How to make a computer with pics!
 

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Ok to start clearing off a spot to work on, here I have cleaned off my kitchen table.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/1.JPG
Here I have all my parts That I need, 300watt case, AMD XP 2400 Processor, Western Digital 80gb 8mb buffer Hard Drive, Geforce4MX440 Video Card, Keyboard, Benq 17" LCD Monitor, Optical Mouse, Lite-On CDRW-DVD Combo Drive, Mitsumi Floppy drive, Gigabyte 7VT600L mobo, Speakers, 512mb PC3200 DDR
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/2.JPG
Now is time to get the motherboard ready to put in the case...you need the memory, CPU, Heatsink, and motherboard.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/3.JPG
Take the motherboard out of it's packing and lay it on the table...
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/4.JPG
Now is the time to get the processor and motherboard out of it's package.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/5.JPG
Now lift the lever for the processor socket straight up to a 90 degree angle.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/6.JPG
Now line up the pins and drop the processor in...you shouldn't have to force it.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/7.JPG
Now lower the lever for the heatsink.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/8.JPG
Now your ready to put the heatsink on...first look at the CPU and the socket and look at how it lines up.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/9.JPG
Now put the heatsink on from the top...don't put it on at an angle!
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/10.JPG
Now slide the one clip over the edge.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/11.JPG
Now take a screw drive and clip the otherside (it will take some force...but don't be scared)
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/12.JPG
Now it's time to put the memory in....line up the notchs and release the white tabs and push it in till it "clicks"
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/13.JPG
This is what properly installed memory looks like
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/14.JPG
Ok this motherboard is all ready...has the heatsink, processor and memory installed.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/15.JPG
Ok now get the case out of the box.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/16.JPG
Now take off both sides....
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/17.JPG
Now remove all the metal that you don't need and install the back plate...sorry i don't have pics...forgot to take that one
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/18.JPG
Now check the mobo and the case and see if you have to install standoff...if so install them now.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/19.JPG
Now gently lower the motherboard into the case....
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/20.JPG
Secure the motherboard by putting the screws in.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/21.JPG
Now hook up the switches, leds, and front usb ports if you got them
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/22.JPG
Now put in the video card.....just push it in and make sure it's seated firmly.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/23.JPG
Now seat all the jumpers for all your drives.....
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/24.JPG
Mount them in the case and then hook up the CD-ROM audio cable.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/25.JPG
Hook up all the ide cables...usually they are keyed so you can't install them upside down...
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/26.JPG
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/27.JPG
Now plug the cables into the motherboard.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/28.JPG
Hook up power to the board...this connector will only fit one way...
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/29.JPG
Now plug in power for all your drives.....
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/30.JPG
Double check everything...slap the sides on it....check for other mobo jumper settings and you should be ready...
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/31.JPG
And now we have the finished project.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/32.JPG

Good post! I assume by standoffs you mean motherboard risers. Took me a minute to figure out what a standoff was. :) Maybe they're called standoffs, but around here everyone refers to them as risers. Oh well, still a great guide!

-Lasereth

Where's the thermal paste?


:eek:

Great post, except next time, try not to lift the Mobo by the CPU Fan, you wouldn't want any unwanted friction or movement between the heatsink and the CPU...
http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/20.JPG

other than that great guide!

nice guide, a good display of how to do everything necessary to set up a new computer, minus installing an OS, but then, that might be considered warez if you showed an illegal install. All in all, pretty helpful.

Very Nice guide... this will clearly help me out later when I am going to build a computer. I just need to find cheap and good parts ^_~

The heatsink he has in this example has a thermal pad on it which will work fine unless you're gonna overclock. :)

-Lasereth

you forgot the most important step - ground yourself in some way, especially in the winter (dry air) and especially on carpet or if you're wearing clothes that can produce static electricity. One little spark can wreck your whole day. What I generally do is plug the power supply into the wall and then touch the case every time I move. Plugging it in grounds it, and that will dissipate the static electricity.

Also we should mention to be VERY careful when securing the heatsink clip to the CPU with the screwdriver. It's very easy to slip, especially on older heatsink designs which did not have that nice plastic guard but which instead just had a plastic hook you pressed on with the screw driver. It takes so much force to put that thing on that one slip can wreck your mobo.


We should also mention the importance of a good cooling scheme. I've seen lots of people just slap fans in their case without paying any attention to which way they're blowing. The proper way to vent a case is to suck air in from the front bottom and blow it out the top rear. The PSU usually takes care of the blowing it out part. You'll want one or two (sometimes more depending on what you're running) fans up front to suck in the air. These days, a sidemount fan never hurts either - I won't buy a case without it at this point.

>.< One of the reasons I don't trust myself with building a system yet. It is a very informative guide nonetheless. Thanks:D

Very nice guide. Well done!

awesome guide, I recently installed the AMD 2500 and heatsink, that was hell putting that thing on. I was scared shitless that I was going to hit the board.

Very neat guide you have here...
But I don't understand why you put the cpu on the motherboard before you install it in the case.
Sure, it is more accessible there, but it's more steady when you've got the MB installed in the case.
Plus, I'd be afraid my cpu would break. Don't get me wrong, about every system I build, I still endup holding the MB by the cpu, like in your foto's, but I'd advise against it.

crackprogram also mentioned this....

Very nice. I propose a sticky on this one.

Yeah I made some errors...yeah don't lift the mobo by the heatsink..the only way i could do it while taking a pic....i'll constantly improve it so that its more accurate...Thank you for the comments :)

---Don't forget to put in spacers between the computer case and the mobo. I've shorted out two boards that way :D ---

Hehe, I have the same case, but in white. Good job with the tutorial.

Was also going to mention this. I did it the dumb way and installed the mobo *before* I added the processor/heatsink/ram because it was my first time and I was pre-occupied with getting the board to fit in the case correctly. And I also installed the power supply first thing.

Nice job & pics!
:thumbsup:

Excellent post. Makes me re-consider my options. What are we talking in regards to time?

Oh don't forget the static line.

Wonderful series. I have always wanted to see how you guys built your own. I just buy ready made. How much time did it actually take to assemble it all?

It usually takes me about 45 minutes, but the first time I did it it took about 3 hours. It's not hard at all. There's just a bunch of little annoyances that can make the computer work or not work, and you have to know about all of them if you wanna have a flawless build.

-Lasereth

Standoffs, risers....all the same things...I did mention those. Usually a basic computer can take me about 20 minutes to fully assemble.

http://www.frontiernet.net/~funkyb/makeputer/31.JPG

:eek:

I would suggest some of these:

http://www.securityseal.com/imagessi...ttastring1.jpg

:D

Those tieraps work wonders if you're gonna leave your PC as-is for a long time, but hardware dorks that take out their parts (hard drives, RAM, videocard, etc.) frequently will have to cut them out everytime. If you know that you're not gonna change out the parts anytime soon, they're perfect for the job. They improve airflow considerably.

I also give a highest recommendation to rounded IDE cables:

http://www.funkeycomputers.com/fun-k...ide%20blue.jpg

They're much neater and they improve airflow even more, especially when upgrading from:

http://www.funkeycomputers.com/fun-k.../cab%20ide.jpg

-Lasereth

mhm...me and the bf, even tho not always planned, move computer parts around/rebuild/etc fairly often.

we've got a clipper thingy, and a bag of about 500 of them ties.

works fine, for general cables around the computers/house too.

(bf works at a puter co. and occasionally has to build computers. so he's quite anal about the cabling inside ;) )

:)

Great guide.. wish I had it when I built mine.
Took me 3 hours as well. About 2 of those hours were with the CPU fan. On the carpet. During winter. And I hadn't put the board in the case. Talk about lucky...

Damn, beat me to it. :)

Yeah, I can't emphisize this one enough. Every year, as part of my job, I have to go through ESD (electro-static discharge) certifications. Even a static discharge so small you can't even feel it is enough to completely destroy electronic circuits, or significantly weaken them. The biggest problem is that you probably won't even notice that something has been fried until several weeks or months later when you start seeing random crashes or other quirkiness. If you are doing this kind of thing in the winter, I really suggest you use an ESD bracelet. Its just a piece of elastic that holds a metal contact to your wrist... a wire runs from the contact to an aligator clip which is attached to a ground. You could make one pretty easily, but if you do this kind of thing often, it would be well worth the investment.

They are cheap anyway. Mine was 7 bucks.

I'd also like to mention it's considerably harder than most think to shock your electronic components. I've worked with computers for years, and I've never shocked a component. I work on carpet, during the winter too. But I guess to be on the safe side you can "jack in" to your chassis.

... that you know about. Like you said, better safe than sorry.

I though all you had to do was just keep touching the chasis of the case. That's how I did it. Then again, I have never build a computer from scratch.