2020 was a year of many firsts for me. It was the first time I was unemployed for more than six months. It was also the first time I saw an old lady, and a girl scout fight over toilet paper and ground beef. I spent a majority of the national time out (commonly referred to as quarantine) in the house catching up on old video games and movies. The cabin fever set in around week four, so I decided to take a youtube dive and learn how to use Photoshop. I went through a bit of an obsessive phase and got addicted to creating collage art, and album covers. I even created a portfolio. 

Around month two, all the fuss around the 3080 graphics cards were buzzing so loud it caught my attention. I was never into PC gaming, and felt overwhelmed at the thought. I was always a console gamer. The boredom of being at home led me down a reddit rabbit hole, detailing the glory of PC gaming, and the fulfillment you get from building your own computer, piece by piece. I was intrigued, but at the same time, intimated at the thought of all those electronic parts. 

After about a week of procrastination and scouring youtube for videos of step-by-step guides, I began. Some videos were better than others, while some were flat out useless. I got my parts list together and placed my order with Amazon and Newegg. Seeing that this was my first build, I didn’t want to break the bank on a $2,000 build that I could easily screw up.  

Parts:

AMD Ryzen 5 2600 processor

GTX 1660 Super 6GB graphics card

B450M Micro ATX Motherboard

512GB M.2 NVMe SSD

16GB DDR4 3000MHz RAM

650W 80+ bronze power supply

Wifi card

2TB BarraCuda internal drive

Mickey Mouse Funko Pop (Not at all optional)

A cool keyboard and mouse, a few sleeved cables and LED fans (apparently LED is a must!) 

Total cost was around $800. A mid range build. Not too crappy, and not too extraordinary.

The anxiety set in on delivery day when all the boxes showed up, each with a set of instructions as intricate And complex as the last. I unpacked everything and got focused, as if I was conducting open heart surgery. Because I was! I snail paced my way to getting everything in place and connected, and I crossed my fingers. My index finger shook with fear as I inched closer to the power button.

IT POWERED UP! And on my first attempt! I was so proud of myself, and those nerds on reddit were right. The feeling of building your own gaming PC was special. There’s a feeling of accomplishment that’s so personal when you build something with your own two hands. I guess this is what all those mad scientists feel when they create Frankenstein’s monster. IT’S ALIIIIIIIIIVE! I yelled when I powered up Borderlands 3 for the first time, on my very own gaming PC. Built by me!

Check out some pictures below. ✌🏾