how hard is it to build your own computer?

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

A friend of a friend built mine & I'm really happy with it. He gave me the receipt for all the gear he bought & I still have it. Well, my oldest needs a new computer & we were wondering how hard it would be to build it ourselves. I know how to install the OS, but have never built one, though I've looked at the inside of mine a few times.

Any thoughts? I'm thinking they could get a much better system for a better price if we could do it. They have the software & keyboard, mouse, monitor etc.

best

[Spirochete]

1. It's much easier nowdays

than it used to be. I'm sure you can do it with no problem. I've built a hundred or more, altogether.

[RoyGBiv]

2. Not very ...

The actual building is not the hard part. Sometimes installing the CPU fan/heat-sink or running the cabling inside the case and making sure you have good airflow can get a little squirrelly, but it's not hard. It just requires patience and attention to detail.

The difficult part is knowing what you need, what is compatible with what, and whether the individual parts you're purchasing are garbage. I still have trouble with power supplies, for example, because it's hard to find reviews of a PS unless it is one of the ultra-expensive ones, and I am not intimate enough with the language of the rating label to understand it what it all means. As another example, you need to know whether you can use SATA drives and whether the motherboard you get requires an AGP or PCI-E graphics card. Once you've climbed the learning curve, found all your parts and collected them, it's relatively simple to piece it all together.

FWIW, whether building your own system is cheaper is a bit relative. Dell, for example, has a system minus the monitor they offer sometimes for $299, WinXP included. They're able to do this because they sell advertising on that system in the form of pre-installed AOL software, BroadJump adware, etc. and because they can sell the OS license less expensively than an individual can purchase one. The system itself is functional but mostly crap with very little in the way of room for upgrades, and I would not recommend one to anybody. However, if bottom-dollar is the main concern, it is probably cheaper than anything you can put together yourself.

The first step is figuring out what you want the computer to do, i.e. whether it is to be used primarily for e-mail and web browsing or whether the owner wants to be able to play the latest games or render his or her own DVDs without having to wait three days. You also want to decide where you want to be on the upgradeability scale. That is, when/if you decide to upgrade your graphics, do you want to be able just to purchase a new graphics card and plug it in, or, to keep costs down now, will you be willing in the future to get a new motherboard if that is required. It'll be the same thing with the processor. To keep costs down now, you may decide to go with a 32 bit processor. However, if you do so, you will have to purchase a new motherboard if you decide to upgrade the processor later.

All in all, the advantages of building your own system are numerous and the disadvantages easily surmountable if you're willing to do a little research. In this forum several of us have assisted others in building their own systems, so if you need help, you know where to ask.

[Sgent]

3. Its not hard

but I would recommend that you ask your friend or someone else experienced to help the first time around. Its more an issue of tricks of the trade -- how to apply the heatsink paste, insure proper grounding to avoid component killing static, etc.

Also, you may want someone there who knows more than you to bounce ideas off of.

Requried tools: non-magnetic various screwdrivers
Optional tools: anti-static wrist strap (store bought or homemade), voltmeter, electric screwdriver (non-magnetic)

[PsychoDad]

4. Not hard...

Plan it out.. That's the important part. Determine what you want it for, word processing and spreadsheets, general home use, or a gaming machine? If time is not a factor, it can be built in stages, that reduces the "all at once" cost by spreading it out.

Look online for Combo deals on the CPU and Motherboard, that saves you the hassle of determining which board for which CPU. Also watch out for sales on memory and drives and such. Check clearance sections of websites such as www.tigerdirect.com (and there are many others). Also, if you can, ask friends for extra or used computer parts, you can always upgrade and a little mooching can go a long way. :)

And this forum looks like a really good place to get help and advice.

I found it can be done on the cheap, but takes a little planning.

Peace.

[cleofus1]

5. reprint

i still say the best way is to build one
yourself...450 w power supply and roomy case and the right
motherboard will allow you to expand your system over the
years...run viri programs and you should be able
to run your system with a minimum of problems...get at least a
3 gig processor and at least 512 mg of ram (minimum)...
my motherboard has 4 dimm slots that i can expand to 4 gigs of
ram (memory)...and front system bus must be as large as is
available...a 120 gig hd or larger...i have a
Lian Li tower i can pretty much expand as i please...hell i can probably play a game of volley ball in there in a pinch....do some serious shopping and do your homework...the right video card and sound card can make a big difference in a system...dvd burners are inexpensive and so are 5 in 1 card readers...also keep in mind that you will need lots of usb ports...if you want a serious system that you can build on you really need to build it yourself...

[Ready4Change]

6. It's fun if you want it as a hobby.

You'll learn a lot and become more self dependant regarding your machine. You'll know what RAM and CPU and mhz and PCI and AGP mean.

On the other hand, it's a bit like sailing a boat across the Atlantic single handed. If something goes wrong, you are on your own. The number to call for help is your own.

If you are prepared to accept that, then building your own machine today is easier than it's ever been. Most of the cables are either color coded to help you put them in the right place, or of specific shapes so that they ONLY fit in the right place.

There are still a few that may be questionable. Like many of the connections between the motherboard and the cases on/off, reset switches and the lights for power and HD activity. Sometimes those aren't labelled too well. On the plus side (other than the on/off and reset) most of the case connections won't hinder the computers operation if you get them wrong.

BTW, if you value the skin on your knuckles I recommend spending a bit extra on the case. The cheap cases often save expenses by not finishing the metal edges inside, with the result of leaving your hands looking like you've been juggling razor blades. Nothing a bandaid or two wont handle. Just a nuisance.

[Ready4Change]

7. BTW: Time.

You may be wondering how long it will take?

Buying the parts can take an hour, or weeks, depending on how much research you do and how much bargain hunting you insist on. I enjoy spending a day at a computer show and hunting down the best prices for all my needed parts, but that can be a real pain if you don't know what you're looking for or what it should cost. You'll pay more if you get everything at a store, but the process will be simpler, you can probably get all you need with a single stop, and be done in an hour.

You can save money buy buying from the web through mail order. Delivery can be quite fast, too. (I've had things the next day even when I DIDN'T ask for overnight.) However, there are often one or two pieces that take a week or more to arrive. Mail order requires a bit of patience.

Once I have all the parts I can have it all assembled and be installing the OS in an hour. I usually take more time, like an afternoon or morning, rather than rush through it.

However, if you are unfamiliar with the process feel free to take a weekend. Look things over, figure out what-goes-where, plan things out.

For example: it is often far easier to install the CPU, heatsink and memory onto the motherboard before putting the motherboard into the case. But I've had instances where having that stuff on the motherboard kept me from getting it into the case, so I had to install them afterwards. If you look over your parts, you can maybe avoid running headlong into glitches like that.

So there's nothing wrong with taking your time and being methodical. It's not a race. Take a day, or 3, or weeks, if that's what you are comfortable with.

[RoyGBiv]

9. The Help Line

Not only do you become your own help line, once friends and family discover what you're doing, they'll start to consider you an expert, and you'll become their help line too. I sorta accidentally stumbled into building computers for others for a little extra income. I was building one for my daughter, mentioned it in passing at work, and within the next three months, I'd built three full systems, upgraded two others, and repaired a few more for people at work.

In any case, I would like to add one comment about finding help. You obviously won't have tech support for the full system, but if you get good parts from a good company, you usually can get tech support for those parts. I had a problem with an Asus motherboard once, for example, and I called Asus to resolve the issue. As a bonus, the person I talked to seemed far more knowledgeable than your garden variety tech support person from Dell or Gateway.

Ditto on the advice about the cases. I deeply cut a finger once on a sharp edge of a cheap case. Blood splatters on a motherboard aren't the best thing for them either. :-)

[hobbit709]

10. The computer gods are not pleased

until you sacrifice a little blood to them on the case.

(spelling edit)

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

8. thanks everyone!

What a lot of great advice.

Oldest has a small business so uses that fancy business payroll, spreadsheat program thingy whose name completely escapes me. They surf & email & do a little word processing. Also, DIL likes to upload pictures.

I've got the list that this friend of a friend gave me which shows all the parts he bought. When we're ready I'll probably just go by that.

If I get in over my head I'll come back here & cry on your shoulders okay?

best