Building your own very first computer - Printable Version +- Forums - Open Redstone Engineers (https://forum.openredstone.org) +-- Forum: Off-Topic (https://forum.openredstone.org/forum-4.html) +--- Forum: General computing and engineering (https://forum.openredstone.org/forum-66.html) +--- Thread: Building your own very first computer (/thread-2837.html)

Building your own very first computer - EDevil - 03-21-2014 Contributors EDevil GreatGamer34 Want to contribute to this post as well? Its very likely that we'll have a couple of empty chapters at the beginning, so feel free to post related info down below. I'll check it out, and if its good enough i'll add it to the OP and add you to the Contributors list! Introduction This thread is created for all of those who are active on our forums and servers, but also for visitors who may find this interesting as well This will be a guide full with tips and tricks, made by the whole community, me and perhaps even you! We'll cover all the different parts, what their basic function is, and what you should pay attention to when buying your own parts. At the end, we'll have a full build guide from A-Z. Chapters Why building your own computer? Components Why building your own computer? Building your own computer has a lot of benefits, and almost no drawbacks. To begin with, its actually a lot of fun! Making your own computer gives you the feeling that you know everything about it, which is handy for any troubleshooting in the near future, upgrading your pc, etc. At the end, its also a very nice learning experience. Second of all, it saves you money. Its a fact that pc's out of the store cost more than buying individual parts and building it yourself. Of course, this is common sense. The company must also ask some money for services, like building it and installing the OS with required software like Office. The result you'll get is simple; you'll have more "computer" for your money. For that extra 50 bucks you'll save on making your own, you can buy that nice GPU which would normally be out of your budget. You might be wondering now if there are any drawbacks about making your own computer. The answer is (sadly) yes. To begin with, everyone makes mistakes. You can place your CPU wrong in the socket, or drop the HDD from your table while building your pc. Don't expect it to work anymore, and company's like Intel and WD wont give you a new one. Defects made by you fall out of warranty, so you better do it all right the first time (luckily, its not that hard ). The second thing that i would like to point out is Warranty. Some people might disagree with me here, but company's charge you more for their computers not just for building it and installing required software. If your pc dies, you bring your computer to the store and they'll ring you up when your fixed computer has arrived. Sometimes, you even get a temporarily replacement. This however, is not very common (yet). Dont get me wrong though. There is also warranty on the parts you'll buy, usually also something in the range from 1 - 2 years! However, the hassle around getting that failing component out of your system and sending it out to the manufacturer is something people don't want. People who buy a desktop know this very well and pay more for some good support. You however, wont need support since you're smart enough to solve your own problems Components We can split our components down in a few groups; Case Motherboard CPU RAM Storage GPU PSU Optical drives Extra expansion cards Extra case accessories Case Your case is the place where you'll mount everything in. Things you should look out for when buying one yourself are the brand, form factor, optical bays, storage possibility's, and perhaps the most important thing: aesthetics! Motherboard The motherboard is the "backbone" of your system. It does some functions, but is mostly known for the part that connects all the different components together. Things to consider for buying your motherboard; form factor, chipset, socket and possible expansion like SATA ports and PCIe slots.