Customizing and Building Your Own Machine.

To help yourself out, and to avoid the hasssle, and money spent on fried components, invest 30 bucks(Radio Shack, yes this is a plug), and get a Computer Maintenance Tool Kit. Has Anti-static mat and wrist strap, all the screwdrivers you could need, heat sink grease, and Chip Tweezers. It's worth the money.
Also, b-4 you buy all the parts brand new, check at second hand stores. A NIC cost 20 bucks brand new, but a used one cost 5. A Brand new 40 GB HD, 90 Bucks, used 10. See how much you can save....

On the being-careful-the-first-time note...

How important would you guys characterize the checking of PSU voltages? Maybe taking a multimeter and checking the molex and motherboard connections for the correct voltages when you get it and after some burn-in? Or is it largely not a problem, at least with factory-new power supplies? The risk of frying a motherboard is significant (in terms of consequence, not chance), I would think...

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Originally posted here by prodikal
here thats a nice tut er0k me`s wants build his own computer now *checks wallet no cash bah* oh well i will build 1 when i get more money i have a question is it more expensive 2 build u r own commputer ?

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Well prodikal, from my experience, i have built 2 custom computers, customized 1 at the store, and bought one pre-assembled. The customized one was extremely expensive, but i wanted it because i was younger and had the cash. I got a 2.2ghz processor in it, no peripherals what so ever including monitor, 60 gig hd, 512 mb rambus ram, 5 drive server tower, volcano fans, ect. and it cost me $1200.00 That was about a year ago, maybe a little less, and the last computer i bought, was a asus motherboard 2.53 ghz processor, again 512 mb rambus, basically the same stuff just an upgrade, and it only cost me about $700.00, i built that one. Even though the products were newer when i customized, that still a dramatic decrease in the price. Plus it included labor on my first listing. I'd say that if you buy 2 computers, with exactly the same stuff in them, it will be quite a bit cheaper to build one than have one built. Plus, if you customize and build one yourself, you know whats in it, and if it ever screws up, or if you screw it up, you will be able to determine the problem faster since you built the thing.

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Originally posted here by neel
Great tutorial, but you really have to now what you want and DON'T just buy some stuff (like I did a few years ago)...

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good point neel.

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Originally posted here by mattfatch1
Great tutorial. Just one thought though.

when you boil it all down, including time (I value mine extermely) is building your own PC really cheaper? I would be almost willing to bet I can spec out a machine and way you want from a general pc manufacturer, and come pretty darned close to the build your own machine you are discussing? PC Prices are dropping dramatically. Just a thought to keep in mind.

Again terrific tutorial!

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You have a point, but when it all comes down to it, there are labor charges, and tax for those labor charges normally, so almost always it is going to be cheaper. And sometimes when you customize one at the store, they will say "well you have to have this blah blah blah to make this run right blah blah blah so you are going to have to pay more blah blah blah." Thanks for the input, i appreciate all questions and comments.

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Originally posted here by DukArchon
To help yourself out, and to avoid the hasssle, and money spent on fried components, invest 30 bucks(Radio Shack, yes this is a plug), and get a Computer Maintenance Tool Kit. Has Anti-static mat and wrist strap, all the screwdrivers you could need, heat sink grease, and Chip Tweezers. It's worth the money.
Also, b-4 you buy all the parts brand new, check at second hand stores. A NIC cost 20 bucks brand new, but a used one cost 5. A Brand new 40 GB HD, 90 Bucks, used 10. See how much you can save....

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True, radioshack has many different varities of computer tool kits, i have one myself. One thing i do not agree with there tool kits are they include magnetic screwdrivers. Dont ever run a magnetic screw driver in a computer. It can erase data very easily and fry the motherboard.

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Originally posted here by Terr
On the being-careful-the-first-time note...

How important would you guys characterize the checking of PSU voltages? Maybe taking a multimeter and checking the molex and motherboard connections for the correct voltages when you get it and after some burn-in? Or is it largely not a problem, at least with factory-new power supplies? The risk of frying a motherboard is significant (in terms of consequence, not chance), I would think...

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Very true, but again i am trying to keep this "simple" for people new to building machines. I may write a new tut later for guru's about voltage and "being careful" not to fry stuff ect. later. THe power supply voltage is usually not a problem when you buy one though. They normally have requirements in the instructions ect in the motherboard and power supply alike for the voltages. Although you should always take that into consideration before connecting the power supply so it doesnt "fry" anything. Thankyou for bringing that up terr. :)



Thankyou for your comments, i appreciate all suggestions and questions towards this tut, i will answer all others periodically, since im kinda busy lately. Hope this post answers your questions.

er0k

Yeah building your own pc is far better than buying one from a shop for the reasons above, but before you start your own, get some old pc's(they do need to be sort of recent 486 and above) and take it apart and do some reasearch on the parts, a book on building pc's is very useful eg, Building pc's for dummies.
Anyway if you do decide to do your own pc good luck, and I wish you many happy years of computing!

Good point cheesegoduk.

I would also suggest putting a link in there for www.tomshardware.com
Its a great source to research the latest technology so you can read about things before you buy. great tut.
x

In response to xmaddnesses's reply, i attempted to edit my tut to include that link. But my time for editing it has expired. (1440 min apparentley) SO i can add this here: www.tomshardware.com i checked it out and it is a great place. Thanx xmad.

In the UK certainly, we have Computer Fairs (Just do a Google search). Go to one of those, preferably knowing what you want and how much it costs from places like dabs.com (did I just do that wrong?) or Jungle. Computer fairs are usually a few £ cheaper. The end of the day can be a good time to go, especially if business was slow: haggle. But you may be saying to yourself, 'surely I'll never see this guy again'. Not true. They make their living at these places and most have bona fide parts supply companies. Get a receipt. If the product doesn't work, the guy who sold it to you WILL replace it, because despite the apparent casual nature of computer fairs, the vendors do build up a reputation and are keen to maintain it. Much of the stuff they sell does not come in a box!

Best of luck people.

You forgot one thing. A cool and utterly pointless case mod.

http://www.2cooltek.com/case001.html
http://www.2cooltek.com/case201_2.html

I was wondering when we'd get to that. Ooooh yesss.... I'm going to get a new comp soon, in an Antec Performance Plus 1080 black case. I plan to add a window, a UV cold cathode, make the inner case components flat black... and to go where very very few modders appear to have gone before... paint the inside components (very carefully) with flourescent or phosphorescent paint. Hopefully I'll get a Tron-like look. Here's to hoping. (Even though red flourescent is hard to manage, compared to, say, green.)