The Dell Precision 7730 is one of the latest and greatest in the high-end laptop world. It boasts serious power, an excellent screen, great audio, and the ability to swap out its graphics card when you want something even more powerful than what it comes with. These features make it ideal for high-level video editing and gaming, but they also mean that this laptop doesn’t come cheap.
The plan
If you want to be on the cutting edge of hardware engineering, Dell offers an excellent DIY option with its new line of laptops. The Dell Precision 7700 Series is a line of notebooks that can accommodate any power user’s needs and is absolutely loaded with industry-leading specs. These laptops offer superior battery life and flexibility, which makes them perfect for anyone who wants to work on their own terms.
What you need to build your PC
A list of things you’ll need to build your PC is provided below. The parts will typically vary from person to person, depending on what they want in their PC and how much they want to spend. If you buy everything new and don’t take advantage of rebates, expect to spend about $3000+. That doesn’t include peripherals like a mouse or keyboard.
Step 1 – Decide how you want to cool your CPU
The problem with air cooling is that it’s noisy, and it can’t really handle overclockers. The more serious overclocker will want a self-contained water cooling system. This option is more expensive and has more parts that need to be replaced, but this method usually delivers higher overclocks. So if you are going with air cooling, then you will have to do some research into your motherboard to find out what size heatsink you need in order to fit the fan onto your CPU correctly. Be aware of your case type as well when choosing a heatsink.
Step 2 – Power supply and case selection
Choosing a power supply is an important decision. Firstly, there are several voltages that you can use, with each voltage type generally being used in different parts of the world. Secondly, you must consider how many amps your power supply will need to output to operate reliably and efficiently. There is no set standard, but if you plan on using a high-end video card or multiple video cards, this can become especially important.
Finally, if your plans include overclocking (e.g., increasing CPU speed), then it becomes crucial that you have an adequate power supply from the beginning to avoid costly mistakes later on down the line.
After these considerations have been made, we recommend going with an ATX power supply as they are relatively affordable and versatile in use.
Step 3 – Motherboard selection
Next, you need to find a motherboard. The motherboard should match the processor you’ve selected. The Dell XPS Tower Special Edition is compatible with a Kaby Lake processor, so I recommend that you pick one of those up. Finally, all of your peripherals will plug into these ports on the back of your computer case, so if you have any USB sticks or drives or anything like that then make sure they’re compatible before purchasing anything else!
Step 4 – Internal cabling
On the back of your new tower, you will find 4 large openings. These are for cables that go inside your PC and connect to its hardware. You will need a screwdriver in order to take them out, but first, you’ll need to know what type of cable you’ll be connecting to your PC. Some cables can be fairly thick, while others might not come with an opening on the front panel of your PC tower.
Step 5 – BIOS settings, expansion cards, and drivers
While the BIOS settings may vary depending on your processor, they all have a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) utility in which you can adjust various settings. These include toggling options like CPU power management, SATA type, and USB power management. There is also a Boot order section where you can specify what devices will be searched for at startup or after a restart or if the PC fails to boot automatically.
Step 6 – Create the boot drive
The boot drive is one of the most important parts of your computer. In general, it’s a 32GB or 64GB storage device that is partitioned into two parts – the active partition where Windows and all your programs are installed, and the recovery partition (also called a reserve or hidden partition) where files you’ll need to restore your PC in case something goes wrong can be stored.
Step 7 – Install Windows
The Precision 7730 ships with Microsoft Windows 10, which means that all you need to do is log in. If you have purchased a new computer and are installing it yourself, then refer to these steps.
Launch Windows setup after inserting your DVD or flash drive and follow on-screen instructions to install Windows 10.
Enter your product key and click next to complete the installation.
Update Your Drivers After Windows is Installed
Now that Windows is up and running, it’s time to update your drivers. On my Dell Precision, I went to the Motherboard driver downloads and clicked on Chipset, then IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers. To my surprise, this section only had one entry for a driver. I was about to panic because I thought my computer would crash during use since it has three internal hard drives!
Conclusion
When it comes to PC building, you have a lot of options. That said, a Dell Precision 7760 offers you more than an easy route to building your own system; this device is a complete workstation in its own right. Performance aside, it’s very much the embodiment of customer choice and expertise, empowering you to get exactly what you want without having to compromise on quality or choice. It also proves that if you’re confident enough in your abilities and knowledge of how PC components work that this might be the ultimate experience for you as an avid builder.