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One of the worse PC builds you seen.....
- Thread starter The Mad Atheist
- Start date
Less goooooo!
AceGoober
Live! Laug[H]! Overclock!
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Way back in the day a walk-in customer asked if we could get his new computer configured. Sure thing.
Dude brings in his system and I kid you not the case was made out of novice cut thin aluminum. Sharp edges everywhere, lopsided, power supply only held in with two screws and the list goes on and on.
Dude brings in his system and I kid you not the case was made out of novice cut thin aluminum. Sharp edges everywhere, lopsided, power supply only held in with two screws and the list goes on and on.
OutOfPhase
Supreme [H]ardness
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Oh man, flashbacks!
I used to buy that garbage too, back in the day. Cheapest thing I could find to physically house the parts. Quality is precisely what you'd expect.
Install an HD (with two screws of course, because I lost the others) - and might lose a finger because of the razor sharp edges in abundance.
In fact, one of my fondest "I think I've arrived" moments was when I splurged for a nice Lian Li case after a long history of garbage. And it didn't cut me to ribbons, because smooth everywhere.
I never really arrived, but I did end up with a Corsair 650D at some point. Probably far too much money, considering the worthless fan controller and the fans themselves. But, far worse ways to spend $200. I'd certainly had my share of Pricewatch razor boxes cut my hands and forearms to tatters.
The Mad Atheist
[H]ard|Gawd
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Hey, as long as it was put together correctly.
But the vids were incorrectly mounted CPUs and bending the case to fit the GPU, IIRC.
I miss ccfl. I might do ccfl on my next build. I think frozen cpu still sells them.Yes those actinic blue bulbs were the blacklight of the day with fluorescent sata cables and odds and ins made for interesting looking builds. Now everything is LED. At least the inverters for the CCFLs were fun to wire up to do shocking things!
Camberwell
Gawd
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This thread doesn't have enough pics
![Zarathustra[H]](https://cdn.hardforum.com/data/avatars/m/9/9298.jpg?1677728934){kind=avatar}
Zarathustra[H]
Extremely [H]
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I didn't have a camera 20 years ago, so I have no pictures of my early builds, but yeah, I never cared much for aesthetics.
I did try to stay on top of cable management and make everything nice and neat because I wanted optimal airflow, but that's about it. No one was ever going to see the inside of the case anyway.
I never prioritized build aesthetics. That part of the hobby was uninteresting to me. I was performance first, silence second. I preferred the case out of sight under my desk. I bought my first case with a case window, a Corsair 750D Airflow in 2015. My first build in it looked like this:
I actually didn't want a window, and for the longest time was looking for a solid side panel in order to get rid of the window, but I never got around to it. The corsair cooler and those EVGA 980ti's came with LED's built in. I intended to try to disable them, but I never got around to it. I hate case lighting.
The build before that looked something like this (this is actually ~2010 vintage build from before I stuck an x79 system in the same case with the same cooler:
This was a Silverstone RV03 rotated airflow case. I got the version without the side window (but evne the version with it only had a tiny window.
The size of the components throws off all sense of scope in this picture. Those fans are 180mm fans. I was able to get an ultra rare MainGear branded CoolIT 180mm AIO radiator, the biggest AIO radiator money could buy until the dual 140mm ones came out.
Those GPU's are triple slot Asus DirectCU II Radeon 6970's.
This was essentially how I did things. Maximum care taken for airflow, but otherwise not that concerned with internal aesthetics. Now I mostly play lipservice to aesthetics. I want it neat, but I am not going to put on a light show in the case or stick any toys in there.
Here is my latest build, a big custom water loop in a Corsair 1000D. No RGB
I've actually swapped the GPU since taking this picture, but the layout is still the same. The new GPU came with RGB lighting built into th eeater block. Yeah, I haven't plugged that nonsense in. The only intentional lighting in the case is a small LED shinging into the reservoir with a functional purpose, to help me see the water level.
Darunion
Supreme [H]ardness
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Just reading this I already remember feeling the sticky smokers tar from the inside of their yellowed beige tower.
t1337duder
Limp Gawd
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The worst PC builds I get in the shop usually have a random memory stick sitting halfway in its slot. They will have multiple SSD's but Windows will be installed on an ancient HDD. Occasionally we will get liquid builds that have been clearly leaking for long periods of time.
I don't really think messy builds are bad, per se. It's the builds where all the case fans are intake. Or sometimes people will do some crazy shit like glue their hard drives in. It would have been fun to take pictures of their builds to post here but I'm not quite that unprofessional.
I don't really think messy builds are bad, per se. It's the builds where all the case fans are intake. Or sometimes people will do some crazy shit like glue their hard drives in. It would have been fun to take pictures of their builds to post here but I'm not quite that unprofessional.
I couldn't imagine doing that with high-end parts. I mean, the RAM wasn't even in right? I just wonder if somebody did it deliberately to screw with a friend or something. It's sad, nonetheless, those parts could have been put to great use. I am sure that there is damage done there and money thrown down the drain.
I don't have any stories like that but way back in 2004 when I first started working with PC hardware my parents had bought a crappy Compaq Presario that I was determined to turn into a decent gaming rig. I remember buying a decent low-end video card and not being happy with it because I wanted to have better graphics in Halo. I wanted a better card but anything better required a molex connector which would have probably been too much for the really low-end generic 250W PSU that was in the Presario. As a result, I swapped out the PSU and then got my dad's help to dremel a 6 inch hole in the aluminum side-panel so that I could install one of those really noisy fans so that I could eventually justify putting some decent parts in it like a high-end video card. I was really proud of it at the time but when I think back to it and the wall of wires that I created with that PSU in that mini-ATX case, it was pretty sad. It was really the case that I should have just waited until I had the money to build something decent from scratch, which I eventually did. I guess that it was a good learning experience when all was said and done.
I don't have any stories like that but way back in 2004 when I first started working with PC hardware my parents had bought a crappy Compaq Presario that I was determined to turn into a decent gaming rig. I remember buying a decent low-end video card and not being happy with it because I wanted to have better graphics in Halo. I wanted a better card but anything better required a molex connector which would have probably been too much for the really low-end generic 250W PSU that was in the Presario. As a result, I swapped out the PSU and then got my dad's help to dremel a 6 inch hole in the aluminum side-panel so that I could install one of those really noisy fans so that I could eventually justify putting some decent parts in it like a high-end video card. I was really proud of it at the time but when I think back to it and the wall of wires that I created with that PSU in that mini-ATX case, it was pretty sad. It was really the case that I should have just waited until I had the money to build something decent from scratch, which I eventually did. I guess that it was a good learning experience when all was said and done.
frank78
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Interesting pics. As earlier mentioned in this thread: tar... In the past had a side gig fixing some computers and the most gory ones were those with smokers tar. Can't remember any bad ones hardware-wise, but oh dear god - the tar.
Armenius
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The motherboard in the one PC wasn't even secured to the case. The other was secured by two thumb screws. One PC had the CPU installed 180 degrees in the wrong direction. This isn't about cable management. The person threw all the components into the cases without a care in the world. Makes me think this was a troll, but who knows.
I doubt it. People really are that stupid.
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The Mad Atheist
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I didn't have a camera back then when I riveted two cases together and had an early era water cooling rig and UPS in there.This thread doesn't have enough pics
I saw all kinds of crap when I was a computer technician. Nothing in that video surprises me. I don't think I've seen a single PC that was quite as bad as those with that many things wrong with them at once. However, I've seen plenty of bad builds where some of those problems and installation methods were present. I've seen cases that had hack saws, Dremels, bandsaws, and drills taken to them. I saw plenty of cases where fan holes were cut in badly. A lot of this was in the days before cell phones all had cameras on them or I'd probably still have some pictures of the more egregious things I've seen. Motherboards not screwed in, over torqued, cables run behind the boards to create a short (or fire), cases bent to accommodate video cards, etc. are all things I've seen plenty of times.
I've also seem backwards CPU's and the like. I've seen PCIe cards with their connectors "cut to fit" the wrong slots. You name it, I've probably seen it. I don't doubt the legitimacy of these borked builds for one second.
I've also seem backwards CPU's and the like. I've seen PCIe cards with their connectors "cut to fit" the wrong slots. You name it, I've probably seen it. I don't doubt the legitimacy of these borked builds for one second.
Darunion
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I used a hole saw for my fans. Ive seen people stab it and use snips to bend sharp triangles backwards to open up holes.
When I think hole saw I think wood, but they totally have metal ones. But getting the precise size wasn't something I knew I could even do back when I started, and now I'm just in the habit of using the rotary tool. It can look horrific, or pretty good, depending on how much time is spent.
Darunion
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Yea i was 14 or 15 at the time and just grabbed one at the hardware store, not sure if i even bought the right one. but used a crappy old drill and clamped the panel to some wood and used lots of oil. Came out good as i remember.
I dont have a steady enough hand for using rotary tool. Never any good at coloring inside the lines...
Me either, but sometimes it's easier if I think in terms of dots rather than lines. I draw a quality circle where I want the hole, then just dab the rotary disc just inside that line, not necessarily trying to cut all the way through each time I bring the rotary down. Hole saw would probably be way faster, but common sizes don't always line up with the optimal fan hole size.
ElementDave
Limp Gawd
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Maybe he wanted his programs to run backwards. ◀️ Sounds reasonable?
For those curious: it was an "i9", at ~5:45 in the first video.
Armenius
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The follow-up video where he does the teardown shows it was an 11900K.
M76
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Oh, those are not chilling, they are firmly held by hanger straps and zip ties.
M76
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A drill press and a hole saw for metal is about the only way I would attempt something like that.
pendragon1
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pfft, thats what you have knees for, hold it in place and drill away
Darunion
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How to get an authentic Lieutenant Dan costumepfft, thats what you have knees for, hold it in place and drill away
pendragon1
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we're talking hole saws not chain saws....
LOCO LAPTOP
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You made me remind of the time this came in my shop back in 2011:
I seen some shit that I didn't take pictures of, never thought of taking pictures of it either. But I don't doubt people doing dumb crap like this either.
I wish I had pictures of all the stupid crap I saw back in the day. As I said, I don't doubt the video. I've seen badly built machines that wouldn't POST more times than I can count.
Armenius
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Worst I've ever done was plug a 4-pin EPS into the motherboard 90 degrees in the wrong direction. That after I thought the pins were keyed so that doesn't happen. Orientated it the correct way and all was well.
Actually, I lie. When I was looking for a job, I replaced my pair of 8800 GTX that had just died with a GTX 570. I can't recall why, but the thing wouldn't line up with my case so it could be secured despite it fitting just fine. It was solely supported by the expansion slot cover for the slot underneath it. I used that card for 3 years without issues until I got a job, saved up the money, and built a new PC.
My cable management has always been iffy, but I've been getting better. Newer cases certainly make it much easier than it was a decade ago.
Actually, I lie. When I was looking for a job, I replaced my pair of 8800 GTX that had just died with a GTX 570. I can't recall why, but the thing wouldn't line up with my case so it could be secured despite it fitting just fine. It was solely supported by the expansion slot cover for the slot underneath it. I used that card for 3 years without issues until I got a job, saved up the money, and built a new PC.
My cable management has always been iffy, but I've been getting better. Newer cases certainly make it much easier than it was a decade ago.
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