Building First Computer

Iveth_Evo

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Jan 7, 2006
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Hey I'm building my first computer and i was wondering if anyone had some good tips on building it and anything i should watch out for.
 

endyen

Splendid
First, read the manual. When you are done, read the manual.
I will assume you are building with Amd, as only a fool would be going Intel today.
Everything should slide in fairly easily, except that the hsf is always hard to secure.
Be a little impatient. You have to install cpu, with heatsink fan, and ram, before putting the mobo in the case. Since the board will boot to bios, with just a gfx card, keyboard, and power connections (and this is the only time to be impatient), set it up on a phone book, make the additions and go into bios.
As soon as you finish loading your OS, load all the drivers that came with the mobo, and gfx cards. Make sure you load the mobo drivers.
 

dmroeder

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Jan 15, 2005
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You could post what your looking at buying and what your using it for and this would be a bit easier. I have no idea if you what your knowledge level with computers is, so I don't really know where to start. Have you decide on what platform you are going with? Also, what is your budget? Give us some details man!
 

endyen

Splendid
Come on. It's not exactly hard to do. We all built a first system. Most of us got through without causing much damage. It really is a lot easier now, since you dont have IRQ, and memory jumpers. Even multipliers and bus speeds are no longer jumper controlled.
 

gahleon

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Dude, go for the gold. Dont listen to the fool about the professional technician building it for you. It is completely possible to build it on your own. You will learn as you go. There are a few guides to follow. First figure out what you plan on doing with it whether it is gaming, general surfing, ect. Then check out some of the toms build your own guides. It is simple. Another tip is to check out to see what brands of ram for example are compatible with the specific motherboard you are looking on getting.
 

Iveth_Evo

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I pretty sure I know how to build the computer from reading multiple guides on TG and elsewhere.

What I was wondering is if anyone had some small helpful tips or things that I should watch out for. Stuff that may not have been mentioned in guides. Or anything that you all had figured out from experience.
 

gahleon

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well I built my first one from a bit of previous knowledge but also from checking out toms. This site is amazing and certainly keeps anyone willing to read up to date. Well as far as components thats your baby unless you post them here for evaluation. I guess the biggest suggestion is to use ceramiq compound for the processor rather than as5 because it is non conductive and also doesnt need to be reapplied. as5 tends to dry out over time. Thats what I heard. Also go with amd. Intel blows. Just make sure that your components balance because you dont want to create bottlenecks. In otherwords if you have a sweet processor but not enough ram and a nice GPU then your memory will be your bottleneck. Other than that I guess just ask questions because the breadth of information that I could give is large. I dont know what you know already.
 

borandi

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Or anything that you all had figured out from experience.

Take your time and dont panic.
I've had my worst moments when I'm more frustrated than a herd of mentruating moose. Yes that chair was flung across the room and there is a dent in the wall =D
 

benno

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Building first Computer is quite tricky...

1. Antec cases are a good choice because they have a positioner to help u fit in the mounting screws for the motherboard

2.Asus Motherboard because they're stable

actually have u had expirance (like seeing someone else doing it infront of u)?
 

Iveth_Evo

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Here is my hardware that i am building it with:

AMD Athalon 64 X2 3800
2GB Corsair XMS Pro PC3500 memory
Asus A8N32-SLI motherboard
Asus 7800GTX
X-Fi Xtrememusic Soundcard
Enermax 550W power supply
Wester Digital 120GB SATA II HD
LiteOn DVD Recorder (I forget that exact specification)
Lian Li PC60 Plus Case
Floppy Drive

I think thats all