Good step by step PC building guides?

Hi everbody,

just wondering if anyone knew any links for good step by step PC building guides. i've had all my componemts for a little while now, but as i've never gone through the process of building my own pc i decided to wait for a friend who had to give me a hand with it (so i couldn't mess it up, just being cautious). but now i'm getting a little impatient, and could do with my new faster pc being up and running for some editing i need to do. so i'm starting to contemplate doing it myself, just wanted to know if you knew of any guides you found useful or just some tips on how to go about it, where to start, what to leave til last, what's the best order to put components into the case in, put everything on the mobo before putting it in the case or not etc...

thanks

Adam

First thing is the CPU - stick that in the motherboard. Then apply the thermal paste to the CPU and put the heatsink on. Next, I'd put the motherboard in the case - don't forget to put the spacers in the case for the motherboard screws to go into.

Now put the RAM, graphics card and all the other PCI cards in. Screw in the optical drives, hard drives, floppy drives, etc., and connect them to the motherboard. Finally, plug the power in to the motherboard, optical drives, hard drives, floppy drives, possibly grahics card and everything else. You also need to connect the LEDs and power and reset buttons to the motherboard. There will be some wires coming from the case, the motherboard manual should tell you where they go.

I don't think I've missed anything, but don't take my word for it!

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/

i think www.pcmech.com is one or www.pcmechanic.com something like that

I'd read this as well if I was you, as this has might help you in the future :)

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=26576

Nahh seriously. Read the manuals and check the diagrams etc, thats usually a good pointer and if your like any male you usually do this LAST after every other avenue is exhausted :)

The other links are a good guide as well and a little word from experience, if things go wrong in anyway - take a deep breath and slowly work on it, I bet everyone has bust at least 1 item due to being stressed and rushing with excitement :)

All good advice ... not sure whether I can offer any further advice that's of any help, but being the sort of person I am (wont to giving needless advice), I'll try anyway ;)

Really good engineers and craftsmen have a motto of "measure twice, cut once". To transpose the advice to this, I'd suggest reading instructions to the point where you almost have them memorised before actually starting work. Merely following step-by-step instructions will often find you coming up against a step which makes entirely clear the confusion you inevitably found on an earlier one and normally meant you did the wrong thing. Basically "read ALL the instructions twice; follow them only once", because you'll be following them correctly that way :)

Finally, anything you're not certain about - no matter how daft you feel - ask in these forums for help. Quite frankly, it's better to look a numpty than it is to blow your new computer, which is incidentally pretty difficult if you don't do anything stupid :)

thanks guys, already had read my manuals, hehe. those guides are great have answered a few of my little stupid question that tend to get over looked, for example, i was worried about what side of the mobo i would need to attach the little washers that came with the stud and screw pack in my case so i wouldn't short it out, and then i came across this "Some motherboards have metal plates around the holes to keep the screws from shorting the circuitry, and in this case, washers are not necessary" which is as my abit IC7 is so i dont need the washers.

one thing i'm not certain of though is if i need to use thermal compound on my cpu and heatsink as it's a 3ghz P4 retail kit which didnt come with any, and the 2 guides state "Heat sink compound is something that many do not use anymore, myself included. But, in some older systems, it will be necessary." and the other says "Coolers for modern processors will require some form of heat transfer material on the underside. This may be in the form of a small 'pad' about 1 or 2mm thick. This will help the heat to dissipate from the CPU core to the cooler.
Be sure to check the instructions that come with your cooler, as in some cases, a thin protective film will need to be removed prior to fitting the cooler to the CPU. Failure to do so will cause the CPU to overheat very quickly and destroy itself. If this pad is not present, it may be necessary to use a thermal paste."

the intel heatsink i have does have a small pad to make contact with the cpu so i'm guessing i don't need to use compound or would i be better off buying some and using it still as that seems to be what others suggest

Out of preference, I would use some third-party stuff ... Arctic Silver 5 is what I have on mine. It's not hideously expensive, but I'd recommend picking up some Isopropyl Alcohol and some coffee filters (cheap lint-free cloths!!) - to clean the existing stuff off the heatsink before you apply the new stuff - in addition to just the thermal compound, as you need to make sure you get a nice clean surface to apply it to.

The difference would probably be only a few degrees, but if a job's worth doing ... ;)

http://www.dansdata.com/buildpc.htm
It's way out of date on the products listed, but the advice on actually putting it all together is (as always from Dan) very sound and well-written.