What is advice on building your own computer?

Answer 1

Brand-name computers are good quality but building your own can save you money and get you exactly what you want.

Brand-name is good quality, but they often bundle there PC's with lots of accessories and junk software that you probably will never use, and they jack up the price for it. I have recently built my first PC, it was surprisingly easy and fun. The first thing you should have in mind is what you want it to do, I built mine for games, so having upgradeable hardware is key...I wanted to be able to upgrade my graphics later on..

So you need to keep things in mind like this, do you want on-board video or not? I started with the motherboard and built around that. You need to fully understand that certain parts only work with certain parts e.g. you CANNOT stick a AGP video card into a PCI-E slot and expect it to work if you get my drift. Same goes for CPU/Mobo/RAM ect. So if you're building going from the ground up you need to remember this stuff, you CANNOT stick a 775 socket CPU in a 774 socket Motherboard. You will end up damaging both the CPU and the MOBO.

So keep that in mind, when you buy a Motherboard you should get a list of all the compatible hardware/software...Also there are lots of different Case types like : ASUS, Abit, MSI, DFI, ATX which all have different screw holes for the Motherboard and power supply...So advice would be to start with the motherboard and build up from that using the recommended hardware for the motherboard. Find a case that fits, make sure you have a Operating system disk handy, and make sure that OS is supported by all of your hardware.

You may also want to install the CPU yourself to save a lil money or you could opt for a Mobo w/pre-installed CPU and make things MUCH easier. I installed my CPU by myself was worried about it at first hearing a lot or Horror stories of things going wrong, but personally I found it easy and had no problems installing the CPU whatsoever. Make sure you do the research first before attempting to install a CPU because you could easily destroy a CPU if you don't know what your doing. Don't be afraid to use a walk-through! It's a great feeling once you get her up and running and installing your new operating system :)

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I'm 17, and have been building my own PCs for just over 5 years now. It's not as hard as they say...

You have to decide what you want the PC for, gaming, work, server management etc. After that, you need to decide what the best hardware is for your specific purpose (speak to a local PC dealer or two).

E.g: For gaming, you want a dual core CPU at minimum (quad core or higher preferred). So make sure the motherboard can handle a good CPU as well as lots of ram (+- 8 gb) and pci-e slot. If you can get a SLI compatible board then go for it (can connect to graphics cards of the same type to double memory). Also aim for a gigabit on-board network card and 5.1 channel sound card. A good hard drive is essential (250gb should do at first). Make sure your mother board can handle SATA (Serial-ATA) drives as they transfer data at a much quicker rate than the old IDE... I would suggest going for a Gigabyte mother board if it is your first build. They are easy to manage and very reliable.

Answer 2

Some tips for building a new personal computer include planning for the future, not skimping on the fans, determining if extra connectors will be needed, performing periodic maintenance, carefully choosing power supplies and planning for cable management.