Loving my new DIY PC to death!

It’s been about a week or so of using my new DIY PC and I am loving it to death! Months of research, and lots of patience really paid off. I am very proud of my work. There were several false starts of getting my rig up impulsively, without thinking it through properly. I would have regretted the decision if I were to give in to my impulses. But I held it in check and now, I am extremely satisfied with my latest build.

Every component was hand picked and meticulously selected, taking into consideration a variety of factors. And when you handpicked a dozen parts to build you PC and it all comes together seamlessly, you feel absolute bliss. It is a firm validation that you have done your homework thoroughly and have considered every aspect of PC making into consideration.

Going back to the Windows platform wasn’t as tough as I thought it would be. I am very impressed by the Windows 10 installation. It went without a hitch, snappy and was completed in 20 minutes. That is impressive. Gone were the days of hours long installation and a chance of encountering fatal errors, inability to install due to some obscure bugs, glitches etc.

The new Skylake CPU, combined with the SSD, made everything snappy. Loading programs were near instantaneous, and though I did not selected a high end SSD, I can’t really tell the difference, since SSDs are fast to  begin with. Driver installation was a breeze, and while I like Microsoft Edge, I am already used to Mozilla Firefox. Sorry Windows Edge!

The new Start Menu takes a while to get used to it, but for most parts, it is very similar to the Start Menu of the old and classic windows. As a Mac user for 7 years, coming back to Windows is like going back to my hometown. Things change, but for most parts they are still familiar to you, just a coat of paint here, a layer of new varnish there, making it new.

Just recently I added 2 more 140mm fans (which you don’t see it in the picture below) My objective in the end was to created a positive airflow in the PC, so that all outside air that gets blown inside by the fans are filtered. But because there is more air inside than outside, it creates a positive airflow, preventing any filtered air from entering. This would reduce the likelihood of dust entering my PC, making it last longer, reducing the need to clean the internals of dust often. I have yet to see if it actually works. I will have to monitor dust buildup over the next month or so. But already I can see dust accumulating on one side of the dust filtered that I installed on the fans on the right side of the PC. Thus, it goes to show that it does work. Fine particulates can still enter though, as I can see it settling down on the back of my graphics card. But I am pretty sure it is far better than letting air in totally unfiltered. While NZXT Manta comes with a big rectangular dust filter on the front, I added additional fine mech dust filters to each individual fans. This double filtration would be more effective than just one. The newly installed fans at the top are also installed with the fine mech dust filter. And I also closed any gaping holes that unfiltered air might enter at the top with masking tape, making the entire set-up a little bit more air tight.

For now, that is all I have to share. I see myelf enjoying this rig in the years to come.