Building A PC

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Please note that Travis will not be responsible
for any damages caused by use or misuse of the
information provided within this presentation.
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Index

• Why build, when you can buy a pc?
• Who would benefit from building a pc?
• Basic Outline for building your pc.
• Essential hardware.
• The assembly the pc.

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Why Build, When You Can Buy?

• By building your own pc, you gain the knowledge
  of knowing exactly what parts you need or want
  and can save money by buying parts on the
  internet. After building a pc, you become very
  familiar with computers in general and will be
  able to replace broken parts or upgrade parts to
  have the latest technology.

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Who Would Benefit From Building A PC?

• A person who wants a high-end system to do video
  editing, authoring, or computer gaming would
  benefit the most from building a pc. If you are
  just going to do basic applications such as word
  processing, email, and web browsing and dont
  care about having the latest technology, then you
  are probably better off going to the store and
  buying a pc.

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Outline

• Things you should do before building a pc.
• Figure out what the main purpose of your computer
  is. Will it be used for email, word processing,
  video or photo editing, gaming, etc.
• Look for the software that you need.
• Familiarize yourself with the components of the
  computer. Find the compatible hardware that you
  need or want to run the software. You can get
  all your computer parts at Newegg.com, or
  CompUSA.

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Essential Hardware

• In order of importance
• Processor Acts as the cpus brain.
• Motherboard or Mobo Main circuit board in the
  computer, almost everything is connected to it.
• Case Houses all the components of the computer.
  Be sure the case is the same form factor as the
  mobo.
• Power supply unit or PSU - The component that
  supplies power to a computer. Most cases come
  with a PSU.
• Ram The memory available for programs to run.
• Hard drive This is where all the data in your
  computer is stored.
• Graphics card A card that plugs into the mobo
  to give it display capabilities.
• Optical media Your cd-rom, dvd-rom, cd-rw,
  dvd-rw.
• Operating System or OS Allows the user to
  interact with the computer. Every computer must
  have a OS to run other programs.
• Monitor The display screen of the computer.
• Input Devices Mouse Keyboard.
• Optional Any PCI Cards, Floppy drive, power
  supply Y splitter, cd audio cable, etc.

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Assembling the pc

• With all of your hardware available. Set aside a
  weekend for the build. It will take a whole day
  to build.
• The only tool you need is a screwdriver.
• Most of the installation is plug and play.
• Step 1 Open your case and install the supplied
  motherboard mounting screws. Then install the
  motherboard in the case.
• Step 2 Once the motherboard is mounted in the
  case. You can connect the power connector from
  the psu to the motherboard.
• Step 3 Locate the cpu socket on the mobo and
  install the cpu. Once that is done install the
  heatsink fan.

• Cpu socket
• HeatsinkFan ?

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Assembling Cont'd

• Step 4 Install the ram, place your ram chip on
  top of the ram slot and gently push it down.
• Step 5 Make sure the jumper on the backside of
  the hard drive is set to master. Then screw the
  hard drive to the case in its mounting slot.
  Next connect the mobo to the hard drive with the
  ATA or SATA cable and plug in the power cable
  from the psu.
• Step 6 Install your floppy drive. Screw the
  floppy drive to the mounting slot. Next connect
  the floppy to the mobo using the floppy disk
  connector and plug in the power cable from the
  psu.

? ATA Cable Power Cable ?
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Assembling Cont'd

• Step 7 Install all of your optical media drives.
  If you have 2 drives one must be set to master,
  the other to slave. Then screw the drives to the
  mounting slots. Connect the drives to the mobo
  with the IDE cable and plug in the power cable
  from the psu.
• Step 8 Install the graphics card, place your AGP
  graphics card on top of the brown slot and gently
  push it down. Then screw the metal plate on the
  front of the card to the case.
• Step 9 Install all of your PCI cards. They are
  installed the same way as the graphics card
  except the PCI slots are white.

PCI Slot ? AGP Slot ?
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Assembling Cont'd

• Now that you have finished installing and
  mounting the hardware you must connect the power
  switch, reset switch, power LED, hard drive LED,
  and an internal speaker from the case to the
  mobo. Refer to your mobo manual to locate where
  the connectors are. The connectors for the
  switches and LED's are normally grouped together.
  They should look similar to the image below.

Power switch Led pins ?
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Finishing Steps

• Once all the cables are connected to the correct
  pins on the mobo, you are ready to switch the PC
  on. You can close the cover of your case but
  don't screw it on just yet, you might have
  problems that need to be fixed.
• Now plug in the mouse and keyboard, the monitor
  cable that connects to the graphics card port,
  and the power cable that connects to the power
  supply.
• Once that is done turn on your monitor and press
  the power button on the case. If everything is
  connected properly and the hardware isnt faulty
  the pc should boot. When the pc boots the BIOS
  setup should be displayed on your monitor. In the
  BIOS your cpu type, speed and the amount of
  memory should be displayed. You should also be
  able to see your drives.
• Now that your pc is built all you have left to do
  is install your operating system and other
  programs.

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Summary

• Why build, when you can buy a pc?
• Who would benefit from building a pc?
• Basic Outline for building your pc.
• Essential Hardware.
• The assembly of a pc.

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References

• Gookin, Dan. Buying a computer for dummies. 2004
  Ed. Indianapolis Wiley Publishing, Inc, 2003.
• Kandra, Anne. If You Build It, Will It Run?
  pcworld. 30 Apr.05 rticle/0,aid,114142,00.asp.
• Risley, David. Build your own pc.
  hardwarecentral. 30 Apr. 05 central.com/hardwarecentral/tutorials/109/1.
• Buildeasypc. 30 Apr. 05 m.