Building a computer

Rage85

Rage85

Rage85

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18 Nov 2010
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534
I'm going to be building my first computer on tuesday (to the advice of people on here) and will be getting help from my dad but i'm also worried about how hard it is, I have very little computer knowledge so has anyone got any hints/tips/guides that will help me along?

this is what i've ordered

XFX ATI Radeon 6950 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30GHz (Sandybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor with FREE Lost Planet 2 PC Game - Retail
Gigabyte P67A-UD3 Intel P67 Chipset (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard - (Sandybridge)
Antec High Current Gamer 520W Power Supply
Antec 300 Three Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case - Black
GeIL 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz VALUE PLUS Dual Channel (GVP34GB1600C9DC
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD105SI)
Creative T3130 2.1 Speaker System (51MF0395AA003)
Samsung SH-S223C/RSMS 22x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black/Silver/Biege)

is it really as easy as people say?
 
Main thing, is to keep yourself grounded, touching a radiator every 10 mins or so should be fine. reason for this, is that static electricity can very easily damage PC components, but grounding yourself eliminates the possibility of you giving any of your components a static shock.

Personally, I find it easy, however I have done it quite a lot, and I know quite a lot of people find it hard, but the biggest thing, is everything will only fit together the right way, so if something won't fit where you think it should, double check you have it right before forcing it ;) And if your unsure about anything, either search on youtube for a demo, or just post on here, someone will be able to help :D
 
when you've built a few without a hitch you will say its easy ,but the first time is a bit daunting' best advice is take your time and ask if you are unsure.
 
Most of the time there is only one way a component can be fastened, so don't worry about putting in something the wrong way. I found building my pc challenging but the biggest mistake I made was putting the RAM in the wrong slots. Always be careful of things like this and check the manuals if you're unsure.

Good luck.;)
 
Just and extra to what I said, and what others have said, although there is only 1 way most stuff will go in, with the CPU, it is possible to force it in the wrong way, so check what it says on the manual to which way round it goes. On LGA775 CPU/boards, there is a little notch on opposite sides (not centred), these will only line up with the socket the right way. I assume the later sockets have something similar too, look out for it, and you'll be fine :)
 
your mobo will have a guide as to what lead goes where from your case and other things like HD and optical drive etc...

I did my first one 3 weeks ago and it was less scary then I first thought
 
  • A good way to ground yourself is to secure the PSU into the case and plug it into the mains. Leave it all switched off, however, and by touching and exposed pieced of metal on the case you will be grounding yourself.
  • First build it outside of the case, for example, on the motherboard box on the anti-static bag. Connect up just the bare minimun to begin with. ie. motherboard, cpu/cooler, psu, 2GB RAM (you will also need gfx card). Try both memory modules and ensure you can get into the BIOS.
  • Take your time. Then add the other components, hard disk drive and optical drive. If it all work ok, then disassemble and build into the case and doing a little bit of cable management as you go along always helps too.
 
R.C.Anderson said:
No, it's not. Just some people find it easier as it's less fiddly, that's the only reason.
Click to expand...

This. If things don't work first time then it's a right pain taking it all apart. I like to boot into BIOS with the bare minimum then at least I know motherboard/cpu isn't borked and at least one RAM module works! Taking the motherboard and CPU & cooler off will be frustrating if its all nicely fitted in the case already.

Stop reading this and push on...:p
 
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