- Kyra Brown (@wicked_dba_kyra)
My First PC Build - Part I
I decided to start 2017 with a new project that I had been wanting to do for some time, but was a little too intimidated to jump in and do it. I was in need of some beefier hardware at home so that I could start doing more to develop my technical skills.
I had been working on a Dell Studio 1558 laptop with an Intel Core i5 M450 CPU, 4 GB of RAM, and 500 GB hard drive. It was a graduation gift from the parents and had served me well over the years, but I was running out of space on the hard drive and the RAM was lacking.
I initially ran into issues when I was trying to create a virtual machine where I could install SQL Server 2016 so that I could check out the newest features of SSRS, plus spin off a data warehouse...but that's for another post. My laptop didn't have enough RAM to spin up a Windows Server 2012 R2 machine, and at that point I realized I had outgrown it.
Thanh, my fellow wizard, has built more PC's than I've even used, and has been encouraging me to build one of my own. He said it was a good way to learn about all the components, their functions, and how they all work together. He walked me through the whole process, and I don't think I would have the beautiful machine I do now if it wasn't for him.
I'm going to do a series of posts detailing each component that I chose, why I chose it, and photos and instructions on how I put it all together.
My goal is that someone out there like me will read this and hopefully see that building their own PC doesn't have to be scary or intimidating. Sure, there's a lot to consider when making a decision on each piece of hardware, and if you're new to the scene the amount of options and information can be overwhelming. But if you break each piece down and focus on one at a time, it's really not that bad at all. In fact, it's kind of fun. And the feeling you get when you plug it in and see it all light up for the first time makes you feel like Dr. Frankenstein, but without the whole monster thing (hopefully).
Stay tuned for Part II where I'm going to discuss the CPU!
Find me on Twitter! @wicked_dba_kyra
