I Lack Patience. (Plus an Update)

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,  

For the past month, I have undertaken a new project.  I have decided to build a PC for the second time.

For the past several months, I have been live-streaming on Twitch, playing video games, doing commentary, etc.

Both are related.

(Bear with me, this will get a little technical here.)

Yesterday, I was going to live-stream my PC build progress.  Yet, I was called away to family matters, so I had to abandon the stream, and even the recording of the build.  "Just build it", I said.  Yet, I still had that anxious, impatient excitement about the project, that I wasn't aware of a few things:

1. The CPU I bought did not come with integrated graphics, and neither does the motherboard.  So, without any kind of video, it won't work.

2. Thermal paste fuses the CPU and cooler together.

3. The CPU is not always the problem.

I thought, all I needed to bring the PC to POST (that is, to display the "power-on self-test" screen), was the motherboard, the CPU, the power supply, and the RAM.  I was wrong.

I watched a YouTube video on how to troubleshoot the situation.  The man mentioned that it could be the CPU, but he also mentioned that you needed video, and that most AMD CPUs don't come with integrated graphics.

All I heard was "CPU", because I thought I already broke it.  You see, I had a rough time getting the CPU cooler to work, that I thought the CPU was the problem, so to save time, I wanted to check that first.

I began to unscrew the mounting brackets of the CPU cooler, and then realized that the entire CPU was ripped from the AMD socket!  Oh great.  It took great difficulty to get the cooler off, but once I finally did, I found out that some of the CPU pins were bent!  I tried to bend them back into place, but then a couple of them broke.  So, the CPU is a brick.  $150 down the drain.

That's not the only problem:  I also heard that the AMD socket could also be damaged.  I looked carefully at the socket, rotating the latch back and forth, and sure enough, it looks like it took some damage.  Another $150 down the drain...maybe.  I'll have to take off the plastic casing on the socket to assess the damage.  I don't mind that, seeing as I'm declaring the motherboard dead anyway.

(Update: Done.  Check out the innards of the CPU socket during my "autopsy".  Look at the darkened pins.  This is where the damage occured.  It is likely the pins can't touch the affected areas, so yeah, the motherboard's a goner.)

Needless to say, I was in a hurry, and I wasn't patient.  If only I diagnosed the PC problem like I diagnose my sin problems time and time again:

And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

(Mat 5:29-30)

The sin was lack of patience, and the cause was my involvement in Twitch streaming, especially since I was working with a salesman of a lady selling me her overlay services, of which she was quite persuasive.

So, in the spirit of Matthew 5:29-30 and 2 Timothy 2:4, I deleted my Twitch and Discord accounts, and quit streaming.  Besides, to continue to pursue this would also be a dishonor to my family (Exodus 20:12, etc.), seeing as I had to pause my streams constantly to take care of family business (not an issue, by the way).  Streaming was just in the way, and a distraction from better things.

So, what about the PC building project?  It's still going on, albeit more slowly.  I have an SSD on the way, and I plan on buying a copy of Windows 11 next paycheck.  However, the replacement motherboard and CPU will have to wait until I get my tax refund, and with the CPU, I intend on getting one with integrated graphics, which was the case in my first PC build (that one went much more smoothly, and with an easier CPU cooler to install that I set up and left alone).

Once I get the parts, I intend to wait until there is ample time to put everything together.  No rush.  Even if I have to go to another location to do it.  It must be done with the utmost of patience.  Not trying to be an Internet personality helps.  I might talk more about this later, or maybe not.  Depends.

May God cultivate patience in me.  This humbling experience sure helped.

 

UPDATE (2/7/2025): The tax refund came, I bought the motherboard and CPU (cheaper ones), and decided to go with Linux instead of Windows.  

 

Here's what happened with this build:

 

1. Won't post.  (Oh, forgot to plug in a cable.)

2. Screen asks me to make a decision on resetting the CPU (or something.).  Internet says Yes.  PC turns off.  I turn it on.  PC turns off after a few seconds.

3. I plug in the USB stick with Linux on it.  After about 30 seconds, posts!  I install Linux Mint.

4. Great so far, but one problem:  Sluggish.  I think, "Temperature problem?"  I install a temperature applet.  90+ DEGREES (Celsius) !  I look up more things.  Enable Internal Graphics in BIOS.  Still, 90+ DEGREES.  Turns out that is the actual temperature.  Great.

5. I think to myself, "Just wait until tomorrow."  I sit in bed, looking up temperature issues.  I suspect it's because I didn't screw in the CPU cooler all the way.  I look up how to do it properly.  Some guy encourages me to be firm on the cooler.

6. I try that.  All four corners screw in tight.  Turn on the PC.  TEMPS NORMAL!  PC is faster!

As I'm typing this, the PC is running at a cool 29 degrees.  Apparently, I went the other direction in temperament.  Before, I lacked patience.  Now, I lacked resolve.  I was too CAREFUL.  I remember the coach from the movie "D3: The Mighty Ducks" say, "Don't be do careless, but don't be too careful either!  You cannot be afraid to lose!"

There are many Scriptures encouraging courage (Deuteronomy 31:7), as well as patience.