I have been busy

When HWMBO went to Singapore, I asked him to buy computer components for a new computer for me. When he returned, I had a motherboard, a processor, 16GB of memory, a hard disk, and a couple of other things I forget now. Conversely, I had to provide the case and fans, plus front-panel USB 3.0 ports.

I bought a tower case with one fan, and bought two more fans. Now came the hard part: putting it all together.

First I put the USB 3.0 ports in. The case specs said that all that kind of thing ought to be easy to install as it had easy-lock bays. Well, the carrier for the ports was ever so slightly too narrow to allow the carrier to be in an easy-lock bay. So I had to scrabble around for proper screws. Fumbling with the carrier before I realised that I needed screws turned the air somewhat blue. So, I have to work when HWMBO is out of the house at work. That way he won't get upset that I swear so much.

Then came the motherboard. It came with a shedload of screws, spacers, and the like. The backplate for the rear ports was in there, as well as little cable ties to keep the interior cables away from the fans (not for playing 50 Shades of Grey with mice). I installed a fan in the bottom and a fan in the top of the back, then tried to install the motherboard. No success, more blue air. I finally determined that the fan in the back was obstructing, ever so slightly, the backplate for the ports.

So this afternoon, I took out the fan, got the motherboard and the backplate settled correctly, then turned the air a bit more blue as I tried to fit the screws keeping down the motherboard into the spacers I'd placed in the case previously. It took around 1/2 hour to do that, as some of the screws are in remote corners of the motherboard. Got that done, check.

Now for the CPU. They don't have pins and sockets any more. There are pins on the motherboard and little pads on the CPU underside. I followed the instructions, even though there were no words and some of the illustrations were really bizarre. The heatsink on the bottom of the CPU fan already had thermal paste on it, so the paste I bought wasn't used. Got the fan settled and locked down.

Now for the fun part: Cables. You can see from the picture below that the inside of the computer is like a worm convention. Some of the cables aren't needed. However, I placed all the ones that were needed onto the motherboard and I think they are in the correct places. Here's the picture.

The next phase is critical. I must back up my current SSD C: drive and clone my current HDD to the drive I just got. I will install the memory (people keep saying that 8GB is enough, but I'm greedy and I suspect that even Chrome can't easily fill 16GB up.

Then I open up the current PC, remove the SSD and HDD, and place them in the new case. Bring the whole thing downstairs, connect up the KB, mouse, and monitor, and fire it up. I might say a Hail Mary beforehand. If it works, I remove the shell of the old computer (keeping it around just in case), put the new tower under my desk, connect everything up, and I'm good to go. I may be away for a few hours or a day. I will give notice of that on Twitter and the Book of Face.

The next phase is to consider what kind of desk I need for all this. My current one is no longer suitable for various reasons (even though it's good; I might put it on Freecycle). When I get the new desk (possibly augmented by a 3-drawer filing cabinet on which to place my printer) everything in here needs to be labelled, removed into the living room, the study cleaned and the new desk and filing cabinet installed and, finally, all the equipment returned.

All of this because I wanted USB 3.0 ports and my current computer won't support them. Oh well, all good fun. Watch this space!