[ul]
[li]I have serious gumption.[/li][li]I have tools.[/li][li]I will have free time.[/li][li]I am an Engineer.[/li][/ul]
Pick any two of the above, and you too are a dangerous man/woman.
Anyhow, I have an old desktop that I think kicked the bucket a little while back–the power supply shorted out with a nasty “ZAP!” and ozone smell. I tried to swap it out with a new one, but it too shorted out. No big whoop. I bought the thing back in 2003, and it’s been a good computer, albeit a bit slower and outdated. I got the idea though, to use what I could to make a new system altogether. The old hard drive is still there, but I suspect it may have taken a hit from the power supply. I have explosive plans for its disposal (old, slow, and I want to make sure no private data gets away). The sticks of memory are still in the motherboard, and all of the other guts are there. I’m thinking of scrapping them all.
So, what does it take to piece together a new system from scratch? I’ve heard there are a few DIY tutorials online, and that it’s fairly easy to do; more or less anything now is plug-and-play. Is this true? Can I really just order physically compatible parts and go from there?
Anyone care to give me a start on such an endeavor? I don’t want a blazing-fast machine, just another “Mothership” to hook up a wireless router and a couple of printers to. I have the old monitor and it seems to work fine, I just need the main box to work.
Guide me, O Dopers. Whaddya know?
Tripler
. . . lest I find some other project you’ll all regret/ooh-and-aahh at later. :dubious:
More or less, although you want to pay attention to more than just physical compatibility. Generally speaking, modern desktop PC components are made to work together, and it’s not hard to find a good set of parts for a build. You’d most likely want to decide what kind of processor you want to use first (the main choice being Intel vs. AMD), and then pick out a compatible motherboard and RAM. Graphics card selection is fairly independent; as long as your motherboard has at least one PCI-express x16 slot (and pretty much all of them do), you can pick whatever graphics card meets your needs and budget. Then you need a power supply that can power your rig, which in the case of a budget build should be pretty modest (maybe 400 Watts or so).
Then there’s just the hard drive, CD/DVD burner, and case. Generally no complications at all as far as those parts are concerned. (As long as you make sure to get a case that your motherboard will fit in. :p) The assembly itself is really easy too, and generally requires no tools except for a screwdriver.
I bought a crappy Packard Bell PC in 1994. It was the last whole desktop computer I purchased until I switched to a Mac a couple of months ago. Every year or two I’d just replace some components–a motherboard here, a video card there–and it was like I had a whole new system. It’s pretty great.
One word of advice: Don’t skimp on the case. Buy a good one, with easy access, great ventilation, removable drive cages, lots of space. You’ll be in there a lot.
Building a PC from scratch is never a good idea. The soldering iron has to be really small and the millions of connections you have to make will make your arm tired let alone sifting sand well enough so that it is pure silicone.
That said, building from parts isn’t that hard even for a beginner. You just have to pick compatible parts and order them from somewhere like www.newegg.com. It takes effort to actually break anything hardware related. The pieces are more like Lego bricks than anything else. The motherboard requires a few wired connections however so read the instructions carefully and don’t forget to screw in the motherboard risers for God’s sake or you can blow the whole thing. Software is a little more picky and will take time.
You are bound to screw things up a little your first time but it probably won’t break anything. Plan at least a full day to put everything together and maybe the better the better part of a weekend to get your fully functional computer up and running. Just the software installations eat up hours.
It’s dead easy to build a basic PC. It’s rather harder to do it well. You need to consider issues like memory capacity, air flow, noise, and size. For instance, on the size issue, I’m rather fond of the small Shuttle PCs, but they’re very expensive. On the next step up, I like the Jeantech MicroTitan case because, despite the small size, it has room for 2x 120mm fans.
I built a budget box from the Ars Tech guide recently, going with their AMD recommendations. I’m delighted with it. Putting it together was easy but making sure the cables were tucked out of the way and the power switch was plugged in and nothing had come unplugged since the last time I looked took about 9 hours.
I went with this case rather than the one Ars reccomended because it was only ten dollars more and had a 50 wat better power supply.
Oh, and Ars doesn’t mention this, but if you buy a graphics card, you probably want an extra intake fan for upfront. It’s only $15 or so.
The only actual tool you’ll need is a philips screwdriver and possibly a grounding bracelet. You might consider picking up a few spare bits & pieces like sata cables and case screws. You’ll probably get enough of those along with the parts you order but in my case, one of the sata cables they shipped me had a loose connection and I had to use a spare I’ve had kicking around.
It’s very satisfying putting together your own PC, and surprisingly easy. As someone said above get a good case and mobo and you are gold. What you haven’t said is what OS you plan on putting on it?
Not only is it satisfying, but you get an intimate knowledge of what’s going on in your computer, and you won’t have any qualms about diving right into the case to fix a problem, since you know where everything goes.
In my experience, I’ve never needed an intake fan, and I have a 8800GT on a P4 system. I found that installing an intake fan made no difference in temperatures, and when the fan itself broke, I didn’t even miss it.
However, that may be because I have a mid-size Antec case, which may be better at handling passive airflow?
If you have a fanless graphics card, then having an intake fan at the bottom can help: being larger it can spin slower and quieter than the one that would have gone on the graphics card.
OTOH if you go for fluid cooling, the second fan location can host a second radiator with a fan blowing out.
I have the ATI 4850 in my case and I’d read that it runs hot. Even with the fans I can feel the heat pouring off the machine but it runs within a safe temp range.
I have a mid-size Antec case too - the NSK6580. It’s got space for four case fans (counting the rear one attached to the PSU). The front mount fans blow directly across the hard drives, which is nice. I think I’m eventually going to get a third fan for the side mount to create a cross draft. Hopefully it will help cut down on the dust bunny population too.
It might not be necessary but I figured extra cooling is never a bad thing and it was only $15. It seemed silly to skimp on it after buying $600 worth of components. YMMV.
Oooh, those are good starts for reading. Thank you!
And thank you too. That TigerDirect website gives me some pricing/parts comparisons I can use to find out just what is on the market an’ how much it all costs.
I think I might be able to re-use the old case. It was a Gateway tower, so I’ll have to do some reading. Do most motherboards fit into most cases, or is it something I’m going to have to size specifically?
If the case is a standard ATX case then a standard motherboard should fit. But I’d replace it anyway: modern cases use 120mm fans for better airflow. And it may not be a standard case.
I think you should spend $15-30 and get a computer tool kit. Those three-prong holder thingies are indispensable for getting screws into far-away holes, or rescuing screws from the depth of a case. Tweezers and different-sized screwdrivers are nice, too. As are the screw holders.
The tool kit looks nice! Zip-ties are so handy to use, especially if you have an unlimited supply of them. You get hooked on to a cable management binge, and then everything’s all neat and tidy. It’s a great feeling.
ZipperJJ also mentioned rescuing screws from nooks and crannies of cases - very important! A stray screw can potentially short out a motherboard, causing a new system to fail at boot. Trivial mistake, but a definitely a show-stopping one! In lieu of buying the toolkit (which is still a good idea), at least get a phillip’s head screwdrivers with a magnetic head. The magnet is not powerful enough to do any damage, but powerful enough to pick up loose screws, and make it 10 times easier to guide a screw into a hole.
Tom’s Hardware - lots and lots of component reviews and benchmarking. Here is a nice article where they build three PCs ($600, $1300, $2500) then compare performance
Sharky Extreme. I really like their system builder guides, but it looks like they haven’t updated since Feb 2009.
Like others have said, building a PC isn’t too hard. Start with a case and a mobo, add parts from there. Don’t skimp on the power supply.
It depends largely on what “from scratch” means to you, and on whether you’re planning on pushing the envelope.
If you’re planning on getting a motherboard that already has a CPU with heatsink/fan, the primary controllers, and all the slots you need, then everything else is largely mix ‘n’ match (not plug and play, however – you’ll still need to be downloading drivers and screwing around with configurations).
If “from scratch” means you’re designing and building your own case, it’s not overly difficult, but you must plan for heat. PCs these days run hot, and you’ll have to decide on the relative importance of running cool vs. running quiet. Also, if you’re building your own case, space becomes an issue. If you have enough room, making the case a big bigger will result in less cursing later as you try to slip fingers and tools into cramped quarters around bent sheet metal.
The place you’re most likely to run into trouble is if you’re buying cutting-edge components. The newest CPUs and video cards are always hot.
I presume you meant silicon? Unless, of course, you’re making some boobs to go with the computer
