D
dylanjameshaasnoot
i want to know how to build a computer
S
sandy58
Practice with Lego.
D
Dave
order parts, when parts arrive, read motherboard user's manual. -Dave
S
Sjouke Burry
Try to get a job at Intel or Amd.
F
Flasherly
You'll need build some software resources - easiest way is to get over
the hump on the first couple with a friend's help.
L
larry moe 'n curly
[email protected] said:
www.anandtech.com and www.tomshardware.com also have guides to
building computers.
Don't skimp on the power supply. That doesn't mean you have to buy
lots of watts or something expensive; just avoid junk. www.JonnyGuru.com
can tell you what's good and what's junk, and generally, anything made
by Fortron-Source is good, but you may be able to find bargains from
Thermaltake (GamePower) and Antec (EarthWatts, Basiq, and Trio -- all
by Seasonic, but not SmartPower or TruePower). I believe OCZ gets its
PSUs from Fortron-Source. All Corsairs seem to be first-rate.
Take precautions against static electricity because it's easy to zap
something even if you don't notice a spark. Work barefoot and in
short sleeves, and if possible, cover your whole work area with pink
anti-static bubble plastic or foam sheet. Avoid plastic tables, which
generate lots of static, although formica isn't too bad..
Do not install all the hardware and turn on the power. Instead first
assemble just a barebones system so you can see that the hardware is
working, and then install one more piece at a time and test before
installing more.. This way you'll blow up less hardware if there's a
problem and will have an easier time pinpointing any problem..
Barebones means motherboard, power supply, graphics card (if mobo
doesn't have built-in graphics), keyboard, on/off button, reset
button, one memory module, CPU, and CPU cooler. If that works, then
install a floppy drive or CD or DVD drive so you can run a memory
diagnostic (www.memtest86.com, www.memtest.org, www.goldmemory.cz) for
a several hours. This is especially important because even most major
brand memory is now made of chips not marked with the actual chip
maker's full part number, and that includes even major brands, like
Kingston, Corsair, OCZ, Mushkin, and Patriot. Basically, if your
memory modules aren't by Crucial or Samsung, don't trust them without
very thorough testing.
D
DevilsPGD
In message <[email protected]> "JR Weiss"
True. And on behalf of everyone working in the computer repair
industry, god bless those that try it for themselves the first time.
True. And on behalf of everyone working in the computer repair
industry, god bless those that try it for themselves the first time.
L
larry moe 'n curly
class_a said:
The current ones seem to be by Seasonic, as this HardOCP.com photo
indicates:
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/images/articles/12000088130aFa93EGug_3_6_l.jpg
The older NeoPowers were by Channel Well Technology, an undesirable
manufacturer because they use those Fuhjyyu capacitors I mentioned.
OTOH the NeoPower HE series was always made by Seasonic (if you find a
used one, be sure it's revision A3 or later -- earlier versions didn't
work right with some motherboards in power-saving modes).
D
Dave
DevilsPGD said:
Oh come on. It's like an 8-piece jigsaw puzzle. If you can read a
motherboard user's manual, you can build a computer. The Hard parts are
component selection and OS/drivers install. Screw up the component
selection in particular and you will have no end of headaches. But that's
what newsgroups like this are for. When you think you know what you want,
post your selections here so that we can tell you that your power supply
isn't compatible, or whatever.
I simply suggest that anyone who wants to build a computer have a complete
WORKING computer with Internet access handy, one from which NO parts will be
"borrowed" to build the new one. -Dave
D
DevilsPGD
In message <[email protected]> "Dave"
I include component selection, and at least to some extent the OS/driver
install as part of a build.
The more challenging part seems to more or less come from experience;
picking the components that are more likely or less likely to play
nicely despite being compatible as judged by the specifications.
Picking the drivers that will layer nicely and not break each other's
configurations can be fun too -- There was a good deal of time where
configuring a Microsoft keyboard and a Logitech mouse on the same system
took a bit of juggling if you wanted all of the extra features of both.
Luckily today the problem is less of an issue then it was in the past,
although perhaps my view is slanted since I swore off VIA chipsets and
AMD CPUs entirely and standardized on one motherboard manufacturer.
(nothing against AMD CPUs, I just ended up with one board after another
that was a PITA during my AMD experiment in the 939 x2 days. It was
always something, one brand of RAM wasn't friendly, SATA/300 drives
wouldn't work because the chipset wouldn't fall negotiate a fallback to
/150, onboard SATA/RAID conflicted with a IDE RAID add-in card,
annoyances like that)
I also can't count the number of times I've walked into a friend's house
to diagnose a brand new build that won't boot and solved it in based on
subtle things that are difficult to explain over the phone or internet.
Identifying if a hard drive is spinning up listening isn't hard if you
have a tuned ear, but I can't imagine how to explain the difference
between a hard drive and a noisy or poorly mounted fan over the phone or
usenet.
Of course, learning is part of the fun.
Oh most definitely. I've built more machines then I can count and I
wouldn't dream of doing it without an internet connection available,
even if only to pull BIOS and driver updates.
Luckily that is why god invented laptops and EVDO cards.
I include component selection, and at least to some extent the OS/driver
install as part of a build.
The more challenging part seems to more or less come from experience;
picking the components that are more likely or less likely to play
nicely despite being compatible as judged by the specifications.
Picking the drivers that will layer nicely and not break each other's
configurations can be fun too -- There was a good deal of time where
configuring a Microsoft keyboard and a Logitech mouse on the same system
took a bit of juggling if you wanted all of the extra features of both.
Luckily today the problem is less of an issue then it was in the past,
although perhaps my view is slanted since I swore off VIA chipsets and
AMD CPUs entirely and standardized on one motherboard manufacturer.
(nothing against AMD CPUs, I just ended up with one board after another
that was a PITA during my AMD experiment in the 939 x2 days. It was
always something, one brand of RAM wasn't friendly, SATA/300 drives
wouldn't work because the chipset wouldn't fall negotiate a fallback to
/150, onboard SATA/RAID conflicted with a IDE RAID add-in card,
annoyances like that)
I also can't count the number of times I've walked into a friend's house
to diagnose a brand new build that won't boot and solved it in based on
subtle things that are difficult to explain over the phone or internet.
Identifying if a hard drive is spinning up listening isn't hard if you
have a tuned ear, but I can't imagine how to explain the difference
between a hard drive and a noisy or poorly mounted fan over the phone or
usenet.
Of course, learning is part of the fun.
Oh most definitely. I've built more machines then I can count and I
wouldn't dream of doing it without an internet connection available,
even if only to pull BIOS and driver updates.
Luckily that is why god invented laptops and EVDO cards.
M
meatnub
LOL
But it really is easy. It's like Plug and Play, as long as you aren't
wearing socks or stroking your cat while you build it.
Put memory and CPU onto MB.
Put MB into case.
Put PSU into case.
Put HDD into case.
Put DVD RW into case.
But GPU onto MB.
Connect everything.
Put lid of case back on.
Voila.
B
Boo
You get very good training first. It is not easy.
You can buy anti-static wristbands for a couple of quid which wrap around your
wrist and onnect via a cable to the PC case. This should obviate any risk of
static damage to PC components as you build the system. Well worth it for the
money IMO.
Hth,
You can buy anti-static wristbands for a couple of quid which wrap around your
wrist and onnect via a cable to the PC case. This should obviate any risk of
static damage to PC components as you build the system. Well worth it for the
money IMO.
Hth,
T
thorn
Boo said:
And the perfect place to attach that anti static device is around your
neck.
Those cute little wristbands are one of the most useless things that anyone
could purchase.
J
Jim
Easy way to reduce the chance of static discharge is do the job with bare
feet.
D
Dave
Good. If done correctly, the pre-hardware purchase research should take a
considerable amount of time, even if you are experienced at it.
Y'know, many people say that some motherboards are picky about ram or
whatever. I guess I'm lucky as I haven't run into many compatibility
problems. At least not with systems I've spec'd. But then I tend to go for
brands like Kingston and Crucial and OCZ for RAM. Though my last build I
used Patriot, just because I got like a 40% discount over any better known
brand with similar specs. No complaints, it works great!
Hmmmmm . . . for a while I used AMD CPUs almost exclusively. Every once in
a while I'd help someone build who insisted on using Intel for no good
reason at all other than "it's intel". Not a big deal, I have nothing
against Intel, it's just that for a LONG time Intel was really bad as far as
bang/buck goes.
It's too bad you swore off VIA chipsets. I've hadreally good luck with them. Several years ago, a friend's system had a
power supply die, and it took his intel chipset mainboard with it. He
didn't have a lot of money, so I found a cheapER power supply and the
cheapest motherboard I could find, happened to be VIA. He was THRILLED with
the replacement mainboard. That VIA chipset mainboard kicked the crap out
of his high-end Intel board. He had benchmarks that he'd run before the
power supply died and the same benchmarks run on the VIA board showed the
VIA chipset board to be much faster. Incidentally, that system is still
going strong, since we rebuilt it several years ago. It's horribly
outdated, but still in use daily.
I tend to shop for components by features first, then name brand. For
example, if an Intel CPU has the better bang/buck in my price range, I'll
gladly build Intel. Same with chipset. I don't need fastest necessarily,
but I want the best features at a decent price, then I'll look for one of my
favored brands of mainboard maker with that chipset. Don't care if it's VIA
or Intel or whatever, whoever has got the goods at the moment, I'm buying.
I seem to be greatly biased toward nvidia chipset video cards, but not
exclusively. Last one I bought was a ATI something or other when my
workstation at work needed an upgrade.
I think you are limiting yourself by swearing off AMD CPUs and VIA chipsets.
I really do. Not that I'd recommend either at the moment. -Dave
D
Dave
LOL
But it really is easy. It's like Plug and Play, as long as you aren't
wearing socks or stroking your cat while you build it.
Put memory and CPU onto MB.
Put MB into case.
Put PSU into case.
Put HDD into case.
Put DVD RW into case.
But GPU onto MB.
Connect everything.
Put lid of case back on.
Voila.
(snip)
Whoa, careful there. I don't doubt you might have good results that way,
usually. But It's better not to jostle around the mainboard too much after
the CPU and RAM are installed. It's better to mount the mainboard firmly in
the case, and then install the CPU and RAM. Other than that, it is pretty
easy, like you said. -Dave
But it really is easy. It's like Plug and Play, as long as you aren't
wearing socks or stroking your cat while you build it.
Put memory and CPU onto MB.
Put MB into case.
Put PSU into case.
Put HDD into case.
Put DVD RW into case.
But GPU onto MB.
Connect everything.
Put lid of case back on.
Voila.
(snip)
Whoa, careful there. I don't doubt you might have good results that way,
usually. But It's better not to jostle around the mainboard too much after
the CPU and RAM are installed. It's better to mount the mainboard firmly in
the case, and then install the CPU and RAM. Other than that, it is pretty
easy, like you said. -Dave
B
Boo
You can buy anti-static wristbands for a couple of quid which wrap around your
I don't believe this to be correct. I have worked in many electronics
manufaturing and rework plants and wristbands were de rigeur in all of them. Of
course, ideally you'd have an antistatic mat to connect the band to but the
computer chassis is a decent alternative. Why do you say that the wristbands
are useless Thorn ?
I don't believe this to be correct. I have worked in many electronics
manufaturing and rework plants and wristbands were de rigeur in all of them. Of
course, ideally you'd have an antistatic mat to connect the band to but the
computer chassis is a decent alternative. Why do you say that the wristbands
are useless Thorn ?
J
Jim
Check out this site: http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/
The pricing and some information is UK specific but overall its well
written and informative. Good luck!
L
larry moe 'n curly
Dave said:
Except for Crucial, those aren't trustworthy brands because they use
either junk chips (UTT -- see http://www.legitreviews.com/article.php?aid=199),
or in the case of Kingston, slice & dice their own memory wafers, and
none of the companies seems to test carefully (or they have lax
standards), some using only PCs for testing, maybe with RST Pro cards
stuck in them. 2 of the 3 OCZ 2 x 1GB Gold modules I tried last year
failed (when I went back to the store each time, other people were
also returning them), and about 8 out of the 12-13 Kingston PC3200
512MB ValueRAM modules showed errors with MemTest86.
How did you test it? Normal use isn't very thorough, nor are most
memory diagnostics, with MemTest86, MemTest+, and Gold Memory being
some of the few exceptions.
R
Ron AF Greve
Hi,
First decide on what kind of PC you are going to build:
Ultra low cost
Somewhere in the middle
High end
As you just start I would suggest trying an ULC so you don't have to worry
to much if you buy the wrong component and it is very rewarding nowadays
since even low cost pc's are very capable of doing anything you want.
So what do you want it to have (make a check list because it is easy to
forget things):
Raid
Do you need serial port (maybe because you have a serial wacom
board)/parallel port (do you attach a printer)
What kind of CPU Dual Core/Quad Core (if you do raytracing for instance or
any application that actually uses more than one core/thread). Check
comparisson charts for Intel/AMD to check for the best performance for the
money.
Network Lan?
Audio?
Ok now it is time to research first thing go through your favorite vendors
list to find a motherboard that fits the above specification:
Check that motherboard on google for any problems or compatibility with your
favorite OS.
Check the price (is there a similar one that is cheaper)
Repeat above until you found something acceptable.
Now check the memory list (for the motherboard on the manufactures site) and
check for available memory with your favorite vendor and try to find a
match.
Same for the processor (although that should be easier because you already
have chosen one)
Check test charts for some harddrives (for a raid you need at least two)
fast/reliable/price. Google for it on the web again. Make sure the interface
fits the motherboard (usually SATA nowadays).
Do you play games then you probably need a graphic card. Yet again should
fit your motherboard (PCI Express 16 usually). Yet again google for
price/perfomance.
Decide on casing 400W (note there are also cases without PSU) should
probably be OK for low cost PC. Make sure it has enough drive bays AND does
support the form factor of your board! ATX or m-ATX.
Extra stuff (can be bought very cheap nowadays)
Choose a DVD rewriter and or disk-drive (if you need one).
Mouse/Keyboard/Monitor/Speakers (you might want to reuse old stuff but check
interfaces for mouse and keyboard).
And not to forget you might have to buy an OS
Double check your vendor for reliability (remember they are (almost) always
nice when selling you stuff but what if something doesn't work).
Buy everything.
Read manuals carefully, take your time! Then when you are sure you
understood everything piece it together.
ATTACH YOUR WRIST WRAP OR HOLD CASE
TOUCH COMPONENT PACKAGE BEFORE UNPACKING!
Motherboard -> Case
Check manual for any jumpers you might have to set
Processor->Motherboard
Memory->Motherboard
Graphics Card->Motherboard
Drives->Bays
Drives Cables-> Motherboard
Power cords to various stuff
Monitor/Keyboard/Mouse to connectors
Double check everything.
Triple Check
Now attach power.
A few things can happen.
You think you some lightning on your motherboard and it seems you smell
something, however for the rest everything remains peacefully silent (you
didn't triple check did you....?!)
Nothing happens at all (is your PC actually switched on?)
You here a few odd beeps. (immediately unplug and check)
Your PC starts telling you it can't find a boot disk, YES!
Regards, Ron AF Greve
http://www.InformationSuperHighway.eu
First decide on what kind of PC you are going to build:
Ultra low cost
Somewhere in the middle
High end
As you just start I would suggest trying an ULC so you don't have to worry
to much if you buy the wrong component
and it is very rewarding nowadayssince even low cost pc's are very capable of doing anything you want.
So what do you want it to have (make a check list because it is easy to
forget things):
Raid
Do you need serial port (maybe because you have a serial wacom
board)/parallel port (do you attach a printer)
What kind of CPU Dual Core/Quad Core (if you do raytracing for instance or
any application that actually uses more than one core/thread). Check
comparisson charts for Intel/AMD to check for the best performance for the
money.
Network Lan?
Audio?
Ok now it is time to research first thing go through your favorite vendors
list to find a motherboard that fits the above specification:
Check that motherboard on google for any problems or compatibility with your
favorite OS.
Check the price (is there a similar one that is cheaper)
Repeat above until you found something acceptable.
Now check the memory list (for the motherboard on the manufactures site) and
check for available memory with your favorite vendor and try to find a
match.
Same for the processor (although that should be easier because you already
have chosen one)
Check test charts for some harddrives (for a raid you need at least two)
fast/reliable/price. Google for it on the web again. Make sure the interface
fits the motherboard (usually SATA nowadays).
Do you play games then you probably need a graphic card. Yet again should
fit your motherboard (PCI Express 16 usually). Yet again google for
price/perfomance.
Decide on casing 400W (note there are also cases without PSU) should
probably be OK for low cost PC. Make sure it has enough drive bays AND does
support the form factor of your board! ATX or m-ATX.
Extra stuff (can be bought very cheap nowadays)
Choose a DVD rewriter and or disk-drive (if you need one).
Mouse/Keyboard/Monitor/Speakers (you might want to reuse old stuff but check
interfaces for mouse and keyboard).
And not to forget you might have to buy an OS
Double check your vendor for reliability (remember they are (almost) always
nice when selling you stuff but what if something doesn't work).
Buy everything.
Read manuals carefully, take your time! Then when you are sure you
understood everything piece it together.
ATTACH YOUR WRIST WRAP OR HOLD CASE
TOUCH COMPONENT PACKAGE BEFORE UNPACKING!
Motherboard -> Case
Check manual for any jumpers you might have to set
Processor->Motherboard
Memory->Motherboard
Graphics Card->Motherboard
Drives->Bays
Drives Cables-> Motherboard
Power cords to various stuff
Monitor/Keyboard/Mouse to connectors
Double check everything.
Triple Check
Now attach power.
A few things can happen.
You think you some lightning on your motherboard and it seems you smell
something, however for the rest everything remains peacefully silent (you
didn't triple check did you....?!)
Nothing happens at all (is your PC actually switched on?)
You here a few odd beeps. (immediately unplug and check)
Your PC starts telling you it can't find a boot disk, YES!
Regards, Ron AF Greve
http://www.InformationSuperHighway.eu