
This was my first computer I had built myself. I was building my own at the time but due to a faulty part was waiting on a delivery of the last part and managed to complete this computer before finishing my own computer. Featuring an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, 4GB RAM, 400W PSU and Radeon 4670 this computer was neatly assembled for Mr Thompson. As part of my service for building the system I had agreed to help maintain it for 3 years afterwards.
This computer was important to him because it was designed to be able to play a few modern games and enjoy the usual activities on the computer.

As mentioned above, my own PC came slightly after my first build. My PC had a Core 2 Quad Q9550, 4GB RAM, a Corsair HX850 850W PSU and a Radeon 5670. It was primarily used as a data center, featuring three 1TB drives and two 2TB drives and a 120GB solid state drive. The system lasted just 2 years before I felt it was time to start a new project. The project was codenamed The Platypus. After a long two years with the system, with many upgrades from the original specification, it was time for an upgrade, as I had read how good the Core i7 was for video editing due to it's new QuickSync 2.0.

The Zebra was a necessary upgrade on my previous PC and was designed specifically for its advantageous video editing capabilities. The Zebra featured a Core i7 2600K, 8GB RAM, the same Corsair HX850 850W PSU and a Radeon 7950. The purpose of this computer was also as my first purpose-built gaming computer. The Zebra was my primary PC for programming, video editing and website creation because it is equipped with QuickSync 2.0 and RAID for the best in performance and reliability.
The Zebra had a fault from the offset unfortunately, and something that I thought I could put up with, until one day I decided to replace the whole system after the motherboard manufacturer refused to help me fix a broken USB port that had been there since day one.
Due to a fault in the motherboard of the system, that Gigabyte refused to pay for the collection for, the system's CPU had to be sold. In turn a new system was build. This one was built with pretty much the same specifications as the Zebra but with a Core i7 4770K instead of the Sandy Bridge based 2600K. It had another Gigabyte motherboard, this time without faults from the offset.
This PC lasted 5 and a half years as my main gaming PC and my only Windows machine. It was purchased during my transition away from Windows to Mac and Linux based systems and so it's replacement was delayed due to the fact I couldn't decide whether to buy a new desktop computer or just get a new Mac and ditch PC gaming for once and for all.
I was approached by a friend on the subject of building a gaming PC for them. As someone who had lots of experience, they asked for my advice on parts and asked if I would put the system together for them.
The system consisted of an Intel Core i5 4670K, 8GB of RAM, 1TB hard disk drive and an AMD R9 280X. These parts were selected based on the customer's own needs as well as budget.

My brother wanted to have a PC built for him and specifically asked if I could do this for him. I agreed to do this and began selecting parts that would allow him on a very tight budget to build a decent computer.
The CPU selected was an Intel Core i5 6400, a Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P motherboard and 8GB of high-quality DDR4 memory. To keep the price down we located a second hand hard disk drive that lasted for two years after purchase before being replaced.
A Sapphire Technology RX 470 graphics card was selected alongside a Corsair CX650M PSU to top off the system.
The Red Revolution is my first non-Intel based gaming PC. This is in fact only the second AMD powered PC I've ever owned, having been a brand loyalist to Intel for a long time.
The parts were selected again by me. It was assembled by me too. The system features AMD's Ryzen 7 2700 CPU, combined with 16GB of DDR4 3200MHz RAM, 1 NVMe 240GB SSD, 1 SATA III 240GB SSD, 2 SATA III 2TB HDDs, 1 SATA III 3TB HDD and my old Corsair HX850 850W PSU. All of this was put into the new, upgraded and much bigger version of the Corsair 600T that was featured with both the Zebra and the Zebra X2, the Corsair 780T.
The system, as always, is build without a budget, so there are no limits to what I could put in, however, I always try to choose what is appropriate for what I need the system to do and in this case the system is designed for some modern gaming, video editing and as a storage system (hence the big case with lots of disk slots).
This computer is the only computer I have built for myself where standardised RGB lighting is at the core of the system design. In fact, it's the only PC where I have focused on choosing certain components over others because of the RGB lighting effects.
Sadly, my ten year old Corsair HX850 blew within the first six months of me owning this PC, just three days after turning 10 years old and expiring its warranty. It was replaced by a Corsair HX850i digital PSU.

In late 2018 I was approached by another person about building a PC for them as word of mouth got out that I had done this several times before. I took on the challenge again, even though at the time I was looking to build my own PC.
This was a difficult build because it needed to be less than £600 and yet powerful enough to run modern games. The compromise had to be made between performance and the budget. The system chosen featured a Gigabyte X470 AORUS GAMING 5 motherboard with an AMD Ryzen 5 2400G with Vega graphics to keep the CPU costs down, the GPU chosen was an AMD Radeon RX580, the system has 16GB of RAM and a 650W PSU. Costs were kept down by selecting a relatively cheap hard disk and NVMe drive as well as a well priced chassis for the system (pictured).