For the purpose of this build, I used :
- MSI Motherboard
- AMD Atholon 3.0 GHz processor
- Alaska Thermal Compound
- 512MB RAM
- 500w Ezcool PSU
- Nvidia Geforce 7200 Graphics card.
- Maxtor 160GB Hard Drive
- Icute ATX Case.
- Unsure of make and model of DVD drive.
(ATX is a style of motherboard and case. You may see on some components ATX. This just means they are compatible with a ATX style motherboard and case.)
Part 1: Tools and Preparation
First you need to make sure, you have all the components, all the tools you may need and that you have a work area, preferably one where there is plenty of space and where you will not get disturbed.
A good idea is to lay everything out, tools and components etc.
You should have the following, (things marked with a star are optional, although though they are highly recommended )
- A good set of screw drivers
- A telescopic screw driver (*)
- Thermal Compound (*Only optional if CPU come with thermal compound on it)
- Full set of screws (Usually included with case)
- Instruction manuals for all components
- Motherboard
- CPU
- PSU
- Hard Drive
- RAM
- Graphics Card (*)
- DVD Drive
- IDE or SATA Cables.
- Case
Make sure you have everything here, after you've checked everything we can move onto the actual build.
Part 2: The Build
Section A: Earthing
Before you take any components out of their boxes or do anything other than get your tools out, make sure you ground yourself. This is to make sure any static electricity you have will not blow out the components. You can buy bracelets and matt's to do this, but I find a simpler and cheaper way is; if you have a radiator that has pipe's going under your floor as shown below(e.g. Central heating not electric) , then go over and place both hands on it for above 5 seconds then take them off. It can be a good idea to repeat this intermittently throughout the built.
This is a alternative soultion to problems with static while building a pc. It was provided by Mermandamus.
QUOTE (Mermandamus @ Aug 10 2008, 07:11 AM) 
Just a word on static electricity!!!
If you raise your hand above your head, you will generate approx 10,000 volts of static electricity. If you are not already grounded, the electricity will stay with you until you ground yourself.
Easiest and most effective way to do this if you are building a PC is to install the PSU into a case. Make sure the power is OFF on the PSU and then plug it into the mains. The case is now Grounded / Earthed, just ensure that you have a hand or part of your body touching the case before and while handling the components.
Another option is to get a 3 pin plug, attach a 1-2 metre wire to the earth pin and an alligator clip to the other end of it.
Plug it in, attach the clip to the case.
Note that I am in New Zealand and our sockets may differ from other countries. I have used this technique since the days of 8086's.
I hope this helps others.
If you raise your hand above your head, you will generate approx 10,000 volts of static electricity. If you are not already grounded, the electricity will stay with you until you ground yourself.
Easiest and most effective way to do this if you are building a PC is to install the PSU into a case. Make sure the power is OFF on the PSU and then plug it into the mains. The case is now Grounded / Earthed, just ensure that you have a hand or part of your body touching the case before and while handling the components.
Another option is to get a 3 pin plug, attach a 1-2 metre wire to the earth pin and an alligator clip to the other end of it.
Plug it in, attach the clip to the case.
Note that I am in New Zealand and our sockets may differ from other countries. I have used this technique since the days of 8086's.
I hope this helps others.
Section B: The Motherboard
The first stage is to mount the motherboard into the case. Most cases nowadays with come with small screws the go into the case and that the motherboard sits on top of, this is just to help air flow. However before you screw the motherboard in check the heatsink of your CPU and see if there is a plastic bracing that needs attached to the motherboard. If so put this in place first. Then if you have them, put these screws into the case first, then place the motherboard so as that the screws in the case and the holes on motherboard line up correctly, then move it to the side a little till the screen and sound ports are sticking out the back of the case, normally your motherboard will come with a new metal plate to put into the back of the case, but this is always necessary.
Once the motherboard has been mounted it sound look like this:
Section C: The Power Supply Unit (PSU)
This is probably the easiest step as all that is required is to put your PSU into the slot at top of case, with cable hanging inside the case and the fan pointing towards the motherboard (not all PSU's have fan's. Don't worry if yours doesn't.) Then you simple screw it into place with 4 screws on the out- side of the case.
Section D: The CPU and Heatsink
This is the most delicate part. First take your CPU out of the box, and examine it for a little arrow. Once you found this arrow look for one on the CPU holder on the motherboard. Make sure the holder is in the open position (usually a metal bar, in the upright position) and carefully insert the CPU being VERY careful to match up both the arrows. Then hook it in place.
WARNING: IF YOU LOCK IT IN PLACE WITHOUT THE ARROWS BEING LINED UP IT WILL MORE THAN LIKELY BEND THE PINS AND RENDER THE CPU USELESS.
Next check if you heatsink has any thermal compound on it, (this looks a bit like silver paint and is on the bottom) if it does, you can skip the next paragraph although be careful to remove the bit of protective plastic before mounting.
Get the syringe with the thermal compound in and and push the plunger till a blob about the size of your little finger is on CPU. Then slowly and carefully spread it out, being sure to make it equal.
Lastly put the heatsink in place, screwing into the mount you fitted earlier. Make sure you connect the CPU fan the the correct slot on the motherboard, it varies from motherboard to motherboard but it will usually be a three pin connector and will always be labelled.
Section E: Fitting RAM
Look for two coloured strip with white latches on the end, usually next to the CPU, (sometimes there are four, in this case two will be of one colour and two another.). This is where the RAM goes. All you have to do is put in into the slot, it will only fit one way, close the latch on one side, then apply slight pressure to the stick and close the latch on the other side. If you have two sticks of RAM just repeat the process, it's a good idea if there is 4 slots to put one stick in one colour and one in the other, this will make it work as Dual Interleaved.
Section F: The Graphics Card
The graphics card I am fitting is a PCI model, your might be a PCI – Express, if so the theory is the same you'll just be fitting it in the smaller slot.
Find the slot at the bottom of your motherboard and push the graphics card into it with the metal bar on the outside. Then screw it to the case at the top.
Section G: DVD Drive
This will slide into the case from the front. Some cases require that you remove the front of the case, if so do this first. Don't be afraid to apply pressure, they can be stiff. Once the front of the case is removed simply slide in the drive and line up the holes in the drive with the holes in the case and screw into position. Then refit the front of case.
Section H: The Hard Drive
The fits in much the same way the DVD drive did, the only difference being you slot it in from the inside of the case rather than outside. Screw it in and your ready to start connecting everything.
Section I: Connection The Jumpers
Jumpers and the small cables, with plastic connectors on the end that send messages from the case to the motherboard, for example, Power Button, Reset Switch, Hard Drive Light.
Look up the page on jumper settings in your motherboard manual, and follow the instructions. Every motherboard is different so I can't write a generic guide. When finished it should look something like this.
Section J: Connecting the Power
This is just a matter of putting the cables coming from the PSU, into the correct slots, they will only fit one slot so there isn't much of a problem. Just remember to connect everything.
- Two into motherboard
- One into hard drive
- One in DVD drive
- One into each fan, (sometimes fan's have a splitter that means if your short on connectors then you can splice the fan into the DVD drive circuit for example. This is O.K but where possible connect the fan straight to PSU.
Section K: Connecting Cables
Lastly you need to fit the IDE or SATA cables from the hard drive and DVD drive to the motherboard. They only fit in one way so again this is very simple. If both are IDE make sure you put the hard drive in the IDE 1 slot on motherboard, it will be marked. If you are fitting two DVD drives, then make sure one is set to slave.
Your PC should now be complete, and should look something like this,
Before you screw the case back together and turn it on make sure that there are no cables that might stop the CPU fan from spinning and that the CMOS, is set to the correct position. Again for CMOS settings look up the motherboard manual.
Part 3: Terms
Below is a list of some basic terms you may come across during a build.
ATX – Advanced Technology Extended,
CPU – Central Processing Unit
RAM – Random Access Memory
ROM – Read Only Memory
O/S – Operating System
BIOS – Basic Input Output System
CMOS - Complementary Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor
MOBO – Slang term for Motherboard
Heatsink – A large piece of metal that will transfer heat away from a micro chip
PSU – Power Supply Unit
GHz – The value in which processors are measured in
GB – The value in which hard drives are measured in (Giga Byte)
MB – 1024 Mega Bytes in a Gigabyte
USB – Universal Serial Bus
Ethernet Port – The connecting into which a broadband modem or network goes into.
Firewire – An alternative connection to ethernet, may also be known as I.LINK
Any comments, or suggest please PM me. Criticism happily accepted.
Visit my other guides.
How To Install Windows
Internet Security: The Basics
very nice guide,