I have searched and searched for a good tutorial on building a pc.. I have read very many.. but i just seen to be confused

maybe its because im a gfx attic and im used to seeing visuals with what im doing.

Doeas anyone know of a site or doeas anyone have a link to a good tutorial showing you step by step and also including some images on how to build a pc.

Im looking to take this first time challenge on my own. I have been given a very nicce good ATI mother board, to tell you the truth i have no idea which is it,, ill have to check the box, but i know the retai l price was about 200, but prices doesnt mean anything.. either way.. I have that I have a case well I have to differnt cases, im not sure which opne it fits in yet. I also have a 80 gig hardrive, but im still needing ram memory and someone told me I definately need to get a good cpu processor,, some of the stuff i know what it is.. other stuff i have no clue but shdow me an image and i can say yuup i got that..

thnx in advance

EDIT: I posted this in the wrong section sorry please move topic thnx.

This post has been edited by garbage: Jul 9 2006, 08:34 PM

Sounds like you don't have a lot of experience with building a pc.

I'll write a mini-tutorial here for you. And yes, I really am writing it, not copying it from somewhere.

Here are the main components of a PC:

The Case

This is perhaps the most simple of the components, it has no electronics except maybe a power supply, some fans, and very rarely a thermal display.

The Power Supply

Here is the power supply, a component that you shouldn't have to do much with but put in the case if it isn't included already. If you're planning on running a Crossfire system with two ATI video cards, you want to have at least a 600 watt one.

The Motherboard (or Mobo)

This is the heart and soul of your computer. Everything you add will get connected to this. Most motherboards are of the ATX form factor, which means that if you have a case that supports an ATX factor motherboard, then you're all set and almost guaranteed that the motherboard will fit inside the case. An ATX form factor motherboard is 12"x 9.6"(30.5cm x 24.5cm).

The Central Processing Unit (or CPU)

This is the chip that does most of the brute calculation work for your pc. The faster the CPU, the faster your computer will be. Speeds are measured in Megahertz (MHz) and Gigahertz (GHz) one GHz is equivalent to 1,000 MHz. You have a choice of either Intel or AMD for your processor, depends on which you like better, but it doesn't really matter. If you have the cash to spend, buy a dual core processor.

The Memory (or RAM)

RAM stands for Random Access Memory. Whenever the CPU has data it doesn't want to write to the hard drive, it stores it in RAM for quick access. Typically, the more RAM the better. An average amout of ram you'll want in your computer nowadays is 1GB. 512mb is considered the minimum requirement for effectively being able to run Windows XP. 1Gb = 1000Mb. Most motherboards these days support DDR2 RAM which is faster than old DDR, check to see which your motherboard supports.

The Video Card

This piece of hardware is one of the most important if you are going to be doing a lot of PC gaming, or any other 3D-intensive work. The Video Card has its own CPU, called the GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) and its own RAM. The speed and quantity of these vary from video card to video card, but you want one with at least 128mb of video ram if you're going to be doing anything remotely serious with 3D. If you're building the PC primarily for Web browsing, web design, and e-mail, you'd be safe with a less expensive and less powerful video card. Most video cards are designed to use the PCI express system for connecting to your motherboard. Be sure and read what kind of graphics card your motherboard supports. Since you have an ATI motherboard, you'll most likely want to look into an ATI graphics card.

The Hard Drive

This is where most of the data in your computer is going to be stored. Since you already have one, I won't go into all that much detail. For the typical user, 80Gb will be enough, but if you spend a little more time on the computer, you will realize that quickly fills up. I have a combined total of 200Gb of hard drive space on my computer and it's getting full pretty quick.

The Optical Drives

These are your DVD drives, CD drives, DVD burners, CD burners, etc. I'd reccommend getting a combo drive that burns both CDs and DVDs, just in case. Most burners are also readers, so that should take care of everything.

So there you have it. Besides the exterior components like a monitor, speakers, mouse, and keyboard, there are most of the components of your PC.

Next I'll look for a good assembly tutorial and edit it in later.

go to your motherboard maufacture website and look up the spec for you motherboad. Look for what type of ram your motherboard support: e.g. pc2700. Usually you could get anything higher than pc2700 to work (backward compatible), for example, i could use pc4000 on my motherboard that supports pc2700.

Check to see if your motherboard support either SATA hdd (newer type of hard drive) or IDE HDD. Most likely it will support IDE hdd. Also, check your HDD to see if it's either IDE or SATA. Look for ide hdd and sata hdd picture on google if you don't know what it looks like.

Of course, the most important thing is to find at right processor. If your motherboard supports socket 478, that means it supports pentium 4 or intel celeron processor. If they don't tell you specifically what kind of cpu your motherboard supports, then google for the SOCKET TYPE.

Most motherboard are in ATX format. ATX board can only fit in an ATX (you don't really need a case for a computer to work by the way).

Also, find out what kind of card slots your motherboard supports. E.g. PCI, PCI express, AGP, etc.

Note: AGP is use for AGP graphic card only.

After you have all the required parts: hdd, ide cable (IF YOU HAVE AN IDE HDD), CPU, Compatible CPU fan, motherboard, ram, cd-rom drive, power supply, graphic card (if you motherboard doesn't have an intergrated graphic card, and a computer case.

First step: Assembling a computer within a case. You can skip this step if you don't use a case

Make sure that you case is an ATX case. Usually when you buy a new empty case, it should come with power supply. You need an ATX power supply or a power supply with 20 pins (this usually comes with an ATX case so you don't have to worry so much about it)

There should be holds inside the case where you mount your motherboard in. Try to match those holds to the holds on your motherboard. Use the screws that came with the case and mount your motherboard onto the case.

Next step is to install you Processor if you haven't already. Lift the lever up so you could insert the CPU. When you buy your cpu, buy the one that comes with a heatsink or CPU fan because it will make your computer much quieter. Mount the CPU fan onto of the CPU; make sure it's stable and won't fall of when you move your case. For more infomation on how to install a CPU, look at the manual that came with it. Make sure you connect the power for your heatsink.

Next is to install your ram. There is nothing much for me to say here.

After installing the ram, mount your cd-rom drive and hdd into their spot. If you are planning on just using 1 ide cable (maximum number of drives is two), set the jumper on your hdd to MASTER and your cd-rom DRIVE to SLAVE. Connect the ide cable to both drives and connect the other end to the motherboard. There should be two IDE slots on your motherboard, connect it to the PRIMARY ide or sometimes IDE 0.

If you are planning on using two ide cable, set both drives to MASTER and connect each drive on a seperate IDE cable. Connect the other ends of the two ide cable to the motherboard. The ide cable that is connected to the hdd, make sure it is plugged into the PRIMARY IDE slot on the mother board and the one with the cd-rom drive into the SECONDARY IDE slot.

If your motherboard doesn't have a video card intergrated, then you must buy a seperate graphic card. Graphic card depends on what your motherboard supports. If your motherboard has AGP slots and PCI slots, you might want to buy an AGP graphic card because it has a faster speed compare to PCI. If you have a PCI express card, then that's completely different. You might need to use a little force to get the graphic card into its slot.

Do the same thing as you did to the graphic card with the other cards that you might want to install like a modem and a ethernet (for networking).

Check your manual for ways to connect your case power/reset botton to the motherboard.

That is all the basic steps to build a computer.

If you couldn't get your computer to work for some reason, check your motherboard manual to see if there is any jumper on the motherboard that you need to set.

Last step is to connect the power connectors to all your drives and motherboard. Use the 20pins power connector to connect to your motherboard and a 4pins power connector to all your drives (except for your floppy drive).


Plug the power cable to your power supply and monitor to your VGA port and make sure the monitor is turned on. Turn on your computer, go into your bio or look at the bootup menu to see if your computer detects all drives. If it does, then great, your computer is working; if it doesn't, then you probably set your jumper on the drives wrong or maybe a defected ide cable. Just try to resolve the problem by making sure all cable is completely plugged in all the way. If you tried everything and it doesn't work, try to go into your computer BIOS by pressing F2, delete, or f12 on the first startup menu and make sure your IDE device is set to Auto detect.

If everything is working, the next step you need to do is install an operating system or OS. Microsoft Window XP is the most used operating system and easy to use so you might want to install that. There are other OS, but it's for advanced users.

To install microsoft window XP, you need to first go into your BIOS setting and set your "BOOT ORDER" to CD-ROM first. Make sure you save your changes and reboot the computer. Insert the window OS cd into the CD-rom drive. Wait till it says "Please press any key to start boot up disc" or something like that. Follow the instructions after you boot up the disc. If your hdd if brand new, when window ask to you FORMAT your computer, select "Format in NTFS" -- it is recommanded to not use quick format if it's the first time your hdd has been formated.

After window format your hdd, it will start copying files which will take awhile. When window finished coping files, it will reboot the computer. This time, do not press anything until it boot up to the window INSTALLATION screen. Follow the instructions and you will soon be on your way to your new fully working computer.


Note: SOmetimes windows doesn't automatically have all the drivers to your computer so some device might not work. Check to see which device that isn't working, and go to that device maunfacture website and download the DRIVER for windows XP.


SOrry if the way i put it is confusing. IT's a long post after all..

thnx fellas this helps out a bit...

These links should help you out a bit:

Build your own PC at PC Mechanic
(Click on the steps on the right side of the page.)
This is a very thorough guide to help you build your own PC.

Build your own PC from Tom's Hardware
Another thorough guide to help you. If you can't find the help you need with these two links, I don't know who can help you.

thnx arrow those are good links..

also i have already begun to build so im hoping everything is going good.. id hate to ruin something

Those are interesting links... I mean... I had never heard about a site like this before... I'm currently doing a computer science university and one of my friends doesn't know anything about computer (doesn't know why in hell is he doing this matter) and I will pass this links ahead to him... I'm from Brazil and he doesn't speak english very well so I hope he can understand it =D... Well, I also don't speak english very well however I can understand it a bit =D ... Thanks for those website links... As they have helped me I'm sure they will help you... Do you know any website teaching you how to do casemods? Begginer / Intermediate / Advanced? Thanks in advance!

Case modding:

http://www.gruntville.com/howtos/index.php

http://www.casemodgod.com/howto.htm

http://guides.pcapex.com/#Modding

http://www.twistedmods.com/article.php?secid=1

Enjoy!