Building A Pc As A First Timer does anyone have a good tutorial

[matak 2]

Lemme contribute to this with few tips:

 

Couple of important things when building your PC:

 

1) Motherboard: Is the most important part of a great PC. Most people try to save money buying lower price motherboards, which is greatest mistake. Good and quality motherboard is the main part of any build couse all of other components depend on quality of motherboard.

Important motherboard specs:

a) RAM memory speed support - sometimes you can buy RAM that has much more Mhz than your motherboard supports so beware that you buy motherboard that supports your RAM speed

SLI support - New technology called PCI Express allows graphic cards to be connected in SLI enviroment. Use boards that support latest PCIE speeds (eg 8x), and allow SLI support

c) Check for HDD support too. One of the coolest things for your HARD Drives is beeing able to connect two same hard drives in RAID field. Such option doubles(even triples) hard drive speed. Make sure you got 1Gb or more RAM if you are going to build this option. HDD is the slowest component (don't count CD, DVD or USB drives and similar) so improving your HDD speed you can push your computer to MAX

 

2) Processor: Make sure you buy proc that spends as less as power as possible, and has lowest heating temperatures. It's important for the size of your cooler, that proc works on lower temperatures so that later your computer don't make too much noise when using huge fans to cool proc. Make sure it has large amount of L2 cache also.

 

3) RAM: Buy the fastest RAM there is, and be sure it's speed is compatible to your Motherboard RAM speed support. The more RAM you have, better your computer will work, beacouse it's where all process load, and work

 

4) HDD: HDD is the slowest component on your build. So buying fastest HDD or even two same ones and connecting them in RAID field makes your computer Top Of The Pop's Make sure u also buy some extra cooler for your HDD couse it expands it's life span by many many years.

 

5) Power Supply: Buy expensive, quality, and approved power supply couse it's what gives power, and extends life to your all components. Make sure it's quiet and stable also.

 

6) Other Components: CD, DVD Rom's, USB drives, Modems routers are for special purposes for each user. Graphic CARD also. When buying graphic card ask yourself what are you going to do with your computer before. If you are graphic designer, and gamer be sure to buy latest and most powerfull graphic cards, that also have the SLI ability. If you use your computer for less purposess like writing some text in Word, or doing Math in Excel you don't need to wory about your graphics.

 

Overall: Computer industry is still most growing and updated industry in the world. Every day new technologies are invented and broadcasted on market. If you have access on Internet which if you are reading this tutorial I guess you have, take your time. Often ask yourself what are you going to do with your computer and based on your demands build yourself a computer. Saving 50$ on motherboard is not smart. Saving 50$ on Graphic card is probably smarter, couse the same graphic card will cost 100$ less in year time.

 

Don't rush into buying your computer. Take your time, and study each component your planning to buy as much as you can.

 

Note: This tutorial is already outdated!

[PlugComputers 0]

Hey all, hope I can provide some insight into this topic, considering I have built more than my fair share of computers in my day...Heres what I consider important, in order:Motherboard - Stick with something brand name, Asus is always a good bet, and if you're going with an Intel CPU (Socket LGA775) then the EVGA 680i motherboards are great. They are some of the fastest, easily overclockable motherboards out there. Don't buy great components then buy 50$ board, you'll regret it later.Memory - With new Windows Vista, memory is key. All those fancy menus, and 3D effects in Vista eat memory like crazy. If you're going to upgrade to Vista, or planning on putting Vista on your new system I'd say to go with atleast 2GB of quality RAM. Plug has been a long time user of Corsair memory, they are the largest system memory producer, so you can't go wrong.Processor - At the moment, the Intel Core 2 Duo's are the fastest processors you can get. The dual core technology of these processors is a must for Vista and computing today. If you are looking for a little slower, less expensive dual core option check out AMD x2 series. They run in Socket AM2, so you'd have to get a different motherboard.GPU - If you are into any type of gaming, graphics cards is where it's at. With Vista's DirectX 10, the new nVidia 8 series graphics cards are great. They are the only DX10 cards out there today. Although expensive, you will be making an investment that will comfortably last for 3 years or so. HDD - If storage capacity isn't really a big deal to you, and you don't see yourself needing more than 150GB's I'd go with a Western Dig Raptor Drive. These drives run at 10,000 RPM vs. the typical 7,200. It makes a world of difference when loading Windows, large files, games, and large files. Storage space is limited though, so watch what you're putting on this drive. As far as a storage drive, we have always WD supporters, you can pick up one of their 500GB hard drives faily inexpensive for all your digital music, high def videos, and pictures. Make sure you are getting SATAII though. At transfer rates of 3Gb/sec these drives will serve up your media plently fast enough. As for other things, such as power supply, CD/DVD drives, case just be careful. Get a big enough power supply for your computer, if you're running a 8 series nVidia GPU I'd say 550ish watts atleast. Get a case that vents well, cause with all this new technology comes more heat. You might as well pick up a dual layer DVD burner as well, they're fairly inexpensive and great to have to burn DVDs.If you have any questions just let me know, or you can check out our website for more computing needs - http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/

[masugidsk8r 0]

I'm like the guy who posted this. I too am about to build my first computer. It seems that I have all the supplies I need. But the thing I'm worried about is the Case Cooling Fans (120mm / 80mm). I forgot to buy a fan for my case. I did buy a heatsink for my cpu but I didn't know the case needed one too. So... would it still be okay if I let my pc run without a case fan?

[PlugComputers 0]

Well what case did you buy? Pretty much all cases that I can think of (?) come with case fans. If your case doesn't have any fans though I wouldn't run your PC though, even if you do have a heatsink on your processor. All the other components need cooled as well. Think about how hot your motherboard/memory/hard drives will get without a constant cooling device such as case fans. I'm sure your case has fans with it.

[dre 0]

I don't have any case fans in my pc and it runs just fine... a problem will only arise if there is no airflow at all, or you have abnormally hot components.

[DurhamACF 0]

im doing an IT Technician course at college and ive made a powerpoint presentation for building a PC, im off college now untill monday but when im next there ill be sure to bring it home and show you it, contains words explaining what to do and pictures showing got me a merit

[williamm 0]

I suggest read first before looking around!!!

When i start building computers i look for the case to start off. Once i find the case that i like i look at the specs of the case to see what kinds of motherboards that it can hold.

 

Then i Look for the motherboards that can fit in the case. I prefert the AMD motherboards.

 

Then after i choose the motherboard i look at the specs to see what of processors it can hold depends of which kind of processor you like there is Intel and AMD.

 

Then i look for the type of processor, you want to make sure that you get a motherboard that will allow you to put in a duel Processor if you want to now or you can get a single core processor then upgrade later.

 

Then this is where i look for the type of ram that the motherboard that you chose can handle. You want to find a mother board that can handle at least 3 gbs of memory.

 

Then i look for the types of video cards, now this is a broad hardware, depending on what you are going to use your computer for. IF you want a gaming computer you would want to go with a higher Nvidia Card. If you are just designing, then you don't need to go over a 7000 Nivida. It just depends on what you are going to use the computer for.

 

Then i look for the hard drives. This is where a lot of people ask what size should i get. well as i have done with my own computer i would get a 160 gb then later on if you decide you need more room you can always get another internal Hard drive or you can just pick a externeal from a local walmart or any kind of store like that, that has an elctronics center.

 

Then this is where you get to choose your kind of optical drive. Such as a CD burner or DVD ROM/RW it depends what you want to use your computer fore. Personaly i would get a CD R/RW DVD R/RW combo drive, they are not that expensive.

 

Now at this point you have selected all of your main parts of the computer, you can find what kind of keyboard, mouse and monitor for your computer.

 

This is where you would look for a fan if the case does not come with one. After looking at all the Hardware look for the watts of every piece then look for a fan that will support more than what is added up.

Edited July 30, 2008 by williamm (see edit history)