Building your own box from scratch

[vanman]

Good tut allenb.I have often in the past read about how to buy and set up the perfect machine, but when push comes to shove you have either lost the book or forgot some of the specs etc..

Thanks allen, I now have your reference to refer to whenever it is needed.
regards

v/man

[TURBOWEST]

this is realy very nice,
but have u considered that a guy who views this tutorial probably has got a PC of his own?,
but if u just posted it for guys in a cafe or who r planning to get a new PC then its ok

[allenb1963]

Originally posted here by TURBOWEST
this is realy very nice,
but have u considered that a guy who views this tutorial probably has got a PC of his own?,
but if u just posted it for guys in a cafe or who r planning to get a new PC then its ok

*SARCASM* Gee TURBOWEST, it never even DAWNED on me that the people looking at this already have a computer, and thanks for pointing that out to me. *END SARCASM*



I posted this for a couple of reasons. First and formost it is for those curious people out there who are tired of filling the coffers of DELL, Gateway 2000 and the like with their hard earned cash....the ones who feel like they can do it on their own and do it better with just a little bit of direction.

It is also here for those members who possess a great deal of knowledge about this subject to add to, and I encourage them to do so. Judging from the posts above, that is exactly what is happening, and I thank each and every one of you for posting and making the tutorial even better...keep it up!

[t2k2]

Very nice tut! I like it, even the way you layed it out...not bad for a 1AM job! This one definitely goes in the binder...keep it up Al...

[Infiltrator]

I truly believe that one of the best ways to learn how to do somthing is to jump in a do it. When you want to try your hand at building from scratch. I would suggest that you get a bunch of older parts and build an older system. That way, if you break somthing, it won't be an expensive lesson. If all goes well, you can use that older box as a Linux box.

[Ratman2]

Allenb, great job!!!!!!!!...now for my 2 cents
I'm in the process of designing/building a system for good friends of mine (still in the design stage) and have some good advice.

1. PLAN, PLAN, PLAN....just as allenb adressed PLAN the system out. What are the current needs, what are the future needs....WRITE THE PLAN DOWN

2. Fit and Finish - make sure the parts you choose are going to fit and work well together (and I don't mean just physically). The parts have to interact with one another well to make a SYSTEM. As for finish there are many important items to consider such as sharp edges on the case...if you have any don't be afraid to get out the Dremel tool and grind the edge smooth. Depending on how big your case is you may want to add casters and handles on the top or sides to aid in case movement. The case i'm using is a big server case so this is an issue. Also, tie up wires and data cables out of the way to not only improve the looks but cooling as well.

3. System Cooling - the system i'm doing has 2 processors and 2 big hard drives so cooling is an issue. The bottom line is this: IT'S GOT TO STAY UNDER 110 DEGRESS IN THERE AT ALL TIMES. Anything higher than this is TOO HOT. The case has one PSU fan and 2 rear aux. fans. The 2 aux. fans are getting replaced with hi-performance units from PC Power and Cooling (http://www.pcpowerandcooling.com) at their recommendation. I told them what I was gonna have and flat out told the guy on the phone that I want internal temps under 110 at all times. If you need cooling help, seek these guys out.

got some more but that's all for now.

[allenb1963]

VictorKaum has posted an excellent tutorial here that is well worth reading. Vic has covered cooling, to which I only gave a passing mention, in the most thorough manner imaginable. If you're going to build a system, by all means make sure you read it!

[linuxelite]

Nice one allen. I'll get started on one for putting everything together. It'll probably be a while, I'm busy and it may be in parts since putting a computer together is easy if you're sitting there but hard to explain step by step.
And seriously, planning is hard, you have to pick out the case, and the size, and the colour (for me aesthetics are important since i have to stare at it) and other minor stuff that is important for the overall machine. Oh and by the way, you can overclock AMD chips, intel locks theirs. I like overclocking who doesn't at least enjoy having the option?

[(V)/\><]

nice tut Al.
perhaps it would have been more aptly titled, building a computer from componant parts.
i was dissapointed there was no advice on smelting silicone from rocks, making your own chips, designing the architecture for your processor, soldering and what not

now, in this light, if someone could write
"building your own box from scratch"
i wouldn't be able to make any smart-ass replys like this now, would i?

any who, for those of you who read this far in this thread, you must really be interested in building your own computer. on the topic of motherboards, mAx sez...; check out the bus speed also. the bus is what all the onboard components use to 'talk' to each other. i would think it unnecessary to hook up a 2Ghz processor on a motherboard that had a bus of 10Mhz (although such parts don't exist you can see what would happen) because all the bus is providing the processor with is 10 million instructions per second, MAXIMUM, whereas the processor is capible of doing 2 billion or so. i _could_ rant on about this for an age, but you should get the picture. fyi, the most 'popular' motherboard bus speed at the moment, i think, would be around 133Mhz.
another interesting factor would be the speed of your PCI slots. slightly older 33Mhz ones and newer 66Mhz ones should be available to you. this is why, like Al said, planning is paramount. say you are planning to use this computer for sound processing, then you should find a motherboard with a 66Mhz PCI slot so your phat-ass sound-card can talk to the rest of 'the lads' as fast as possible...also try get a motherboard without an onboard soundcard, as you will probably have to go fiddleing with jumpers, and you probably won't want to do this is you just want to stick things together for as little money as possible, with little hassle. with this example, you could settle for an onboard graphics card, because you planned to use the computer for sound processing, so you don't give a rats about the display, or if it has a network card, or usb2 or whatever. remember...
...ONLY PAY FOR WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO USE...

hmmm, i didn't think i wouldd rant on for this long, aaah well......

[aeallison]

now, in this light, if someone could write
"building your own box from scratch"
i wouldn't be able to make any smart-ass replys like this now, would i?

In retrospect does this mean that baking a cake from scratch means that you have to grow the wheat, sugar cane, etc. and grind them into flour etc. before combining into a batter and bakeing the cake?

Just curious...