Building a computer is technical, but not difficult.
Buying a prebuilt computer is undoubtedly simpler than building your own, but many computer owners opt to build their rig from the ground up. While there are both advantages and disadvantages to building a computer at home, the process of building a computer requires nothing more than a little bit of technical know-how, some compliant parts and the ability to follow simple instructions. Once the builder has everything needed to start building the computer, putting it together is often as simple as snapping the parts into place.
Instructions
1. Ensure parts compliance by buying parts with like pin or socket numbers. Pin numbers determine compatibility between motherboards, processors and memory. Socket numbers change frequently and determine parts' compatibility. While higher pin numbers mean greater processing speed, socket numbers do not influence system performance.
2. Buy a chassis and power supply. A good chassis is space-efficient, sturdy plastic or aluminum, and has sufficient room inside and air flow. A good power supply is 550 watts or greater.
3. Gather all of the parts and check for defects. Broken and chipped parts, bent or missing pins, and missing cords are all defects. Computer parts are individually warrantied and can be exchanged.
4. Lay the chassis on a solid, flat surface and remove the side panel. Most side panels are held on with small screws, but some, such as the chassis sold by Alienware, are magnetic.
5. Lay the motherboard in the chassis, line up the screw holes in the mother board with those in the chassis frame and anchor the motherboard to the chassis with screws.
6. Insert the processor in the motherboard's processor socket. The socket is square with numerous pin holes. Attach the heat sink to the processor chip and screw or clip the heat sink into place. Apply thermal paste between the processor and heat sink for additional cooling.
7. Install the system memory. Memory slots are long narrow slots with clips at each end. Line the memory up with the memory slot and apply even pressure to snap it into place.
8. Insert the video card into either the PCI or AGP slot, depending upon the video card's connectors. The PCI and AGP slots are long narrow slots, often with a clip on one end, located several inches below the processor socket.
9. Slide the hard drive into the case and secure to the mounting brackets with small screws. Attach the SATA ribbon and power cables from the power supply to the hard drive.
10. Remove the DVD drive slot's snap-on cover, insert the DVD drive into the case and secure it to the mounting bracket with small screws. Plug the DVD drive into the motherboard with the SATA ribbon and power cables.
11. Plug the system in and turn it on. The system should boot, assuming all of the parts are correctly installed.
Tags: drive into, heat sink, into place, power supply, small screws, with small, with small screws