Where'd you learn how to build pc's?

Timans

Hi lads,

I was thinking about building a pc, it would be my first ever build. I am a bit nervous as I don't want to break parts and waste the limited cash I have. Where did you learn how to do it? Is there anywhere on the net that you would recommend I take a look at or maybe one of you would like to write an insightful post Also, How'd you learn what parts are good and what isn't?

Thanks guys, Appreciate all replies.

PS - Mods, hope this is in the right forum.. :rolleyes:

Tazzle

it's surprisingly straight forward. Slot in and screw. Put the big pieces in first, then cable it up. Computer parts aren't particularly fragile. The dodgiest bit is putting on a heatsink. But that has instructions. Just don't go forcing stuff and you'll be grand. It's all common sense really.

Gareth2303

The only problem I have when considering the fact that I'd be able to build a pc is that I wouldn't know how to setup the bios.. the cabling is really simple.. it's just really like those games you play as a child.. slot the square into the square slot :P

Ruu_Old

Indeed a great deal of it is common sense, trial and error and learn from your mistakes. Word of the day is anti-static. Keep your parts in the anti-static bags until you are ready to use them and keep yourself grounded by touching the metal part of the case a few times. Good luck.

poggy

it aint really to bad once u gat all compattable parts have a go and sure post any problems up ere. not a lot can go wrong

good luck.

Tazzle

Even grounding yourself isn't particularly important, unless you've gone around all day rubbing a balloon off of your head. I'm not saying don't do it, but it's not like you're going to have to keep doing it. As for the bios, the manual that comes with your motherboard should help out there, it'll run out of the box anyway, you can just check the internet later.

I guess another problem if you're new at this is the actual operating system. Windows is pretty expensive....

Nukem

Learnt on boards funily enough.
Now PC's are the bane of my life *grumbles* there are some great sites out there that give very detailed descriptions of how to build.Also alot of the equiment you buy there will be instructions as well, only rule is dont rush and dont force anything cahnces are you have it arse ways or didnt read the instructions right.

Post what you want to build and people will give you advices and tips!

RuggieBear

Nukem wrote:

Learnt on boards funily enough.

ditto

pred racer

Just gave it a go one day!!
But at that stage Id been through the windows 3.1 days with no plug and play, it could take up to a week to get a new card going and there was nobody around to help, for example a creative video card which was to allow my 486 dx-32 to display 256 colours eventually worked if I put it in the slot where my soundcard was and nowhere else no matter what way I set the interrupts and resources or which method I used for installing the drivers.So after a while you got to know what should be where.

Timans

Cool, Thanks for the replies lads, I'm trying to pick out parts and the like.

DDR2 PC3200
DDR2 PC4200
DDR2 PC4300
DDR2 PC5300
DDR2 PC5400
DDR2 PC5600
DDR2 PC6400
DDR2 PC7200
DDR2 PC8000
DDR2 PC8500
DDR2 Reg/ECC
DDR-DIMM PC2700
DDR-DIMM PC3200
DDR-DIMM PC3500
DDR-DIMM PC3700
DDR-DIMM PC4000
DDR-DIMM PC4400
DDR-DIMM Reg/ECC

All the different types of RAM *confused* The mobo I'm looking at is : http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=307396

Which RAM will this mobo support?

Tazzle

pred racer wrote:

Just gave it a go one day!!
But at that stage Id been through the windows 3.1 days with no plug and play, it could take up to a week to get a new card going and there was nobody around to help, for example a creative video card which was to allow my 486 dx-32 to display 256 colours eventually worked if I put it in the slot where my soundcard was and nowhere else no matter what way I set the interrupts and resources or which method I used for installing the drivers.So after a while you got to know what should be where.

tell me about it, my ensonique soundscape soundcard was the bain of my life.

Ruu_Old

Timans wrote:

Cool, Thanks for the replies lads, I'm trying to pick out parts and the like.

DDR2 PC3200
DDR2 PC4200
DDR2 PC4300
DDR2 PC5300
DDR2 PC5400
DDR2 PC5600
DDR2 PC6400
DDR2 PC7200
DDR2 PC8000
DDR2 PC8500
DDR2 Reg/ECC
DDR-DIMM PC2700
DDR-DIMM PC3200
DDR-DIMM PC3500
DDR-DIMM PC3700
DDR-DIMM PC4000
DDR-DIMM PC4400
DDR-DIMM Reg/ECC

All the different types of RAM *confused* The mobo I'm looking at is : http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=307396

Which RAM will this mobo support?

It looks like it supports PC2700, PC3200 DDR-DIMM I think.

Timans

How can you tell out of interest?

I did the "Crucial memory Selector" thingy and it said there was none that would suit it. *shrugs*

Also, Which is better pc2700 or pc3200? I'm guessing the latter

Smoggy

The complex parts are :

Which Processor for which motherboard.
Which memory speeds for that motherboard.
Do I have the right cards for my motherboard, such as buying an agp card with no agp slots.

Other than that it reall is staright fwd.

Then again you have to have the most basic of ideas, such as processor speeds, amounts of memory required and operating systems to run.

If your gaming , what card will meet your needs etc etc

The real skilled of us can buy a CPU / Memory / HDD at its maximum performace per euro ratio at a glance getting the most powerful machine for the least price.

So I guess as long as you have the general gist of computers you will be OK.

Timans

I know which processor = AMD
Memory Speeds = *shrugs*
Right Cards = PCI-E

How do I find out the momory speeds?

B00MSTICK

PC3200 = DDR400mhz
PC2700 = DDR333mhz
So PC3200 is indeed faster.

TomCo

Timans wrote:

I know which processor = AMD

o rly?

Smoggy

I see you have picked a processor and in my opinion AMD is a good choice as its performace to euro is good, the question is does the motherboard you have selected have support ( the right socket ) for the processor you are looking to buy. As you cant select a processor and buy any old motherboard.

step 1 .) check cpu socket matches motherboard socket.

DemonOfTheFall

I just lurked on loads of forums for a while, then went out and bought a load of parts from komplett and put it together. Worst mistakes I made were using the wrong screws to screw the board onto the mobo tray, resulting in lots of sheered screws and a really hard to remove mobo

DirkVoodoo

Ruu wrote:

Indeed a great deal of it is common sense, trial and error and learn from your mistakes. Word of the day is anti-static. Keep your parts in the anti-static bags until you are ready to use them and keep yourself grounded by touching the metal part of the case a few times. Good luck.

The best advice is often the most straighforward. This pretty much sums up all you need to know. Picking parts is a mix between budgeting and googling for reviews, or harassing someone on this forum (sorry conzy!;) )

It is, as mentioned, very much like lego, in fact for my next build i plan to order a helper monkey (named mojo) with all of the parts, lock him in a room and see whether or not he can put it all together. I bet anyone here a shiney nickel that mojo could indeed assemble a computer. So if he can do it, so can you.....flawless logic!

I was actually disappointed it was so easy, i always imagined a guy hunching over a workbench with a soldering iron, surrounded by
oscilliscopes and such but i was reminded more of building WW2 fighter planes when i was a wee lad. God those transfers at the end were a nightmare, never got them on properly!

And the hardest part probably is installing windows, so go for it, have a blast!

Smoggy

This post feels like a "in the good old days" post , but

In the good old days , PC building was slightly more challanging, nothing was colour coded to make it idiot proof, there was limited info on what goes with what and there was no build a pc websites that let you select the parts and told you which parts then went with waht you have. You guys have it so easy

K.O.Kiki

Hooray for easy!
Because, if it hadn't been for easy, I would be owing a friend €900 now...

Ziycon

thought myself from taking a pc apart when i was 14-15!

DonkeyRhubarb

Well I started by buying a Voodoo2 for my K6-200.

I could pay 100 punds Irish to have it installed or I could put it in myself... Guess which one I went for????

It's really a matter of trial and error for the first while. Once you keep everything free from static, there's not a lot of damage you can really do. See what fits where and do some study before hand (the net is invaluable)

Once you can buile your own, everything will fall into place. You will wonder how some people get away with such extortionate prices and so on. Basically, what Im trying to say, being able to build your own PC is the meaning of life. (or something like that, cant really remember.) lol

Once you build it, you will think, 'well what can I improve upon?' Your cables can be immediatly improved; thus improving airflow and neatness.

Before you know it, youll be one of us, looking for the best of water cooling, coolest case and latest graphics and processor.

It's just what happens Im afraid, so don't build your own unless your willing to make a hobbie of it:D

DonkeyRhubarb

Just a thought, but if your 'building' your first PC and getting most of your stuff from Komplett, you might get them to make it for you, theres is no charge.

That way, you can open it, look at where everything goes and upgrade as necessary. By that stage, youll know how to do everything:cool: .

Ruu_Old

DonkeyRhubarb wrote:

Just a thought, but if your 'building' your first PC and getting most of your stuff from Komplett, you might get them to make it for you, theres is no charge.

That way, you can open it, look at where everything goes and upgrade as necessary. By that stage, youll know how to do everything:cool: .

Indeed or even have them assemble some of it and then ship the other parts separately and don't be afraid to ask for help here OP, as theres always someone around.

Liber8or

For years, as far back as i can remember, i watched my Dad open up PC's and take them apart. Kinda picked up the tricks there. It wasnt until i was 15 that i built my own.

A mixture between those tricks of the trade and looking up various things in the manual for the motherboard.

One awkward part of construction can be LED setups and Front/Side USB connections to the Case. The manual for the Motherboard will show you where to connect what...

Then the Processor fan, sometimes you feel you are going to break something when pressing it down, just be careful and apply even pressure to all corners. It should click in and you are good to go after you lock it down.

The best part is when you hold your breath on first boot up! No alarms, all lights on, all fans running, then comes the smell!

It really isnt as complicated as many make it out to be, dont be shaken by all the connections and ports. Just follow your manual and you will be fine!

Enjoy!

pred racer

yep.... there is nothing like that first immaculate boot.... even though you just slapped it all together out of whatever you could get your hands on:D

best ever was last week, put together a p4 skt 478 system with bits ive been collecting off boards for about a year, rooted it all out of the black hole under my workbench, put it all together with some screws outta the misc. jar.
put in a pre xp'ed hard drive that I use for testing.... and it worked first time:) now all I need is for you boardsies to start selling decent tv cards for very little, and its media centre heaven for Ed........Hint Hint.

honestly just give it a go, The most important things for me are, make sure you have the correct risers to keep the mobo off the case, and be careful putting on the heatsink/fan these are the two biggest problems I see with self builds. after that everything is colour coded etc and is fairly easy now.

SLIM19198

Timans wrote:

Cool, Thanks for the replies lads, I'm trying to pick out parts and the like.

DDR2 PC3200
DDR2 PC4200
DDR2 PC4300
DDR2 PC5300
DDR2 PC5400
DDR2 PC5600
DDR2 PC6400
DDR2 PC7200
DDR2 PC8000
DDR2 PC8500
DDR2 Reg/ECC
DDR-DIMM PC2700
DDR-DIMM PC3200
DDR-DIMM PC3500
DDR-DIMM PC3700
DDR-DIMM PC4000
DDR-DIMM PC4400
DDR-DIMM Reg/ECC

All the different types of RAM *confused* The mobo I'm looking at is : http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=307396

Which RAM will this mobo support?

If you look at the link you supplied, scroll down the page and komplett have listed actual recommended parts for this board, including RAM!

Ginger

I was lucky enough that a bloke i knew showed me how to mount a heat sink and once i was there, he let me build the rest. THat was 4 years ago and the current one was built on the kitchen table while some people were getting a lesson.

With any build process .. once you get the motherboard, 1 stick of ram, cpu & heatsink, 1 harddisk and the GFX card mounted, see can you start it at that point. If that works (ie goes to the bios or shows you no bootable disk) then you should be rocking and rolling. Do this bit out of the case because well if something is wrong at least you wont have to go taking it out.

1 machine built by a guy for a mate caused problems. Turns out bloke had connected 1 fan board header incorrectly and also had put a spare riser in where there was no screw slot in the motherboard and was shorting the system.

petes

Thought myself when I broke my first PC seven years ago. Also have studied for the A+ but still haven't got around to sitting the exam. I'm a lazy fecker.

skywalker

Nukem wrote:

only rule is dont rush and dont force anything cahnces are you have it arse ways or didnt read the instructions right.

Best bit of advice you'l read on here.

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/ is a great resource just for having a nose through in the week or so while your waiting for your parts to arrive aswell. Enjoy yourself.

irlrobins

This is worth a read

peepsbates

the gf got me a p2 a few years back n i learned loads by just playin with it, also boards.ie has been invaluble for info. its a fantastic feelin when u build your own n it boots first go. anywhoo enjoy it

L31mr0d

Liber8or wrote:

...One awkward part of construction can be LED setups and Front/Side USB connections to the Case. The manual for the Motherboard will show you where to connect what...

I HATE unplugging and replugging the connectors for the front LEDs and Pwr and Reset buttons, They are always in the most awkward of places, are nearly impossible to do inside or outside of the case, and are always disconnected into 5 or 6 fiddly cables. Its the only part of construction I dislike. That and BSODs

I learnt how to build in the college computer society. In there you could trial and error whatever you wanted and if it broke, just buy another one. When I finally built my own, it took less than 20 minutes to get it assembled, the main bulk of time was taken setting up my RAID, BIOS and OS. You'll find the building so enjoyable that your PC will probably never go more than 6 weeks without you changing something inside it.

zAbbo

Fixed a few C64 tape decks, progressed onto rebuilding a broken 486 DX

Fixed up a Pentium 75mhz Gateway machine, broken and fixed various early pentiums.

Worked on a few quad cpu servers, when they were the size of washing machines

Tend to build SFF machines these days, which in a way are harder due to the space restrictions.

Building a PC is easy, troubleshooting one is where the real knowledge is.

I've known numerous people who think they know how to build a pc, but when it doesn't go to plan, they're screwed.

layke

Smoggy wrote:

This post feels like a "in the good old days" post , but

In the good old days , PC building was slightly more challanging, nothing was colour coded to make it idiot proof, there was limited info on what goes with what and there was no build a pc websites that let you select the parts and told you which parts then went with waht you have. You guys have it so easy

LOL yeah, you've just taken me on a trip down memory lane.

On my dodgy 286 12Mhz, with 5.25" floppy disk drive and copmplete with 14" Monochrome CRT. Pulling the Jumpers out trying to change the IRQ settings on your sound card, configuring your I/O card.

Man the motherboard was like a big green slate with millions of jumpers that have thousands of combinations and possibilities. Lest not forget the sheer lack of static proofing. The PC cases were next to impossible to take off and put back on and guarenteed you'd cut your hands on them during the process.

Today, if something doesn't fit in the socket, it doesn't go there. Mainboards today have automatic switches so the need to play with jumper settings is a thing of the past.
All you really need to find out is what Processor are you buying, what board goes with it and what type of bus does it have for the Graphics card. All other parts are universal.

andrea

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/

This can be helpful. I got someone to show me, or even just to watch and make sure I was doing things right until I got used to it. Had to be forced to open the case of my pc the first time, now I wouldn't think twice!

komplett have a handy thing where they will send you a full bundle of matched, compatible parts. I've used these for a couple of people at different ends of the spectrum and they work quite well.

Another tip is that if you want specifications of compatible proc/memory etc for a motherboard, take the model number and go to the manufacturer's site or just google for it. You'll find more info that way than what is on komplett.

As somebody else said, take your time, enjoy it and most of all enjoy the satisfaction of having a system you built yourself!

Timans

Whoa, I've had loads of replies and they have been invaluable. I'm just saving a bit more money so I can get that little more performance.

I'm going to start a new thread when I start building called "Timans - Where does this go thread" Seriously.

Also, What do people think of this set-up(Irish GrumPy, Thanks)

EpoX motherboard (s0939, pci-e, etc)

AMD Atlon64 3500+ So939 processor

200GB SATAII SAmsung hard drive

1gig DDR RAM

7600GS pci-e 256MB graphics card

In-win black tower case, with 430W PSU

PogMoThoin

All you need is a lump-hammer and a vise-grips

No really, just suggest a few ideas on this forum & others will advise you on whats good. Only way to do it. Not that much 2 it.
Just remember when building dont connect everything and then wonder why its not working. Start with basics. Add others later and make sure they working before moving on.

andrea

Throw in a DVD+/-RW to match your case and you'll be flying.

Not familiar with that brand of motherboard either, try to find some reviews to see how other people find them. Motherboard's the last thing you want to take chances with!

andrea

PogMoThoin wrote:

Just remember when building dont connect everything and then wonder why its not working. Start with basics. Add others later and make sure they working before moving on.

This is advice I was given when I started too, and it's one of the most valuable things I was told

TomCo

The PSU supplied with the case is probably ok for such a modest spec, but don't expect quality.

Timans

In what way?

I thought it was quite a good sepc..

shoegirl

Timans wrote:

Where did you learn how to do it? Is there anywhere on the net that you would recommend I take a look at or maybe one of you would like to write an insightful post Also, How'd you learn what parts are good and what isn't?

Out of necessity. I was a student on a limited budget, and it started with upgrading my existing banger, and progressed to rebuilding and then building.
Some of those "Dummies" books are good if you have no idea where to start.

Also check out www.tomshardware.com for good hardware, and magazine articles which often cover build-your-own projects.

When I worked in Dell (I progressed to a career after a few years of self-teaching) we used to learn about new systems by dismantling and rebuilding their systems. If you look up their support website it gives a step by step guild to dismantling (service guides) their systems which although sometimes propietary to Dell, often gives good insights into system building.

gamer

from ,reading books,magazines, messing round with old pcs,8 years ago pc were so expensive,its always cheaper to build your own,you start upgrading your pc,then you end up fixing them.MY 1st pc was a 386/about 300mhz.AT that point doom 1 was state of the art in pc games.

TomCo

Timans wrote:

In what way?

I thought it was quite a good sepc..

Modest in terms of power requirments, 1 HD, passively cooled GFX card, etc...

If you're refering to the PSU, its a PSU bundled with an in-win case!
Its bound to be terrible, I think they use qtec's.

DirkVoodoo

shoegirl wrote:

Also check out www.tomshardware.com for good hardware, and magazine articles which often cover build-your-own projects.

Just be aware that tomshardware, for whatever reason, are very pro-Intel (which is very trendy right now, all the rage in Milan and Paris) and like to knock AMD a bit. Dont always expect the most objective journalism.

I prefer anandtech and the tech report, but its all personal preference

Timans

TomCo wrote:

Modest in terms of power requirments, 1 HD, passively cooled GFX card, etc...

If you're refering to the PSU, its a PSU bundled with an in-win case!
Its bound to be terrible, I think they use qtec's.

Ah right, well, I'm on a limited budget so I'll have to put up with "terrible" psu's and cases..

TomCo

It might save money in the long run, you really don't want a PSU going bellyup and taking out half your rig.

Stick up a thread when you're putting it together though, and good luck.

Ruu_Old

Have to agree with the PSU suggestion, my case came with a shoddy brand. Its 430W, might be good enough for a while but probably wont last. Hold off maybe until you have an extra few squid to get a decent one.