Beginners Guide to Building a Computer

[sulaimankhan]

What is this guide for?


This is for people who have little or no computer building experience, and want to build their own computer. The goal is to help educate and show users how to properly build a computer for the first time.




**STATIC ELECTRICITY WARNING, And disclaimer**



Static electricity is dangerous to any computer part. Take proper static electricity precautions, including: Keep all parts in anti-static bags when not in use. This helps to prevent the static from even getting to the part. Before you begin to handle computer parts, ground your self. You can do this my simply touching another computer that is plugged into a wall outlet. When working with parts outside of the computer (such as a motherboard), keep the anti static bag it came in under it.
This is simply a GUIDE to help you build a computer. Not all computers are alike, so you will need to make necessary changes to your own system. We can not be held responsible if you break a computer part, mess up, or anything else. You should always read your motherboard manual, and any other manuals that came with your part(s) before assembly. If you have any questions, you can usually find the answer in one of the manuals, or you can ask in this forum and we will attempt to answer your question(s) the best we can.




Step One: Ordering the parts.


This can be a very confusing step for first time builders. If you are not sure what you should buy, you can make a post in this forum for suggestions, and we will be glad to help. Just tell us what your budget is, what you will be using the computer for (gaming, photo/video editing, just a regular office computer, etc), and what country you live in (so we know what websites to recommend and do money conversion), along with any other information you think we need to know.





Step Two: Assembly of the Computer


This is the longest step of the process. This step describes how to assemble the computer once you have ordered the parts and have them all with you.

First, make sure you have everything. These are the basic requirements to building an average computer. Your computer may have more parts then this.

Computer Case
Power supply
Cooling Fans
Motherboard
Processor/CPU
Ram
Video card
Harddrive
Disk drive (DVD burner, CD rom, etc)

Do you have everything? Good. First, keep everything in the original box it came in. You might be tempted to inspect the parts, but if you don’t want to risk loosing something (like screws, or a driver CD), its recommended you keep them in the box until needed.

The first part we need is the case. Carefully remove the case from the box, and set it on a large, clutter free work area. The more room, the better. Remove both sides and set them aside. Most cases come with a bag of parts and screws. You can keep the screws in the bag, or empty them into a small bowl so they are easier to get and you won’t loose them. Lay the case on its side (with the big opening on the left facing up).

Place the stand offs in the correct location on the case, there are usually 9 for a full ATX motherboard. The standoffs put a space between the motherboard and computer case so they don't come in contact and short out your motherboard, so it is very important to place these properly. For the proper location of the standoffs, refer to your case manual, motherboard manual, or the following step.




Step Three: The Motherboard


The motherboard is what everything on your computer connects to. Its one of the most important parts on the computer, and with out it the entire computer will be useless.

This is a picture of my motherboard, and what some of the main connections are. Yours will most likely look different then mine, have a different lay out, or different colors.




A 4 DDR2 ram connections.
B Processor socket
C Rear I/O connections
D PCIe x1
E PCIe x16
F PCI
G IDE
H SATA
I Main power connector
Red dots Motherboard Mount screws; where the standoffs should be.

Now we prep the motherboard to go in the case.

Locate your ram and remove it from the package. Insert it onto the motherboard. You may want to consult your motherboard manual if you are unsure as to which slots to use. It will take a little force to get the ram to snap in place.

Next, locate your processor and heat-sink. Very carefully remove the processor from the packaging. The pins are very delicate, and are a pain to straighten if you bend them. Open up the latch on the processor socket on the motherboard, and insert the processor. There should be almost no force required to place the processor in the socket, so if its not fitting in right make sure you have it correctly aligned and no bent pins. Close the latch to secure the processor, and place the heat-sink on the processor and latch it into place. Refer to your motherboard manual if your not sure how.



Now its time to place the motherboard into the case. Lay the case down on a flat surface (with the big opening of the case facing upwards). Carefully lift the motherboard and place it into the case. Align the rear I/O panel with the I/O shield (should have came with the motherboard), and make sure all standoffs are in the correct location, and that there are no extras. Screw the motherboard into place with the 9 standoffs and screws.

This would be a good time to plug in all the case buttons, LED's, and USB cables. Cases come with a power button, reset button, power LED, and hdd or IDE LED. Some even come with audio and USB connections. Plug these into the motherboard. Refer to your motherboard manual on the correct placement of each connection.






Step Four: Add-on Cards


Now is the time to add in any cards that connect to your motherboard, such as the video card. This is a pretty simple step, and only requires that you remove the back plate on the case, and insert the cards into the correct slot. See the compatibility post if your not sure where to place a card.




Step Five: Disk Drives


In this step, you will install all Hard Disk Drives (aka HDD, or harddrive), and all CD or DVD drives/burners. You will need to configure proper jumpers if using IDE. Its more simple if you are using SATA. The jumper settings depends on how many drives you are using, and how many cables. Refer to your drive manual (if included), or look on the top label of the drive to find correct jumper information.

Recommended Jumper settings:
If you are using a single harddrive on a single cable, then make it Master on the Primary IDE.
Two harddrives on one cable: Make your primary drive (the one with your operating system on it) the Master, and your secondary drive the Slave
A harddrive and CD drive on one cable: Make the Harddrive Master, and the CD drive slave.
single CD drive: Set it to Cable Select. If you are using 2 CD drives on one cable, make them both cable select.



You can mount the drives pretty much where ever you want to as long as it fits. I put my CD drives on top, and my main harddrive in front of the intake fan. Once you get the drive installed and screwed in, connect the DATA cables. IDE cables have 2 ends, one with one connection, and one with 2 connections. The end that has one connection connects to the motherboard; the other connects to the drives. SATA drives are pretty simple. Just connect the cable from the drive to the motherboard. There are no jumpers on them.

RAID: If you want more speed, or reliability then a standard harddrive, then you might want to try out a Redundant Array of Independent Disks (aka RAID). If you want the maximum speed, then go with a RAID0. It involves two or more identical harddrives performing as one. On average, you gain 50-90% more speed then on a single harddrive. If you want redundancy, then go with a RAID1. That uses two like harddrives, and performs a mirror image from one harddrive to another. This is usually used in severs to backup critical information. You can read more about the different RAID versions Here.





Step Six: Cooling



Some cases come with a fan or two, but usually that's not enough for the power user. If your going to be doing more then just average office work, such as email, Internet, and word processing, you might want to invest in some better fans.

Size matters. The bigger fan you get, the more air it moves, and lower its RPM (rotations per minute), and thus is quieter. I recommend having a strong exhaust fan under your power supply/next to your processor. That will pull all the hot air your processor generates out of your case. I would also put a fan in front, and anywhere else you can. For good air flow, have the front and side fans sucking air into the case, and all rear and top fans blowing air out. This will also be a good time to install any other cooling methods you are planning to use.




Step Seven: The Power Supply


Now you can install your power supply. You can do this pretty much how you want, as long as your plugging in the right connectors. Start out by connecting the motherboard main 20/24 pin main connector, and 4 pin 12volt cable. You MUST use all power cables on the motherboard.

Plug in the molex cables onto your CD drives, connect any fans, and harddrives.
Important Note on SATA drives: ONLY connect the main SATA power connector! Do not plug in BOTH SATA and molex connectors. Doing so may cause serious damage to your drive.




Step Eight: The Test


Now that you have everything plugged in, you can test your system.

Plug in a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and the power cable. Press the power button on your computer. Did it turn on? awesome, make sure it POSTS, and recognizes all the hardware you have installed. If it didn't turn on, don't worry, it happens to the best of us. Just go back and see what you missed. Check this guide to see if you missed anything.

If after you made sure everything was right, you could have a bad part. Unplug everything except the motherboard, one stick of ram, processor and video card. If it works, then one of the parts you unplugged is messing up. Plug one component in at a time until you find the bad one. If your still having problems, then can post a message here detailing your problem, what you have done to troubleshoot and attempt to fix it, and all the hardware you are using.




Step Nine: Software


Now that you have all the hardware installed, you can install your operating system. To install windows, or any other operating system via CD or DVD, go into your BIOS (you can access this by either pressing Delete, F2, F10, or F12. Refer to your motherboard manual for the correct key). Go into the boot settings, and set the boot priority for the CD drive you are installing from to boot before your harddrive. Save and restart. Insert the disk into the drive, and install your operating system.



Congratulations!


You have successfully built your first computer ! If you used this guide either to help you build a computer, or look up a step, or even just enjoyed reading it, please leave a comment! I wasn't paid to write this , so your comment is my only reward.

[Trekker]

it would have been better if you had given your source.