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sdmike
March 17th, 2007, 12:38 AM
Hi guys I just finished an article on how to build a computer. Could you guys review it and give some feedback on it. I just want to make sure this would make sense for a person who has never built a computer before.

Future Thanks!

The article is below:

First off make sure you read my article on saving money on parts before you get started.

Now when building a computer you need these parts:

• computer case
• Power Supply
• Motherboard
• RAM
• CPU
• CPU Cooler
• DVD Drive
• Hard Drive
• Video Card
• Thermal paste
• Extra fans if your case doesn’t have enough
• Sound card if your mother board doesn’t have onboard sound.
• Static wrist band (optional)
• Needle nose pliers
• #'2 Phillips-head (cross-shaped) screwdriver
• Grounding Mat or anti-static carpet (optional)
Having another computer really helps because if you get stuck on a procedure it is to go on the internet to research or swap parts you think might be defective.

Beginning the project
Now the only reason why I say it’s optional to have the anti static wrist band or matt is because when I build my computers I never use it but if you want to be extra careful just do it.
Start by putting your case down on your work surface, with the side opposite the case door facing down, and open the case.

Motherboard
Look for the case/mother board nuts. They screw into the case and have holes in the top so you can screw the mother board on top of them. They are usually brass and and really small, you can’t miss them.
All motherboards come with a metal shield which goes on the back of the case where your motherboard ports stick out. The metal shield stops dust, insects, and other creepy things from getting inside. So pop off the one that is on the case and put in the metal shield from your motherboard which is costumed designed to fit the ports on your motherboard. Make sure you pop it into place so you have a tight fit. Also there are clips that go over the internal parts of the ports in the inside. So make sure you bend the clips up a bit so it makes good fit.
Most of the cases I have worked on make it difficult to put in the mother board or cpu cooler because the power supply is in the way. So here’s a tip take out the power supply or if you bought one put it in last. This will make putting in the mother board or CPU cooler way easy to install.
When looking at the inside of the case you can see tons of holes. These holes are where those brass nuts screw into. So make sure you hover you motherboard over the holes so you can see exactly where the brass nuts screw into. So you have a correct fit.
Now place the mother board on top of the nuts but also make sure the ports or also comfortably snug in the plate before you screw the mother board down onto the brass nuts. Just take your time and try not to scratch up the motherboard or lose your cool. If for some reason there are places where you can’t screw down the motherboard no worries just keep on moving a few holes doesn’t hurt anything.
Make sure when you screw the mother board down, YOU DON’T SCREW THEM IN SUPER HARD. If you screw them down too hard you could crack the motherboard.
Motherboard is now in and secure now we move forward to putting in the CPU.

CPU (Central Processing Unit)
The CPU could be the hardest part to install in the computer but make sure your CPU fits the mother exactly. What I mean is make sure the Socket model of the motherboard fits the Socket of your CPU. Now they are different installation instructions for different sockets. So just refer to the motherboards instructions on this one. Keep this is mind when putting in the CPU, it should just drop in. So make sure the pins or the fit lines up so it drops in easily.
There are things that could possibly go wrong. So let me share what has happened to me in the past so they don’t happen to you. Make sure your cooler is snug and fits because a hot CPU will shut off. Make sure not to bend the motherboard because that can affect the computer not booting up too.
Cooling the CPU
There are tons of CPU cooling technology out there so don’t get overwhelmed. First ask yourself am I going to be a power user or just using this computer for basic use. If you answered power user look for liquid cooling or new technology to keep your CPU the coolest it can be. If you said basic use, use the CPU fan that came with the CPU or just get a basic fan.
Overall I like liquid cooling because it’s silent and keeps your CPU really cool. But then again make sure you go onto the sites I listed on my Home Page and research or talk to other guys on the forum and see what is the best CPU cooling technology you can get.

RAM (Random Access Memory)
Ram in my opinion is a breeze to install but there some things to keep in mind before you complete this task. If you pick a certain size of RAM make sure you take that size and divide it by two. So if you want to get two gigabytes of RAM buy two sticks of one gigabytes of RAM. Most motherboards have dual channel technology which takes full advantage of your RAM. So you always want to get two sticks of Ram. Make sure when you install the RAM you start with the 0 slot and work your way over.
When installing the RAM make sure the clips are up and the ram should slide in gently then pop in the clips and you’re done.
Now if you are having trouble with the REMEMBER do not force it down. You might have the RAM in backwards. When you look at a stick of RAM you can see an indent in it and when you look at the RAM slot you can see a piece sticking up close by the middle where the RAM indent would fit into.
Now that the RAM is in lets put back in the Power Supply.

Power supply
Installing you power supply is another easy install. Screw it into the case and make sure it is in snug. Now your power supply has 2 major cables among other cables. The first cable is a 20 or 24 pin cable which is the main power to the motherboard. Then the second connection is a four pin collection which is usually by the CPU socket. The other cables are for your drives (i.e. DVD burner or CD driver) or any other thing inside that needs power like a video card.

Video card
If you have an AGP or PCI Express video card: Install the video card into the AGP or PCI Express socket. This is always the top expansion slot above the rest of the PCI slots. AGP or PCI Express slots are usually strange colors such as brown or fluorescent green. Make sure to secure the card to the case by screwing it in. If there’s a power connector connect it to the power supply.
When getting a video card it’s well worth it to get a PCI Express video card because PCI Express technology is replacing AGP video cards. PCI Express is faster than AGP and there fore will give your computer better performance.

Installing drive jumpers
Installing SATA drives is easy. On the motherboard you may have 2-4 or more SATA connectors. Just install the drives in order of when you want them to boot. So of course you want your main hard drive to be in SATA1.
When you install IDE drives you have to use jumpers. Jumpers are small cube shaped plastic pieces that have 2 holes with a piece of metal in the middle. Each hard drive has a certain place where the jumper goes to make it a master or slave drive. So make sure you look at your IDE hard drive’s diagram to see where you should put the jumper to make it a slave or master.

Installing drives
Next install the hard drive and optical drives.
There are two ways you can install a drive. One way is screwing it in on both sides. It helps to remove both panels of the computer case so you can accomplish this. The second way is using this plastic strips that slap onto the slides of the drive then you slide the drive into the bay and it clicks in. The second way is my favorite.

When installing the drive just plug in the power connector, and the SATA connector or the IDE connector. If you are installing a DVD burner or CD burner there are usually some cables you can plug into the drive into your sound card but I don’t really hassle with it because it isn’t really necessary in this day of age.

If you are still using that old floppy drive the floppy cable looks very similar to the IDE cable and usually has its own special plug-in on the board next to the IDE connections. Installing the floppy drive is the same as installing any other drive.

PCI Connections
This is the part when you install the extra things you need into your PC. So if you need to install you Sound Card, TV Tuner, an extra horizontal fan, or maybe a wireless card. These would all go into your PCI slots which are usually located below your Video Card. Installing these guys are as simple as pushing them into the slots and screwing them into the case.

Power up
Now it’s time to power up your PC. Just press the power button on the case and your computer should.

If your computer doesn’t boot do not freak out. Most computers I have built never boot up on the first time because of something really simple. So just go over all of your installations to see if you have everything right.
Sometimes it’s best not to install the extra PCI connections to see if maybe those are affecting your boot. For example a bad TV Tuner card stopped my computer from booting up. So stick with the basics if this problem occurs.

Extra Info
Now that your computer is running and in working order remember you want your computer to be cool. Cool computer equals happy and best performing computer. So make sure you have enough fans in the computer. If you can get silent fans those will keep your computer silent and will not drive you mad.

Make sure your wires in the computer are organized and zip tide and kept away from other fans or working parts. This keeps the inside of the computer looking clean, it makes further upgrades easier to do and you could also say that it makes better airflow inside of the computer more efficient.

If you are using IDE cables get the rounder cylinder shaped cables because they have better conduction and look neater inside of the case.

Don’t be afraid to try new things to better the performance of your computer. Whether it would be new cooling technology or anything else just research it and try it out.

Have fun with your computer. Customize it to fit your personality.

OS and Drivers
Now that we have a working computer install your favorite Operating system. Once that is done install the software and drivers that came with your hardware so everything is working at its full potential. Then sit back and enjoy your computer.

Now was that so hard!

afljafa
March 17th, 2007, 01:14 AM
You didn`t connect the power supply. You also forgot the Power, Reset and HDD leds.

kerry_s
March 17th, 2007, 01:14 AM
I would add a little something about preassembling the motherboard parts out side the case. It can be a little tight to put the cpu and fan and ram. Some of the newer fans even require you to put a bracket under the motherboard. Plus it's easier to see that everything is firmly seated. Also i think it could use some reordering, you want the power supply to go in first(Yes, i had a friend actually dropped his on the motherboard, broke it).

Static, tell them to at lest ground them selves, that means touching something thats grounded.

Tie straps, not required but always handy. A mention.

Tell them "READ THE MANUAL OR INSTRUCTIONS" before they touch anything.

I would mention not to forget the thermal paste in the cpu section.


Other wise simple and good enough, experience is the best teacher.

Daveski
March 17th, 2007, 01:42 AM
Nice little section on Ubuntu on your site. ;-)

mmmichael
March 17th, 2007, 01:47 AM
First off make sure you read my article on saving money on parts before you get started.

Where can we find this article?

sdmike
March 17th, 2007, 01:52 AM
Where can we find this article?

right HERE (http://www.urinsane.com/building_pcs.html)

daynah
March 17th, 2007, 04:22 AM
I've built a computer before, and I can say I will come back to this article for my next computer to do a little check list, as it's been years. But I can confidently say that I would not be able to follow this article if this were my first time building my computer.

When I first built my computer, I didn't know that there were SATA and IDE harddrives (actually, I don't think there WERE SATA drives, but besides the point, I didn't know what IDE was either, I just plugged the fat thing into the long thing).

Writing "how to build a computer" for actual first time idiots really takes a book, with lots of pictures, so I wouldn't rewrite it. But I would be aware that this isn't going to be for complete total n00bs. And though I wouldn't advertise it as "Not for n00bs" (never advertise in the negative! They may be very smart), maybe say something like "Quick Guide to Building a Computer." The people who need an in depth guide will know to look somewhere else, the people who will be burdened by tons of pictures and "This is what a hard drive looks like!" will know they're at the right place.

Also, your word choice in some areas is a little vague. I realize that both a DVD drive and a Harddrive can both be referred to as a just... "drive" but when writing an article, you should probably put the respective adjective for said drive... every single time.

Even if the article isn't for n00bs, remember that pictures do make a webpage prettier.

Also, a word on advertising... You're using a type of advertising that I sincerely don't like. In the end, it is of course your choice, but type of advertising makes it tricky for users to navigate. Visitors have to think about what's a link to, to them, spam, and what's a link to content, and the more thinking to a visitor means they're going to get frustrated and leave.

As much as I hated getting my weekly internet newsletter, and this week nearly ALL of it was about Google (they're going to take over!) Google Adsense is the best type ever. I would work on your content, without ads, for a while, build up consistent visitors, add a Google Rank Monitor Widget (or whatever you firefox fanboys have) to your browser, and then when you think you have a high enough rank, apply for it. No one knows what rank you need, and no one knows how much you'll make. But ads that don't jump out at the eye, and don't try to trick you, seem to to work better. Who knows why, some sorta honest salesman thing. I'm sure there are other ad programs that look like google adsense, so go ahead and use those till you get into adsense.

But please lose the tricksters!

Now... in your sidebar you have a link to pricegrabber. I know when I installed opera, there was a link to pricegrabber that had opera as the referral (assumingly opera would get some kind of money for me clicking the bookmark). I don't know if that's a corporate only thing, but you may want to get pricegrabber and those other sites out since you're already linking them.

Also, I think it looks better for SEO (and just to the human eye's spam filter), if the links on the eye don't have the ".com". For example, have "Price Grabber" instead of "pricegrabber.com." Even if it is the correct name of the store, you're not getting audited on this.

I hope at least some of these things help.

sdmike
March 17th, 2007, 06:06 AM
Thanks for the feedback guys. This helps alot. I will try do pics once I'm done.

sdmike
March 17th, 2007, 11:17 PM
So I took everything you guys said into consideration. I got pics and corrected a bunch of stuff. My article is being review again and once it is done I shall pot it here again.

sdmike
March 20th, 2007, 01:57 AM
It's finally done. So check it out and bookmark it for future use. So click HERE (http://www.urinsane.com/how_to_build_a_pc.html) to check it out

ixus_123
March 20th, 2007, 03:16 AM
Well done.

I never wear a static strap, no one I know wears one, BUT for teh purposes of publishing an article it's worth mentioning it & static if only to cover your back :)