep an eye on the temps until I get a new case.

As for the operating system, I'm currently running Ubuntu 12.10, both because it's free and because the installation media fit on a 64MB flash drive I had sitting around. I don't mind Unity, especially since the effects don't drag like they did on my Celeron M laptop. Over the last couple of hours, I have made some changes to the standard Ubuntu install:

• The Fonts task. During installation (where you choose which desktop version and tasks you want), you can add a lot of fonts. If I'm not mistaken, that's the actual name of the task: "a lot of fonts." 
• google-chrome-stable: I don't mind Firefox, but I've been using Chrome for a while, and I like it more. So I grabbed the deb file from http://chrome.google.com and installed it.
• steam-latest: Head over to http://store.steampowered.com and grab the free Steam client from the Linux page. The client is in beta, but there's a good 40+ games there that run natively in Linux, including Team Fortress 2, FTL: Faster than Light, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent.
• vlc, audacity: It shouldn't be a surprise that I enjoy music. So I always grab the VLC media player and the sound-editing program Audacity.
• Privacy Settings: Yeah, I don't like that "search our internet partners from the dash" feature. It got turned off real quick, along with a couple of other options.
• Wine. Yeah, I know. Using Wine seems like a cop-out, but there are a couple of games I really like playing, and don't want to give up just because I can't afford a copy of Windows right now.

Building Commenced, Part 2

As my package of parts gets closer to its destination, I've begun to have second thoughts. The doubts have started to creep in.

What if the motherboard needs a firmware update before it can use the processor? When I search for BX80637i53330, the number that's part of the item description on Newegg, it tells me it belongs to a processor that's "Step E1". Which the processor compatibility table over on ASRock says should work (or at least i5-3330(E1) has worked) since firmware version P1.10. But is that accurate? Or rather, am I reading the tables right? Will I actually get the E1 version, or will an N0 version show up instead, which isn't supported until P1.20. And if so, will the BIOS (or rather, the UEFA) be factory updated? I don't want to have to pony up the money for a Sandy Bridge processor just to run an update and then swap, even if it is only $50.

Speaking of processors, or rather, processor accessories; the i5 retail box I bought comes with a fan and heat sink, but does it come with thermal compound? If not, do any of the local shops carry it?

Does the hard drive I'm planning on using even work? I mean, it's not like I could test it. The only computer I have with a SATA connection was the one it came from, and that couldn't even make it to the POST. I mean, yeah I could run -- for instance -- Puppy Linux from USB, or maybe even a Ubuntu LiveUSB image, assuming I can dig up a flash drive big enough. It's less than optimal, but it will work. Especially since I don't have a SATA optical drive to boot a LiveCD. Something that is quickly moving its way toward the top of my "buy next" list.

Does the power supply work? Again, hard to tell since I'm pulling the potential one from the broken box.This one I'm actually going to test when I get home, by swapping it out with the bigger one in my Debian/Pentium 4 box. That way I know if a new P/S (for one or the other) is next on the agenda.

As of this writing (6:30 AM Wednesday), the parts have gone from Memphis on Monday night, to Lenexa, KS (a suburb of Kansas City) on Tuesday morning, and then on to a brief layover in Salina before heading to the "local" office in Great Bend to spend the night. They are listed on UPS's website as "out for delivery" about half an hour ago. If all things go my way, I should be able to answer at least some of the questions by the time I go to bed this morning.

Update, 10:00 am:  Well, the parts haven't arrived yet, so no love there. I was mistaken on both of my power supplies, though. The one from my salvage box was a 350W, not a 400. Unfortunately, after I got the one from my Debian box out, I discovered that it was also a 350 instead of the 750W that I apparently had in the box I sold off. The good news -- and the whole reason for pulling them out in the first place -- is that both of them work. I'm going to use the P/S from the Debian box, for no other reason than I was too lazy to take the salvage P/S back out of my Debian machine.

Building: Commenced

After over a year of prep-work, set-backs, and worrying, I finally took the plunge. The building blocks for my new desktop are on their way.

Since before my mother-in-law moved in with us (and subsequently moved out), I've hemmed and hawed, vacillating on whether I could afford this project, or even if I had the ability to put it together once it got here. But with money saved from both Christmas presents and holiday pay, and more importantly with my bills budgeted for, I bit the first bullet.

First?

Well... yes. You see, this is the first step. I bought the core components last night, but there are massive upgrades needed before I will be ready to call this thing ready to roll out. So, last night's shopping list.

• Processor: Intel Core i5-3330 @ 3.0 GHz. 
• Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro3
• Memory: ADATA XPG Gaming Series DDR3-1600; 8 GB (2x4GB)

Total cost: $325. You may notice quite a few things missing, especially for a build that aims to be a complete computer, much less a gaming machine. You know the old adage, "waste not, want not?" This is a prime example. Last year, my uncle came to me with a computer problem that boiled down to a faulty motherboard. He was short on money, so I sold him one of my older machines -- powerful enough for email and Skype, which is what he used the computer for anyway -- for trade-in plus a little cash.

Why would I do this? Mostly, I wanted to get my hands on a SATA drive. All of my other hard drives are IDE which, if it isn't already, is quickly on it way to being a legacy interface. As evidenced by the motherboard, which does not have an IDE connector. It also gives me access to an empty case and a (more than likely) working power supply; though at 400 watts, it is fair to consider it under-powered for my purposes. I also have a mouse, keyboard, and a monitor on hand that can be re-purposed quite easily. 

Which brings us to the elephant in the room. What am I going to do for discreet graphics? For the time being, the answer is nothing. I spent the extra $10 on the i5-3330 instead of the 3350P to get the integrated graphics. A mid-range graphics card would probably end up taxing that 400 watt power supply to brown-out levels even if the PS had the right plug on it. As it is, between the integrated graphics of the 3330 and the VGA output on the Pro3 (because the monitor I'm salvaging was bought when DVI was optional and HDMI was expensive as heck), I'll be in business pretty darn quick.

So, if processor, motherboard and memory were round 1, what's round 2? More than likely, a new case (something along the lines of the Rosewill Blackhawk) and power supply; probably in the 600-750W range, so another $150-200. Round 3 looks like a new, smaller desk and chair because as much as I look forward to gaming marathons, the idea of sitting by myself in my office all day is not particularly appealing. I was looking at the WalMart specials and found a combo in the $75 range, pretty good for me. Then Windows. Yes, I'm waiting that long to put Windows on this computer. I'll decide what flavor when the time comes. Then will come the graphics card; and again, the flavor will be decided by costs at the time.

All in all, looks like a good start.