How to Build Your Own Computer – Tips and Ideas

How to Build Your Own Computer – Tips and Ideas

Tech Interviews How to Save Money on Mac Software (With Santa!) Remote Control Robot: Dalek from Doctor Who How to Buy a Laptop (Notebook, Portable Computer)How to Build Your Own Computer – Tips and IdeasAMD Spider Phenom Computer Review (and Computer Giveaway Tease!) How to Send SMS Messages (Texting Tips) How to Keep Your PC Clean and Fast (Speed up Tips) How to Pick the Best (and Worst!) Christmas Gifts for Gamers

This is good to know, as my next computer WILL be built

I believe that when building a computer, you should go with the best you can afford. After all, you aren’t being forced to make certain decisions that you would make when buying a brand name computer, so you can splurge a little bit more. A “me” brand computer is better than any Dell, or HP, or whatever. You pick the hardware, the software, and the OS, what more could you ask for in a computer? Building the computer yourself is the best alternative to anything out there. You can make sure that the hardware and software you use is completely compatible with everything. And you can usually find better prices on hardware and copies of OS’s when you choose to build your own, so it may be cheaper in the long run. Building the “me” brand system is the ultimate system in my opinion.

I’ll be sure too keep these in mind when i build my computer that I’m planning to soon. I definitely will keep some of the parts from my current computer.

Great Tips there!

Great Top5, covered important yet sometimes overlooked issues.

Great tips fatal!
I myself prefer to upgrade one part at a time (sometimes two or three), this means I’m not spending ridiculous amounts of cash all in one go.
However if I did have money to throw away I would buy a pre-built system simply for reliability concerns. I do enjoy building PC’s but the lack of a manufacturer warranty/guarantee/parts & labor (for the whole unit) is for me worth the extra money of a pre-built systems.

Self building is not always wise… when you look at it now days you can get quality pre-builds that only need afew upgrades. Now is that worth less stress?

Self building your pc is kinda overrated.

I think that this is a great top 5. If you already have a good and decent size harddrive why buy another one. Also a case is something important obviously. Especially if you are going to build a top of the line Gaming Rig you need to have a case that will hold all of your components and that will have great airflow. Airflow is important to all computers but in gaming computers more heat is created so you’ll need good airflow. Cooling your components is also important if you don’t want your computer burning up. If you are just building an ordinary computer a good fan will do the job on the procceser. But if you’ll be building a gaming computer I reccommend water/liquid cooling especially if you’ll be overclocking your components.

Great top 5 tips

Hi Chris,

I really like your how to articles. If I need to find something out the right way I can depend on your stuff. Keep up the good work!

T

Those are some very good tips. One thing I’d like to add is when building your own computer, make sure to always ground yourself. You don’t want to accidentally damage the motherboard, RAM, or processor by not grounding yourself. Also, work on a grounded surface. One way to get rid of the static electricity in your body is by getting a wrist strap that you can touch to the grounded screw in the center of a wall socket.

Gigabyte GA-G33M-DS2R Motherboard, $130
This MicroATX motherboard has a 1 Gigabit network interface for lightening fast file transfers, yet it’s not exactly cutting edge—it lacks Wi-Fi, high-end graphics, and does not support DDR3 memory. It does, however, use Intel’s G33 chipset, which supports 1333MHz front side bus processors—not that we need that kind of horsepower for a home server.

Intel Core 2 Duo E4500 CPU, $130
This dual-core processor runs at 2.2GHz and sports an 800MHz FSB, so it is not a speed demon like the faster Intel Core 2 Duo chips with higher FSB and clock rates, but is plenty fast for a home server and has the distinct advantage of running at a lower power level.

Antec NSK3480 Case, $100 (compare prices)
This barebones case has no extra frills, but when you tuck it away in a closet no one will notice anyway. It comes with a 380W, 80-Plus efficient power supply that will sip power, especially without any PCI cards. This case even has some features to reduce noise, such as rubber grommets on the hard drive mounts.

Kingston ValueRAM 667MHz DDR2 KVR667D2N5K2/512 (Two 256MB chips), $450
512MB of RAM meets the minimum spec for Windows Home Server, but Microsoft says the OS does not use any more memory than that anyway. Add more only if you plan to use several WHS add-ons.

Western Digital 512GB Cavier GreenPower Drives, Two at $100 Each
These drives park the magnetic heads during idle time automatically and use less power than other SATA drives. With two drives, you can configure Windows Home Server for drive mirroring.

Windows Home Server, $170
You can buy the OEM version of Windows Home Server.

ThermalTake Silent 775D CPU Fan, $30 (compare prices)
Quiet and yet powerful enough for the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, the 775D is a good choice for a server that will be running constantly—possibly even in the same room as your main PC.

I don’t really know much about servers, but this 1 didn’t sound just right to me. I have 2 Desktops P4 1.86 and the other is a P4 2.26 both Duo, also have 2 Laptops P3. Want the server for picture back-ups, music, 1 computer back-up and some day as a video recorder from the tv.
Hope this doesn’t sound to lame for someone who doen’t have a lot of money, but a lot of p3 parts that are becoming useless, TIA

Chris, what do you think is cheaper to buy a off the shelf of custom build your own.

Buy a good motherboard, the better the motherboard the more RAM and better processor it can handle.

i have been saving up to build a computer of my own.One of the hardest decisions was whether or not to get a liquid cooling system.I decideed against it right now because of the maintenance i would have to do with it.I went with a copper tubing cooling fan instead.

cool top 5 tips very useful im trying to build one so very informative but all I got is a power supply ,motherboard, and some other parts still need a new case and graphics card etc anyway great top 5 keep it up

A good video card is a necissity for gaming.The nvidea 8800gtx is a pricey video card but works well for newer games.If you want the most out of your gaming experience, motherboards that support SLI technology is a good way to go.With SLI, you can connect two video cards on one motherboard to maximize your graphics during gameplay.

yes, this makes me want to build my own even tho im kind of bad at it. I know a little bit of stuff, like about game cards and installing RAM. I just needed to know what would be not too much and not to less for some regular gaming like World of WArcraft or something. Im looking foward to talking about Gaming on a PC later in the chat. keep the tips coming

I started building my first computer this year at school. It is very easy if you know what to do of course! Some problems I have had are all the wires jumbled up together. He is very right about the case, you must buy that first. We had cases and we got new motherboards that didn’t fit really good. I just pray I dont run into any hardware problems because I don’t know much about them yet!

Those cooling tips are great, but I beleive there is one more very important thing to do within your case to keep it nice and cool, and that is routing your power cables (Floppy, Rom Drives and Hard Drives), Sata or ATA cable in a nice neat fasion. Having these cables all over the place in your system can restrict airflow and causing overheating. I have my wires all routed on the backside of my case and have noticed a big improvment from past system assembles.

Very useful tips. The importance of a good power supply is often underestimated. I used to buy 10-20 dollar power supplies until it burnt out twice in one system. For cleaning, I always use an air compresser at 90-100 psi. It works much better than canned air but takes a little more work. As far as prices, in my experience, newegg as the best variety and tiger direct has the best prices.

I can’t agree more.

I can only comment on what this says, because I agree, and thus I give you my mantra for buying computer parts, etc. : BUY WHAT WILL LAST.

Yes, I use all caps, because I cannot stress it enough. Spend your budget on what will last. What are things that will last you say? Cases, Hard Drives, Displays, Optical Drives, Add-in cards, aftermarket coolers, and if you get a high-end on, definitely Power Supplies.

Think about it. A lot of things change with time, new motherboard chipsets, new processors, new graphics cards, new processors, heck, even RAM gets outdated within a year or two, (DDR3 is already pushing out DDR2, and that’s just about 2 years old) However, the acception to this rule are with a few key components. The ATX form factor has been used for more than a decade, HDDs haven’t changed from their 3.5″ brackets in even longer. Displays such as DVI are good until the next best thing comes along, and even then, adapters will most likely exist (I have a few spare DVI to VGA adapters lying around, who doesn’t if they build systems)

What I’m saying is spend your money on the parts that you can use on not only this system, but the NEXT system as well. Case in point (inevitable pun intended) I have an Antec P180B case. That thing cost me 120 bucks out of a 700 dollar budget. Why? Because I know that if I take care of that case, it’ll last me the next 10 years at least. (Unless BTX make a sudden come-from-behind killing.)

Same goes for an 800+ Watt Power Supply, CPU coolers (Sockets rarely change, and often coolers accept many sockets, and AMD and Intel rarely change their mounting layout.) and Optical drives will be useful for a long time to come.

Don’t be afraid to drop 200 dollars for a case, or buy an extra 500 GB HDD, spend your hard earned money on what will last, instead of what is the leader of the pack.
-Cygnus

I believe that the most important part of a computer is the PSU. During the past 5 years i have ruined 3 motherboards due to faulty power supply. I think that you should spend at least $80 on a PSU just for peace of mind. Also I think that you should calculate how many watts you will need. I overloaded a PSU once and it usually did not detect the second hard drive because of this.

GET A NEW CAMERA YOU FAG

Your attitude always projects your character.

Hey chris I’m trying to find out how to install windows.

Yeah I build my own computers but I don’t know how to install windows.

dont buy a fan if u dont need it – rather buy more ram …
my friend fan is 10$ and memory 100$ for 2Gb …
very often old hard drive doesn’t have enough rpm or cache or capacity to use with new system…
i think u r a big FAKE … just reading off text …

Amen.

Backing up your files is definitely the most important. You don’t want to lose all your files and never get them back.

howtobuildacomputer,co,uk has a better guide

i was gonna build a computer. it was gonna be a q6600, 2 gb of dual channel ram and a 320 tgb sata hard drive. i was also going to use a antec 900 case but im getting a 4 wheeler now.

this is stupid he doesnt help at all its poitless

The next time I buy a computer is the next time I see a pig fly, and I will tell you why:

ITS CHEAPER
You know what your buying
Each part has a warranty
You don’t need to pay for monthly helplines whilst paying for the call itself
Dell, HP, Alienware and PC World computers suck anyway

If you HAVE to buy a computer, I recommend buying a custom build from your local computer shop on the high street, no big name shops.

what?

The ultimate guide to building a computer:

howtobuildacomputer,co,uk

I prefer to build my own computers

Totally boring! 10+ minutes of a chap behind a laptop reading suggestions. My suggestion is to bypass this effort and go to How to Build your own PC Computer *720p Download* for a demonstration of how it should be done!!

sounds great

ive done both, but as cheap as you can buy one off the shelf id just do that and make modifications to it as i see fit.

where did you get your monitor

I want to anal rape your wife! I’ll give you $60

i dont think this guy has kissed a girl apart from his mom…

true dat man he seems like a real fag

I prefer to buld mine. Im going to buy my parts soon.

I prefer to build myself
Pros: Much cheaper, more customizable
Cons: High Risk of Short Circuit

fuckers he has a wife.

yea probably u XD

he has a girl friend asshole.

my last build was a hackintosh(im using)….so yea its easier on the wallet to build

How about you stop making retarded and annoying comments, and go watch one of your friends cheap spam videos. by the way he has a wife you Dumbass.

He uses dual 30 inch monitors from dell.