Basic Computer Building Site

[TimboAA]

Bobby Computer - "Make every computer homemade!"

This was a project for one of my classes here at the university.

I know there are a lot of areas I can improve or expand upon. Some information was taken (with permission) from mechBgon's computer building guide.

My ultimate goal is to get my computer illiterate mother to atleast feel like she can build a computer. Since building a computer these days has become so easy.

The project has already been turned in so any revisions I make now are for my mother

This site was for educational purposes, so you use it as you need and feel free to critique. Building webpages isn't my area of specialty, so i'm open to any design and content criticisms.

Thanks, and Happy Holidays.

 

[meltdown75]

Interesting format, thanks for the link! I am picturing people building computers in their kitchen...

 

[bob4432]

i like the idea, but to be honest it is usually not cheaper to build one when dell offers their super deals on the very basic machines that the site is targeted to. also, when you say "middle range motherboard" you are going to confuse people, they probably don't even know what a motherboard is.

sure building the actual computer is easy, but you need to go into all the driver updates and all the other problems that will be encountered if the drivers are not on the os cd.

i respect your enthusiasm, but in my opinion there is a great divide between the people that would buy a computer and the people that actually know what they are doing when building one.

sorry and i hate to rain on your idea, but unless people want to build more than one and learn about all the chipsets, hdds differences, cpu differences, ram differences, etc, they would be better off ordering a dell.

 

[imported_NoGodForMe]

The "Links" link doesn't work. You've made a great site, but I can see your teacher clicking the link and deducting points.

I also respect your enthusiasm, but there are so many things that can go wrong along the way. For example, installing the cpu and heatsink is very tricky with all the force required to get the clip on. A "mother" would slip and destroy the MB trying to do that. Same thing when it comes to seating cards and memory.

My mom is 68 and I take care of her computer. She's scared to make any changes for fear of crashing the machine, even though it's backed up to tape.

Your guide, while entertaining and informative, is kinda like those home building shows, where they build a room in 1 hour (editing things), then say, "See how easy that was?"

I made my own site to document my build, and look at all the bumps in the road I hit.
http://www.nogodforme.com/MyBabyTera.htm
PS connector, memory errors, 10 OS installs solving a problem with my tape drive, bracket for water cooler had to be fabricated, ect. Took me two months to tweak my machine and get it working correctly.

 

[forumJunkie]

Originally posted by: bob4432
i like the idea, but to be honest it is usually not cheaper to build one when dell offers their super deals on the very basic machines that the site is targeted to. also, when you say "middle range motherboard" you are going to confuse people, they probably don't even know what a motherboard is.

sure building the actual computer is easy, but you need to go into all the driver updates and all the other problems that will be encountered if the drivers are not on the os cd.

i respect your enthusiasm, but in my opinion there is a great divide between the people that would buy a computer and the people that actually know what they are doing when building one.

sorry and i hate to rain on your idea, but unless people want to build more than one and learn about all the chipsets, hdds differences, cpu differences, ram differences, etc, they would be better off ordering a dell.

yea when you can get a computer w/ a flatscreen and a printer for $399 .... thats just WOW

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: NoGodForMe
Took me two months to tweak my machine and get it working correctly.

It does not take 2 months to get a simple build working. It took me only yesterday afternoon to get a Sempron/AN35N system built, and I had Fedora 3 installed and working by bedtime. Bedtime was, of course, 3am, but hey...

Your build was complex, and no one would expect their mother to water cool a graphics card

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: TimboAA
Bobby Computer - "Make every computer homemade!"

Hey great job! Try to work with the color scheme, though; deep red and gray isn't the most pleasant mix.

Also, for Thanksgiving dinner, 120gb is hardly even an appetizer How about 250gb or 2x160gb?

And to internationalize it, maybe called it a Banquet Build, rather than the US-centric Thanksgiving.

The ingredients lists would not be sufficient for a novice system builder. Food recipes say "3 eggs, 1 teaspoon of baking powder" etc. Perhaps you could link to some reviews or product pages to help novices understand what a "DVD+/-RW" is? Maybe even call it a DVD Burner, which is a less accurate but much more friendly term. You can search Newegg.com for DVD Burner and you'll find tons of drives, so the retailers are okay with this term, too.

 

[TimboAA]

Hey guys, thanks for all the criticisms I appreciate it. The color scheme drove me crazy. I originally had deep red and a manilla folder creme color that I liked very well. The professor didn't care too much for it. With more time I'd love to go a lot more indepth. I would prefer to do it with a different theme though. The class voted on one of our 3 themes for the overall topic. I had another knock off of a cooking site called "Computer Chef Network" in a pilsbury blue and white scheme. I also had a theme with different shades of green called "PC Recipes." If i were to start up a site, I have a feeling that this one would be the most promising as it would be more or less a database of different build combinations depending on what the overall theme of the computer is. Whether it is gaming computer or a business computer.

I fixed the non working Links link. I realized that I never had a links page and that i had integrated it into the resources.

Even if my site convinces one person to install their own video card, I would be happy.

I tried refraining from directly linking to hardware because I wasn't sure if it would show that I'm being sponsored by some company. Although, I see that it would make things even better.

Thanks again guys. It's much appreciated. This is the type of feedback I wouldn't get from my class.

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: TimboAA
Hey guys, thanks for all the criticisms I appreciate it. The color scheme drove me crazy. I originally had deep red and a manilla folder creme color that I liked very well. The professor didn't care too much for it. With more time I'd love to go a lot more indepth. I would prefer to do it with a different theme though. The class voted on one of our 3 themes for the overall topic. I had another knock off of a cooking site called "Computer Chef Network" in a pilsbury blue and white scheme. I also had a theme with different shades of green called "PC Recipes." If i were to start up a site, I have a feeling that this one would be the most promising as it would be more or less a database of different build combinations depending on what the overall theme of the computer is. Whether it is gaming computer or a business computer.

I fixed the non working Links link. I realized that I never had a links page and that i had integrated it into the resources.

Even if my site convinces one person to install their own video card, I would be happy.

I tried refraining from directly linking to hardware because I wasn't sure if it would show that I'm being sponsored by some company. Although, I see that it would make things even better.

Thanks again guys. It's much appreciated. This is the type of feedback I wouldn't get from my class.

again, i respect your enthusiasm, but you are going to have a full time job as technology changes and the site will need to reflect this to give newbies up-to-date information.

 

[crimson117]

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: TimboAA
Hey guys, thanks for all the criticisms I appreciate it. The color scheme drove me crazy. I originally had deep red and a manilla folder creme color that I liked very well. The professor didn't care too much for it. With more time I'd love to go a lot more indepth. I would prefer to do it with a different theme though. The class voted on one of our 3 themes for the overall topic. I had another knock off of a cooking site called "Computer Chef Network" in a pilsbury blue and white scheme. I also had a theme with different shades of green called "PC Recipes." If i were to start up a site, I have a feeling that this one would be the most promising as it would be more or less a database of different build combinations depending on what the overall theme of the computer is. Whether it is gaming computer or a business computer.

I fixed the non working Links link. I realized that I never had a links page and that i had integrated it into the resources.

Even if my site convinces one person to install their own video card, I would be happy.

I tried refraining from directly linking to hardware because I wasn't sure if it would show that I'm being sponsored by some company. Although, I see that it would make things even better.

Thanks again guys. It's much appreciated. This is the type of feedback I wouldn't get from my class.

again, i respect your enthusiasm, but you are going to have a full time job as technology changes and the site will need to reflect this to give newbies up-to-date information.

Nah, a quick update every three months or so would be plenty for the purpose of this guide. (teaching beginners how to build a computer)

 

[bob4432]

Originally posted by: crimson117

Originally posted by: bob4432

Originally posted by: TimboAA
Hey guys, thanks for all the criticisms I appreciate it. The color scheme drove me crazy. I originally had deep red and a manilla folder creme color that I liked very well. The professor didn't care too much for it. With more time I'd love to go a lot more indepth. I would prefer to do it with a different theme though. The class voted on one of our 3 themes for the overall topic. I had another knock off of a cooking site called "Computer Chef Network" in a pilsbury blue and white scheme. I also had a theme with different shades of green called "PC Recipes." If i were to start up a site, I have a feeling that this one would be the most promising as it would be more or less a database of different build combinations depending on what the overall theme of the computer is. Whether it is gaming computer or a business computer.

I fixed the non working Links link. I realized that I never had a links page and that i had integrated it into the resources.

Even if my site convinces one person to install their own video card, I would be happy.

I tried refraining from directly linking to hardware because I wasn't sure if it would show that I'm being sponsored by some company. Although, I see that it would make things even better.

Thanks again guys. It's much appreciated. This is the type of feedback I wouldn't get from my class.

again, i respect your enthusiasm, but you are going to have a full time job as technology changes and the site will need to reflect this to give newbies up-to-date information.

Nah, a quick update every three months or so would be plenty for the purpose of this guide. (teaching beginners how to build a computer)

if you want to teach somebody to build a gaming computer the technology will change in 3 months. look at what happend to video cards in the last 3 months - an explosion, then you have all the different sockets on the different boards, then you will have amd vs intel......i think his site would be better if it were a reference listing other sites as to where to get the info. no disrespect TimboAA, but how many computers have you built? what boards, chipsets, cpus, video cards, sound cards, memory and memory timings, types of hdds - pata, sata or scsi, etc are you familiar with. i know i am going a little extreme but i would hate to have him put in all this work and find out that it is an ever evolving site, like anandtech is.

and for building a business machine, you will need to know the most reliable components and for the average computer user, they would be better off buying a dell for cost and also the 24hr tech line. sorry, but that is how i feel - it will take more work to make it really work than a quick update every 3 months. 3 months in the computer field is a long time.

 

[Lyfer]

Looks nice. GW!

 

[Ken90630]

so i'm open to any design and content criticisms.

Hi, Tim,

Not bad for a first effort.

I hope you won't take any offense at this, because I don't mean any, but you might want to consider having the material professionally proofread/edited if you're going to keep the site up or "start up a site" someday (like you mentioned). There are a lot of grammatical and stylistic errors in the writing (and I mean a LOT). Again, no offense.

I'm a writer/editor by profession and I enjoy this kind of work, so you can PM me if this is something you'd be interested in having done. If it's just for your mom at this point, you probably don't need to bother; but in the interest of constructive criticism, I just thought I'd mention it.

Like some of the other guys in this thread, I respect your effort. It takes courage to put a project up and ask for comments from the wolves & lambs on Anandtech. com. Luckily, the wolves were away and you heard from the lambs today!

 

[TimboAA]

Ah Ken90630, you are correct when it comes to grammar, etc. I'm not the greatest... I like to start sentences with, "but", "however" and "although" I wish i had access to an english professor who built computers. If this were a business or something else along those lines, I would get someone to proof read it for me. I totally agree with you in that regard.

I wanted the site to be more or less the theory behind building because I know technology is going to change. In a year 64 bit processors could flop and everything could be heading towards a liquid cooled design and who knows what else. Basically, I want people to generalize that just about regardless of what has changed. The motherboard still screws into the case, the video card goes in the video port. The drives need to have a cable that attaches them to the motherboard and a power cable, and so on and so forth.

My mother doesn't need to know the difference between an nf3 and an nf2 chipset, but she does need to know which CPU to get for the motherboard and how to put it in and what precautions to take with static electricity.

I do realize that people like the 24 hour tech support and with the prices of computers these days...i'm surprised local shops stay in business.

If this website was my full-time job, I would spend the time translating the excellent reviews and tech articles out there into plain english with up to date technology. The 3 basic recipes would get redone every 3 months and attempt to keep the same price with inflation.

The idea and theory behind this website could easily be put into motion with a staff or a lot of time. I think it would be great for a site (and maybe there already is) that basically said how certain things are going to perform and make my mom understand it.

So, if there is anyone out there who would like to rewrite (*cough* Ken90630 ) any part of it so their mother (assuming your mother is computer illiterate) can understand it better, feel free to do so. Just make sure its grammatically correct with no spelling errors, etc. and I will paste it up there and give you credit as the writer, as well as the satisfaction of knowing that you are simplifying the process of either upgrading or building a computer for someone who fears computers.

 

[mechBgon]

Not to derail the thread, TimboAA, but I need help with an HTML project All the time, people pop up needing troubleshooting help and they post vague info (or no info) about their hardware. So I made a sort of template that they can hit Quote and then modify it to fit their system. I'll post a sample below with the Attach Code dealiebob and also the regular way.

If they do hit Quote, then they have to wade through all this FuseTalk stuff to fill in their info. How hard is it to make a page where they fill in the blanks and their input gets shoveled into the FuseTalk code and output as a text file that they can post into the Forum? Sort of like the My AnandTech System Rigs page, if you've done one of those... My AnandTech

Here's the output:

• CORE HARDWARE
  
  • Power supply Antec TruePower 430
  • Motherboard Asus K8N-E Deluxe
    • Revision 1.03
    • BIOS 1005
  • CPU Athlon64 3000+
    • Core 130nm Clawhammer
  • Memory (2) 512MB Corsair XMS 3200C2 modules
    • Voltage Manually set to 2.7 volts
    • Timings AUTO, results in 2-3-2-6 @ 200MHz
• CARDS
  • Primary video card ATI Radeon 9800Pro AGP 8x
  • PCI slot #1 (top) empty
  • PCI slot #2 empty
  • PCI slot #3 LeadTek Winfast TV/FM tuner card
  • PCI slot #4 Creative Audigy 2 ZS
  • PCI slot #5 LSI Logic Ultra160 SCSI
  • PCI slot #6 (board only has five PCI slots)
• DRIVES
  • Boot drive 160GB Seagate 7200.7
    • Interface Serial ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 SATA controller
    • Jumper setting not applicable (SATA)
  • Additional hard drive 40GB Seagate 7200.7
    • Interface Parallel ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, primary channel
    • Jumper setting Master
  • Additional hard drive 18GB Seagate Cheetah 15k.3
    • Interface SCSI
    • Controller hosting this drive LSI Logic U160 card
    • Jumper setting SCSI ID 01
  • Optical drive #1 NEC 3500A DVD burner
    • Interface Parallel ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, secondary channel
    • Jumper setting Master
  • Optical drive #2 Lite-On combo DVD-ROM/CD-RW
    • Interface Parallel ATA
    • Controller hosting this drive nForce3 standard ATA controller, secondary channel
    • Jumper setting Slave
  
  and here's the code (let's see if I can do this right ):
  

 

[Ken90630]

So, if there is anyone out there who would like to rewrite (*cough* Ken90630 ) any part of it ... feel free to do so. Just make sure its grammatically correct with no spelling errors, etc. and I will paste it up there and give you credit as the writer, as well as the satisfaction of knowing that you are simplifying the process of either upgrading or building a computer for someone who fears computers.

Heh heh. Very clever. You get extra credit for creative thinking!

I spent I-don't-know-how-many hours toiling over words and learning my craft for no pay when I was in college, so I kinda feel like I've paid my dues enough to not have to work solely for credit or satisfaction anymore (although both are indisputably noble). And Lord knows I've given away many hours of my time since then too.

I totally understand your position, however, and it's perfectly valid. As I said earlier, my point was mainly to make you aware of something that you'd want to consider if you ever decided to make the site something more than it was intended to be. I think you understood me perfectly.

My plate is pretty full right now, but if I get some free time after the first of the year, I might clean up a page or two for 'ya just for fun. Best of luck with school and any future Web site endeavors you may embark on.

Ken

Disclaimer: I typically do NOT take the time to proofread my own posts for typos or pay great attention to their grammatical content. Usually whatever I rattle off on the first go-round is what gets posted. So next time I post something with a typo or an error of some sort, I don't wanna hear from the peanut gallery! Heh heh. Work is work, but this is play.