A hazard of having a boyfriend who is both an IT professional and an avid gamer is being given the idea of building your very own PC. I have my own MacBook Air, work laptop, and work PC, and after several months — I can now add another machine to that list! I can only take partial credit for the building and designing as my in-house IT representative was mainly responsible for helping me pick out the actual parts. But finally my dreams of being a real gamer and having my own machine to play Stardew Valley and Diablo II can be realized!
The Gathering of PC Parts
After a good few weeks having my boyfriend suggest spending money on a “me” project and having my own desktop, I caved. I’ve already been playing Stardew Valley for a few months (both by myself and through a Co-Op with a college friend) and have also gotten into Sticky Business as a means of relaxing and having fun. So wouldn’t it be more fun to blow some money on a personalized machine to play even more games?
I don’t remember the exact order or everything, but I started gathering inspiration by browsing r/battlestations and r/AverageBattlestations on Reddit sometime in mid-July. I wanted to get some ideas on how the final computer would look and fantasize about having my own desk and decorating it however I want. I think I was drawn to the idea of having a crisp, clean, organized battlestation with more light colors, as these were my top inspiration photos: lmk what yall think; My Setup; Gaming setup.
On my first or many trips to MicroCenter (which I believe was to get PC parts for my boyfriend), I saw and immediately fell in love with the Logitech POP Keys Wireless Mechanical Emoji Keyboard in Heartbreaker colors. I think this was before I even had a solid plan but I saw it and knew I wanted it to be my fun keyboard. Naturally this heavily influenced the direction I went in for my inspiration pictures and was in conjunction with my custom PCPartPicker list. With this list I give all the credit to my boyfriend — he just asked some questions on what I want to do with my PC and what colors I wanted and basically took off running. I knew I wanted a white tower and I had my keyboard picked out, but the rest of it I was going in blind. I trusted his judgment entirely.
Amazon Prime Day 2024 (July 26th) I placed my order! I bought everything on my PCPartPicker list a well as a few accessories to round-out my girly PC build:
- A Qloud Cloud Wrist Rest Keyboard Set in Pink
- A White Marble Auhoahsil Large Mouse Pad
- A White TEAMIX White Dual Monitor Stand Riser with Drawer
- A White Logitech MX Master 3S Wireless Mouse
- My White Montech Sky Mid Tower Computer Case
Don’t ask me how much it was.
Assembling The Machine
As is common with Amazon, many large packages arrived at my doorstep in the days and weeks following Prime Day. Once they all got here, it took a few sessions of my boyfriend telling me what to do and my screwing in teeny screws to get the actual PC part (the tower) all put together. I adored the Montech Sky Tower the second I saw it; I love how open it is, like a fish tank, and I love that I can change the colors on my fans.
Once the tower was all built, I had to move around my work PC (as it and my new PC share a desk) and figure out exactly what monitors I wanted. Due to an unfortunate mishap with Amazon, I ended up getting to use a 27-Inch Dell G2724D Gaming Monitor with a slight cosmetic issue as my main gaming display; I’m not complaining though as the final result is beautiful. It wasn’t until this past weekend, however, that I actually connected my monitor to my finished tower, set atop my monitor stands, and decorated with my keyboard mat and brand new keyboard and wrist rests.
Meet Lucy & My Future Gaming Plans
Like great ships and storms, I wanted to name my PC. The name Lucy cma to me during one of the building sessions and as soon as I thought of it I loved it. Lucy is very beautiful and is all set up with Discord, Steam games, an animated background (abi.toads on Wallpaper Engine), a Linux operating system, and all the personalizations I want. I got all my knick knacks rearranged and my desk is truly a masterpiece!
I love Lucy and she is amazing and I love her. I can’t wait to use her to play Stardew Valley and to eventually foray into Valheim, Diablo II, and maybe Phasmophobia if I get brave enough. But needless to say, my transformation into being a gamer is complete! Yey!
