How to Build a Computer

How to build a computer

The Computer this day and age is coming to its peak as the module for the super information high way. I have noticed rising prices for the personal computer as sold from the common dealers such as Dell, Gateway and Macintosh. These overly priced computers are a rip, ranging anywhere from 999.99 to 1,300.00 dollars. This is outrageous; the pieces needed to build a computer are so inexpensive these days it would be idiotic not to build it yourself. The increased demand for computers has inflated the price of a tailor made computer that large companies make nearly 50 percent profits from each computer they make. I understand that the only thing stopping people from making their own computer is the "know how" of putting the parts together, like it takes some kind of bachelors in computer engineering to manifest a computer. But I reassure you it doesn't.

First and foremost before you begin, you must purchase all the parts or hardware that you intend on putting in your computer. There are "computer shows" listed in every Sunday paper, this is by far your best chance of gaining cheap effective computer parts, not to mention the added bonus of being able to ask questions about your purchase to real individuals selling the hardware. Not to mention, if you need to ask a question about compatibility because it's not written on the box, anyone selling merchandise will be able to answer any question you throw at them. They live for computers and are the most knowledgeable around. There is usually a cover charge to enter the show but not more then a couple of dollars.

The most common computer is the PC or Personal Computer, this is the standard computer in most households, on the outside it consists of a Tower or the metal casing that houses the components of the computer. A Monitor for viewing the work done on the computer, and speakers to hear music or simple sounds that computer makes. Speakers are not a necessity but still nice to have. The metal case of your computer is not that important because they are universal, you can put anything inside them. So just pick one that is appealing to your eye or one that accents the furniture in your room, the only important item you need here is a case with a "power source" included, these run anywhere from 59.99 to 100.00 for the case with the power source. Each individual computer starts with one main item called the Mother Board, this is the "brains" of the computer. There are Thousands of them but a quick search through a catalog of computer parts such as "Tiger Direct" would show all the differences. A simple catalog is very useful when building your own computer, even though you may not know the terminology, you can figure out that 700 is greater than 200. Such as an Asus 3600 motherboard is better than an Asus 1500 noticeable by the larger size, you don't need to know what these numbers are but they are clearly different models and the higher number is better. The easiest way to pick one of these motherboards is comparing the highest number to the lowest price eventually ending at the "medium". You can grab a motherboard for as little as $60.00. This concept goes for other pieces of hardware but not every piece of hardware. A good rule of thumb is to select a piece that is low in price but high in numbers, finding the middle of these products will put you exactly where you need to be.

The monitor can be purchased for rather cheap, but they are getting more and more expensive now that they are only being produced in flat screen LCDs. The cheapest way of getting a monitor is just asking someone for an old one that you could buy from them for under $50.00, let them pay for the new expensive LCD and you can have their old working one for pennies. You are also going to need to purchase a CD-ROM and a Hard Drive. A CD-ROM is a Compact Disc read-only memory device. It is used to view external data information from compact discs that you can see through your computer. These CD-ROMs are inexpensive at an average of 19.99 for an entire unit. The Hard Drive is a little more expensive, running about $80.00. The Hard Drive is what stores all the information on your computer as opposed to the Mother Board which runs the computer. The hard drive stores and organizes everything the Mother Board needs to carry out its operations. The last piece of hardware you have to buy is a CPU also known as a Processor; the Processor is the piece of hardware that allows communication between the Hard Drive and the Mother Board. The CPU is simple and cheap and attaches right onto the Mother Board, cost is roughly $32.99- $52.99.

You will also need to buy "software" which are the programs that your computer runs and you view on your monitor. Your operating system is the only software program you absolutely need. It is the interface you view on the computer screen that you access files on your hard drive with. I recommend Microsoft Windows XP (home edition) this is by far the easiest most user friendly operating system I have ever used. It will cost you around $90.00 for the purchase of this software. You will need three more items that are by far the cheapest items to buy this day and age which is RAM, an Ethernet PCI card and a keyboard/mouse combo kit. RAM is very cheap, extra memory for your hard drive that can increase the speed of your machine and improves overall storage space, for the low price of $15.00 it is worth purchasing at least one stick of 256 MB ram. The Ethernet PCI Card is your easiest connection to the Internet, it will cost roughly $5.00 and plugs into a PCI slot on your mother board. The keyboard and mouse; these can be bought in combination packages for roughly $10.00.

Now that you have all your parts purchased its time to get dirty and put them all together. When you get your "tower" home open up all the packaging and grab yourself one small Phillips head screw driver and one small flathead screw drive. When handling any hardware for your computer always touch the metal casing of the computer frame to remove any static electricity on you before you touch the parts. The power source will come separate and you first need to attach the power source to the casing of the computer. Do not plug it in; you will not need to plug in your computer for sometime now. There are 4 small screws that come packaged with your new power source, take them and attach the power source to the back inside corner of the computer casing. There will be a small tin cut out that shows exactly where it must go. Now there are a host of wires that you need to plug into the back of the power source. Plug in the wires and leave them for now. The back of the power source