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Tips
& Techniques For Building Your Own PC
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 First
things first. What do you need to build a computer? Believe us, it's not as
complicated as it seems. Let's start with the case. The variety is staggering,
with hundreds of styles, shapes and sizes available. We recommend that you
look closely at the features. Some gorgeous PC
cases are nightmares to work with, or are cheaply built. Get the best case
you can afford, we recommend you ask for "tool-less" case design, which
enables you to click---open, click---closed. Most cases and motherboards use
the ATX Form factor, standardizing the sizes of the components and all of
the power connections. Speaking of power: Although many PC cases are sold
with a pre-installed power supply, check it carefully---your power
requirements may exceed the capacity of the pre-installed unit. How do you
know? Here's a quick guide:
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Do the
math. You may need to purchase a higher-output power supply for your new PC.
Once you've selected a case and power supply, be sure that you have the
following items:
That's
basically it. And these days, anyone can build or upgrade a computer. It's
really very simple and it can save you hundreds of Building Your Own System 1. Before you dive in… Before you start the job, you have to take inventory of your parts. It does little good to begin your build when you don't have everything you need. Once you've determined you have everything you need, it's time to start! Make sure you have plenty of working room and a few hours to proceed with minimal interruption. Please note that carpeting represents some real dangers to your computer. The carpeted surface has the potential to create static electricity that can fry your components. An inexpensive antistatic wrist strap (they are often priced at less than 6 bucks) is the perfect preventive measure if you have no alternative to working on carpet. Remember, a bare floor is always the best place to build your system. Now, grab hold of a good set of screwdrivers, a pair of needle-nose pliers, and an antistatic wrist strap, and make sure you're wearing your antistatic wrist strap (it does you no good at all if you don't wear it!) Finally, download the latest drivers from the vendors' Web sites for each component you'll be installing, and copy them to a CD to avoid headaches later on; the drivers that come in product boxes are often several versions out of date. 2. Dive in!…Installing the Motherboard TECHNIQUE: This part can get a little tricky. But stick with it and you will have no trouble at all. In order to install the memory modules, insert them into the proper sockets and push down firmly but evenly until the clips on both sides of the socket pop into place. If your motherboard supports dual-channel memory, consult the user manual to determine which pairs of RAM sockets you should use. The motherboard and the CPU are the brain and nerve center of your PC, so selecting these components might just be the most important decision you'll make. TIP: Choose the processor first: Despite running at slower clock speeds than their Intel-based rivals, AMD-based systems have maintained a significant performance lead in documented benchmark testing for a while now. At the high end, Athlon 64 FX CPUs are the fastest around. There are positive and negatives to each CPU, so do a thorough investigation before making your buying decision. Remember, an informed buyer has a much higher probability of being a satisfied one. TIP: Choose the motherboard after selecting the processor: The processor you choose usually determines which motherboard you select: Motherboards are designed to work with specific CPUs, indicated by the type of socket that the processor fits into. Socket A, Socket 939, and Socket 940 are designed to work with Athlon processors, while Socket 478 and the new LGA socket 775 are for Intel CPUs. Many dealers offer bundles consisting of a processor, a motherboard, and memory; these can be a good way to save some money. The system chip set (the chips that pass data between the peripherals and the CPU) is the other component that differs among motherboards; it determines which integrated components (graphics, sound, Ethernet, etc.) will be included. Though integrated graphics aren't generally as good as dedicated cards, they're usually adequate for simple tasks.3. Placing the Motherboard into Your Case Construction: Steel cases weigh more than aluminum ones, they cost less, and they muffle the noise from components such as hard drives better than aluminum cases do. On the other hand, aluminum boxes tend to be more stylish, and they are certainly easier to carry around.Case Convenience: Even the best-looking case will seem ugly if installing your components becomes a pain. Look for helpful features like a removable motherboard tray, tool-less drive carriers, and multiple fan locations for cooling the system. TIP: Does this PC case include a power supply? Cheaper cases often come with cut-rate power supplies that may not be up to the task of powering a high-end PC. Some expensive cases don't come with a power supply, which lets you choose your own. If you've added a lot of new components to your PC, you may be overtaxing your existing power supply, so look at getting a bigger, better one. Power supplies can cause problems--including random crashes or even component failure--if they are asked to produce more power than they are designed to generate. Reputable manufacturers will typically include a chart of acceptable components.Memory: The More, The Merrier. TIP: Get at least a gigabyte: Sure, you can save money by installing less, but 1GB of RAM puts you comfortably above the point at which most speed gains occur, and it should enable you to run the most demanding applications and increase the speed of your system when you keep more than one program open at a time.TIP: Opt for dual-channel if possible: If your motherboard supports it, use dual-channel memory. This type of memory boosts performance by increasing the speed at which data can be read and written. But for it to work, you have to install matched RAM modules in pairs. Some early dual-channel boards came with only three RAM sockets. If two of those sockets are already filled, you must either upgrade with a single DIMM (and lose some performance) or replace your two existing DIMMs. TECHNIQUE: Some PC cases have a removable motherboard tray. If yours does, remove the screws holding it in place and pull it out of the case. Note the pattern of the holes in your motherboard, and screw brass standoffs into the motherboard tray or into the PC case in the correct locations. Check the layout of the sockets on the motherboard, and confirm that the ports on your motherboard's back panel match the holes on the I/O shield that is installed in your case. If necessary, remove the old I/O shield by tapping it firmly a few times with the butt-end of a screwdriver, and then replace it with the shield that came with the new motherboard.TECHNIQUE: Carefully position the motherboard on top of the brass standoffs, line up all the holes, and use the screws that accompanied the case to fasten down the motherboard. If you are using a removable tray in your system, slide the tray and motherboard back into the case and then secure the tray. 4. Connecting The Color-Coded Power
5. Install the Video Card
TIP: Don't pay for features you don't need: At the high end ATI and nVidia have been flirting with designer pricing, as loaded enthusiast parts go for upward of $500. At those prices, only the most hard-core gamers will pay to keep up with the latest styles; but even if your needs are relatively modest, you can easily find an affordable board that boosts your PC's 3D graphics speed. If you're doing some light photo-editing, gaming or just surging the web, a $50 or $75 video card is more than adequate. Look for models that have 64MB or 128MB of dedicated memory. TIP: Make sure you get the features you want: Most graphics boards today let you connect a second display to your PC. If you'd like to use your PC to record TV, a board with an integrated TV tuner (like the ATI All-In-Wonder line) is a good choice. EVGA (www.evga.com) makes a competing set of TV tuner-equipped graphics boards based on nVidia's Personal Cinema chip set. TIP: PCI Express--the next generation of video display: The latest graphics cards now use PCI Express, an improved version of the AGP slot on most PCs. Our tests of new PCI Express graphics cards detected no significant speed gains as a result of upgrading from AGP to PCI Express, though that will surely change as graphics chip speeds increase and as games get more complex.Gamers Agree: Don't Skimp On The Video Card. 6. Installing the
When the drives are installed, connect power and data cables to each one. Parallel ATA drives use wide, flat data cables that can be installed only in the correct way. Floppy drives use a similar but smaller cable; SATA drives use a thin, 1cm-wide data cable. SATA drives use a new type of power connector that many power supplies don't come with. Fortunately, many motherboards ship with adapters for converting a standard four-pin power connector to a SATA power connector. Some drives ship with both the older connector and the SATA power connector. In that case, use one power connector or the other, but not both. The capacity of hard drives continues to increase: You can now hold 400GB of data on a single drive, which is great news for digital media pack rats and video editors. But though you don't have to compromise on the drive's size, you still have a few choices to make when picking a hard disk. Upgrade Option: RAID RAID, which stands for Redundant Array of Independent Disks, lets you use multiple hard drives to boost disk speed or to keep a mirrored backup of your data in case a drive fails. Either setup requires multiple identical drives, and configuring them calls for a little mental gymnastics. An increasing number of systems on our Top 15 Desktop PCs chart use a configuration called RAID 0, which can significantly increase system speeds for data reading and writing. If you would like to try it, first select a pair of drives that match the storage capacity you want. With 120GB hard drives available for under $90 and with RAID support included on most new motherboards, RAID can be a great value. Upgrade Option: Serial ATA; Even bargain-priced motherboards now include SATA support, and going with an SATA drive will make your system easier to set up and your drive simpler to move to a future PC when the time comes. If you're looking to boost the storage capacity of an older PC, the answer gets more complex: To use a SATA drive, you must add a SATA controller card. Many SATA controller cards give you the option of adding RAID support to your system, too. Is it worth it? Well, if you do a great many tasks that involve a lot of disk access (such as video editing), it can be. But otherwise, just add a second parallel ATA drive. Transferring Your Data CD, CD-RW And DVD Whether you upgrade or build a new PC, adding a fast optical drive can increase its flexibility. And even if you're on a budget, drives that read and burn any format under the sun won't break the bank. TIP: Get An "All-In-One" Drive: No need to worry about whether your drive supports DVD+RW or DVD-RW-for around $90 you can get an 8X DVD combination drive that writes to all major formats of rewritable DVD. Burn DVD+R and -R discs at 8X, both rewritable DVD formats at 4X, CD-Rs at 40X, and CD-RWs at 24X. You'd save only about $40 by going with a simple CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive, so you get more value with a DVD burner that does it all. TIP: Burn Speed Even no-longer-top-of-the-line 8X DVD burners can write an entire disc in less than 10 minutes, and CD burning speeds these days are sufficiently fast at the upper end that the difference between 48X and 52X is negligible. Consequently, if you're on a budget, there's no reason to pay a premium for a 12X or 16X DVD burner or to insist on buying the fastest CD-RW drive you can find.TIP: Do not use bulky "Ribbon" cables: The flat, wide ribbon cables that Parallel ATA drives use to carry data can restrict airflow inside your case, robbing your system of valuable cooling; and functionality aside, they're just plain ugly. Rounded data cables available at your local PC store look much nicer, and they don't impede airflow. TIP: The Storage Secret: Dual-Layer DVD "DL" What's 12 centimeters in diameter and can hold 8.5GB of data? A dual-layer DVD disc, that's what. Most stand-alone DVD players can play the dual-layer discs that these drives burn, boosting the amount of video that will fit on one disc. You'll pay a small price premium for early dual-layer drives, however, and compatible media may be hard to find at first. In addition, writing to dual-layer discs is slower than writing to single-layer ones--2.4X for the former, as opposed to 8X, 12X, or 16X for the latter. We recommend waiting until the prices of drives and media fall before switching to dual-layer unless you need the extra storage space.TIP: One Cable, Two Drives: So-Called "Master And Slave." 7. Install the Add-In
8. Turn It On (and check your PC Set up) Now you are just two simple steps away from running your very own custom-built personal computer. All that's left is to install the operating system and then update your drivers and install the programs. First, place the Windows installation CD in your optical drive, reboot the PC, and allow the system to boot off the disc. Windows setup should begin. Early in the process, Windows will ask you whether you need to install a third-party SCSI or RAID driver. If you're using a RAID setup, press F6 when this message appears; then insert the floppy containing the appropriate driver when it is requested. If your machine hangs while installing Windows, there may be a problem with one of the components. Try removing everything except the core components (motherboard, processor, one memory module, and hard drives); then, once you've successfully installed Windows, begin reinstalling each component one by one to isolate the source of the problem. 10. Last, But NOT Least: Update Drivers and Install Programs |
dollars. Why build or
upgrade your own PC? If you're short on hard-disk space Add a new drive.
Getting creamed in the latest games because they run so slowly? Time for a
new graphics board. But maybe you need a whole new system. With just a
little more technical know-how than a typical upgrade requires, you can
build a PC yourself from handpicked parts. Obviously, determining which
parts to use---and getting the RIGHT parts---is critical to successfully
building the perfect PC. To get you started on the right track, we've
assembled a guide to the main components in a PC, including recommendations
for each part (based on what you intend to do with your machine). 
Case
Cables.
(and
test it.)
Drives