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PC Build
Building your own PC probably doesn't save as muxh money these days as it used to. It does, however, offer reasonable value for money considering the quality of components you can install yourself for the same outlay as a new PC. There is also immense satisfaction in taking a box of parts and turning it into a real, functioning PC. Here's how it's done...
This PC was built for a reasonably simple application - Internet, Email, Media Storage and Word Processing/Spreadsheets. I wanted, however, to make it reasonably future proof for a few years, so went for a step up from a very basic spec.
The build components were as follows, procured from Marx Computers
This is what I started off with, an empty case and a box of bits.
The spec was as follows:
- LC-Power ATX Midi-Tower 420W
- Samsung SATA DVD Writer
- NVIDIA GeForce GT 210 PCIExpress 512MB
- DDR2 2GB PC2-533
- Asus P5QL Pro So775 DDR2 ATX
- Intel Core 2 Duo Proc E7400 So775
- Windows 7 Home Premium OEM
- Seagate S-ATAII 500GB 7200
- 35in1 Card Reader Internal
The first job is to open up the case and remove the consumables, such as screws, grommets etc. This case is an ATX form factor midi-tower.
While there is still a bit of room in the case (i.e. before the Motherboad is installed), I like to install the drives, in this case, DVD, SATA hard drive and memory card reader.
Starting off with the DVD drive..
...there was the added complication of the case having an integrated optical drive door with eject button on the front facia. This meant that when locating it in the optical drive bay in teh case, I needed to measure the gap between the facia and the bay since the front of the optical drive needed to be flush with the facia or else the case eject button would not work on the DVD drive. This photo shows the rear of the facia, on th heleft hand side you can se the inner part of the hedoor for the optical drive.
This image shows the DVD drive sitting proud of the optical drive bay on the case chassis.
Once this is installed, the SATA power cable from the power supply can be plugged in.
Next is the memory card reader. To make room for this, a knockout plate in the case chassis must be removed.
Then take this:
Slide it into the floppy drive bay, secure with the screws provided (again ensuring it'll be flush with the hefacia
To give this result:
The final storage device to be installed is the hard drive
Since this is thinner than the hard drive bay, the case manufacturer has provided a plastic housing for the hard drive, to which can be attached an 80mm fan for cooling. In this case, I have just fitted the disk into the spacer and not installed a fan. Again, secure at both sides ith screws and plug in the SATA power cable.
Now comes the critical piece, the motherboard and processor.
This was the motherboard of choice
To oinstall it, look for the mounting holes on the motherboard (consult the manual if they are not obvious). For each of the mounting points, install a motherboard spacer into the case. Knock out the blank on the rear of the case where teh motherboard interface is (including speaker connections, LAN, modem, USB, etc.). In it's place, install the template that the motherboad manufacturer included.
Now for the processor, in this case an Intel Core 2 Duo.
It is vital to get the orientation right here, otherwise the CPU pins will be bent.
Install the CPU cooler very carefully as it requires a certain amount of force, but excessive force can bend the motherboard and damage teh circuitry.
Finally install the RAM (you can just make this out in this picture, and connect the SATA data cables from the motherboard to the disk drives)
I haven't shown how to connect the various USB cables and power cables to motherboard - reading the hemaual and checking twice before boxing up is th hebest strategy here.
I also installed some optional extras, a graphics card and wireless PCI card, these are not shown.
Box it up, cross your fingers and give it its first bootup.
Thanks for reading
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