=How to Build Your Own Computer: A Guide=

=How to Build Your Own Computer: A Guide=

~Introduction:

So I'm aware that there are about five billion guides on how to build your own computer, but I'm writing this for two reasons. One of which is that I've noticed that there are zero how to build a computer guides on sythe, and that needs to change. I remember when atomic was user ed and he was writing a series of guides about building computers, but then he got banned and never finished, which is super fucking gay. Anyway, the second reason is that I'm currently in the process of building my own computer and I've invest a lot of time into research and such (btw special thanks to Jansen, Filefragg, Nullware, and wtp for all the help, I owe you guys). This guide is mostly for you guys, but partly for me, too. So I've seen plenty of guides that start out the same way, parts listings, and I'll start out that way too, as it's a good way to start out, but I'll try to go into more detail so you can actually understand what you're picking out for your computer, instead of just looking at a bunch of numbers and going "hmm idk wat dat means, but lul k". So let's begin.


~Who? What? When? Where? Why?:

So I guess when taking on a project such as building your own computer, one has to ask his or her self the 5 W's. Here are the 5 W's, out of order, naturally.

Why? - If you don't need persuading to build your own computer, skip this. The benefits to building your own computer are 4-fold. First of all, and most importantly, you gain a large amount of knowledge as to how computers work, and what it takes to effectively manage/build/whatever computers. Second, you know that whatever parts you put into that computer are name brand parts that are far superior to the generic parts you get in a pre-built computer. Next, you can upgrade this computer for as long as the technology lasts. With a pre-built, graphics cards and stuff are usually integrated, meaning you can't change them (well you can sometimes but it's a huge hassle). Lastly, custom build computers are extremely cost efficient. Since you aren't spending money on labor and shit like that, you are going to be able to make a MUCH better computer at the same price you'd get a significantly worse computer at. Example: The computer I'm currently building is a really tricked out comp with a top of the line GFX card, 8 gigs of RAM, 500GB HD, and quite good processor. It'll cost around $1150, the same price you'd get a poorly made Dell or E-Machine or something, with generic parts, a bad graphics cards (production made computers are notorious for horrid graphics cards). This is why you should be eager to build your own.

When? - Right now! Get out there and build. Or when you have the money, too.

Who? - You and it'd be a good idea to find some friends who can help you and are smart at tech stuff, especially someone patient if you're new to this stuff.

Where? - These are good tips on where to assemble your computer. First off you want to protect against building up a static charge. So you should be doing this on a hardwood floor if possible. Also, don't wear your silk jammies, wear something 100% cotton. Next, you should get a fairly large table to lay out all your parts on. Be sure to keep your parts in the bags they came in, and SAVE THE DAMN BAGS! Those bags protect against static electricity and protect your pricey components. If you can, they sell static-resistant spray at places. Spray the area down with that if you can. It's not a necessity but it's nice insurance.

What? - This is the part that almost all 'how to build a computer' guides have. So here I'll go over the parts that you need, and some you really don't, in a fair amount of detail.

Processor: The 'brains' of the computer. You have 2 choices here, and this will also determine the type of motherboard you use in your computer. Intel or AMD. Intel costs a bit more, but it is said to run a bit faster for the price. I personally enjoy Intel, as I've had bad experience with AMDs. You should get a dual-core processor, or if you have the money, go for Quad-Core. It's quite new, VERY expensive but performance is great. It's also important to look at the 'processor technology' offered with each processor. For example, some of Intel's Core 2 Duo processors use the new 'Wolfdale' technology. Some motherboards will have a note about requiring you to update the BIOS for certain technologies. It's important to read all the manuals all the way through to catch things like this. Now, each processor has a certain 'Operating Frequency'. You don't need to worry about that TOO much, but if you're really a computer buff, grab 3.0GHz or above. The next thing you need to worry about with processors is whether a heat sink and fan is included. Most processors these days do come with a heat sink and fan, but sometimes you are just buying the processor. Processors these days are very powerful and fast, which generates a lot of heat. It is essential you maintain a cool environment for them, or else overheating will occur and bad things will happen (i.e. processor melt down). That’s what you need to worry about as far as processors go.

Case: The thing that will hold all your shit. What you need to look at is the size of it. This will determine the size of your motherboard. The standard motherboard/case is ATX size. There are other sizes such as micro/nano/extended available if you like that kind of shit. I don't know, I don't. Make sure it looks cool, and some cases these days have built in fans, which is pretty cool (no pun intended lmao). A 'Full Tower' case is just a fucking huge case, but make sure it will fit standard ATX size mobos in it.

Memory (RAM): Number one thing to do, right off the bat check this or else you're fucked. What type of operating system are you using? If it's Windows XP or Vista (non-64 bit), which is 32 bit, only 4 gigs of RAM are supported. If you're building a super buff computer with 8 gigs of RAM and trying to run 32 bit windows, why bother. Get the 64-bit version for this. If you're doing Linux or something else, check with your version to see the max ram support. Now you have choices my friend, choices. Quite a few choices in-fact. A new type of RAM came out, but it's expensive as all hell. It'll cost you $250 for just 1 gig. It's called DDR3. I'll tell you now, it's not worth the price. Stick with DDR2. Now, check your pins. The standard is 240pin, make sure your motherboard and the RAM have the same pins. Next is your memory standard. For DDR2 memory, most are 800, but some isn't. Once again, check to make sure your motherboard memory standard and your RAM memory standard match. That's it for memory, it's pretty simple. Not a whole lot of options as far as performance goes. Timing and all that shit is way too technical and makes no sense to me. Lol.

Power Supply Unit (PSU): Don't get some cheap ass PSU. This is important if you're building a fairly nice computer. You need something with high watts. I know for the computer I'm building, I'm using 650W, so you should get something around that or higher. Don't get some 350W piece of shit. You also want something with '12V rails'. 12-volt rails are basically essential. Do it.

Video Card: Also known as a graphics (GFX) card, this isn't needed if your motherboard already comes with one. This is really tough to explain and give you instructions on what to buy. Video cards are the fastest moving technology in the computer industry, really. I'm sure whatever I tell you now will not be valid in a few months or possibly weeks. I'll do my best to write pretty universal instructions on video cards, but it'll be tough because it's quite specific. First look at the expansion slot on your motherboard. Most video cards that I know of use the PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot. Make sure your mobo has a slot like this, this is called the cards 'interface'. A good graphics card has a good memory size around 512MB. The latest memory type is GDDR3. Don't be confused, this is not related with your RAM memory. The newest DirectX is 10, but 11 will be out very soon. Most of the newer graphics cards come with built in coolers in the form of a fan. You need to look at the power supply requirements for the graphics card. It will specify what wattage your PSU should have. If you plan on using Windows Vista, it's a plus to make sure the card is 'Certified for Windows Vista'. Lastly, for you people building godly computers out there, and want to run 2 video cards, you want both to be 'SLI Supported' or 'Crossfire Supported' (the SLI competator for API). Your motherboard also needs to be 'SLI Supported' or 'Crossfire Supported', but watch yourself, dual video cards are tricky.

Sound Card: Meh, whatever. There are two things that make me not give a damn about sound cards. First, most new motherboards have onboard audio chipsets, and fairly good ones at that. There's no point really to getting a new one. Lastly, I don't see the need for a super amazing sound card. A normal one will do just fine. Don't get me wrong, I've invest a few hundred bucks into some nice Logitech speakers, but as far as sound cards go, my 5 year old E-machine's sound card works just perfect, and it's an integrated piece of shit. 8 channels and you're fine. Don't splurge on anything too pricey.

Motherboard (mobo): This is a big one. Everything plugs into this. So, figured out what type of processor you'll be using? Good, because this will determine your motherboard, or 'mobo'. First off, look at your size. If it's ATX, and your case supports micro-ATX, you need to sacrifice one. If they match, perfect. Next look you need to look at, the processor slot. Depending on your processor, you shouldn’t have to worry about the processor socket, but check just to be double sure. Take Intel for example, most (if not all) of their processors use Socket 775. Socket 775 is the exact same thing as LGA 775. LGA = Socket, remember that. Once you're sure your processor will fit in your mobo, you need to look at the supported CPU type. If you're using Quad-core and your mobo only fits Core 2 Duo, you need to get another mobo or rethink your processor. Next, check out your RAM compatibility. How many slots does it have? If it only has 2 RAM slots, and you plan on 4 RAM cards, you'll need to do something about that. Second off, what is the memory standard? If your memory is 240pin DDR2 800, your mobo better support 240pin DDR2 800's. What is the maximum supported memory on your mobo? If its only 4GB, and you have 8GB worth of RAM, that won't work. Look to see if it has onboard audio. Most are 8 channels (that's good) and some have an audio chipset (even better). I'm not very picky on audio chipsets, as long as it's 8 channels, what the fuck ever. Next look at your onboard video. If you plan on adding a video card, yet there's onboard video, that isn’t going to work. Sometimes it's a great money saver though, if there’s a video card you're fine with onboard the mobo. Next is your power connector. This isn't too much of a problem usually. Power pins are either 24pin or 20pin, but it really doesn’t matter most of the time, as most PSU are 20+4pins, which means that if you have a 20pin power connector you just snap off the other 4 pins. Check with your PSU to make sure. Now check out your expansion slots. This is very important if you're adding a video card or another card or IEEE 1394 (Firewire) or something like that. You need to check all your expansion cards to make sure you have enough places to plug them in on your mobo. Check to make sure you have enough PCI-E (Express) 2.0 x16 slots, etc etc etc. That is the tedious part. Now check to see that your storage devices (and drives) have enough places to plug into. The standard is SATA 3Gb/s slots. If you're screwing around with RAID, check for an additional RAID controller if you want it. Now check to see if the mobo has all the additional features you want. First off, you want USB 2.0 ports. Check to see how many you have, and if that's enough for you. Then look at built in IEEE 1394 (Firewire) cards. If you want one of those built in, see if it comes with it. Next look for heatsinks. If it's high performance, it might require you to install a heat sink, which is fine as long as it's not OEM, so you're sure to get instructions on how/where to install the heatsink. Finally, make sure it looks cool for fucks sake. Odds are, your cool case has a window where you can see the components and the motherboard and stuff. For fucks sake, don't get some stingy looking piece of crap that looks ugly in your beautiful case. Unless you're into that. Whatever works, I guess.

Hard Drives: You can have multiple, but most people only have 1. The size you want depends on what you'll be doing. They come from 80GB to 500GB. The new standard is 7200 RPM, the old ones were like 5600 RPM or some shit like that. Make sure it's SATA, that's the newest connection. 3.0Gb/s is also the new standard, and it's quite necessary. Make sure that your motherboard SATA connection along with your HD connection is 3.0Gb/s SATA. Other than that, it's up to you what to pick as far as hard drives. Just read reviews to be sure you won't get one that'll crap out on you a few weeks/months down the road.

DVD/CD/Blueray/Floppy/Whatever Drive: There are crap loads of different types of drives you can get. Odds are you don't need any of them, save two or three. First necessity is a CD + DVD drive + burner, at least 16x. Possibly next you'll need a floppy, if you're still in the 90's. If you're into HD or Blueray of any of that crap, get one of those drives, too. The newest connections are SATA. Fuck IDE, that's old and slow. Most of all, you want to make sure there are enough SATA connections on your mobo to support all of your drives. Next, you want to make sure they're all going to fit into your case. Odds are it's a 5.25" drive. If you're getting quite a few drives, make sure that your case has enough openings to fit them all.

Anti-Static Wrist Strap: It is not a computer part, it is not a necessity. It's an insurance policy. If you are working on your computer, and just living and existing, you are building up a static charge. When you rub your feet on the ground, and then shock your friend, that's a large static charge. This, to computer parts, is fatal. Very, very, very, VERY small amounts of charge can completely ruin your processor or clear your HD or something completely stupid like that. A cheap $4 wristband can save you $200 for a new processor. What you do is wear the strap around your wrist, and attach the alligator clip to a metal screw in the wall, or your computer case, or something metal. This will save you. Get it for god sakes, don't be a cheap ass.

Now there is plenty of other shit you can get for your computer too. When I say plenty, I mean PLENTY. You can get goddamn refrigerators that run off USB to light up snowmen. I won't go into that crap, because you don't need that. Those are all the parts you'll need to build a good computer.

~Assembly:

So this is the easy part. The hard part was selecting all the parts and making sure they were all compatible. In this section, I'll tell you how to install each part correctly and in the correct order.

Case: Pop open the side. If you have a nice case, you'll have some thumb screws that you wont need a screwdriver for. If your case is annoying, whip out a screwdriver and unscrew the side and remove the side cover. Flip the case on its side.

Processor: Open up your processor's box and (while wearing your anti-static wrist strap) remove the processor chip. Take it and note the marked corner. Some form of marking should be on one corner of the processor, and it should correspond with a marking on the CPU socket on the motherboard. Align the two marked corners, and easily slide the chip in, being careful not to bend the pins, and snap the processor in place. It should not take a whole lot of pressure. Once it's in, there should be a lever to keep the processor in place. Push that down into the locked position. Now you need to install the heat sink and fan. Refer to your manual for this, but just incase you got an OEM version, I can help you a tad bit with this. You should have some sort of heat sink sticker or compound. All you need to do, usually, is latch the heat sink down on top of the processor and plug it into the motherboard. After this, you need to install the fan. Usually it's a similar process. Clamp down on top of the processor and plug it in.

RAM: This is quite easy. There should be an arm on each side of the RAM slot. Open them both up. It will take some pressure (careful, don't break your mobo), but you need to really push down your RAM card into the slot. Make sure you're putting it in the right way. It should be quite obvious which way it goes. Be careful, refer to your motherboard's guide, RAM slot #1 might not be where you put the first stick of RAM. If you're using up all the slots though, it doesn’t matter. Any whom, once all of them are installed you need to put the levers on each side back down to the locked position.

Motherboard: Your mobo should come with a packet of screws, some spacers, and an instruction manual. First off, refer to the instruction manual. Second off, you don’t want your mobo touching your case. Each mobo is different, so you'll have to align screw holes between the mobo and your case. Once they're lined up, place your spacers, then screw the motherboard in, but not too tight as to break it. For christs sake, don't fucking drop screws on the mobo. If you're going to drop them, drop them inside the case and use a tweezers to get them out.

PSU: Easy install. The fan faces outside of the case. Slide it in on its rails. Screw it in. Plug the power connector into the motherboard (the big ass 20 or 24 prong plug). Look at your manual and connect each wire with each peripheral unit it needs to connect to (i.e. video card, etc).

Hard Drive: Pop out the bracket in your case meant to hold the HD. Slap it on the hard drive. Align the screws with the holes/rubber things and screw the screws in to secure the HD to the bracket. Plug it into the appropriate slot (SATA, etc). If you're lucky you might have a slide-in area to put your HD. If so, it should be obvious what to do. Slide it in, screw it in, and plug it in.

CD/DVD/Whatever Drive: Remove the drive cover on your case. If you have drive rails, fasten them to the sides of the drive. Slide it in, and you're good. If not, just place the drive in and screw it in if required. Plug it into the PSU. Plug everything in. You should be plugging it into the PSU then into the motherboard. I'll assume you're in the 21st century and you're using SATA connections. If you're using IDE and want to worry about master and slave position, then go burn in hell. Oh I forgot, connect your CD drive or whatever to your sound card, too.

Video Card: In the back of your case, unscrew or pop out whatever is blocking the appropriate slot. This slot should line up with the appropriate interface (PCI, etc) that your GFX card will need to plug into. Slide your card in and attempt to plug it into the motherboard. It's tough but you can eventually get it. Once it's in, screw it in and you're set. Plug in the fan to the PSU, if the graphics card has a built in fan.

Finals things to do: Look at the back of your PSU. You need to make sure that you configure it to either send out 110 or 220 volts, depending on your outlet in your specific country. Once you do that, plug your case's power switch into the mobo or PSU. Finally, double check all your connections and make sure nothing is in the way of the fan blades that will soon be spinning (hopefully). Common mistake: Make sure the CPU fan is attached to your mobo or PSU or something. Connect mouse, keyboard, and monitor. Plug the cord into the PSU and an outlet. Here we go, turn her on!

~Good News vs. Bad News

When you hit that "on" button, a few different things could happen, only 1 of which is a good thing. I'll present the best-case scenario and some other not-good scenarios.

Good News: The LEDs on your case will turn on. The fans on your PSU and CPU should start spinning. Hard drive will make a bit of noise powering up. A BIOS screen will come up and count memory. Remember the key combo shown to get to CMOS setup; this is shown at the bottom of the screen during memory count. You might hear one beep from the computer. Good, you've done well.

Bad News: Well, quite a few things could have gone wrong. Here are some possible ways things could've gotten fucked up and the events that will occur to let you realize this.

-You boot up, everything starts whirring, but instead of 1 nice happy beep, you hear multiple beeps. This is an error message. Refer to your motherboard's manual or manufacture’s website to troubleshoot for your specific error message.

-You push the "on" button and get absolutely nothing happens. Not a damn thing. You probably messed something up with the PSU, or didn't connect your case's "on" switch to something essential. If you double-checked and this is all done, your PSU is possibly DOA. That's quite rare though.

-You start up and hear very weird sounds like grinding or scraping. Turn the computer off, because something isn't right and is possibly damaged. Perhaps a spinning fan is hitting a cord or something. That's quite possible. Or something is wrong with one of your drives, perhaps the hard drive. Swap out different parts and see if you still get the odd noises. If you throw in another HD, and still get the noise, you know it's not the HD, etc.

-Oooops! You forgot that damn key combo. Don't worry about it. At this point in the computer's stage of life, it won’t get hurt from a shutdown. Shut it down and try again.

-My fans aren't spinning/my LED lights aren’t on! Why? Plug them in moron. If they are, they aren’t plugged in right.

~IT'S ALIVE! What now?

So hit that CMOS key combo. Now you're going to configure your BIOS. First off, if you're reading this guide seriously, you're not going to be fucking with a lot of the settings. Set your time and date correctly. Then make sure your video settings are correct. Next, it'll ask you questions about memory timing, CPU multipliers and such. Click auto-detect for all of these, unless you seriously know what the fuck you're doing. Now make sure you have your boot order right. For a CD drive, you will make the A: Drive first so you can boot your OS properly. Now look in your mobos manual. There are shit loads of other options you can set in your BIOS, but I won't bother because that's all in your mobo's manual. Once all that crap is set, reboot. Put in your OS disk now. Boot up. OS will be installing itself, etc. Congrats. You now have a computer with an OS on it. First, activate your firewall if you're using windows. Go on the Internet and download a better firewall/anti-virus program. Now go to the Windows website (assuming you're using windows) and download every update (sp1, new Internet Explorer, etc). Go download all the new drivers for your GFX card and other hardware. DirectX updates might be available. Your motherboard may have an available BIOS update. Now install all your programs, and load files from an external that you backed up before. Register your copy of Windows, assuming you're using Windows, and congrats on the new sweet computer.


~Post Word

Computer parts suck. Hence development. 5 months down the road, or even 1 week down the road your HD or CD drive or something might shit out on you and break. Don't get pissed, this shit happens. You need to contact the manufacturer and get a replacement, or a different HD or something if the problem persists. You never truly stop building a computer until the day you throw it out because all the technology is outdated. But for now, savor the fruits of your labor. You did a good job making a pile of useless metal, silicon, and plastic into a working technological wonder.

I'm no computer genius. I just do a lot of research. People that need to be thanked for this include Jansen, Filefragg, Nullware, and wtp. If I got something wrong, which odds are I did, or you want to add something, just post here and I'll update it. I'm sure I made quite a few mistakes in here, as I'm quite a rookie myself. I'll post pictures of my new comp when parts arrive.

~Fouis

 

Long guide. I stopped reading because I'm a 16 year old and my mind can't stay focused without constant stimulation. Hopefully the pictures will fix that =)

What gfx card you getting? And make sure your get a 64-bit version of whatever OS your using to fully utilize 8gb of RAM. Although I think that's a little overkill since I'm guessing your going to be mostly gaming on this rig?

 

Yeh I mentioned 64 bit in my guide. And yes, it's a gaming rig. It's an overclocked EVGA 9800 NVIIDIA GTX. Costs 1/3 of the total price of the computer rofl.

 

Very nice guide. Anyone who is going to build a computer should read this. Its lengthy but thats necessary.

 

Ty, sir. I'm actually looking to lengthen it possibly.

 

One of the longest guide's I have ever seen, still a great guide though!

 

I spent forever on it, but it's all necessary and you will know TRUELY how to build a computer after this.

 

Just a few things... XP non 64 bit only supports 3 gigs of RAM. You forgot to explain Crossfire. But you did mention duel cards with SLI. Just to let people know. Dual-cards are not difficult at all.

You did mention the one thing I hate the most. You PC not turning on. It's usually just the Button for the case not being plugged in properly. BUt I hate those tiny pins.

DDR3 is pointless atm guys. Don't even fuck with it for about 6 months.

 

Isn't Crossfire just SLI for ATI? I don't really know a lot about dual-carding. Thanks though. I'll mention crossfire along near the SLI and I'll fix the 32 bit windows RAM thing. Thanks much.

 

I found it a good guide but perhaps you could break up the extensive text with a couple of images of what you mention just to make it a bit easier on the eye as I lost where I was partway through reading

 

Sure I'll add some pictures for some parts, but it should be obvious once you have the parts physically.

I'll update everything later tonight, as I'm going out now.

 

A 32bit OS will support 4GB while 64bit will support some huge number you probably won't have to worry about in your life time.

 

GREAT GUIDE! A+

I have always been interested in a detailed explanation of how to pick out the parts/assembly of the parts to build a computer.
And this by far explains it all, I re-read a few parts so that I could remember them.

READ everyword, and non of it was a waste of time.
All the information is this guide educated me, atleast a bit.

Thanks for the guide, it should help me when I rebuild mine

 

IM 13 and i read the whole thing..

 

O and, quad cores are nice. But recently I upgraded my cooling system. So that I could Overclock my Processor. It wont overclock properly. So for now I'd stay with duo core. Since they've taken dual-core technology far beyond what quad is atm.

 

Quad cores are better than duals. I think in all scenarios honestly.

 

I Think this is very good, but you should add prices to each item roughly.

 

My other pc is getting better performance from a overclocked Duo core. Im just saying that overclocking quads isnt so hot atm.

 

so many letter... must.. not.. fall..asleep...

proberly a nice guide, but i couldent pull myself together to read it

 

I think I lost a few pounds. When I first saw it I said "yea, sure I'm going to stop in the first line" but then you did it easier to read.

You Lost alot of time doing this guide.
10/10.