Building a PC

[jmlogue]

hmmmmm, i don't understand a lot of what you guys are saying....that could be a problem....

[Knightslugger]

Here, i'll make it easy:

you will need:

A motherboard
A case (that matches the Motherboard Design)
Possibly a processor (if the Motherboard doesn't come with one)
Possibly a Graphics card (if the Mobo doesn't have one on board)
A power supply
A hard drive
A CD/DVD ROM drive

that should get you started.  ask questions the moment you become unsure.

[Makdaam]

I thought so too (thing about floppies being useless) but they really do come in handy. In case you fuck up when partioning your drive and make the worng one active, its very very useful to have one.

I use SysRescueCD for that ( http://www.sysresccd.org/ ) It's easy to use even for people who are consolephobic (yes there are graphical tools for partitioning - similar to partition magic in appearance) and there's also aida to check if all your hardware is functioning correctly (just enter "aida" at boot)

About the abbs.:
AMD - a company producing processors
CPU - central processing unit - a processor
RAM - random access memory - the operating memory, very important for performance
DDR/DDR2 - types of RAM - common nowadays (DDR2 is a bit newer )
ATI/nVidia - companies making GPUs (or graphics processing units)
mobo - mother board - main board
CRT - cathode ray tube - a "traditional" screen - not flat
non-CRT - opposite of CRT
HD/HDD - hard disk/hard disk drive - the place where you put stuff
ATA/IDE - a way of connecting a HDD and optical drives to the mainboard
SATA - a new (not always better) way of connecting HDDs to the mainboard (haven't seen any DVD drives for SATA, but there might be some)
SCSI - an old but a bit more expensive way of connecting HDDs, optical drives, backup tape drives and whatever might store, receive or send large amounts of data, usually found on servers
DVD-whatever - standards of writing recordable DVDs... checkout some CD writing/DVD ripping sites for more details of what might be useful

First build your machine... then run aida from the Sys Rescue CD and check if it's all there (there will be pages with all active devices listed) if something doesn't work fix it... try to unplug and replug it

Then partition your drive(s) using the Sys Resc CD
And after all that... close the case... and install the OS of your choice... installing Windows and then Linux is not a bad choice (Linux can be installed by anyone who can click the Next button and answer some questions)

If you have more specific questions don't hesitate to jabber me at "lhx [at] jabber.autocom.pl"

[jmlogue]

Building a PC isn't as difficult as it seems so long as you ground urself u'll be okay and follow the instructions 100%.

Straight out instructions would make this so much easier, where can i find instructions or whatever (the only reason i'm being hesitant here is that i'm rather scared of screwing up and wasting the small amount of money i have to spend on this. Part of the reason why i want to biuld my own machine is that it might be a bit cheaper than buying a premade one (and it's also pretty cool to say "yea i built my computer" even if it is easy  ) )

Also, i'm a little fuzzy on what i do after i put everything together. Do i just turn it on the install windows or linux or whatever?

Thanks for all the help so far, i can't wait to actually get started!

[Knightslugger]

well, the funny thing about building a pc is that there are no instructions, you get to build it any way you want.

[jmlogue]

I just don;t want to mess up to bad....

[Knightslugger]

there is no way you can "Mess-up".  everything goes only one way and in one spot.  all you need to know is what you want to install.

[Keizuki]

I just don;t want to mess up to bad....

For each component you buy there WILL be instructions on how to install and use each of them.

For instructions your best bet is a tech site or google.

[Phoenix88]

Ok, this is how to start up...

1 - Decide what you want to use this computer for...
2 - Decide which motherboard fills what your needs, wants and budget...
3 - From there, just put in compatible parts.

Oh, once you start, keep us informed - you'll be surprised how much knowledge is here. My Gateway owes a lot to applegeekers

[jmlogue]

Alright, just one more question before i get started, How can i tell if a mother board is what i'm looking for?

(I'm actually not going to tell you what i want in a computer because i would like to see if i can figure out which motherboard would be best for me on my own but i'm just not sure exactly how to do that....what should i look for? )

[Knightslugger]

You're just going to have to ask questions.  for someone who is just starting to get deeper into the hardware world that is computers, there's a lot to consider.

So first find out what you want to do with it and how far you want to push it.  this is really no different than buying a regular computer.

So, what would you like to do with it?
Will this be a performance machine or just well built.

[jmlogue]

There's actually not to much that i'm going to want from it. The only thing that i really want is for most games that i play on it to work well (none of the computers around my house are to good so i usually have to keep graphics settings pretty low for games to work at all). So i guess the answer to your question would be performance, though i'm not all together sure how "well built" is suposed to contrast that.

[Knightslugger]

Performance = best of the best (Doom3 on dual 30s at full res)
Well built = Ok parts, not the best but not the worst. (WoW worthy)

[jmlogue]

Well then, well built would seem like the way to go (Also seems cheaper  , though, i'de like KOTOR 1 and 2 to work as well....i always seem to have problems with KOTOR)

OK, so what now. I've got an idea of what i'll be doing with my computer what comes next?

[Knightslugger]

Start looking at motherboards that fit what your highest requirement will be.  Search around KOTAR boards, email retailers, look at specs, start new threads (search before hand)

Some of you MOBO gurus, post up your fav. board manufactures.  the one i'm most familliar with is Asus.

There's a lot of choices.  you really have to know the lingo before you can make a solid decision.

Asus Website