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How To Assemble And Build A PC
thehardwarereviews.com — Step by step guide on how to assemble and build your own PC, with pictures.
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- jakebouma, on 01/29/2008, -1/+2Very helpful!
- stilesja, on 01/30/2008, -1/+3This is not helpfull, this is just enough information so that my buddy Mike will try to do this, ***** it up, then I have to come fix it. This guide completely ignores and jumper settings that may be on the motherboard or components. (Hard Drive master/slave/cable select, etc.) Jumpers for lights and indicators off the motherboard, configuring BIOS settings properly, and completely breezes over OS installation and driver installation. You think MIKE is going to know he needs to load the bus mastering drivers, or even where to go to see if he has hardware conflicts or unrecognized devices? Nooooooo....
- chingy1788, on 01/30/2008, -0/+1well today is not yesterday
today most motherboards have colour coding, and are pretty much jumper free, most things handled byt he BIOS
Most new Motherboards support Sata (probably all), and sata drives are everywhere
Indicators for the motherboard are found in the motherboard manual/installation guide, theres also colour coding both on the motherboard and on the cables
Installing Vista or Ubuntu simply requires you to plop the disc in and follow a simple installation wizard
after that i think its really the drivers that need to be done
building a PC is by no means hard
if you can build some furniture from IKEA or assemble a lego set
theres no real reason you cant build a PC- Emused, on 01/30/2008, -0/+2"well today is not yesterday" is damn right.In my day we used to have to build our systems from inside a rolled up newspaper, in the middle of a clearing house, what with fax machines shooting paper at you, and large breasted secretaries getting themselves caught in the mimeograph machines.And... we had to pay them 10p a day just for the privilege of building our systems there.Then we would go home 23.5 hours later, only to have our father beat us about the head and shoulders with a handful broken anti-static straps, until we where dead, then he would dance about on our graves singing hallelujah .Try telling that to todays systems builders, they wouldn't believe you..
- chingy1788, on 01/30/2008, -0/+1well today is not yesterday
- stilesja, on 01/30/2008, -1/+3This is not helpfull, this is just enough information so that my buddy Mike will try to do this, ***** it up, then I have to come fix it. This guide completely ignores and jumper settings that may be on the motherboard or components. (Hard Drive master/slave/cable select, etc.) Jumpers for lights and indicators off the motherboard, configuring BIOS settings properly, and completely breezes over OS installation and driver installation. You think MIKE is going to know he needs to load the bus mastering drivers, or even where to go to see if he has hardware conflicts or unrecognized devices? Nooooooo....
- sciencebase, on 01/29/2008, -1/+5I built a PC from scratch many years ago...my kids still use it to this day, even installed a load of ultra quiet bits and pieces, although its cranky old hard drive can be heard two blocks away these days. What I'd like to do next though would be to build a laptop from scratch. John, do you have a howto on that?
- chingy1788, on 01/30/2008, -0/+2I'd like to know about building laptops, problem is there really isn't any standards in Laptops
really its just the Hard Drive and RAM that can be upgraded, sometimes CPUs
The rest either cant be upgraded or can only be upgraded using expensive proprietary parts- Emused, on 01/30/2008, -0/+1Here ya go
http://www-scf.usc.edu/~cfenton/laptop.htm
http://www.madshrimps.be/vbulletin/f22/build-your- ...
Notice the URL "madshrimps" as in crazy idea, I think you can see this would be do-able,( anything is do-able with enough $) but not very practical, and basically a real pain in the ass due to the proprietary nature of the builders of hardware in this field.I have a few friends who have done some wild mods ie, stripped down to chassis and wires only, again not very practical, and very brutal to look at.
- Emused, on 01/30/2008, -0/+1Here ya go
- Emused, on 01/30/2008, -0/+1I see, a laptop from scratch, hmmmmmmm, well back to the crack pipe is it¿
- chingy1788, on 01/30/2008, -0/+2I'd like to know about building laptops, problem is there really isn't any standards in Laptops
- yatzr, on 01/29/2008, -0/+1This is a skill that I think everyone should have. I'm sick of Dell/HP/Gateway/etc
- aks786, on 01/29/2008, -0/+2great article..
- DeskFlyer, on 01/30/2008, -4/+5Judging by the above comments, 6 out of 7 people are generic compliment generators.
- Dantetheinferno, on 01/30/2008, -2/+3Several of them (Shineysamuel, ranjeet23, poojasweet, etc.) Have this as their only commented/dugg topic. Smells a little fishy...
- Emused, on 01/30/2008, -1/+1I spent most of the overnight bury happy on all the useless blog spam in Technology section, but I see one has slipped under the radar.
- Emused, on 01/30/2008, -0/+1Ah yes, there is some dirty work afoot.
- Dantetheinferno, on 01/30/2008, -2/+3Several of them (Shineysamuel, ranjeet23, poojasweet, etc.) Have this as their only commented/dugg topic. Smells a little fishy...
- supporter12, on 01/30/2008, -6/+3now try to build a mac hahahaaha
no can do hahahaha
macs sucks- wonderchemist, on 01/30/2008, -0/+3Just because you can't build a mac doesn't mean no one can.
- Emused, on 01/30/2008, -3/+2Buried.This might have been news 10 years ago.If this makes it to the front page,we are all dead in the water
- clintard, on 01/30/2008, -2/+1I thought PC's were made of MAGIC?
- Hermiod, on 01/30/2008, -0/+2The only slight problem is the list of required equipment:
* Anti-static wrist strap
* Set of screwdrivers and pliers
* Piece of cloth
* CPU Thermal compound (recommended)
* PC components
"PC components" ? Maybe a bit more guidance here would have been good. Apart from that, it's very clear and well written.- wonderchemist, on 01/30/2008, -0/+4I suggest a 8088 CPU, a 5 1/4" floppy and 640k of ram.
- Emused, on 01/30/2008, -0/+2640k is enough, why would they need more ?
- stilesja, on 01/30/2008, -1/+3Anti-static wrist straps are for pussies. I've built tens of systems when I was in college and never used one. Just touch the case first.
- chingy1788, on 01/30/2008, -0/+2and dont stand on a carpeted floor
- Y0tsuya, on 01/30/2008, -0/+2Haven't used a wrist strap in ages. Just have to remember to periodically touch a grounded piece of metal to dissipate any static buildup.
- wonderchemist, on 01/30/2008, -0/+4I suggest a 8088 CPU, a 5 1/4" floppy and 640k of ram.
- chingy1788, on 01/30/2008, -0/+3few tips on choosing parts
Motherboards and Video cards
Stay away from ECS, Jetway, PCChips
BioStar, Soltek, ASROCK are in the grey zone to me
ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI, Abit, Leadtek, EVGA, BFG Are good
There are a few others I can't remember
Power Supplies Recommended List
Enermax
Corsair
Hiper
Tagan
Thermaltake
OCZ
Xion
Antec
cheap ones (500W for $30) or similar usually die pretty fast, some of them are purposely mislabeled (300W PSU labeled as 500W)
and if they die they will take your motherboard and other things with you
Hard Drive
Seagate, Western Digital Really
Samsung and Hitachi, not so sure, but should be ok
Seagate and WD usually have a 5 yr warranty, Samsung has 3
Optical Drives
Stay away from LG (for anything really)
Memory
Kingston, Corsair, OCZ are really the top brands there are others that i cant remember
Kingmax, Adata i think are OK
most say stay away from TwinMOS
also remember that you can find free help online
http://www.cybertechhelp.com is a free forum and is good at solving hardware problems, OS problems, and various other things- chingy1788, on 01/30/2008, -0/+1oh yeah, i suggest installing the CPU and RAM onto the motherboard before putting the motherboard into the case
this allows easy access to the CPU and RAM sockets for installation- wiredDeath, on 01/30/2008, -0/+1Installing the CPU is normally ok, its the Intel Heatsink clips that are hard to fix on (unless you have double jointed fingers!) =)
- chingy1788, on 01/30/2008, -0/+1oh yeah, i suggest installing the CPU and RAM onto the motherboard before putting the motherboard into the case
- tempfd, on 01/30/2008, -0/+1What's with these anti-static wrist straps? You would actually have to make a strong effort to NOT touch the frame while tinkering inside of a case. In fact, before you can even connect the strap you've already depleted any charge by just opening the case! The only way you might actually need one of these things is if your case/frame is made from plastic or some other non-conductive material.
- chingy1788, on 01/30/2008, -0/+2if you touch the case and the case is not grounded then the case does nothing
some recommend you plug the power supply into the wall socket, but turn it off at the switch so the ground is connected
- chingy1788, on 01/30/2008, -0/+2if you touch the case and the case is not grounded then the case does nothing
- CoffmanRunner, on 01/30/2008, -1/+3sorry but I really don't think this was detailed enough for a first timer while at the same time being under people who have put together a computer before
- Kikkomann, on 01/30/2008, -0/+1I would like to refine chingy1788's tips. While naming the best brands are good, people who are relatively new to PC Assembly might never understand and be blown away by their accompanying price tag (esp. for the power supplies list chingy1788 specified). n00b assembler = entry-level components. Anyways, in any field, most newbies tend to stay away from expensive parts anyways, and it is logical (breaking it due to unfamiliarity is not an option!).
Motherboard - ASUS is great for both AMD and Intel Processors. If Asus is not available, second best option will either be Gigabyte or MSI.
Power Supply Unit (PSUs) - Most ordinary computer cases comes with 400-500W power supplies. If you do not plan to overclock your processor (whick I think you don't otherwise you won't be needing this assembly guide) and put tons of stuff in your CPU like extra HDDs, this will suffice. However, it always pay getting something a bit heftier on the price tag, esp. with power supplies. ANTEC makes relatively cheap and great entry level PSUs, and in my experience, they are the most readily available among the bunch. You shouldn't have any problems looking for it.
Harddisk Drives - SEAGATE. Period. 5-Year warranty, excellent availability (always on stock and I haven't seen any computer store not carrying this brand), and the RMA turnaround is pretty fast.
Optical Drives - I may have to recommend something a bit expensive on this one (esp. if you are into burning files, music, videos). PLEXTOR is the best optical drive for me so far. I've used Sony, LG, Creative, Samsung, etc. (LG is the worst), and I have wasted varying amounts of discs for each brand due to burning errors.
Memory - CORSAIR. Second option is Kingston. Nothing follows. - J-roc, on 01/30/2008, -0/+1More people ought to know how to build a PC, it's not that hard.
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