How to build your own computer

A free tutorial for a low cost solution for a new computer

So you want another computer, or maybe you've just thought about getting a new one?
The kids are fighting over who's turn it is to use the PC, maybe your current computer is
getting a tad bit too slow, or perhaps you'd just like to start your own home network, or
expand it for that matter.
Well here you'll learn how you can build your own computer in easy to follow step-by-
step instructions. I'd personally suggest that you review all of the information here
thoroughly. Let it sink into you, and then, once you feel ready, take out your checkbook,
get yourself a screwdriver and have some fun!





1. Deciding what type of system you really want or need
Before you go ahead and start building your computer, you should have a good idea what
you will use this new PC for. Will it be:
To use for work? In this case you'll probably won't need such fantastic hardware,
unless your work requires you to use some extensive software, such has 3D
graphics, video and graphics, programming, CAD/CAM, etc.
To play video games with? If you want to build a new PC geared for video games,
then you'll probably want to get some of the latest new hardware, so you can
really enjoy all the new 3d technology now featured in today's video games.
Just to surf the web with? If you only want a machine that you can use to surf the
web, use e-mail and chat, then you can rest assured that you won't really need all
that much expensive hardware.
Just an overall system? Most cases often that not, this is the system people want.
Just a computer that can perform a whole variety of tasks, without being to slow,
and without being too expensive.
Do you want power computer? One thing is for sure; these types of machines are
great fun, yet they tend to be quite expensive.
You might also want to go ahead and grab a flyer of your local CompUSA, BestBuy, or
Fry's Electronics (probably the best retail store for computer parts, but restricted mainly
in the south west of the country). Take a look at the deals. You may want to wait until you
spot a really good deal on parts before starting to build your system, or you can also get
the parts as they come out on special. Of course, there is nothing wrong about shopping
online for your parts either. You can often find some good deals, when you don't have to
pay an arm and a leg for shipping.
In the end, what's the most important is that you shop around. Don't let the fancy ads
make you dish out your credit card or checkbook right away. Find out if other stores have
something similar, or even the same product for cheaper. Another thing, if you want to
save money, don't always go for the best brand name, yet don't go for the cheapest item
on the shelf either. Low priced items might look nice in the box, but once there in your
computer, you can really start regretting it.

2. What exactly you need to buy
Out of all the steps outlined in this How to build your own computer guide, this is the one
I dislike the most. Why? Well, just about every time I go out and get the parts I need to
build a new PC, I tend to come back empty pocketed. At least there's something to show
for it after it's all done though.
Anyhow, here is the grand list of stuff you will need, not need, avoid, and watch out for:
There is a total 10 essential parts you will need to build your computer. These are: the
computer case (make sure you get one that has a power supply), the motherboard, the
CPU, some RAM, a hard drive, a floppy disk drive, a monitor, a video card, a keyboard
and a mouse.
Computer case:
A computer case will usually cost you (when not on sale) between 30 to 100 (and up)
dollars, the 100 dollar one being those big fancy black cases. Note that these prices are
with the power supply already included. Strip out the power supply, and a case will cost
you between 5 to 20 dollars. Computer cases come in two flavors: AT and ATX. The
difference for these two is simply the power supply. You will see that when you buy your
motherboard, you have the option of getting an AT or ATX motherboard. Just make sure
you get the right one that fits with the power supply of your computer case.
The AT cases are really fine, and they are much cheaper (so are the AT motherboards),
and you can still build a very reliable system.
The next thing you will be faced with when buying your case, is the size. Keep in mind
that bigger is not really better. You can get a full size tower, and pay a fortune, and never
end up filling up all of the available space. Basically you will want a full size tower for a
server of some sort. For basic home computing needs, you should simply go with a mini
tower, or a mid sized tower case if you plan to add allot of extras into your system. Also,
you may be tempted to get once of the fancy non-gray cases, but consider the price
difference and try to judge for yourself if a fancy computer case (which might or not
might be ever seen by anyone) is really worth it.

Motherboard
The motherboard is by far the most important ingredient for building your own computer
system, which is why it's very important that you get the right one. In general, a normal
motherboard for regular home based usage shouldn't cost you more than $150, and that's
a high price. Sure there are some board out there that will retail for 500 to 1000 dollars,
but do you really need these? More than likely, the answer is no.
So what exactly do you have to look for in a motherboard? For starters you have to get
either an AT board or ATX board, depending on the power supply you have (see
computer case above).
Next you will have to decide what kind of "horse power" you want your board to have.
They're a bunch of options in motherboards, which I'll try to cover:
1. Supported bus speed. Your board's bus speeds is sort of how fast data is moved
around throughout your board. The minimum bus speeds you want for your
motherboard will be 66mhz, anything less would be insanely slow. You may
consider to get a 100mhz one, but these tend to be slightly more expensive, yet it
is worth the extra money.
2. Supported CPU. Now this is really important. What type of CPU do you want? A
very expensive CPU, like the PIII, or the new AMD? Maybe something less
expensive but with power, like the PII? Although the above 3 CPU's are really
great, unless you have allot of extra money, go with the PII, or better yet, go with
the bargain CPU's, AMD K6-3 and the Intel Celeron. Both of are really great
CPU's and aren't really expensive (around 100 to 200 dollars). Whatever you do
plan on getting, I advise you to stick to the above list. At the worst, you can
always get a regular Pentium MMX, or AMD K6 (usually less than $100), but
don't expect these to hold out to long with all the new software available today.
3. RAM Sockets. RAM (random access memory) is another important thing for
your computer. Without it, you won't really get far. Nowadays you should only
consider a motherboard that can support DIMM RAM. This type of RAM is a
little more expensive, but much faster than it's antiquated ancestor, SIMM RAM.
4. ISA, PCI, AGP. These are the slots available for the various cards you will be
putting into your computer, such as video cards, sound cards, modems, etc. If
you're looking to be using allot of video and 3d games, then make sure the board
you will get has an AGP slot. AGP video cards are really great for video, since
they deliver the best speeds. Now about ISA and PCI ... since most cards being
built today are PCI (modems, network cards, video, sound, etc.) you may want to
get a board that has more PCI slots than ISA. Although if you're not really
concerned about very high quality 3d audio, fast network cards, or high tech 3d
cards (in case you don't get a board with an AGP slot), then stick with a board
with more ISA slots. These types of boards will be cheaper (and so are the ISA
cards).
5. In built sound and video. Motherboards with inbuilt sound and video may seem to
be a great bargain, but once you hear, and see these add-ons, more than likely you
will be disappointed. Unless you really don't care about great sound and video
(such as for a computer for regular web use, or basic work) go ahead and get this
type of board. If you do care about sound and video, stay clear away from these.
6. USB or no USB. USB is a really great feature you may want to have for your
computer. It's basically "real" plug and play. In most cases it won't really cost you
so much extra to have a board with USB. Unless you think you'll never get
yourself a USB device (keep in mind that just about every type of peripheral
coming out now works with USB), then you won't need this feature.
7. Onboard cache. Not really the most important feature, you may want to take note
of the amount of cache memory the board you want to get has. As a rule of thumb,
anything under 512K cache is not worth it. Anything above 512K cache is very
good, and just plain 512K is average. While you may not really notice any big
difference, it doe's improve your computer speed. The cache acts just like RAM,
except it's much more faster.
Well that's about all the really important stuff for a motherboard. I didn't mention
anything about SCSI, because SCSI costs much more money. Another thing is getting an
extended warranty on your motherboard. Usually not all that expensive, it might be worth
to get. If your motherboard ever dies on you, you'll be happy you got that extended
warranty.
So, do you think it's allot of stuff to consider? Of course it is! Yet it's all worth to study.
Remember, your motherboard is VERY important, so make sure you choose your board
carefully. Of course, if you'd prefer that I suggest a good board, then go for the FIC VA-
503+ (www.fic.com.tw), with 1 meg of on board cache. It's a great board, and you can
probably pick it up for around $75 (look for those specials and clearances!).

CPU
The mighty CPU. The brainpower behind your entire computer. What to get? There are so
many choices! Well here are a few things that should help you choose the right CPU.
For one, stick only to AMD and Intel. Both produce fantastic CPU's, and both have a wide
selection.
You should stick to Intel, if you want efficient, compatible and powerful processing
power. You may be tempted to get the PIII, but these are really expensive. If you wait a
few months you can get these for cheaper. Your best buy with Intel would be a PII
(preferred for applications) or a Celeron (preferred for video games). As for the speed of
these CPU's, 300mhz should be the minimum you'd want.
You can also opt for AMD. Actually, if you do a little research on the web, you'll find out
that allot of people actually recommend AMD. My own past experiences with AMD has
been really great (yes I'm recommending AMD to you right now). Not only do they make
good CPU's, but their costs are considerably lower than Intel. You can easily get an AMD
K6-2 300mhz (and above) for about $100. Although you may want to get the speedy
AMD K6-3, which are just slightly more expensive.
Also, before buying the CPU, find out what Bus frequency the CPU can support (100mhz
or 66mhz). Getting a CPU that supports a higher frequency will drastically affect the
overall speed of your new computer.

RAM
Getting RAM is pretty simple. Like I mentioned above in the motherboard section, you'll
only want to get DIMM RAM. I won't get into the really technical aspects of RAM (such
as PC-100 or non PC-100) but I will explain the three main types of RAM you can buy.
The first type, are of course the best. While they are usually priced higher (10 to 20
dollars higher than the second type), you do get the performance for your money. You
usually also get a lifetime warranty when you get this type of RAM.
The second type, are pretty much average. They perform very well, but you'll usually only
get a 1 year warranty on these. If you don't want to pay that extra money for "the best
brand", then get the second type of RAM. More than likely it won't ever fail on you.
The third type is the evil OEM brand, or better yet, the no name brand. Whatever you do,
DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT get fooled into buying this brand of RAM. It can be really
attractive (price wise) but performance, compatibility, and warranty - just simply not
worth the trouble of testing and returning it to the store.
Next, you have to decide how much RAM you'll need. To be quite honest, 32 megs of
RAM should be the minimum to consider (not recommended). If you want something
with some power then consider getting 64 megs (my own personal minimum
recommendation), or even 128 megs (which is really great). Now if you want POWER,
then just buy yourself one 256 meg DIMM.
About the DIMM's themselves, don't get anything slower than 10ns (nanoseconds). 8ns is
pretty much an average. Another thing about DIMM's, unlike the older SIMMs, you don't
need to buy these in pair. So if you just want 32 megs, get yourself one 32meg DIMM. If
ever you want to upgrade to 64 megs, then simply get yourself an extra 32 meg DIMM.
It's that simple.

Hard drive and floppy disk drive
One thing for sure you will need is a floppy drive. So before I go into the hard drives,
make it clear to yourself that you need a *good* floppy drive. These will cost around 25
to 30 dollars. Whatever you do, don't get the cheaper ones. It's really not worth it.
Especially when your floppy drives dies on you, and then you need to install drivers,
software, etc, or even fix your Windows operating system. Not having a floppy drive is
real nightmare.
Now to the hard drives. What's really great about these, is that nowadays you can get
large drives for really low prices. If you shop around, you can easily get a 6.4 gig hard
drive for $100 or under (these prices keep on going down all the time).
As your shopping for a hard drive, you'll probably see a whole bunch of different brands.
To keep it simple, stick only to: Maxtor, Western Digital and IBM. Other hard drives
might seem cheaper, but these 3 manufacturers produce quality drives. After all, the data
on your hard drive is very important, and loosing it is not an option. So spending an extra
$10 for the good brand name is essential when it comes to hard drives.

Monitor
Out of all the items listed, the monitor will probably cost you the most (if you buy it
brand new). There isn't much I can really recommend for monitors, except make sure you
get something with a warranty. I've lost several monitors over the years (thanks to the
Arizona heat), and it's really no fun.
If you really want to get fancy (and spend allot more money) you can get the LCD
monitors.
Also, if you're like me and you have your eyes glued to your computer monitor for long
periods of time, consider getting a glare filter. These run for about 15 to 40 dollars. If you
still have good eyesight, then I suggest you get one of these before you go blind ;-)

Video card
Another main essential part of your computer system, the video card is a must. Without it
(unless you have video inbuilt on your motherboard) you won't really be able to use your
newly built PC.
Now the though question, is what type of video card you need.
1. 2 Meg PCI video card. This is your basic card (which I personally refer to as
obsolete). While you won't really feel much power if you work with graphics, and
you really won't be able to play allot of the newer graphical intense video games, a
2 meg PCI video card is perfect for just regular Internet usage and application
such as Word, Quickbooks and other low graphic usage software. They are also
really cheap (don't spend more than 20 dollars on a card like this). One thing to
make sure is that it can support 800 by 600 pixel resolution.
2. 4 meg and + PCI video card. This is your cheaper alternative to enhanced graphic
usage and video gaming. These cards perform quite well for graphic work and can
really stand up within video games. These are also cheap, and will rarely cost you
more than 50 dollars.
3. 3d fx PCI/AGP video card. These types of cards are slowly becoming the standard
in all newer computers now. Basically this is what you need if you want to
experience video gaming and enhanced video and graphical work. Unfortunately
the price tag for these types of cards is rarely under $100.

Keyboard and mouse
This is really a no "brainer" category. You should just get a regular keyboard (about 8 to
20 dollars), and not worry about the fancy keyboards (which tend to be $30 and more).
If you're building a new computer for your kids, you may want to get one of those
keyboards made just for kids. They're really great and easy to use for the younger child.
As for the mouse, stick with one brand, and that's Logitech. You don't need to spend 100
dollars on a mouse, 20 to 30 dollars should get you something good, solid and with a
good warranty.

3. The rest of the stuff
Now that you know about the basic requirements for your new computer, I'll now go
ahead and explain a few of the extra things you may want to get.
Making a real list of the "other stuff" you can get would be really long. Printers, scanners,
video cameras, hubs, speakers, mics, etc... I'll leave those to your imagination and simply
stick to the so-called "essentials" of the rest of the stuff. These include sound cards,
modems, network cards and CD-ROM drives.
Sound cards
Unless your motherboard comes with in built sound, more than likely you will want to
have sound on your computer. There is a very large variety of sound cards you can get,
each performing quite differently and with various prices.
If you want an excellent sound card that will truly give you the best audio experience
ever, then there is no doubt, you have to get the Creative Sound Blaster Live. This card is
comparable to what Hollywood studios use for sound editing. There are two drawbacks to
it though. For one, the price tag ... you're looking at a 150 to 200 dollar sound card
(ouch!). Second, this card is not fully compatible with joysticks. Although this is a
problem that is being resolved, it's something to consider if you plan on playing games
which use joysticks as the main controlling device (flight Simulators for example). You
may also opt to get the Creative Sound Blaster Live "Value!". This card runs for around
80 to 120 dollars, and it doesn't have incompatibility with game controlling devices. Note
that both of these cards are PCI.
Next up, you can spend around 50 to 100 dollars for another good card, which will deliver
you great sound, yet not with the full live surround 3d audio power of the two above
cards. There is a very wide range of cards that fit this description, and my advice is, stick
with the brand name Creative (and make sure you get a PCI card!).
Finally you can opt to get the bargain cards. This is a perfect solution if you really don't
care about sound, and all you really need is to hear some beeps and warning sounds. In
this case, go ahead and choose an ISA card. You can pay as little as 10 dollars for these,
but like I mentioned, don't expect quality sound.
As for the brand names, it's a good idea to stick with Creative. Out of all the sound cards
I've used, Creative has always been the easiest to install (almost 100% plug and play!) and
the most compatible with applications. You can get one of the "Sound Blaster" compatible
cards, but you risk going through terrible installation problems. You've been warned.

Modems
Modems are another real no "brainer" device to get. Although you should consider if you
really need a modem. With Windows 98 SE, you can actually share one modem
connection with several computers, so why get another? Another thing to consider is
high-speed Internet access. This is getting much more popular and it's availability is also
increasing. In which case, you won't even need a modem.
Now if you do still want to get a modem, then go ahead and get an internal 56K ISA
modem. No need too worry to much about brand names, most modems perform the same.
Although acquiring a 3Com 56K ISA (or PCI) modem wouldn't hurt at all if you got a few
extra dollars.

Network Interface Cards (NIC)
A network card is something you may really want to get. Since you're probably reading
this from your own computer, if you build another PC and install a network card in it (and
your present computer), you can actually network them together.
The advantages of having your own network are many; you can share Internet access, you
can share hard drives, you can play multiplayer video games against other people in your
household and more.
If you're only going to connect two PC's, then make sure both have a network card, and
that you get the correct cable for direct connection, and you will not need a network hub
(this is called Networking, and it's something far beyond the scope of this article).
Stick to a regular PCI network card. These deliver better speeds, and are much, much
easier to configure than the ISA ones. A good brand to get would be Linksys. They
deliver great technical support; if you have a problem, you give them a call, leave your
name and phone number to a friendly operator, and a techie gets back to you really within
an hour (no "on hold"! What a concept!).
One thing you should do, is look for a sale on network components and you can get
yourself 2 network cards (or even an entire home network kit) for less than $50.

CD-ROM drive
While I'm classifying a CD-ROM drive as non-essential, we all have to face the fact that a
computer without a CD-ROM drive is pretty obsolete.
It's quite simple. Don't get anything less than a 24x speed drive, and don't get the bargain
CD-ROM drives if your kid's use the computer allot.
Two good brands would be Sony and Creative. These will be much more expensive, yet
you can rest assured that they will last you a long time. I still have an antiquated 2x
Creative and an ancient 4x Sony that outperforms my 24x NewCom CD-ROM (don't get
NewCom!).
Also, you may consider getting yourself a CD-Writer or a CD-RW.
What's the difference? Well a CD-Writer (CD-R) can write on regular blank CD's (which
cost about 50 cents to a dollar), but never erase or write on them again. A CD-RW can
write on both regular blank CD's, and rewrite, erase and modify special blank RW CD's
(which cost about 1 to 2 dollars). Again, if you want to get a CD-R (or CD-RW) stick
with Creative or Sony.
So that's about everything you really need to know about what to buy! Next, you'll learn
how to assemble all of the new computer hardware and to finish it up by installing your
operating system (OS) software.
-------------------------
At this point I'm assuming that you pretty much read through everything that you needed
to know about the various computer parts; what to buy, what to avoid, what to look for,
etc.
Well once you get passed the awful "spending" money part of building your own new
computer, you can start getting into the fun stuff.
3. Assembling the system
Assembling the entire system might be a little tricky if you've never done it before. Some
things you will want near you while doing this, is a cold drink, plenty of light, computer
screws, all the manuals that came with the hardware you purchased, a screw driver and of
course, your sanity.
Oh and a word about static electricity. Make sure you de-static yourself (by touching your
computer's power supply or wearing a very expensive anti static bracelet), and it would be
a good idea to work in a non-static area, such as on a table, or a kitchen counter, and away
from carpet. Whatever you do, be very careful not to zap your components.
1. Configuring the motherboard jumpers. Configuring the jumpers is the first thing
that needs to be done. What you will want to do is consult your motherboard
manual on how to set everything correctly. There are just to many motherboards
out there that I can cover in this article. Most jumpers listed in your motherboards
manual are already set up for you. The main ones you will have to configure are:
a) Power supply type. In the event that you have an AT/ATX motherboard you
will need to set this one correctly.
b) CPU external bus frequency. This is where you specify what bus frequency
your CPU is at.
c) CPU to bus frequency ratio. Look at the little box that contained your CPU, it
will show you the exact ratio (should be a number like 2x, 3.0x, 3.5x, etc.)
d) CPU voltage. It's really important that you get this one right, or else you'll end
up with a *really* hot CPU or a non-working board.
2. Inserting the CPU. This one is really easy. Take the CPU, and hold it with your
right hand. Look on your motherboard for the CPU socket. With your left hand
hold the motherboard with a firm grip while you insert your CPU. Then connect
your CPU fan. Easy isn't?
3. Screwing the motherboard to the computer case. This process can be a little
frustrating. A good thing to do would be to remove the piece where the
motherboard screws too, which is a large panel within your computer case.
Next you should have little plastic looking screws. Use these to secure all four
corners of your motherboard. Don't worry if you can't secure each corner, more
often than not you will only be able to get 2 to 3 corners.
Finally, you will see holes in the middle of the motherboard. You should be able
to insert two screws to secure the middle of your board. Screw these in, but make
absolutely certain that you have those little red rubber looking washers. This will
protect your board from damage that the metal screws can cause. Like the corner
screws, it's really no big deal if you can only screw in one center support screw.
4. Inserting your RAM. Once your board is securely inserted within your case, you
will want to pop in the RAM. Here you will discover exactly how easy it is to
perform the 40-50 dollar job that CompUSA and other stores will charge you.
Look up in your motherboard manual exactly in what sockets your RAM has to go
into. Then insert your RAM slowly, but firmly into its socket. DIMMs can only be
inserted in one way. Simply align the indents found on the lower part of the
DIMM to the indents found in the RAM socket.
5. LED cords and the RESET Switch cord. In the lower right part of your case you
will see a bunch of cords ending with black heads. These black heads will be
labeled HDD, RST, PWR, TURBO, etc. If they are not labeled, then good luck
trying to figure out which goes where. I've actually had the chance of trying to
figure that out ... it took me a few tries, but basically it's trial and error.
Anyhow, take a hold of those cords, look up in your manual where the proper
connectors go to, and plug them in.
6. Connecting your power supply to the board. You should refer to your computer
manual as to how exactly the power supply cords should be connected to your
board, but generally the black cords of the two power supply strips will be found
in the center of the two connecting power supply outlets on your motherboard.
7. Connecting your LPT, COM1 and COM2 cables. On the outer edge of your
motherboard, usually near the keyboard connector, you will have 3 outlets. The
first two will be close together and are of the same size (small). This is COM1,
and COM2. Not to far from these you will see an outlet that is just a little bigger,
and this is your LPT outlet. Consult your board manual to find the exact location.
So you will have to take the gray ribbons with the red dots/stripe on the side and
connect them to the correct connector. Make sure that the red stripe/dots face
towards the left side of your motherboard (the side where your power supply is).
These gray ribbons then go to a little metal bracket that holds another connector
that looks exactly like your printer port. You will have to screw these brackets into
your case.
8. Installing your floppy drive. Next, take your floppy drive, insert it into an
available bay (in the upper right hand corner of your case). Connect a power
supply to the drive, which will be a thin cable coming out of your power supply.
Next, take your floppy drive gray ribbon (it's the only one that will connect to the
floppy drive). Connect one end to the floppy drive, and the other to the board.
Look in your manual if you're not sure where this is located. Like in the above
step (#6), the red stripe/dots must face towards the left part of your board.
9. Installing the IDE drives. The IDE drives are the hard drives and CD-ROMs.
Before putting them in their respective bays, make sure you have their jumpers set
up right (consult their documentation). You will need your hard drive to be set as
a master, or slave (depending on how many hard drives you have).
Then connect the IDE gray ribbon (it's the only one that will fit to the IDE drives)
to the drives themselves and then to the motherboard. Like in the above step (#6),
the red stripe/dots must face towards the left part of your board.
Finally, connect the power supply to the drives.
10. Inserting your expansion cards. Next you will want to insert your expansion cards
into your motherboard. These are the sound cards, video cards, modems, etc. Each
one of these go into their correct slot (AGP, PCI or ISA) with the metal bracket
facing the left part of the case so you can screw them in.
If you have an AGP card, this one will go into the AGP slot, which is brown, and
there shouldn't be more than one AGP slot on your board. Slowly but firmly insert
the card into the slot. You will know when it's all the way in.
PCI cards will go into the PCI slots. These slots are the smaller white ones. The
ISA cards will go into the ISA slots. These are the longer black slots. If you got a
sound card, which supports CD-ROM audio, now would be the perfect time to
connect the digital audio cord to your CD-ROM.
11. Booting up for the first time. Now it's the moment of truth. Connect your monitor,
mouse, keyboard and power cord to the computer. Don't screw the exterior case
cover just yet, because you might have to fix something that doesn't work (let's
hope not). Now turn the power on. If you see something on your screen that
matches your CPU speed, then a Memory test that matches your amount of RAM,
then you got it done!
Sure you may have to fix some problems, but you can rest assured you got the
core stuff done.
If you don't see nothing, then you probably omitted one of the steps above, or you
didn't do it right. Consult your hardware manuals! They will explain to you
exactly how everything needs to be connected.
12. Setting up your BIOS. Once you boot up, you will probably see a heading labeled
"Press DELETE to enter setup", or maybe "Press ESC to enter setup". Whatever
the key, press it to enter your BIOS.
First thing you will want to do in your BIOS is set up your hard drive. More than
likely you will have an option labeled "Auto-detect IDE devices". Use this to
configure your BIOS to use your hard drive(s).
You may also want to screw around with other items. I can't really help you there,
but grab your motherboard manual, and read what it says about your BIOS.
That's it! You're all done! Well at this point, if everything worked great, you deserve a
good pat on the back. It sure isn't an easy task to build your own computer.
Some people tend to "rush build" their PCs. Well unless it's a dire emergency, I don't
recommend this. You're better off taking each step one at a time, and to make sure
everything is securely screwed and connected.
At this point all that's left is to install your operating system (OS).

4. Installing an OS
Probably one of the easiest steps of all is to get your newly built computer set up with an
operating system.
You have a very wide choice of OS: Windows 95/98/NT, Linux, FBSD, OS/2 .... and the
list can go on.
I'll be very honest right now. I will not explain how to install any OS except the main
basics of getting Windows 95/98 (they both install the same way) installed. If you want to
install a UNIX OS, Win NT or OS/2, then you probably know enough about computer to
do it without my guidance.
First, you will need to create yourself a system disk. Grab yourself a new or used floppy
disk, insert it into your current machine and format it.
To format, go to your desktop, open up the "My computer" icon, then right click on your
Floppy drive icon. Then select format. Make sure you select "full", and the "Copy system
files" option. Then hit start.
Once done, you may want to perform the following. With your floppy disk still in your
drive, go to a dos prompt. If you don't know how to go to a DOS prompt, or if you have no
clue what it is, well I'm sorry to inform you, that setting up an OS on your new computer
will be nearly impossible. Take an hour or two to learn about DOS ... do a little research
about it on the web (a great place to start is Webfreebees.Net of course).
Anyhow, once you get to your DOS prompt, simply type in: SYS A: You can then exit
your dos prompt.
Next, go to your START menu, go to FIND then FILES OR FOLDERS.
You will want to search for the following items (no need to be in order):
a) FORMAT.COM
b) FDISK.EXE
Each time when the program file appears in your search window, right click on it, then
select the "SEND TO" option, then "send to" your 3 1/4 floppy drive icon.
Once both programs are copied, your all set to boot up your new computer again. Make
sure your BIOS is set to read your floppy drive first for the boot up sequence.
Insert your floppy and turn the power on. Once everything is done starting, you will be at
a dos prompt, that will look like this:
A:\>
What you will want to do now is type in FDISK.EXE. This will start the software required
to prepare your hard drives. The software is fairly easy to use with step-by-step
instructions.
If it allows it, I suggest that you enable large hard drives. This will save you the hassle of
having to split up your large hard drive into smaller partitions.
Once FDISK is done, you will need to reboot your computer again. Make sure you keep
the system disk in your floppy drive.
Once the system is done rebooting, and you find yourself to the great colorful A:\> DOS
prompt. Next task is to format your hard drive(s).
Simply type:
FORMAT /S C
Then your hard drive will be formatted. You will then want to reboot (take the system
disk out of your floppy drive).
Once you reboot, if all went well, you will now see a C:\> prompt. Now the next thing
you will want to do is install your CD-ROM for DOS. Refer to your CD-ROM
instructions for this.
You will probably have to reboot again, which is okay, since it will be one of the last
times.
After you reboot, and you're back to the C:\>, insert your Windows95/98 CD-ROM into
the CD-ROM drive, then type in:
D:\>SETUP.EXE (replace the D:\ with the appropriate drive letter of your CD-ROM).
If the Windows setup starts, then you're all set, the rest is real easy stuff!
If not, you may want to load up HIMEM.SYS. Copy that file to your newly built
computer's hard drive (get it from your current computer) and make a CONFIG.SYS file
that will load up that memory device.
Well now you're all done. What's next? Maybe it's time to get yourself a snack, or maybe
go to bed if you've been working on building the computer all night.
Whatever the case, you know have a brand new computer, that you can be proud of to say
"I built this computer on my own!". More than likely you've saved a bundle by building it
yourself, and you also learned tons on how computers work. Now don't go telling
everyone that you can build PCs, because you're going to get tons of friends and relatives
asking you to fix their PC or even build one!
Have loads of fun and good luck!