Build Your Own Computer From Scratch

(This Build Your Own Computer page is a January 2008 update to our previous "build your own" tutorial page, and it reflects current technology. In fact, the links on this page make a virtual kit!)

If you've eyed the computers at Wal-Mart and Best Buy, and then suffered from sticker shock, or, if what they're offering is well beyond what you'll actually need, do it old school, and build your own computer.  Building your own computer is how computers were first sold – indeed, one of the jokes among real old timers is that when they got into computers, they were sold as plastic bags full of parts, and you needed a soldering iron to put them together. 

To build your own computer, you'll need the following computer components: 



1)    A motherboard.  This is the part of the computer that everything else plugs into.

2)    A CPU, or "chip".  This is what does the computation, and is what all those television ads are about.  Right now, the best price/performance ratio in CPUs are Intel Core 2 Duo CPUs for decently powerful machines, and Celeron 1.33 Core Duos for low budget machines good for email, the web and writing term papers, but not gaming.

3)    RAM, or the memory of the computer.   You'll be getting what's called DDR SDRAM, with a speed (usually something like DDR 667 SDRAM).  This is where your data gets stored when it's being manipulated.  More is always better, and faster (provided it matches the specifications on your motherboard) is always better.  It's hard to find anything smaller than 512 MB these days.

4)    Video Card.   There are two flavors of video card – older ones use what's called Accelerated Graphics Port, often times with a multiplier after it – 4x, 8x.  Newer ones (and the ones you'll have the easiest time finding) use what's called PCI Express.  If you're building your own computer for gaming, you want a video card with a high end chipset, either from NVIDIA or ATI, and a lot of memory on it.  Like RAM, it's hard to find a video card with anything smaller than 512MB. (You won't want to go smaller anyway!) It's also important that your video card accepts DVI, for hooking up the newer monitors - this one has two.

5)    Sound Card.   The motherboard in our kit already has onboard sound, but if you choose another motherboard,you'll want to get a sound card. Or, add this sound card if you want to upgrade your sound.

6)    Ethernet Network Card. Some motherboards come with a network card built it.  You may want to upgrade to a wireless one for convenience sake. 

7)    Hard Drive.   Bigger is better.  Make sure that you get a hard drive that works with your mother board.  The two types you'll find on the market are SATA (more modern, faster data transfer rate) and IDE (older standard, and older, smaller, harder to find drives).





8)    Mouse, keyboard and Monitor.  Get the cheapest mouse and keyboard you can stand to use – they'll probably cost about $25, total, combined (unless you have repetative stress injuries, then go all out and go ergonomic). The place to splurge when building your own computer is on the monitor.  High end 19 and 22" wide screen monitors have plummeted in price, and will be the one component you're likely to carry over from computer to computer as you upgrade. 

9)    Lastly, you'll need a case, some cooling fans (included in the suggested case), and a screwdriver.  A well lit place is also a good thing, and a magnifying glass can be a life saver.  Nearly every case sold these days has a power supply (yup, the one we suggest does - 420W). If you're missing some basic tools, check out this Repair Tool Kit. 

For updated information on some of the parts listed here, check out our updated Computer Peripherals and Cheap Computer Parts pages.

 

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