Maybe the last of its kind …
Last few weeks I did something that, over the years, I’ve done before, probably more than twenty times: Build a desktop PC from components. The first time I did this was in the late 1980s; at the small software shop where I worked then, it was cheaper to buy components and assemble the boxes, than it was to buy from IBM or Compaq or HP. Somehow I never shook the habit. Between building on the order of 5+ PCs for myself, there were computers for Kim, Alex and Morgan, one I used as a DVR, one as a basement webserver, that since has morphed into an Ubuntu fileserver.
The time before I did this was 2017. Key components from that build:
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That $709 is about $910 in 2024 dollars.
Now that PC was really good. Aside from handling tons of work-from-home stuff, and my writing, it played games like Witcher 3 and Baldur’s Gate 3 like a champ, especially after I upgraded to 64 GB RAM. But it could only run Windows 10, because the motherboard did not support Secure Boot, a technology that prevents malicious code from running at start time. Since Windows 10 is going out of service, I decided it was time for upgrade.
My case and power supply from 2017 were still plenty good – technology for steel boxes doesn’t advance very quickly – so I just got some new innards:
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So I paid about the same today as I did 7 years ago. But performance / price is waaaay better. The old Intel CPU is rated at 6036 CPUMark — the AMD, 34,500 – more than 5x faster. The RAM is 2x faster. And I got 2TB of much faster SSD storage, vs. 1TB of metal-disk-spinning-like-a-record storage.
A big cost savings is the built-in RADEON graphics on the AMD CPU. It’s clearly not as zippy as a dedicated GPU, but my quick tests of Witcher look pretty good.
Anyway, I weirdly find building these fun. There’s something about snapping stuff together, getting the thermal paste just right on the CPU, futzing with the front-panel connectors, and then turning it on and not having it emit jets of sparks from anywhere – something that did occur at least once the first 1-2 times I did this.
Most readers probably know this, custom-built PCS are big with gamers. About a third of “dedicated” PC gamers build their own rigs – it’s both a rite of passage, and a part of the min-max mindset. But the lure of the laptop – compact and mobile – is hard to resist. of course I have one, for traveling. I think its very likely when I get to my next “7 year itch” for a computer, it will be a dockable laptop.
But that is yet to be seen. For now, writing this on the new rig – which is named MIRALDRA, a Vancian reference – I have like 10 windows and 40 tabs all open, and things are zipping along nice and quiet.
Next time, a writing update, including some reflections on a recent short piece, Let This Be The Last, a reimagination of a certain Norse god …
Take care …