How to built your own computer_404

How to build your own computer

A free tutorial for a low cost solution for a new computer
So you want another computer, or maybe you've just thought about getting a new one?
The kids are fighting over who's turn it is to use the PC, maybe your current computer is
getting a tad bit too slow, or perhaps you'd just like to start your own home network, or
expand it for that matter.
Well here you'll learn how you can build your own computer in easy to follow step-by-
step instructions. I'd personally suggest that you review all of the information here
thoroughly. Let it sink into you, and then, once you feel ready, take out your checkbook,
get yourself a screwdriver and have some fun!





1. Deciding what type of system you really want or need
Before you go ahead and start building your computer, you should have a good idea what
you will use this new PC for. Will it be:
•
To use for work? In this case you'll probably won't need such fantastic hardware,
unless your work requires you to use some extensive software, such has 3D
graphics, video and graphics, programming, CAD/CAM, etc.
•
To play video games with? If you want to build a new PC geared for video games,
then you'll probably want to get some of the latest new hardware, so you can
really enjoy all the new 3d technology now featured in today's video games.
•
Just to surf the web with? If you only want a machine that you can use to surf the

web, use e-mail and chat, then you can rest assured that you won't really need all
that much expensive hardware.
•
Just an overall system? Most cases often that not, this is the system people want.
Just a computer that can perform a whole variety of tasks, without being to slow,
and without being too expensive.
•
Do you want power computer? One thing is for sure; these types of machines are
great fun, yet they tend to be quite expensive.
You might also want to go ahead and grab a flyer of your local CompUSA, BestBuy, or
Fry's Electronics (probably the best retail store for computer parts, but restricted mainly
in the south west of the country). Take a look at the deals. You may want to wait until you
spot a really good deal on parts before starting to build your system, or you can also get
the parts as they come out on special. Of course, there is nothing wrong about shopping
online for your parts either. You can often find some good deals, when you don't have to
pay an arm and a leg for shipping.
In the end, what's the most important is that you shop around. Don't let the fancy ads
make you dish out your credit card or checkbook right away. Find out if other stores have
something similar, or even the same product for cheaper. Another thing, if you want to
save money, don't always go for the best brand name, yet don't go for the cheapest item
on the shelf either. Low priced items might look nice in the box, but once there in your
computer, you can really start regretting it.

2. What exactly you need to buy
Out of all the steps outlined in this How to build your own computer guide, this is the one
I dislike the most. Why? Well, just about every time I go out and get the parts I need to
build a new PC, I tend to come back empty pocketed. At least there's something to show
for it after it's all done though.
Anyhow, here is the grand list of stuff you will need, not need, avoid, and watch out for:
There is a total 10 essential parts you will need to build your computer. These are: the

computer case (make sure you get one that has a power supply), the motherboard, the
CPU, some RAM, a hard drive, a floppy disk drive, a monitor, a video card, a keyboard
and a mouse.
Computer case:
A computer case will usually cost you (when not on sale) between 30 to 100 (and up)
dollars, the 100 dollar one being those big fancy black cases. Note that these prices are
with the power supply already included. Strip out the power supply, and a case will cost
you between 5 to 20 dollars. Computer cases come in two flavors: AT and ATX. The
difference for these two is simply the power supply. You will see that when you buy your
motherboard, you have the option of getting an AT or ATX motherboard. Just make sure
you get the right one that fits with the power supply of your computer case.
The AT cases are really fine, and they are much cheaper (so are the AT motherboards),
and you can still build a very reliable system.
The next thing you will be faced with when buying your case, is the size. Keep in mind
that bigger is not really better. You can get a full size tower, and pay a fortune, and never
end up filling up all of the available space. Basically you will want a full size tower for a
server of some sort. For basic home computing needs, you should simply go with a mini
tower, or a mid sized tower case if you plan to add allot of extras into your system. Also,
you may be tempted to get once of the fancy non-gray cases, but consider the price
difference and try to judge for yourself if a fancy computer case (which might or not
might be ever seen by anyone) is really worth it.

Motherboard
The motherboard is by far the most important ingredient for building your own computer
system, which is why it's very important that you get the right one. In general, a normal
motherboard for regular home based usage shouldn't cost you more than $150, and that's
a high price. Sure there are some board out there that will retail for 500 to 1000 dollars,
but do you really need these? More than likely, the answer is no.
So what exactly do you have to look for in a motherboard? For starters you have to get
either an AT board or ATX board, depending on the power supply you have (see

computer case above).
Next you will have to decide what kind of "horse power" you want your board to have.
They're a bunch of options in motherboards, which I'll try to cover:
1. Supported bus speed. Your board's bus speeds is sort of how fast data is moved
around throughout your board. The minimum bus speeds you want for your
motherboard will be 66mhz, anything less would be insanely slow. You may
consider to get a 100mhz one, but these tend to be slightly more expensive, yet it
is worth the extra money.
2. Supported CPU. Now this is really important. What type of CPU do you want? A
very expensive CPU, like the PIII, or the new AMD? Maybe something less
expensive but with power, like the PII? Although the above 3 CPU's are really
great, unless you have allot of extra money, go with the PII, or better yet, go with
the bargain CPU's, AMD K6-3 and the Intel Celeron. Both of are really great
CPU's and aren't really expensive (around 100 to 200 dollars). Whatever you do
plan on getting, I advise you to stick to the above list. At the worst, you can
always get a regular Pentium MMX, or AMD K6 (usually less than $100), but
don't expect these to hold out to long with all the new software available today.
3. RAM Sockets. RAM (random access memory) is another important thing for
your computer. Without it, you won't really get far. Nowadays you should only
consider a motherboard that can support DIMM RAM. This type of RAM is a
little more expensive, but much faster than it's antiquated ancestor, SIMM RAM.
4. ISA, PCI, AGP. These are the slots available for the various cards you will be
putting into your computer, such as video cards, sound cards, modems, etc. If
you're looking to be using allot of video and 3d games, then make sure the board
you will get has an AGP slot. AGP video cards are really great for video, since
they deliver the best speeds. Now about ISA and PCI ... since most cards being
built today are PCI (modems, network cards, video, sound, etc.) you may want to
get a board that has more PCI slots than ISA. Although if you're not really
concerned about very high quality 3d audio, fast network cards, or high tech 3d
cards (in case you don't get a board with an AGP slot), then stick with a board

with more ISA slots. These types of boards will be cheaper (and so are the ISA
cards).
5. In built sound and video. Motherboards with inbuilt sound and video may seem to
be a great bargain, but once you hear, and see these add-ons, more than likely you
will be disappointed. Unless you really don't care about great sound and video
(such as for a computer for regular web use, or basic work) go ahead and get this
type of board. If you do care about sound and video, stay clear away from these.
6. USB or no USB. USB is a really great feature you may want to have for your
computer. It's basically "real" plug and play. In most cases it won't really cost you
so much extra to have a board with USB. Unless you think you'll never get
yourself a USB device (keep in mind that just about every type of peripheral
coming out now works with USB), then you won't need this feature.
7. Onboard cache. Not really the most important feature, you may want to take note
of the amount of cache memory the board you want to get has. As a rule of thumb,
anything under 512K cache is not worth it. Anything above 512K cache is very
good, and just plain 512K is average. While you may not really notice any big
difference, it doe's improve your computer speed. The cache acts just like RAM,
except it's much more faster.
Well that's about all the really important stuff for a motherboard. I didn't mention
anything about SCSI, because SCSI costs much more money. Another thing is getting an
extended warranty on your motherboard. Usually not all that expensive, it might be worth
to get. If your motherboard ever dies on you, you'll be happy you got that extended
warranty.
So, do you think it's allot of stuff to consider? Of course it is! Yet it's all worth to study.
Remember, your motherboard is VERY important, so make sure you choose your board
carefully. Of course, if you'd prefer that I suggest a good board, then go for the FIC VA-
503+ (www.fic.com.tw), with 1 meg of on board cache. It's a great board, and you can
probably pick it up for around $75 (look for those specials and clearances!).

CPU

The mighty CPU. The brainpower behind your entire computer. What to get? There are so
many choices! Well here are a few things that should help you choose the right CPU.
For one, stick only to AMD and Intel. Both produce fantastic CPU's, and both have a wide
selection.
You should stick to Intel, if you want efficient, compatible and powerful processing
power. You may be tempted to get the PIII, but these are really expensive. If you wait a
few months you can get these for cheaper. Your best buy with Intel would be a PII
(preferred for applications) or a Celeron (preferred for video games). As for the speed of
these CPU's, 300mhz should be the minimum you'd want.
You can also opt for AMD. Actually, if you do a little research on the web, you'll find out
that allot of people actually recommend AMD. My own past experiences with AMD has
been really great (yes I'm recommending AMD to you right now). Not only do they make
good CPU's, but their costs are considerably lower than Intel. You can easily get an AMD
K6-2 300mhz (and above) for about $100. Although you may want to get the speedy
AMD K6-3, which are just slightly more expensive.
Also, before buying the CPU, find out what Bus frequency the CPU can support (100mhz
or 66mhz). Getting a CPU that supports a higher frequency will drastically affect the
overall speed of your new computer.

RAM
Getting RAM is pretty simple. Like I mentioned above in the motherboard section, you'll
only want to get DIMM RAM. I won't get into the really technical aspects of RAM (such
as PC-100 or non PC-100) but I will explain the three main types of RAM you can buy.
The first type, are of course the best. While they are usually priced higher (10 to 20
dollars higher than the second type), you do get the performance for your money. You
usually also get a lifetime warranty when you get this type of RAM.
The second type, are pretty much average. They perform very well, but you'll usually only
get a 1 year warranty on these. If you don't want to pay that extra money for "the best
brand", then get the second type of RAM. More than likely it won't ever fail on you.
The third type is the evil OEM brand, or better yet, the no name brand. Whatever you do,

DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT get fooled into buying this brand of RAM. It can be really
attractive (price wise) but performance, compatibility, and warranty - just simply not
worth the trouble of testing and returning it to the store.
Next, you have to decide how much RAM you'll need. To be quite honest, 32 megs of
RAM should be the minimum to consider (not recommended). If you want something
with some power then consider getting 64 megs (my own personal minimum
recommendation), or even 128 megs (which is really great). Now if you want POWER,
then just buy yourself one 256 meg DIMM.
About the DIMM's themselves, don't get anything slower than 10ns (nanoseconds). 8ns is
pretty much an average. Another thing about DIMM's, unlike the older SIMMs, you don't
need to buy these in pair. So if you just want 32 megs, get yourself one 32meg DIMM. If
ever you want to upgrade to 64 megs, then simply get yourself an extra 32 meg DIMM.
It's that simple.

Hard drive and floppy disk drive
One thing for sure you will need is a floppy drive. So before I go into the hard drives,
make it clear to yourself that you need a *good* floppy drive. These will cost around 25
to 30 dollars. Whatever you do, don't get the cheaper ones. It's really not worth it.
Especially when your floppy drives dies on you, and then you need to install drivers,
software, etc, or even fix your Windows operating system. Not having a floppy drive is
real nightmare.
Now to the hard drives. What's really great about these, is that nowadays you can get
large drives for really low prices. If you shop around, you can easily get a 6.4 gig hard
drive for $100 or under (these prices keep on going down all the time).
As your shopping for a hard drive, you'll probably see a whole bunch of different brands.
To keep it simple, stick only to: Maxtor, Western Digital and IBM. Other hard drives
might seem cheaper, but these 3 manufacturers produce quality drives. After all, the data
on your hard drive is very important, and loosing it is not an option. So spending an extra
$10 for the good brand name is essential when it comes to hard drives.