Culminating Blog Reflection

Hours Completed: 27

My computer is finished! This has definitely been one of the much harder one I have tackled in my life.

This project really forced my brain to problem solve, especially when I was working on managing the cables to maximize airflow through the computer. It was something I really never had to think about and was a very rewarding finish. It also helped learning more proper organization. Figuring out what my project was going to be was something weird to think about which was crazy. The help my mentor provided was really good and not intrusive. He made it obvious that it was my project and that he was just there for help. Having to communicate and depend on someone as much as I did with him was also key. Having him talk me through it and having me actually do it was different, but definitely welcomed to me, as a student.

I definitely gained some of the knowledge that goes behind computers. Learning to build them was a big dream I had and actually learning to do it was amazing. I feel like this project really helped me comunicate my problems a lot better with people in general. It was good being able to practice that skill with someone since I didn't know much at the beginning. I think this has also increased my maturity level a bit more because of the fact that I was dealing with really expensive equipment that I payed for. This was something I hardly get to do to begin with.

There were a bit of problems I ran into, but they all ended up being resolved. One of them was a hard drive problem that the computer had and it just wouldn't read it. I tried a lot of things to fix it, but in the end, asking my mentor was the right thing to do. Also, I had problems with the power supply after I was done with the actual computer. It ended up burning my main board. Luckly, my mentor had a machine to test it and see what it was. I ended up having to get it fixed, but in the end, it all worked fine. I got the fixed one back and installed it. Everything ended up resolved.

As I'm typing this now, on my computer, I realize how awesome it is to have finally accomplished my goal. It's an amazing feeling that I hope I get sometime soon.

Mentor Log #9 April 15, 2013

Individual Time: 1.5 Hours

Running Total: 27 hours

Ram came in today, so I decided to try to install it. Actually putting it in the computer was really easy since the slots are open, but I did have a problem I ran into. The CPU cooler I have is extraordinarily large on the main board of my computer and covered one of the slots with the fan. I had to remove the fan from the cooler and then add in the extra stick of RAM and then put the fan back on. It was quite a hassle, but it was the first time adding something major to the computer without the mentor being around. I was really nervous about it, but it ended up ok. Once I booted the computer, I made sure to set the proper speeds of the ram in order for it to be using its full potential. Everything ended up well and I ended up with full on 24gb of RAM in my computer. Feeling super accomplished that I was able to do all that on my own.

Mentor Log #8 April 8, 2013

Individual Time: 0.5 Hours

Running Total: 25.5 hours

I ordered more RAM for my computer today! It was on sale, so I was so happy! Got really cheep RAM that puts my computer at 24gb of RAM now and all 4 slots taken. I ran the RAM by my mentor just to make sure it was the right kind, and it was (just like I thought). Now we wait for it to get here. hehehe

Mentor Log #7 April 3, 2013

Individual Time: 5 Hours
Running Total: 25 hours

My solid state drive came in! :D This made me very excited. I finally got to throw my old hard drive to the side.

The back up proccess took a while. I needed to make sure everything I needed was off of my old hard drive. Once done, I unplugged the other hard drive. The thing about SSDs (solid state drives) is that they are much smalled than normal hard drives, so I needed to mount the SSD into a bracket that would fit in the slot of a normal hard drive. Once done, I connected the power cord from the power supply and the SATA cord that connects to the mother board. The drive was in place! Then I installed the operating system, which didn't take that long since the speed of this drive was increadably fast.

I ran tools that cleared unneeded files from the instalation, and defragmented it. I timed boot up. 11 seconds. It was AWESOME! So happy to have this drive in now.

Mentor Log #6 March 29, 2013

Individual Time: 0 Hours

Running Total: 20 hours

Wrap Up: This week has been pretty awesome. I've been pushing my graphics card a lot to see exactly what it could handle. It can run a lot of games at really high details. I spent many hours using it, but those don't count as hours since it was just messing around. None-the-less, I am very happy with the outcome of this computer. The only thing I can do from here is upgrade the hard drive and maybe the RAM. Speaking of which, my solid state drive is on the way. I can't wait for it to get here so I can finally finish up the computer. Excited!

Mentor Log #5 March 21, 2013

Individual Time: 6 Hours
Running Total: 20 hours

Ohhhh lord. I'm am BEYOND happy. My graphics card FINALLY came in the mail two days ago, but I waited for my mentor to come back from a trip to be able to put it in (although it's a fairly simple process, I wanted to make sure I didn't ruin a VERY expensive piece of my computer).

So let's begin. First off, the graphics card I had in computer when I built it was a GT 420 which came out in September 2010. This card was meant to be cheep, inexpensive, and to be bought in bulk by companies (like Dell) that preinstall them in their computers. This card was given to me by a friend that recently swapped his card out. So I installed it in mine, and everything went well. I knew I just needed a bit more to save up for a better one, so I stayed put for a couple of weeks until I got a new one.

My new card that I obtained is a GTX 570. This graphics card isn't all that new (released 1 month after the 420) but wasn't designed like the 420. The 570 was made for people upgrading their graphics cards or building their own computers, which is why it is WAYYY more expensive and powerful than the 420. This card is also almost double the size of the 420. My mentor and I managed to unpack it, snip some of the cable management we had done on the computer, and installed the graphics card. This took about an hour. We then had to tie some cables down again to make the computer look neat and organized. This took about another hour and I was set to go.

My mentor left and then I sat down to work on the card some more. There are programs on the computer that let you unlock the true potential of graphics cards. These programs overclock the card so that it can perform better and faster. A way to make this understandable is if you think of it as a car. Overclocking a graphics card is like downshifting a car when you're going uphill. It will give it more power but in the long run, could damage the engine if not done properly or correctly. So I tinkered with my graphics card and overclocked it. I had to tweek up and down to get the right settings, all while running the benchmark to make sure everything is stable and not overheating. When finally done, my graphics card was able to run many of the newest games released on very very high settings if not max settings, which made me extremely happy.


Now we wait to order my new hard drive and possibly RAM to make my computer a BEAST! :D

Mentor Log #4 March 15, 2013

Individual Time: 0 Hours
Running Total: 14 hours

Wrap-up:
My graphics card hasn't shown up yet! This made me very sad because I was expecting it by today, but it didn't show up. I'm still very happy with the outcome of my computer though. It has been running pretty fast but one of the main problems I've found with it so far, is that boot up is still slow. I previously had a laptop that I used as my main computer which broke down. This was another reason I decided to take the opportunity to build a computer instead of going with my other idea for this project of volunteering at the ASPCA. I'm currently using the old laptop's hard drive. So now I will patiently (not really. I'm very impatient) wait for the graphics card to come in and for me to order the Solid State Drive (newest type of hard drives in the market).

Mentor Log #3 March 8, 2013

Individual Time: 0 Hours
Running Total: 14 hours

Wrap-up:
This week was nothing but waiting for the products to come in. The GPU is in the mail and on it's way. I still need to order the Solid State Drive, but it should be in by next friday. The GPU is really what is getting me excited. It's really going to add to the awesomeness that is my computer so far. Until then, I'm going to wait it out.

Mentor Log #2 March 2, 2013

Individual Time: 10 Hours
Running Total: 14 hours

What a CRAZY day for me. My parts came in the mail today and I was SIKED! After saving up so much for them, I finally got the chance to build my own PC. My mentor came over. I had arranged all the parts. We carefully opened them all up and got ready to build. Putting the CPU cooler onto the actual CPU was the hardest part. It was really scary. My mentor took the time to explain how everything flows from the power supply. We spent some time putting everything together and doing a test run outside of the PC. When it booted up for the first time, I was really happy. After that, we put everything into the actual case. We booted again and nothing. I was really sad, thinking that something went wrong. But really, we only forgot to plug the 8 pin adapter all the way in. We laughed afterwards. We spent about 2 hours managing the cables. We got zip ties to make it look better and neater. After that, my mentor left. It was my turn to do my favorite part, installing the operating system. It took a while, but I finally got to a desktop. I started organizing everything, and installing necessary programs. All that's missing now is my Solid State Drive and the Graphics Card. Those are to come later.

So far, I'm really happy and super excited to finish it with the SSD and the GPU which are yet to come. So far, so good. :D

Mentor Log #1 February 18, 2013

Individual Time: 4 Hours
Running Total: 4 hours


Today I got to choose the parts that I want to put in my build! It was very exciting knowing that I got to choose what would go into my computer. Once I chose what I wanted, I double checked with my mentor whether they would be compatible or not, and they were! That means that I chose parts that worked together by myself. It made me really happy. Now that I ordered them, I have to wait for them to show up this week. That means that I get to most likely build it this weekend! Yay!

Fiscal Cliff Response

The Fiscal Cliff is a debate that the Republicans and the Democrats are having. The Republicans are in favor of cutting funds and spending. They also want to keep taxes the same and avoid raising them. The Democrats are in favor of spending more. In order to spend more, they also want to raise taxes. The end results are going to favor one side or another.

Specifying my search by adding more descriptive words really helped find better sources. Adding words like "Republican" or "Democrats" or "policy" helped. When looking for trustworthy sources, I made sure they were known names and usually some of the tops results. As I went lower on the list of results, the sources seemed to get untrustworthy. 

http://www.ccim.com/newscenter/266859/2013/01/07/federal-tax-policy-fiscal-cliff-updates

http://bonds.about.com/od/Issues-in-the-News/a/What-Is-The-Fiscal-Cliff.htm

http://www.cfr.org/economics/fiscal-cliff/p28757#p2