How To Assemble A Desktop PC - Wikimedia Commons

How To Assemble A Desktop PC

by Wikibooks contributors

Created on Wikibooks, the open content textbooks collection.

Copyright c 2007 Wikibooks contributors.

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

Contents

Introduction

1

1 Choosing the parts

3

What operating system am I going to use? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

What will be the main function of the computer? . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Do I plan on overclocking my computer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Do I plan on underclocking my computer? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Can I use any of the parts from my old computer? . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Where do I find the parts? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

What should affect the choice of any part/peripheral? . . . . . . . . . 12

Primary components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Secondary components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

Peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

2 Assembly

37

Tools and equipment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

Preparation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38

Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

Power up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

Additional hardware and peripherals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

3 Software

49

Operating system(s) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Drivers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53

Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54

See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

4 Overclocking

57

Things that can't be overclocked . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58

Getting the few extra MHz out of a chip . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

i

5 Silencing

65

Fans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Water cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Oil cooling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66

Hard disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67

Other . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68

See also . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

External links . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Conclusion

71

A External links

73

Related Wikibooks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Related Wikipedia articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

discussion forums . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73

Operating systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

B Document Information

77

History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

PDF Information & History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77

C GNU Free Documentation License

79

1. APPLICABILITY AND DEFINITIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79

2. VERBATIM COPYING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

3. COPYING IN QUANTITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

4. MODIFICATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

6. COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

7. AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS . . . . . . . . 85

8. TRANSLATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

9. TERMINATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE . . . . . . . . . . . . 85

ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents . . . . . . 86

ii

Introduction

Building and assembling a computer, for those who have a penchant to do so, may be a very rewarding experience. If you are reading "How To Assemble A Desktop PC" (Personal Computer), you are probably contemplating building or assembling a computer instead of purchasing one pre-built or pre-assembled. Building or assembling a desktop PC is a viable option for many people and may bring significant benefits, such as:

? Learning about computer components and how they fit and work together;

? Understanding the internal and hardware workings of a computer;

? Learning computer hardware terminology and 'geek-speak';

? Ability to customise a computer according to specialised specifications;

? Building and assembling something from components;

? The satisfaction of a job well-done;

? Engendering technical problem solving ability;

? Saving money; and

? Having fun!

Building your own computer instead of purchasing one pre-fabricated and assembled may also be contraindicated for certain people and may pose a significant challenge if you:

? Don't enjoy the building and assembly process;

? Have no interest in researching and choosing the parts;

? Are not mindful of quality control processes when opening boxes and packaging and checking to ensure that everything is present;

? Are disinterested in assembling items and components into a custom-built PC designed and built according to your own specifications;

1

? live version ? discussion ? edit ? comment ? report an error

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