Building Computers

fenton296 said:
Cheers.
Just a lack of cashflow that stops me buyin n building computers.
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Lack of cash flow will ALWAYS be a problem. You have to have alittle money to start building an ok system. Don't bother with the really low end as you will pull your hair out the slowness of it.

To learn how to build a computer you don't need qualifications but if you want a career in IT then you could get atleast the basics.

However, you would need to learn what each componant is, what it does and how does it connect. For example, IDE cable, Sata cable, e.t.c.

If your wanting to start as soon as you can then I suggest you save around 300-400 for a decent-ish setup. Ask questions if you don't understand something. Even if it's as simple as "what is this cable" e.t.c. Good luck and welcome to the forums.
 
It's just square pegs in square holes; I'm amazed at people's reactions sometimes when I tell them I built my PC. Strangely they always think I fabricated all the parts myself.
 
cheets64 said:
your love of computers can soon vanish when you are messing with them every day.
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This is exactly the truth. Give it a few months and you're sick to the back teeth of computers. Not to mention the endless family/friends who think they've now got themselves their own free computer technician.
 
fenton296 said:
Didnt know what to call the thread btw :P
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Right, What i wanna do is build computers, ive always wanted to do it. I've been goin through the OC Forums and seeing all these people knowing how to put together computers, fix them, etc. And I was wondering, any1 know of a collage course or uni course i could do that would send me down this route, fixing, building and in general enjoyin computers.

Any help would be apprecated
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From experience, I would say there is no money in it any more, you're better off signing up to plumbing or sommat at college and generate invoices from your computer :)
 
Its just expensive lego really. Read a few guides across the Internet, ask here if you have any problems or queries, and most of us will be happy to help.

Not difficult, just takes a bit of cash (for a decent system) and some time. It's quite enjoyable too, at least I enjoy it =]

Good luck.
 
Building is easy it's setting them up properly that is the real skill, Especially if you want to play games on it.
 
It's like building a very simple lego set from the instructions, there's really nothing complex about it at all. Get compatible components (make a thread in the hardware section) and follow the motherboard manual.
 
God how I miss the days where you actually had to know what you were doing :(

Manually setting IRQ and DMA addressing, none of this plug and play cheating malarky ;)

Getting the machine to boot into DOS and having to configure EMS so you could address your 4MB of RAM, loading things into HiMEM and LoMEM.

Those were the days...

/nostalgia.
 
To be honest i would just look for a job in First line support / computer help desk for a year or so if you're certain you want to be in that industry.

As stated prior, you will be lucky to see any 'high' end computer specs because the people who own these usually build their own.

90%+ problems you encounter are pretty mundane to be fair - driver updates, network/printer problems, removing viruses/spyware etc
 
EdGey said:
all 'education' is BS.

the somehow manage to fill it all in the crap that is not neccesary or drag out the simplest of things until its the last thing you want to do in life.

if you want to leanr, and enjoy it.. buy some parts and get stuck in.

tutorials online etc can help (here included)
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What the hell are you talking about
 
paradigm said:
God how I miss the days where you actually had to know what you were doing :(

Manually setting IRQ and DMA addressing, none of this plug and play cheating malarky ;)

Getting the machine to boot into DOS and having to configure EMS so you could address your 4MB of RAM, loading things into HiMEM and LoMEM.

Those were the days...

/nostalgia.
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Next you'll be telling us you miss 'Memmaker' and fiddling around with tmouse (7kb resident) so you could play doom with sound, a mouse and a CD all at the same time. Looking back it all seems rosy but back then I had plenty of headaches. At least if the GPU memory died... you could just unsolder the hot chip and install a new one....

So much easier to set up today when it works. Trouble shooting is a lot harder though.. far more traps for the unwary like PCI-E @ 1X for no reason and overcomplex badly written drivers....

AD
 
paradigm said:
God how I miss the days where you actually had to know what you were doing :(

Manually setting IRQ and DMA addressing, none of this plug and play cheating malarky ;)

Getting the machine to boot into DOS and having to configure EMS so you could address your 4MB of RAM, loading things into HiMEM and LoMEM.

Those were the days...

/nostalgia.
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You sound like an old man :D

when were you playing with computers? in 1995?
 
ive been tinkering with computers for several years now. all started when i got my first pc. Must be 10 years ago atleast i would have thought.

I learnt stuff off my brothers best friend and his brother, who were very into pc's at the time. Picked up stuff as i went along.

Shortly after that i managed to get hold of some pc parts and built my first machine. Was something like a p2 200mhz, managed to run red alert 2 atleast :)

From there onwards i learnt a bit more at college, but not a lot.

Been building my own pc's ever since. Reading the forums is a huge help, get to keep up with current technology as well as learning new things every time.

I currently work in a pc shop now, quite rare these days (before anyone asks its not the purple shirts).

Im still really enjoying it, although it isnt all fixing or building pcs. Because of it being a shop there is some business / admin stuff involved.

Best piece of advice i can give you, is build your first machine. As long as everything goes fine will boost your confidence a lot :)

These forums are a great place to be a part of, whatever problem you can normally find the answer here :)
 
Ha! What about having to remove BIOS chips (they came in twos) and re-writing the BIOS hard drive table because the parameters for the one you'd got wasn't in the BIOS? Using a proper hexadecimal BIOS programmer! Who even remembers that you used to have to choose a drive setting that matched the drive you had? Or that drives had two flat cables not one? g=c800:5 anyone?

Whatever. To the OP, the days of there being money to be made building PCs are long gone. Repairing them will soon also be a thing of the past. Become an electrician or a plumber.

(Hey, I hadn't noticed my new title! Capodecina? Cool! )
 
All I can say is when you start your build. Make sure you earth yourself with a wrist strap as you don't want to fry anything.

Been there - Done that :)
 
The first PC I had, a mate of mine built it for me and I saw him do it. I didn't have any idea at all about PCs back then. When I upgraded the PC I got my mate to supervise me while I actually put it together, he simply told me what goes where. I didn't read any manuals or anything but that was how I learnt and its the best way, to actually get down and do it yourself.

Since then I have been upgrading and building everytime I have needed too, and fixed/upgraded computers for cousins etc but still will need to ring a mate up once in awhile if I am stuck or just check on the internet.

You will pick it up in no time.

^Luxor, I have still never used a wrist strap to this day! :eek::p
 
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