Advice please for a first-time builder?

[Snugglemonster]

Before you flame me and tell me to google...

I've been around PC's since forever.. the 286 i guess being my first.
I've installed and reinstalled all kinds of peripherals and hard
drives.

The 2 things i've never done with a PC are:

- mess with the BIOS
- install a PC from scratch.

I'd love to give this a shot as I want to upgrade my 5+ year old PC at
the end of this year to something modern for FPS gaming and to last me
3 years at least.

So I'd like to ask a few questions:

#1. Can you point me to some FAQ's and tutorials on HOW to go about
building a PC and any tools needed (i.e. shock resistant wristbands,
AMP meters, etc.)

#2. Is building a PC from scratch THAT much more expensive than buying
a custom pc from..say.. cyberpowerpc.com ? And is it worth the time
and risk of damaging core components compared to having an online shop
custom build one?

#3. Is a case, PSU all I need to start off with? And then from there
the mb, cpu, etc.?

TIA!

 

[Paul]

Before you flame me and tell me to google...

I've been around PC's since forever.. the 286 i guess being my first.
I've installed and reinstalled all kinds of peripherals and hard
drives.

The 2 things i've never done with a PC are:

- mess with the BIOS
- install a PC from scratch.

I'd love to give this a shot as I want to upgrade my 5+ year old PC at
the end of this year to something modern for FPS gaming and to last me
3 years at least.

So I'd like to ask a few questions:

#1. Can you point me to some FAQ's and tutorials on HOW to go about
building a PC and any tools needed (i.e. shock resistant wristbands,
AMP meters, etc.)

#2. Is building a PC from scratch THAT much more expensive than buying
a custom pc from..say.. cyberpowerpc.com ? And is it worth the time
and risk of damaging core components compared to having an online shop
custom build one?

#3. Is a case, PSU all I need to start off with? And then from there
the mb, cpu, etc.?

TIA!

Assembling a PC is a screwdriver job. The toughest part, would be if
any of the components are defective. If everything just worked, there'd
be no skill at all

1) Start by finding those sites that talk about assembling your own PC.
Many will not address every detail, so you'll probably have to
look at a few. For inspiration, take the side cover off your
current PC. To practice, take notes of the wiring orientation.
For example, you'll notice that ribbon cables have a plastic key,
that guides the correct orientation. The floppy cable, of course,
has to be different. But before disassembling any piece of hardware
you are not familiar with, take notes of where the wires go. Put
tape labels on them, if you are really freaked by the whole process.
The ribbon cable has a red stripe, marking pin 1. You want to make
sure that a pin 1 goes to a pin 1, for example. So your old PC can
help guide you on what the new PC should look like. (Don't bother
reusing the old computer case, and just build a whole new unit.)

2) When you decide what you want to build, assemble a complete parts
list. If you provide a URL for the major items, that will make
it easier for someone to review what you plan to purchase. For
example:

ENERMAX EG465P-VE FMA 2.2 ATX12V 460W Power Supply 115/230 V - Retail
+3.3V@30A, +5V@30A, +12V1@22A, +12V2@20A,[email protected], +5VSB@3A
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194011

For a power supply, telling us how many amps it has on the output,
makes it easier to judge whether it is enough for the job.

3) Once the components arrive, if you have questions, post back with
the details.

The main advantage of building your own, is you get the components
you want in the machine. If you, say, wanted to put 12 disk drives
in the machine, you could select that 700W power supply you always
wanted. Dell would have put a 350W in your machine. So if there
is a custom aspect to what you are doing, that would be a good excuse
to build your own. If your reasoning is, "I'll save a bundle", probably
not, if you are just building a minimal machine. Walmart will always
have a piece of junk, for less than your parts cost.

HTH,
Paul

 

[Marcel Overweel]

Before you flame me and tell me to google...

I've been around PC's since forever.. the 286 i guess being my first.
I've installed and reinstalled all kinds of peripherals and hard
drives.

The 2 things i've never done with a PC are:

- mess with the BIOS
- install a PC from scratch.

I'd love to give this a shot as I want to upgrade my 5+ year old PC at
the end of this year to something modern for FPS gaming and to last me
3 years at least.

So I'd like to ask a few questions:

#1. Can you point me to some FAQ's and tutorials on HOW to go about
building a PC and any tools needed (i.e. shock resistant wristbands,
AMP meters, etc.)

#2. Is building a PC from scratch THAT much more expensive than buying
a custom pc from..say.. cyberpowerpc.com ? And is it worth the time
and risk of damaging core components compared to having an online shop
custom build one?

#3. Is a case, PSU all I need to start off with? And then from there
the mb, cpu, etc.?

TIA!

As Paul said, but I wouldn't start with the powersupply unit.

First gather the info about what you want and is in your budget.
New holy-crap video cards needs lots of power while other
less powerful can do with less.
CPU's are a bit the other way around lately.
The newer mid-range Intel Conroe cpu's are less powerhungry
than the olde Pentium 4's. Same for AMD I guess.
After you know what you want, you have a better idea
of the power requirements.

I find these groups and sites like www.tomshardware.com
good sources for information, but there are much more sites.

Risk of damage is minimal *if* you know what you are
doing.
Most things are pretty straight forward and connectors,
cpu and ram can't be inserted the wrong way.

The processor cooler is the only thing that gives me the
nerves. Hate the cracking sound they make when
tightening the clamps on the mainboard.

Bios is pretty easy.
All works on default nowadays.
You can tweak it here and there and you might need to
change the default boot priority (floppy, dvd, harddisk).

Last quickstart tip I can give you: start plugging in the
mainboard components first: cpu+coolor, ram, power.
This is all you need if you've bought a mainboard with
integrated graphics, otherwise also add the graphics
card.
Leave floppy, cd/dvd and harddisk out because that
will only give you less space to check components
should that be required.

Plug-in the monitor and powercable and start the
system. That should give a beep and a at least a
startup screen (text or bios boot picture) most
likely followed by a boot error which is ok.

If that works, add the rest.
Do it one by one if you are uncertain and test
if the system still tries to boot after each addition.

And a final warning:
Keep away from overclocking.
It's not worth the risk.
Just my opinion ofcourse


Good luck building your system!

regards,
Marcel

 

[Bob Fry]

I went through this 6 months ago december...never had built one but
had long experience messing with them. I had fiddled with BIOS and
installed drives, cards, and memory though.

I found google wasn't a bit help as far as describing the overall
building process. Yes, there were sites out there, but even 6 months
old left their advice as to motherboards, memory types, and hard disk
types dated.

Get a decent quality smallish flat and phillips screwdrives and your
wrist strap, and don't build on a carpet, that's all you need. Decide
on your CPU, then mobo, then everything else. Use newegg.com for good
prices and good user reviews, and you'll find other sites that have
good professional reviews (I found 3 or 4 that were consistently good
but don't have the references now). The hard part is not the
assembly, but

- deciding on the various parts
- debugging if it doesn't work

Fortunately mine worked, except for an intermittent RAID problem,
which got better when I switched OSs but finally fixed with a firmware
upgrade to the HDDs.

I'm not sure I'd build another since my computing demands are not
extreme, but I do have a nice system (AMD 64-bit dual core, 4-disk
RAID0, 2GB RAM) that I know very well is is now quite stable. I could
have bought a good system for less, but did want to try building once.

 

[GHalleck]

Before you flame me and tell me to google...

I've been around PC's since forever.. the 286 i guess being my first.
I've installed and reinstalled all kinds of peripherals and hard
drives.

The 2 things i've never done with a PC are:

- mess with the BIOS
- install a PC from scratch.

I'd love to give this a shot as I want to upgrade my 5+ year old PC at
the end of this year to something modern for FPS gaming and to last me
3 years at least.

So I'd like to ask a few questions:

#1. Can you point me to some FAQ's and tutorials on HOW to go about
building a PC and any tools needed (i.e. shock resistant wristbands,
AMP meters, etc.)

#2. Is building a PC from scratch THAT much more expensive than buying
a custom pc from..say.. cyberpowerpc.com ? And is it worth the time
and risk of damaging core components compared to having an online shop
custom build one?

#3. Is a case, PSU all I need to start off with? And then from there
the mb, cpu, etc.?

TIA!

Easy solution for you. Find a very reputable local computer shop or
custom builder. Design the system with this shop and then build it
alongside the owner or tech. You would be surprised at how many of
the local builders allow this. Yup. We like the company in the shop
when we build or assemble the systems. That's how I got started in
the business over 20 years ago.

 

[peter]

All of these people gave you very good advice ..I just thought I would tell
you how I actually did it the first time.
I used to spec all of the systems I bought and then take bids ..since all of
the shops where bidding on the same parts it was easy to come up with the
best price.One day I went to the shop that had won the latest and watched
them put a system together and I thought "I can do that".That week I took my
system apart piece by piece carefully...touching metal every few seconds to
discharge any static electricity.
I did use Google to search for PC Assembly instructions and yes they were a
little old but the basic concept has not really changed all that much.Then I
put the system back together............and it worked!!!
Since then I've build my own ...........I research on
websites...newsgroups....forums. various up to date or almost up to date
parts like Mobo with a certain Chipset and Socket to match a certain
CPU,Memory to match the Mobo and CPU,Video,Audio..HD's DVD's Case with
cooling ...CPU Heatsink and Fan..........and then a Power Supply to match
and even exceed what I need.
My latest build used the old case..HD's..DVD's...Video..Power supply.Thats
the beauty of a self build if you think ahead and try to research what is on
the horizon you can buy parts that will work and work well in future
builds....up to a certain point.
Good Luck
peter

 

[Ed Medlin]

Easy solution for you. Find a very reputable local computer shop or
custom builder. Design the system with this shop and then build it
alongside the owner or tech. You would be surprised at how many of
the local builders allow this. Yup. We like the company in the shop
when we build or assemble the systems. That's how I got started in
the business over 20 years ago.

Very good advice. We have a small local shop that does this very often.
All you need to do is to order the majority of the parts through them (they
are not nitpicky about this) and they will give you a workbench and all the
tools and info you need. I have built systems for years and still do call
them and see if they have an empty bench when I build a system just for the
fun of the company while building. Most of the smaller shops are two or
three man operations and have a very relaxed atmosphere. If I ever need
anything on the spur of the moment I always go to this local shop for it.
Any extra cost is far outweighed by the gas money savings by driving the
extra 20mi each way to the city. Supporting your local shop is also a good
thing.

Ed

 

[Snugglemonster]

Excellent advice, thanks everyone!

I've decided to build my own and get everything from newegg.com.

But i'm going to wait until around December because I want to build a
gaming rig around the nvidia line of 8800 DX10 cards (or perhaps their
successors) and in 6 months I figure prices should drop, and my
rationale is why put money into the system now when I can be patient
and build one at the end of the year and potentially save money
especially if nvidia puts out a successor to the 8800s GTX or Ultra.
This way I also have 6 months to take my time and look and see if I
want to go AMD or Core 2 Duo, and look into cases, mb's, psu's and
memory.

 

[Guest]

I've installed and reinstalled all kinds of peripherals and hard drives.

I want to upgrade my 5+ year old PC at the end of this year
to something modern for FPS gaming and to last me 3 years at least.

#1. Can you point me to some FAQ's and tutorials on HOW to go about
building a PC
www.pcmech.com/byopc
www.tomshardware.com/2002/09/04/building_your_own_pc
http://arstechnica.com/guide/building/mobo-1.html
www.sharkyextreme.com/hardware/guides/build_computer/

and any tools needed (i.e. shock resistant wristbands, AMP meters, etc.)

1/4" nut driver, Philips screwdriver (there are combination nutdrivers/
screwdrivers), and maybe needle nose pliers for handling tiny things
(jumper shunts, screws that fall into tight spots).

"shock resistant wristbands" are called anti-static wristbands, $2-5,
but they're not absolutely necessary if you take care to frequently
touch the computer case and touch the case while you pick up any
component (directly or by its hard plastic packaging, which itself is
anti-static). Don't leave the AC cord plugged into a wall outlet or
power strip, as that can be hazardous in rare cases, but do work
barefoot and in short sleeves.

Avoid creating shorts and making wrong electrical connections. The
motherboard can short to the case if insulator washers aren't
installed below or above some mounting holes (few holes need
insulators, but visually verify anyway) or if it's not adequately
supported, especially at the corners.

AMP doesn't make meters, nor do you need an amp meter, but a digital
multimeter is a good tool to have for measuring power supply and
battery voltages and checking the continuity of cables to sort them
out or check their integrity.

Don't assemble everything and then turn on the power. Rather first
put together just a barebones system (no drives, no cards except for
video) and verify that it comes to life. Then add a floppy drive or
CD-ROM so that a memory diagnostic can loaded (memtest86 and memtest+
are good, many others are not) and run for several hours. Thorough
testing is important since most memory modules are now made from chips
that haven't passed the chip manufacturer's quality standards (why the
manufacturer markings are missing from them). Don't proceed further
if even a single memory error is detected because memory must work
perfectly for the computer to be reliable.

#2. Is building a PC from scratch THAT much more expensive than buying
a custom pc from..say.. cyberpowerpc.com ? And is it worth the time
and risk of damaging core components compared to having an online shop
custom build one?

Ready-made systems are rather cheap, especially when the cost of a
Windows operating system is included, but higher performance systems
can be cheaper if homebuilt, sometimes with better warranties (3-5
years for hard drives and retail boxed CPUs, lifetime for memory).
The risks aren't great, provided you take precautions against static,
shorts, and incorrect connections. It used to be risky to install the
heatsink on some processors, but all processors made now have a large
surface and secure mounting system.

#3. Is a case, PSU all I need to start off with? And then from there
the mb, cpu, etc.?

To start off you need at least a power supply, keyboard, motherboard,
monitor, CPU, heatsink & fan for CPU, 1 memory module, a video card
(unless motherboard has built-in video), an on/off switch, and a reset
swith. A case isn't absolutely necessary, but if you run without one
(you should not), raise the motherboard at least 1/2" above the table
to prevent cards from being pushed out of their sockets.

Buy a quality power supply, something recommended by web sites that
test them competently (few do), such as www.silentpcreview.com and
www.jonnyguru.com. Fortron (several brands), Enermax, Enhance, and
Seasonic are all good, but if you're thinking of running a high
performance video card, look for one that's SLi certified by nVidia or
Crossfire certified by ATI.

 

[frodo]

I'll just add 2 cents:

www.anandtech.com

in particular, click the "guides" tab, he pubs a quaterly guide on
bargin, mid-end, and high-end configurations. plus lots of other stuff.

a good mag for "enthusiast builders" is CPU (Computer Power User). Browse
thru a copy at your fav bookstore to see if it's for you.