Discussion:Build a Computer

I was thinking of sending some of the content in this article to Choose Components for Building a Computer. Thoughts?

I've moved the info, shortening the length of this article to something more manageable.

The author mentions placing parts on a non-conductive surface, and states glass as being among these. Glass, however, is a conductor and can build up and store a static charge and glass rods are often used in demonstrations of static electricity.

Obviously, when you receive the various components you should (immediately) check them for any physical damage. (it happens in transit sometimes.) And if you don't have a non conductive surface to work on then leave the components in their anti-static bags/packaging until it's time to install them.

Glass is not a good surface to work on because as mentioned above it's conductive but also because it's likely to get scratched, possibly making you or a significant other upset.

These instructions a a sure-fire way to build a computer that will give the user a great view of the Windows "blue screen of death." Handling the motherboard, CPU or memory without taking steps to safeguard them from ESD damage will likely result in long-term problems with the computer.

this is 5 years old!

This article does not cover SATA harddrive and CD(DVD)ROMs. This article does not cover Processors that come with thermal compound already applyed to the heatsink. This article does not show the computer builder wearing proper grounding gear to avoid static electricity.

yeah! floppy drive. An 8 GB thumb drive costs less than an antique 1.44 floppy drive - unless a person is in the .01% of the population that needs this backward compatibility to floppy.

8 GB thumb holds 5,555 floppies. Close.

This does not contain any information about sata drives or firewire. When using a large motherboard and/or a small case, the motherboard has to be installed before the PSU. People should not just find some standoffs and screws, they typically come in kits that either come with cases, motherboard, bundles, or are suggested when purchasing.

This are ticle is extremely out of date. It needs to be updated with new pictures and descriptions of new hardware (like SATA drives for example).

The most difficult step is finding and loading all the drivers for the components. I didnt see that in this article

It would be great if an illustration is given for #4: Use an antistatic strap-on cable so you don't shock the motherboard.

This build is roughly about 4 to 7 years out dated. It references IDE cable drives, floppy drives, P4 478 chips,DDR memory, and AGP graphic cards. For this article to have any valuable information that is current you might want to build a PC or provide info on building a PC with current specs and features. Examples would be 775 processors or newer, DDR2 or newer memory, PCI express graphic cards, SATA cables for optical drives etc. A lot of the technology referenced in this article is obsolete and hard to find.

while this article did reference a lot of outdated technology it seems to me that it also references the newer technology just as much certain things like floppy drives, comm ports, and agp video cards are still used by some people so the information should be left in... i saw a complaint that fire wire was not mentioned, and it is my (professional, i went to college for this thing) opinion that firewire is so rarely used by non-mac users that it is not worth mentioning, also if my motherboard didn't have built in firewire i would never have installed it because the technology has way to many security flaws to make it worth using

that said it seems to be a fairly good article that could help many people to get away from the stock computers that are not generally worth the money paid for them

I'm writing this on a computer I built.It's a great way to try and understand these machines.The motivation was the hell if I'm going to spend $8oo or$900 bucks on one out of the box that had windows vista and assorted vista band aids. I'll buy a book and learn how to and pick my own o/s. It was fun and it screams.I definitely recommend it.

I think u should make this not boring and so corny because readers want something fun to read ok get it got it good

Wow... Geek no offence

The software step was (and still is) horribly written with plenty of POV and windows specific advice. I fixed it to the best of my knowledge, but someone should rewrite it.

Very clear! Thank you!

Now some great online stores provide such a custom build service for custoemrs (I built my first computer on http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Computer last year). You don't need to DIY yourself. It is very useful.

Still thank you for your nice guide!

Half of the things are not correct.nobody uses half of them cables anymore.or any of them parts

Awesome article!

When I soon become good with computer wires and all of that, I will try to build a computer!

Just so you know, anything is possible ;)

The article looked pretty good. I would have to ask my kids too as they have built a couple computers too. you can buy computer kits at Newegg and they work well.

Due to many comments, I took out the glass table part that's said to not be a conductor when in fact it is.

I was wanting to add a section on installing the graphics card since most modern day builds are using graphics cards. Is that ok?

van persie just scored against china

van persie sucks dude

pictures are out of order

I like this very easy for begginers to use this guild and make a computer if they follow the steps correcty and in oreder.

Most Windows programs can be ran under Linux still. There is a free program called Wine that allows use of most programs designed for Windows.

you should add simple steps

you failed to mention anything about cpu coolers, or liquid cooling. stock coolers are terrible, and your processor will overheat if you run one.