raymac46 Posted April 6, 2020 Share Posted April 6, 2020 I figured since I was locked down for a while I would get something fun to occupy my time. I picked up a copy of PC Building Simulator on Steam. It was on sale to boot. It's an interesting sim. You are the owner of a two-bit computer repair shop that starts off in debt thanks to your embezzling uncle. You get work orders via email. The computers are delivered and you work on them. Then you get paid via email. You order parts as needed. Initially you do easy stuff like removing viruses and cleaning. Your customers rate you and as your reputation improves you get more complex jobs. I am a pretty low grade tech at this point and the hardest job I had to do yet was replace a motherboard. The sim allows you to practice on a new build tutorial before you start your "career." The worst part is that the music soundtrack to the game really sucks. You can turn it off or use your own MP3 collection to play. So that is better. It's not a total real life sim. You have to take out the standoffs and replace them when putting in a new motherboard. I don't think you'd need to do that unless you were changing form factors. But it is a lot of fun to diagnose and fix broken PCs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted April 6, 2020 Share Posted April 6, 2020 Haven't you been doing the same things for years in real life? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted April 6, 2020 Share Posted April 6, 2020 Oh wait, that's me. I bet this is a scheme by the pc parts manufacturers to get people to buy more parts and upgrade more computers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted April 7, 2020 Share Posted April 7, 2020 18 hours ago, raymac46 said: You have to take out the standoffs and replace them when putting in a new motherboard. I don't think you'd need to do that unless you were changing form factors. I have had to do that quite a few times as I repurpose old pc cases. 7 hours ago, securitybreach said: I bet this is a scheme by the pc parts manufacturers to get people to buy more parts and upgrade more computers. Tad cynical there old bean. Perhaps the game creators are well meaning folk who wish to provide the proletariat with the knowledge to lead a full and free life. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted April 7, 2020 Author Share Posted April 7, 2020 No I never got paid for it even in virtual cash. The hardest job is when the "customer" wants you to hit a certain 3D-mark with their system. You have to be smart with the upgrades or it won't work and you lose your parts budget. Plus you lose time and that can be a problem on rush jobs. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted April 8, 2020 Author Share Posted April 8, 2020 Just completed my first virtual build for a customer. It was a low tech HDD based system for a model train club. One thing I learned was not to accept too many jobs at once because that clogs up the receiving area and then you cannot get a case delivery for your new build. And so it goes. Don't forget the thermal paste either. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted April 8, 2020 Share Posted April 8, 2020 Nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted April 15, 2020 Author Share Posted April 15, 2020 Well after a week or so of playing PC Building Simulator my virtual business is thriving, I got a second workbench and a storage cabinet, and I am up to level 11 on the tech scale. I am getting a lot more challenging jobs and different builds. But it's nothing like real life. I can just pop in a water cooled AIO in seconds, and as long as I don't forget the thermal paste it works perfectly. One thing that's crazy is that even if you have an SSD in your build the O/S always goes on the HDD. Also I have this sleazy uncle who keeps demanding money for additional shares in the business. I have mostly ignored him to build up my parts inventory. The higher you get on the tech scale the more interesting parts you get. There are also some interesting spreadsheets out on the Web to give you hints on building a PC to meet the performance requirements of your customers. When you upgrade you get the old parts which you can sell or recycle on some unsuspecting moron who doesn't insist on shiny new parts. I have also invested a fortune in different colored cables because some twit wants purple SATA connections. Go figure. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted April 27, 2020 Author Share Posted April 27, 2020 (edited) Still enjoying my virtual PC repair business. Like most shop owners I screwed up my parts order and got two SFX power supplies that don't fit anything I need to fix. There was only one tiny mini-itx case and motherboard that worked with these PSUs. So I bought a case and motherboard and started a build in this case to use up one of the power supplies. Just then I got a virtual order for a PC for a child, so I finished building it with some used parts. Sold it, and then the virtual customer trashed the PSU so I got rid of the second SFX power supply in a repair. Now I have the micro PC coming back again to replace the graphics card. It's the gift that keeps on giving. I'm also learning about virtual overclocking. You need a couple of programs to do it. One allows you to overclock your GPU and the other one checks stability. You overclock the CPU in the BIOS settings. I've had my share of BSODs doing this so I think I'll decline any overclocking jobs. Edited April 27, 2020 by raymac46 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted May 7, 2020 Author Share Posted May 7, 2020 Well I am still having fun. Some interesting jobs include building a massive custom water-cooled SLI overclocked system and then building a total junker out of used parts for $350. I now own 51% of the business and sleazy Uncle Tim keeps nagging me to buy more of it at inflated prices. The worst jobs are ones where you have to meet a high 3DMark, overclock both the GPU and CPU to customer requirements. I try to stay away from those. If you fail you get a bad rating and that affects your business prospects. Next I plan to buy some old broken machines on "PCBay", fix them and then auction them off. What an entrepreneur I am LOL. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted May 7, 2020 Share Posted May 7, 2020 NIce Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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