Boy, building a PC is easy

[Craig234]

Let's see.

1. Pick a type of PC - notebook, desktop, etc.

2. Pick an OS - after passing up things like an Apple, Linux? Windows 7? Windows 10? Which version?

3. Start to pick specs - how fast? How much HD space? How much to futre-proof versus price? What all functionality do you want? What 'form size' motherboard? How much RAM? What speed?

4. Pick specific components for each - what case? what parts? Which are well-reviewed and good value? Make sure every part is compatible with every other part - and balanced.

5. Where to buy them? Vendor with good prices and service, check for sales

6. Assembly - quite a process, lots of questions will come up the first time, use forums, replace the parts you destroy (hope I'm kidding)

I could list a hundreds parts under section 6.

7. Install the OS

8. Peripherals: which? pick specific ones, pick a vendor, etc.

9. Figure out connectivity. What ISP? What router? What all is needed for that everywhere?

10. Integration with any other electronics like a big screen in the other room or a stereo.

11. Now you get to software...

 

[XavierMace]

And that's why most people buy prebuilt.

 

[Craig234]

Next up: I want a new car. Does anyone know a good place to buy steel and foundry equipment?

 

[Craig234]

And really I glossed over so much... what type of disk drive connection? What other standards to adopt? What heatsink? Extra fans? Water cooling? What audio system?

 

[Ackmed]

It's not nearly as hard as you're making it out to be. Sure the first time can be daunting. Having someone help irl is the best thing imo. I've built countless, all kinds. Intel, AMD, tower, shuttles, water cooled, phase changing cooled, air cooled, etc. From 200MMX to the newest out now. Its all basically the same thing. Just take your time, do your research. Its much easier now that it used to be. I hadn't built one in about 4 years due to being too busy, built one last month and everything went fine. Started up the first time with zero errors, something that never happened before. Usually I'd plug something in wrong somewhere, but as I said, easier now. Go slow, don't rush, don't force something in that wont fit. You can build your own.

Overclocking used to be much harder too. Have to make sure ram timing was prefect, multiplier and everything else. Now you can literally push a button and it will do it for you on some motherboards. As I said, easier now.

 

[gorcorps]

And really I glossed over so much... what type of disk drive connection? What other standards to adopt? What heatsink? Extra fans? Water cooling? What audio system?

What ancient PC are you trying to build where disk drive connection is a concern? Unless I missed some change recently, SATA has been standard for a long time.

 

[MrSquished]

Not sure if op is being sarcastic or serious.

I am not handy at all, whether around the house or with cars. But 20 years ago a friend of mine showed me his self-built PC and I thought to myself how cool that is, so I just got online and read about it. I used some of the usual suspects like Toms Hardware and another site, but I think that Anandtech and the AT forums were my most used resources. Fuckin' first build turned on on the first try. Since then I've built probably like 10 or so pc's in total. Have never had a major issue with getting 'em to work. Most annoying thing is wiring the little wires for the power button, LED, reset button, etc....

Picking the parts takes some time researching, then making sure that they play nice together with more research. Actually putting it together is just grunt work. Just stay grounded when building and nothing will explode into a mushroom cloud.

 

[lxskllr]

It's pretty easy as long as you don't overthink it. After a week of reading you should have your choice narrowed down to two or three selections per component. You can then get advice from the community if necessary.

Put it together, hold your breath, then press the button. If you don't have errors, you can install the gnu/linux of your choice, then open the package manager to get the rest of the software.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

And that's why most people buy prebuilt.

I always thought the majority buy pre-built because they were neanderthals.

 

[renz20003]

Depends on the case

 

[Craig234]

What ancient PC are you trying to build where disk drive connection is a concern? Unless I missed some change recently, SATA has been standard for a long time.

Sata vs. m.2?

PCI-e or not?

 

[Craig234]

Not sure if op is being sarcastic or serious.

I am not handy at all, whether around the house or with cars. But 20 years ago a friend of mine showed me his self-built PC and I thought to myself how cool that is, so I just got online and read about it. I used some of the usual suspects like Toms Hardware and another site, but I think that Anandtech and the AT forums were my most used resources. Fuckin' first build turned on on the first try. Since then I've built probably like 10 or so pc's in total. Have never had a major issue with getting 'em to work. Most annoying thing is wiring the little wires for the power button, LED, reset button, etc....

Picking the parts takes some time researching, then making sure that they play nice together with more research. Actually putting it together is just grunt work. Just stay grounded when building and nothing will explode into a mushroom cloud.

Well, technically, it was sarcastic saying how easy it is.

This is more a 'looking back' thread. I'm currently in step 6. I have grounded myself by touching the metal headphone amp box before touching the CPU etc., hope that's enough.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Most annoying thing is wiring the little wires for the power button, LED, reset button, etc....

Yep, that right there is pretty-much the hardest part of building a PC. And that's not actually "hard".

Edit: Then again, some people make things easy, and some other people may think that's "hard" for them. It's mostly a mental thing, really. I find building PCs amazingly easy. But I find cooking for myself, to be difficult. I just never really learned.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You're over thinking it too much. This is usually my thinking process when it comes to a new PC:

1: Figure out the actual need case. Normally I don't have to figure that out, because if I'm looking at building I already know the use case.

2: Pick a site. Not much choice in Canada, so usually between NCIX and Tigerdirect. I tend to do NCIX.

3: Figure out what parts I need and start looking at them. I tend to sort by price then pick mid range based on what I want. As I start to have parts in the cart I also look at what is compatible when looking at choices. Ram can be really picky these days so typically I pick a motherboard before I pick ram, as the motherboard usually has a rather small compatibility list to choose from, then I try to find that same ram on the same site. Failing that I pick another motherboard. Or I just say "F it" and chance it. Ram not in compatibility list is still going to work, but then it's throwing an extra variable into the mix if you have any weird problems - and I have the worst luck for that. So I tend to try to go by the book as much as I can for compatibility to minimize potential issues.

4: Once everything is picked out, depending how much time I want to spend on ensuring my ducks are in a row, I'll start googling stuff, like make sure none of those parts are lemons by design. (ex: OCZ SSDs) or that there's not any weird known issues with certain components like the motherboard. Simple google searches like "[motherboard model #] "won't POST" can yield to interesting findings to see if there are known issues with a particular piece of hardware. Normally I just look for actual reviews and go with that first.

5: Click check out, and then wait. And wait, oh, 1 box came in. And wait, and wait. 5 packages later, get everything, except for one key item, such as the motherboard. Then wait, and wait, and wait. Then get tired of waiting and go back to the site to order another similar component and make sure it's actually in stock this time.

6: Get the new component, finish build.

7: Turn it on, and hope nothing explodes. So far so good, pretty much all my builds have booted up more or less first try. If anything it's always those pesky motherboard header connectors that are mixed up or backwards etc.

8: That part that was taking forever to come in, finally comes in. Now I have a spare.

Oh and

9: The build runs fine but there's some really weird annoying problem that only happens once a week. Troubleshoot it over the course of a year, have some red hairs start to go gray in the process. Eventually narrow it down to a part that is defective by design. Realize that despite all the research you did, you overlooked that the particular part and yep, it's a known issue. Order a different part to replace it with, and rejoice that I now have a fully working PC and the issue is gone.

10: Tell myself that next time I'm just going to buy a Dell. Never actually end up doing it and still build next time.

I don't build that often so every time I do build I almost feel like I'm new at it since between builds everything changes so much, new socket types etc. I don't really know what the "goto" brands are etc off hand so I just google and see what other people say. People ask these questions on forums all the time so I tend to get enough info just looking at existing posts here or other forums.

As for OS, normally I have my "standard" OS that I always go with so I go with that. Basically I have 3 categories: Workstation, Gaming/Windows machine, and server. Right now my standard is:

Workstation: Linux Mint (though I tend to try different distros so a new build or a simple reformat might end up meaning a different distro)
Gaming/Windows machine: Windows 7
Server: CentOS

This standard applies to VMs as well. Of course I tend to try different stuff too but if I just need to spin up a VM/machine for a set purpose I'll go with the standard I have in place as I know the routine to configure it etc.

 

[Darwin333]

Most annoying thing is wiring the little wires for the power button, LED, reset button, etc....

I've been building my own PCs for at least as long and I agree, those little wires can be a pain in the ass. When I bought an ASUS board a while back with that "ex-connector" plug or whatever it's called that you plug all the wires into and then it fits over all of the little pins I was giddy. Although I question why the hell it took them that long to think of that up but it definitely made my last 2 or 3 builds much less of a pain in the ass.

Besides being cheaper, although recently the prices of pre-builts have come down, I get exactly the performance/specs that I want and don't have to deal with a ton of bullshit bloatware.

 

[Squisher]

Can't be too hard if so many here have done it.

 

[paperfist]

Next up: I want a new car. Does anyone know a good place to buy steel and foundry equipment?

https://www.alibaba.com/

Sata vs. m.2?

PCI-e or not?

Depends. How fast do you want the I/O to be?

 

[Crono]

It's not hard, you just have to learn a lot of little things in the process. Which is true of most skills, I suppose.

Troubleshooting isn't hard, either, but that's where most of the time goes and where most of the frustration comes from.

 

[Triloby]

Too bad you're mistaken when it comes to the OS. If you're going with Apple, then you're stuck buying their products if you want to use Mac OS X. And no, making a Hackintosh does not count here if we're talking about those that haven't built a PC before in their entire lives. There's also the fact that Hackintoshes can only run using certain components. That requires more thinking and planning than what most first time builders can do.

Windows and Linux isn't a big deal, but a custom Mac or Hackintosh is out of the question for noob builders.

 

[Svnla]

I am no computer guru/expert but I can build a desktop PC for sure. It won't take me 10-15 minutes like some of you geeks but it will work. It is not rocket science.

 

[brianmanahan]

i prefer PC building to be a laborious and error-prone process

it's what separates us from the filthy casuals

 

[Imp]

I spec'd out a new system in a few hours after years out of the game. Most of the choices will be made by your budget and compatibility.

 

[Sonikku]

Worst part for me was getting the perfect amount of paste.

 

[Crono]

Worst part for me was getting the perfect amount of paste.

especially hard if you ated most of the toob

 

[child of wonder]

My son figured it out at age 10 with no direction.

It isn't hard.