STEP 1 : Purchase/Collect The Components

Often this step is the one which takes the longest amount of time and consideration. Which parts do I buy? Which are best?

There are many good places to buy computer parts. You can go to a computer retail store in your area. The support is usually good. They provide good warranties. The trade-off will be that you will pay a little more than you would in other places. Sometimes, a lot more.

Most towns have smaller stores that sell and repair computer equipment. These are not large retail stores, but instead usually in an office suite in a strip mall. Regardless of location, though, such stores are often cheaper and can provide individual attention. Their hardware is often retail packaged from the manufacturer, in a box and all. But, they also sell OEM hardware, usually wrapped in nothing but a static bag and have little documentation. You will need to be the judge on this type of hardware. If you feel you should have documentation, you should not buy this hardware.

Let us go through each type of hardware. I will not recommend any one type of hardware over the other in this section, as their are other areas of the site, as well as a myriad of other internet sites which have hardware recommendation as their entire purpose. Since this tutorial focuses on PC assembly, that is what I will spend my time on.

Case : Make sure you buy a case which will fit the space you intend to use it in. This is where you decide between a desktop or tower. Allow room for expandability: spare drive bays, ample room to work inside.  Is the case clean? Pay attention to the form factor: AT or ATX. If you do a lot of upgrading, you should get a case that is designed with this in mind, such as easily removed motherboard mounting plates, drive racks, etc. Things like the turbo switch and keylock are ancient technology, so pay no mind to having them. Also, check the sturdiness of the case. Some cheaper cases are actually quite flimsy inside. Pay attention to how the case comes apart. Depending on the design, the screwless type is quite easy. Its easier to have a case that does not come apart in many pieces.

Motherboard : It needs to fit in the case you choose and support all hardware you intend to use. Make sure it has ample documentation. Surf the internet for reviews of the board you intend to buy. You'll want to make sure it is a good performer. You'll also want to make sure it is expandable.

Processor : Which CPU to buy is mostly a matter of personal need for speed and your budget. Get the fastest you can afford, obviously. Also, take into consideration the types of applications you will be running on this system. For 3D games, you'll want a fast strong 3D performer, probably Intel Pentium II or maybe even a Celeron. Of course, the newer K6's with 3DNow are adequate at 3D as well, although you have some other factors to consider. On all Socket 7 processors, inspect the CPU for bent pins. Don't touch the pins.

Memory : Make sure your motherboard fully supports the memory that you buy. Take into consideration parity, EDO, and such terms as that. It is usually best to consult the manufacturer of your motherboard to see which brands of memory are recommended. Although in most cases, generic SDRAM will work, some motherboards are pickier than others. When handling the memory, avoid touching the contacts. Try to get a motherboard that supports SDRAM, and then use SDRAM on it. If you have a motherboard that can take both EDO and SDRAM, remember that if you use EDO in the system, any SDRAM being used will be automatically slowed down to the EDO's slower speed. Also, keep in mind that it you are getting a more modern 100MHz bus speed board, you must get PC100 SDRAM, as regular SDRAM will not be stable enough. Along with this, buy a cache module if your motherboard does not already have it built on, which most today do.

Video Card :  Consider your main uses: business programs, or 3D gaming. If you are doing any graphical work or games with this system, you should buy a mid to high end video card.

Floppy Drive : Really very straightforward. Make sure it looks good and the pins are all intact. And don't be caught dead with a 5.25" floppy!

Hard Drive : Make sure it looks good. Always buy new, in my opinion. And make sure it has a manual. For price and compatibility, I'd stick with IDE. With IDE, though, make sure the drive is UDMA. But, if speed is your biggest concern, go for the SCSI interface. Keep in mind though that with SCSI you will have to purchase the additional hardware necessary for the SCSI bus. Also, get the largest drive you can afford. Many consider between 4 and 6 gigs standard, but keep in mind that most people find that they fill their drive up faster than they would expect. If you will be doing a lot of gaming, image editing or internet surfing, get a large drive.

CD-ROM : Make sure it has a driver installation disk. You will need to get this drive working quickly so that you can install the operating system. These drives are so cheap now, get a fast one:32X or faster. Oh, and make sure it is ATAPI compatible IDE. Some drives look like IDE drives, although they really use a proprietary interface, such as that used on some older Creative multimedia kits.

Keyboard & Mouse : Rather self-explanatory. Make sure the keyboard connector fits into the plug on the motherboard, otherwise you may need an adapter. Make sure the mouse works. And choose the right kind for your system: serial or PS/2. If you like, you can get fancy "Natural Keyboards", which are basically regular keyboards that are bent in the middle. It takes a while to get used to them, but they are nice. You can also get mice with various gizmos such as scroll wheels.

Heat Sink/ Fan : Get a heat sink and fan rated for the processor you intend to use. If it is not already attached to the CPU, you may need to pick up heat sink compound. Heat sink compound isn't needed on all systems due to clips on many heat sinks that attach them to tabs on the CPU socket. If your motherboard has a CPU fan power lead, get a fan that attaches to this. This way you don't take up a power supply lead.

Drive cables : Make sure you have all cables for connecting the hard drive, floppy drive, and CD-ROM to the I/O on the motherboard or I/O card. These cables usually are supplied with the motherboard or drive itself, but not always, and maybe not in the quantity you need.

Audio Cable : Usually, supplied with the CD-ROM, it connects your CD-ROM to your sound card directly.

Screws : Makes sure you have enough screws. Usually, an ample amount is supplied with your case. Make sure the screws are the right size. There are different sizes used for connecting card than for connecting drives, and if you try using a large screw on the drive, you'll crack the drive.

The above hardware is necessary to build the system and make it functional. Other hardware, while some can't live without it, is extra and will be discussed a little later. Some of this is the modem, or course, and the sound card. Additionally, some may opt for such hardware as ZIP drives, tape drives, DVD drives, etc.

STEP 2 : Remove System Case

This is a very easy step. Basically, you are just taking the cover off of your new case.

If you have a plain-jane case, you take a screwdriver and remove the six screws on the back of the case that lie on the edge of the case. Save the screws for later and put them in a place where they will not be scattered and can be easily found. After they are removed, the entire case cover comes off in one piece. With this design, the front of the case does not move. Only the top and sides come off as a cover.

In some cases, you may yank the front cover off and then unscrew the case cover from the front.

If you have a newer case, and possibly a more expensive case, it may come apart differently. The manufacturers of cases have made efforts to make cases "screwless". With this design, you usually take hold of the bottom of the front of the case and give it a nice solid yank. The front then pulls off. It is my experience that this usually requires a few tries and some muscle. The case is pretty durable. Then, the sides lift and slide off. And you just lift the top off. Your case, then, comes off in four pieces. Other such cases come apart the same way, but after you take the front off, the top and sides come off together.

Each case is a little different in how it comes apart. There are almost as many designs as there are companies that make them.

STEP 3 : Case Preparation

At this point, you should have the new case in front of you with the cover removed. Before you can use it for a new system, you must prepare it for use. Go through the following checklist to make sure it is prepared.

Now that the case is open, now is a good time to go through the screw supply provided with the case. These are usually held in a small plastic bag nestled inside the case. Inside this bag you should find:

Chassis screws - this is the type used to tighten down cards, etc.

Smaller screws - just like the chassis screws, just with a smaller diameter. It is used to fasten the motherboard in.

Standoffs - these are screws that are used to hold the motherboard about 1/8" from the motherboard mounting plate. Their ends have a threaded opening in them which accept the smaller chassis screws. If you have an AT case, you may find small white standoffs. These serve the same function as the metal standoff, but are simply punched through the board and slid into slots on the case. They are rather clumsy to use compared to the metal standoffs, but they get the job done.

Inspect Power Switch. Make sure the power switch is securely tightened and correctly connected to the power supply. With most AT cases, the power switch is already connected to the power supply by four wires. In ATX cases, the power switch will have one loose wire coming off of it. This wire will then connect to the Power Switch connector on the motherboard. The power supply should be attached to the power switch already and the connectors should be covered with electrical tape.

Install Feet. These are little tabs inserted into holes at the bottom of the case. The case sits on these tabs when on your desk. If the case has been used before or it is a more expensive case, this may not need to be done.

Install Case Fan. Sometimes, you may want to install a separate fan that screws onto a rack next to the vent on the front of the case. This helps increase circulation of air through the system. Make sure the fan is set to draw air into the case, not blow out. Many cases already have this installed, so you may not need to worry about it.

Configure the LED. The LED on the case operates completely separate from the actual speed of the system, so you can set that now. It is done with jumpers on the back of the LED. You will need the little manual that came with the case to do this right.

Install Slot Guards. Its really up to you if you want to do this now. You might want to wait until you have all expansion cards in place.

Remove Drive Face Plates. You can do this later if you want, but the protective face plates will need to be removed from the front of the case before you can install drives.

STEP 4 : Configure Your Motherboard

Its time to get your motherboard ready to install. The first step is to configure it. This is much easier than trying to configure it when already installed in the case.

Motherboards tend to be the most daunting obstacle in a first time builder's mind. But, they should not be. They are actually pretty easy to configure and set up, as long as you can do a few basic things. The first thing is to be able to read the manual and understand what it is saying. If there are any words or concepts in the manual which you do not understand, look them up. This is very important, as not really understanding what is going on can lead to dumb mistakes.

Second, you need to know how to manipulate a jumper. First undertand that a motherboard is very configurable. This is done so that it can work with different processors, etc. The settings the board uses are governed by which circuits are carrying electricity. Now, we have the jumper, which is nothing more than a pair of pins, each carrying an electric current. When these pins are left in a non-connected state, then the small pastic cap is not placed over them and the circuit is broken. Thus, whatever setting that particular jumper controls is off. This state is called "uncapped" or simply "off". Now, if you place the cap over the two pins, then the circuit is complete, and the configuration of the board changes accordingly. That is the theory behind a jumper.

Now, in the real world, jumpers can be more than two pins. Sometimes a particular jumper, labeled JP1 or something similar, can consist of three or more pins. In this case, the manual will tell you which pins to uncap and which to cap in order to set a particlar setting. As long as you understand the manual, you're in good shape.

Configuring your motherboard usually requires setting jumpers on the motherboard according to the CPU you plan on putting on it. I say "usually" because not all boards use jumpers. Some make use of DIP Switches. Other newer boards are jumperless, making use of a system called SoftMenu, in which the settings that are normally set with jumpers or DIPs are set in a special CMOS type program. If the motherboard you are installing is jumperless, you can basically skip this step because it will have to be done later. You might want to read through it, though, because even the "jumperless" design has a few jumpers and you will need to know what you are doing even with the jumperless design.

You need to have the manual for your board available. If you do not have the manual, log on to the manufacturer's web site and see if you can find this info there. You can also try their tech support via phone. In some cases, too, some of the jumper settings are printed onto the surface of the motherboard. If you don't have any of this info, you are just out of luck. Unfortunately, you must have some form of documentation available simply because motherboards have so many settings to adjust.

Motherboard manuals come in two main formats. Some are friendly for hardware buffs by listing a separate jumper or DIP switch for CPU core voltage, I/O voltage, multiplier, and system bus speed. They then tell you the settings for each of these. This format is better because of the increased control. Other manuals list the settings next to a list of commonly used CPU's, showing the common settings for each. While this format is easier for the end user for easy setup, it is tougher if you like increased control of the settings, for overclocking for example. The best manuals do both: list the jumper setting individually as well as provide a list of processors and the jumper settings for each.

There are few things to be careful of. When setting the processor speed via the jumpers, use the processors TRUE speed. If your chip is rated with the P-rating system, it does not run at this speed. The P-rating is simply a comparison to the Intel chip. Such an example is the Cyrix 6x86MX-233. This chip has a P-rating of 233MHz, but actually runs at 187.5MHz.

When playing with the board, be careful with it. It is usually best to place it on the static bag it was in when setting the jumpers. Always place the board on a flat surface, not carpet or anything like that. And always ground yourself before handling the board. When handling the board, handle it by the edges only when at all possible.

Here is the basic procedure:

Read the Manual. Always. Read the listings for settings and locate all jumpers on the motherboard itself and what settings they control.

Set the voltage settings. Most older chips use one single voltage. The newer chips we use today use a split voltage. Most newer motherboards provide jumpers for the core voltage and I/O voltage. Set them to match your intended CPU. If you are using an older chip with one voltage, just set both voltages to be the same. For more info on processor voltage and a table of common CPU voltages. Some boards are designed to detect the voltage automatically and then use the correct voltage. In this case, you will not have to worry about it.

Set the processor speed. This is not usually done with a single jumper. It is, instead, done by setting the system bus speed and a multiplier. The multiplier is the number which when multiplied by the system bus speed gives the processor speed. There is a separate jumper for each of these settings. Configure these to match the intended CPU. You can sometimes infer from the manual which switches control voltage, multiplier, etc. Also, watch for chips that use different multiplier settings than they actually use. For example, many 233MHz chips use a 3.5x multiplier, but since some boards don't offer this option, they interpret the 1.5x multiplier to be 3.5x. So, set the bus speed first. Most CPU's are designed to operate on the 66MHz bus, although many choose to operate higher than this. After this, set the multiplier. This will depend on the CPU you are using. For example, let's say you are installing a Pentium II-266. You set a bus speed of 66MHz. In order to run the processor at its intended speed of 266MHz, you must set a 4.0x multiplier. 66MHz X 4.0 = 266MHz .