Build your Own PC Part 1- know how to Do it yourself

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Table of contents

* 1 – Building A PC System
* 2 – Standard Components Of A PC System
* 3 – Standard Components Of A PC System, Continued
* 4 – Case And Power Supply
* 5 – Cases: More Questions For The Salesman
* 6 – This And That: Screws, Spacers & Jumpers
* 7 – Motherboard Overview

* 8 – Basic Motherboard Configuration
* 9 – Setting The Clock Speed
* 10 – Connecting The Floppy Drives
* 11 – Connecting Hard Drives And CD-ROM/DVD
* 12 – SCSI Drives - The Exception
* 13 – Safety Notice: The Destructive Potential Of Electrostatic
* 14 – More on this topic



Anyone needing a new computer faces a tough choice: you can either go for a complete system, or you can build your own PC. As most complete systems are cheaper than the sum of their parts, when is it really worth it to build your own?

Under the hood of a midrange PC

Imagine you want to build a new PC and want to use a few remnants from your old system. If you were satisfied with the performance of your CD-ROM drive, hard drive, printer or monitor, then it could be worth it to simply buy the remaining components - you might not even need a new case.
We also hope that this article will reach the individualists among you, i.e., users who know exactly which processor, motherboard and graphics card they want to install, but who just don't know how to fit it all together. The third group of users we want to reach are those people who only want to swap out a component, whether a graphics card or a CPU.
Many are intimidated by hardware. Some people won't even put in a new card on their own if they can help it. Yet the computer is now a mass-market product that, thankfully, has also brought about broad standardization.
This article will guide you unerringly through each step of successfully building your own PC. Of course, this article assumes that you know how to properly handle electronic components, that you know how to use tools, and, perhaps most importantly, that you take pleasure in this kind of tinkering. As we are going to introduce a large spectrum of PC components, users who only want to upgrade individual parts can skip certain sections in this guide.

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In our enthusiasm and eagerness to offer a complete do-it-yourself guide, we picked up the price list at the computer store on the corner, only to feel overwhelmed by the sheer quantity of parts on offer. If you aren't yet used to buying a PC in individual components, it can't do any harm to draw up a list of everything you need before doing anything else. That said, a complete PC system requires the following items:

PC case


Motherboard


Processor


CPU cooler




RAM


Hard Drive

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Graphics card


CD-ROM or DVD drive


Floppy disk drive, if needed

The following items shouldn't be forgotten:

• Monitor
• Keyboard
• Mouse

These components are necessary to run the new computer, including its operating system (e.g., Windows, Linux).

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Extra components required like ethernet card for internet access, sound card with gaming and loud speakers, CD recorder, Ethernet Card.

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Power Supply

The advent of processors breaking the gigahertz barrier has made one thing clear: their thirst for power is hard to rein in. When buying a case, take a very close look at the built-in power supply. In addition to the classic ATX power supply, it should also feature an auxiliary power connector. More and more motherboards require this plug to cover the power needs of a Pentium 4 or an Athlon XP. The only time you won't need it is if you're operating a CPU at 1400 MHz or less.

Classic ATX power supply plug.


Extra current for power-hungry CPUs: ATX12 (left) and P6 connector. (right)




An increasingly familiar sight on motherboards: on the left, the P6 (AUX); and on the right, the classic ATX plug.


An ATX12 socket on the motherboard.

Power Connectors For Drives

Your power supply will depend on how many drives you plan to install. Small cases only offer three or four connectors. Once you've used up all the available connectors, you'll have to use a Y junction to turn one plug into two.

One into two: a typical Y junction with large plugs.

This cable also comes with small plugs for connecting floppy drives and the like to a power supply.

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Cases: More Questions For The Salesman

Always make a point of asking about assembly materials: are all the screws, spacers and other accessories included with the case? A small bag of assembly materials is usually stuck to the inside of the case. Always be wary of cheap offers!

A bag of screws should be inside the empty PC case.

Always make sure you have spacers and mounts to secure the motherboard. A few screws for the case won't hurt either, as they are generally also used to anchor plug-in boards. The screws for mounting drives (hard drive, CD-ROM, etc.) have a finer thread. You need at least four for each drive, but it's always a good idea to have a handful of replacements. By the way, you're barking up the wrong tree if you start looking for these screws at the hardware store. Go to your local computer store - they won't have to look far for the screws you need, and they're bound to be the right size. If possible, avoid plugging the monitor directly into the PC power supply - you're better off with a separate connector. While some power supplies offer an additional plug for a monitor, you'd be well-advised not to use it for screens larger than 19 inches - the high surge at power-up is a frequent source of booting problems.
Ask about the form factor. This depends on the motherboard. Since almost all new motherboards conform to the ATX form factor, your case will have to be ATX compatible. You can still scrounge up AT cases for AT motherboards. A modern ATX motherboard can be identified by the fact that all the jacks for the keyboard, mouse, parallel printer, and serial COM port are soldered directly onto the motherboard. We'll document this in the section on the motherboard.

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This And That: Screws, Spacers & Jumpers


Typical case screws are used to screw on the case covers and anchor plug-in cards to the case.


A drive screw's thread is finer and thinner than screws used for the case. The head is smaller, too. This kind of screw is generally used to affix the drives in the drive bays, and to screw the motherboard to the case.


Spacers are screwed into the backplate for the motherboard.

What Are Jumpers?


Jumpers are short and sweet.

A jumper is nothing more than a metal bridge that connects two contacts. We don't see the metal, though, because it's covered with plastic. Jumpers are often used to configure the PC. For instance, you can use them to set the processor speed or change a drive from a "master" to a "slave." Pictured above is a classic jumper, as used on drives and boards just about everywhere.

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Main components of a motherboard.

The image shows an ASUS motherboard. At the top on the right-hand side are the interfaces and connectors that stick out of the case at the back of an assembled computer. This board is designed for AMD Athlon and Duron processors. Socket A, as it's called, is labeled "CPU socket" in the picture. The expansion slots are to its left. The AGP slot is used exclusively for the graphics card. The PCI slots will hold network cards, ISDN, sound or video-editing boards. At the bottom left are the panel connectors for the on/ off button, the hard drive LED, the reset switch, and the operating LED. Take time to familiarize yourself with where they're located. By the way, LEDs that don't light up can generally be fixed by simply turning the plug around. The two IDE connectors (40-pin) are below in the middle, while the connector for the floppy drive (34-pin FDD connector) is in the left side of the image. We'll describe the cables and drive configurations on the next page.
Onboard Components




ATX connector panel

Keyboard, mouse, two serial connectors, a parallel port and two USB ports are on the ATX port panel. Some motherboards, like the one here, feature optional sound and joystick jacks. There are also models that have a monitor connection. That saves a slot and some money, but you'll have to deactivate the onboard chip if you plan to replace these cheap onboard modules with a higher-quality expansion card. It's generally impossible to run both chips at the same time. Once again, it can either be done in BIOS or with a jumper. Check your handbook to find out which method to use.

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Many modern motherboards with integrated software configuration no longer require you to do anything prior to assembly. That means that you type your processor parameters directly in BIOS (Basic Input Output System). Most of the time, you access the BIOS menu by pressing the DEL key, F2 or F10, shortly after switching on the PC. Check your handbook to find out which key to use. The latest technology even recognizes the CPU automatically, a feature that is particularly useful for beginners. But making settings manually is still a must for anyone who wants to fine-tune his or her system.

Processor Settings: FSB And Multiplier

The external clock speed is usually referred to as the Front Side Bus (FSB), or system clock. Typical physical frequencies for system clocks are 100.00 and 133.33 MHz. The actual processor clock is calculated by multiplying the system clock with the multiplier. For example, a Front Side Bus of 133.33 MHz and multiplier of 13 results in a physical CPU clock speed of 1733 MHz. Some manufacturers provide "marketing" figures when Double Data Rate (DDR) or quad pumping raises effective bandwidth. Here's an example of such marketing figures, which have been placed in quotes:

Socket/ Slot-
Processors -
System Clock (FSB)

Socket 7-
AMD K6-2, AMD K6-III, Intel Pentium MMX -
66, 100, 133 MHz

Slot 1 -
Intel Pentium III, Intel Celeron -
66, 100, 133 MHz

Slot A -
AMD Athlon (K7)-
100 MHz (200 MHz DDR)

Socket 370 -
Intel Pentium III, Intel Celeron, VIA C3 -
100, 133 MHz

Socket A (Socket 462)-
AMD Athlon (Thunderbird), AMD Athlon XP (Palomino), AMD Athlon XP (Thoroughbred), AMD Duron (Spitfire, Morgan)-
100 MHz (200 MHz DDR), 133 MHz (266 MHz DDR)

Socket 423-
Intel Pentium 4 (Willamette), Intel Pentium 4 (Northwood) -
100 MHz (400 MHz quad-pumped)

Socket 478 -
Intel Pentium 4 (Northwood), Intel Celeron (Willamette) -
100 MHz (400 MHz quad-pumped), 133 MHz / (533 MHz quad-pumped)


AMD also lists a so-called P-Rating, or Number Modeling, for marketing purposes. In other words, an AMD Athlon XP 2100+ actually only runs at a physical speed of 1733 MHz. "2100+" is merely a way of comparing the processor to an equivalent Intel Pentium 4. Put plainly, an AMD Athlon XP 2100+ is about as fast as a Pentium 4 2100.

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Setting The Clock Speed

There is no automatic software configuration on older boards. That's why it can't hurt to know the three principles of manual configuration. By the same token, overclockers will be more likely to make settings by hand. Here are the different ways to set clock speed:

Obsolete: using jumpers, the frequency table is right next to the jumper block.


Multiplier table for older models.


Occasionally found: setting by DIP switch.


Modern: convenient configuration in BIOS.

Determining which of the three methods applies to you will depend on your motherboard. While the general tendency seems to favor BIOS, you'll still come across a DIP switch block now and again. The jumper method, on the other hand, is entirely obsolete.
Intel and AMD officially abolished the variable multiplier for their processors some time ago. They wanted to prevent people from overclocking, say, 1300 MHz models to 1500 MHz. That kind of overclocking would boost performance significantly without costing a dime. For the tinkerers among us, all that's left for us when trying to eke more performance out of a processor is a gentle increase of the FSB. All the same, there are a few tricks for removing the fixed multiplier, at least for AMD processors. As the motherboard manufacturers are aware of this, they attract more buyers by offering what is, in fact, a superfluous multiplier. The BIOS screenshot shows this clearly.