Physically putting a rig together, hard?

[BradyS82]

I've never done it before, so I'm wondering how hard it is to actually put the thing together. Is it very easy to f-up or can you just slap things together and, as long as you are mindful about static disharge, it'll be good?

 

[chuckshissle]

Make sure all the parts/components are compatible. Follow instructions and the rest is not that hard at all.

 

[clue69less]

I've never done it before, so I'm wondering how hard it is to actually put the thing together. Is it very easy to f-up or can you just slap things together and, as long as you are mindful about static disharge, it'll be good?

It's not difficult, really. Avoid static, for sure. Pick a good quality case and you hardly need any tools. Search the DIY stuff on Toms and you'll find plenty of links to online and hard copy sources. My first XP install was difficult until I realized I was using a defective optical drive.

Check tis out for decent XP beta:

http://www.pcguide.com/byop/index.htm

 

[jaguarskx]

Not that difficult, but it will take time and you need patience as well.

This is a How-To-Guide from 2002; part 1. Yes the parts are a bit dated but the steps are still the same. Plus it has pictures.

Here's part 2.

The only bad thing about building your own PC is that if you run into problems either while building, or a few months down the road after your PC is up and running is you need to resolve it on your own. But hey, that's what this forum is for.

Give a budget, and what you want the PC to do and people will start offering suggestions as to which components to get.

If you want to build a gaming PC you should budget at least $1,000 not including the cost of the monitor. That should be enough for a moderate gaming PC. $700 - $800 is probably good for a budget gaming rig. About $1,500 for a highend gaming PC and $2,000+ for a premium machine. Roughly speaking.

 

[doolittle]

^ great guides, the basics still apply

I would build it in stages, first being installing the psu/mobo/mem/cpu&hsf/gpu/power-on header (only) then see if you can POST, if not & you have problems at this point it is much easier to troubleshoot the basics.

If you are good to go set the BIOS settings you like then connect the CD or DVD drive and continue to run some offline diags for stability testing using the UBCD or Knoppix (described in more detail in this post) for at least an hour (I prefer overnight tests) or so then connect everything else up, give the HDD at least a quick diag test from the UBCD first, and perform the install.