Building A New Computer Thoughts and choises.

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Instructions about the construction of a new computer



Chapter 11

The placing of the processor

Put a towel on the table. Lay the case on its side on the towel. The towel prevents the outside of the case from getting scratches.

Use a wrest band attached to a ground metal part to avoid electric issues.

The side plate of the case can be opened. Open the site plate. Lay the site plate aside.

Screw the distance holders screws in the back plate of the case. Each distance holder screw has to match one hole in the computer board. Attach just as much holes like as there are in the computer board. Don't attach more distance holder screws. That might influence the capacity to construct computer parts and connections. The plate might bent. And don't attach more distance holder screws than there are holes in the computer board. A distance holder screw that doesn't match a hole in the computer board might cause an electric shortcut in the main board. The screw might touch the electric print lines or a metal electric contact point of the underside of the computer board.

Put the back plate in the case. The back plate has openings for the back external connectors of the computer board. The back plate covers the space between the external connectors of the computer board.

Put the computer board in the case. Make sure the external connectors fit into the corresponging holes of the back plate. Make sure the computer board rests on the distance holder screws.

Check to see if the holes of the computer board match the holes of the distance holder screws. Make sure the holes on top of the distance holders are visible trough the holes of the computer board. Make sure that the computer board is in the right position towards the back plate and towards the distance holders.

Screw the little screws into the holes of the computer board and into the distance holder screws. Don't put too much pressure on the screws and the screw driver. Don't break the computer board.

Place the dvd writer in a bay with the size and the wide of 5.25 inch. Attach the dvd writer firmly to the dvd writer bay with four little screws.

Place the hard disk in a bay for a 3.5 inch device. Attach the hard disk with four little screws to the bay of the case.

Open the handle next to the processor socket. Pull the handle gentle upwards till it points straight into the air.

Watch the pins on the processor if using an AMD processor. Have a look to the holes in the processor socket. The position of the holes and of the pins should match. There is a little arrow in one of the corners of the underside of the processor. That arrow should match a little triangle arrow in one of the corners of the processor socket. A good look at the pattern of the pins and the holes helps too.

Hold the processor horizontal above the processor socket. Make sure the pins match the holes. Make sure the four lines of outer pins match the four lines of outer holes of the socket. Move the processor slowly downwoards. Feel that the pins slide into the holes of the processor. If the pins of the processor fit gentle into the holes of the socket press the processor softly downwoards. Press gentle till the pins of the processor fit completely into the holes of the socket. Keep the processor in place and down with the fingers of one hand. Pull the handle of the socket down with the other hand. Attach the handle under the little button at the side of the socket.

Extra care is needed. A lot of self builders bent one or more of the little pins when putting the processor in place. This might damage the processor. Sometimes the processor works fine withour one or withour more little pins. The best is to make sure that the pins fit all correctly into the holes of the socket.
Edited November 14, 2010 by zenia (see edit history)

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http://www.gigabyte.eu/products/product-paspx?pid=3521%23ov

Edited November 14, 2010 by zenia (see edit history)

[zenia 0]

The construction of a new computer

 

 

 

Chapter 12: The processor fan

 

Thermal paste and thermal grease

 

The next step is to put one drop of thermal paste the size of a rice grain or particle on top of the middle of the processor. Another possibility is to cover the complete surface of the top of the processor with thermal grease. The grease and the paste are ment to conduct the warmth the processor generates to the heath block that will be connected on top of the processor.

 

The next step is to have a look at the connectors of the fan. There are two notches on both sites of the socket of the processor. A hole in each connector fits under each notch. So the idea is to hold the fan in the right position to be able to fit the connectors in place when the fans is placed on top of the processor. There should be room to move the handle of the connector downwards.

 

The step after the former step is to hold the fan above the processor. When the position is right the fan can be moved downwards. A firm pressure is needed. When the fan is in the right position the two clips can be attached to the two notches. The handle can be moved up and downwards to fasten the clips that hold the fan in position and bind the fan to the socket of the processor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2010 by zenia (see edit history)

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The finishing touch is to connect the little electric plug of the fan to the matching electric connector on the computer board.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2010 by zenia (see edit history)

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Tutorial about the self building of a computer

 

 

 

Chapter 13

 

The boxed processor fan

 

The processor can be bought from a shop. The processor comes packed in a small box. When a boxed processor is bought the fan of the processor is packed in the small box. This fan meets the cooling requirements. This can be said because the builder of the processor has chosen this fan.

 

When somebody likes to have another fan or to have a fan with less noise production it is possible to choose another fan.

 

Some cooling components have massive and huge cooling fins and a huge fan. It can be handy to make sure the case offers enough space to incorporate the huge fan and processor cooling component.

 

 

The power unit

 

It can be handy to build the power unit into the case before the computer board is built into the case. This depends if there is enough space in the case to put the computer board in place after the power unit is built in the case. When there is not enough space to move the computer board in the case after the power unit is attached to the case the power unit can be placed in the case after the computer board is built into the case.

 

The power unit gets attached to the back site of the case. On top of the back site is a big hole. The power unit fits into this hole. The power unit can be attached to the case with four screws.

 

It is important when the power unit is built into the case after the computer board to make sure the processor and the fan don't get touched and don't get broken by the movements of the hands when putting the power unit in place.

 

An idea can be to attach the power unit in place before the processor is attached to the socket.

 

The back plate

 

The back plate comes in the box of the computer board.

 

 

Edited November 15, 2010 by zenia (see edit history)

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Three different examples of backplates.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 15, 2010 by zenia (see edit history)

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Chapter 14



The case

Size

There are mainly two sizes of cases. They are called the ATX form and the miniATX or mATX form.
The ATX form is the biggest. The mATX form computer board fits into the ATX case. It is not sure if the ATX computer board fits into the mATX case.

The mATX form is ment for the computer board with a video unit built into the computer board. The ATX case is ment for the computer board that uses a seperate graphical card.

The computer board and the seperate graphical card are usually together more expensive compared to the computer board with an onboard video unit.

The case has a computer loud speaker, a button to start the computer and to end the functions of the computer, a reset button and sometimes connectors for USB and a connector for external speakers or a head set and a microphone connector in the front of the case. The case has tiny lights to show the computer is on and to show the hard disk is working.

The internal connectors for these buttons and external connectors are connected to tiny and small wires. It is recommended to use the manual, that comes in the box of the computer board, to decide to which connectors of the computer board the connectors of the case have to be connected.
Edited November 16, 2010 by zenia (see edit history)

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Chapter 15



Attachment of the internal memory unit

When the power supply unit, the computer board, the processor, the processor cooling unit and the processor fan are put in place it is time to attach the internal memory unit. The memory unit can be placed in the memory slot in only one way. The two parts of the connection part of the memory unit are not the same. One of the parts is longer than the other part. So 1 part fits in one part of the slot. And the othe side of the connection part of the memory unit fits into the other site of the memory slot. It is recommendated to have a good look at which site of the memory unit fits into what part of the memory slot. The memory unit can be held with two fingers or one finger and the thumb. The memory unit seldom breaks. When the memory unit is put into the right position it can be held above the slot. Then the memory unit can be pushed down slently into the slot. The memory unit fits exactly into the slot. Some pressure is needed but absolutely not too much pressure. If the memory unit doesn't go down almost by itself the problem is probably that the memory unit is held the wrong way. When the memory unit fits into the slot the little chucks at both sites of the slot close the slot automatically.

The chucks can be checked by hand to make sure the memory unit is put into the slot the right way.

Chapter 16



Attachment of the internal cables

When the power supply unit, the computer board, the processor, the processor cooling unit, the processor fan and the memory unit are constructed into the case the internal cables can be attached to the computer board and the devices. The power unit has several cables attached to it. The big cable consisting of about 24 coloured wires with a big connector at the end fits into the connector of the computer board. A small probably square connector with 4, 6 or 8 connection points fits into a small connector on the computer board close to the processor socket. This cable supplies the processor with 12 Volt.

The power cable of the power unit for the hard disk can be attached to the hard disk. The power cable of the power unit for the dvd writer needs to be attached to the dvd writer.

A SATA cable can be attached to one of the SATA ports and into the SATA connector of the hard disk.

A second SATA cable needs to be attached to another SATA port and to the SATA connector of the dvd writer.

When the attachment of the internal cables is done firmly and checked and checked again the case can be closed.
Edited November 17, 2010 by zenia (see edit history)

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Chapter 17

Building a new computer from scratch using seperate components

After connecting the internal cables and after closing the case it is time to connect the external cables. After closing the case the case can be put straight up. Attach the electicitiy cord to the electricity input connector at the back of the power unit. Attach the key board to the connector of the computer board. Do the same with the mouse. Connect the monitor to the monitor connector of the computer board. Connect the monitor to the electricity plug too.

Eventually connect the wired internet connection. Connect the external loud speakers to the sound out connector.

After plugging in the electricity cord of the computer in the electricity wall plug it is time to start the computer.
Make sure the small button on the back of the power unit is set on On.

Put a dvd with an operating program in the dvd player. Press the start button. Start the computer and open the bios. Set the boot order to start with the dvd player. Save and close the bios. Let the computer start from the dvd. Let the operating program install itself on the hard disk.

OpenOffice can be downloaded from the internet.

If all works fine the computer is ready.
Edited November 18, 2010 by zenia (see edit history)

[grim reaper1666 0]

but onboard graphics usually share graphics hence they will sometimes slower than you expect them to. they are also harder to upgrade compared to graphics cards which allow you to change it over to a better card. also most motherboards these days have onboard graphics some of which are better than others. intel onboard graphics are not as good as nvidia graphics but no onboard graphics can match modern addon graphics cards. if you have multiple pci express times 16 ports than you can run multiple graphics cards (all same model and memory) which increases permformance. the amount of watts you power supply is capable of achieveing is important as well because if you do not have enough power to run the system then it will either not start or turn itself off after starting up too many power consuming parts.

[yordan 10]

Nice, Grim, the small advice from a skilled technical guy! You precisely pointed the finally most important things (just after the cpu power and the memory).Of course, people who aren't gamers don't have to care about graphics. And people who don't touch image creative things also don't care, if you just want to surf the web on a slow DSL line, any graphics embedded on the motherboard can do the job.

[grim reaper1666 0]

you do still have to take into considering about how much memory you have since it uses so much power per gb i can't remember how much though. most people assume that its the amount of memory sticks that uses power but the actual amount of memory the memory has needs memory. the most important thing really in a computer is to amek sure that you've connected the wires correctly because if you haven't then the whole computer could burn out. don't forget if you have a computer which has a option on the power supply to change the amount of voltage it draws (the 230v/120 something volts). i learnt the hard way about that the computer i did that to burnt out destroying the motherboard and most of the other components. i only know the stuff i know through building my own computers when i need to and looking online for advice.

[labstuffs 0]

Very good information, but the question is does it make economical sense to build a pc by yourself. Most of time it did not, but maybe some real high end or customized system make sense.

[DJCinnamonSnow 0]

I didn't see anything on your post about where you were buying your parts from. I was going to ask where can you normally find the best deals on new computer parts. I know newegg.com has some good sales usually. I dont think it would make sense to buy off of ebay as the parts may be used and of worse quality but maybe ebay is a good idea? Anyway where would you suggest buying all of the parts? I have an old gateway from around the year 2000 and I am going to re-do the whole thing. I have never built a computer so hoping to learn a lot from this experience. I am also a computer science major so I need this experience more than others probably. Anyway post something about where to find good deals on parts if you can

[zenia 0]

The main reason to build a computer is the choice of components. The computer builder can chose the components the builder wants in the computer. With a ready built computer from a shop there is not much choice. The advantage is that the builder can choose the specifations of each part of the computer. The builder is not limited by the computer the shops and the computer brands offer.This information is given with the idea to keep things as simple as possible. So the options of an Intel processor are not explained. And the option of a graphical card is not discussed either. The use of the onboard graphical unit is simple. The speed of the internet connection and the graphical unit and the graphical card don't seem to have anything to do with eachother, though.