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How hard is building a computer?

S

shandeleo

Junior Member
I need to get a new computer and thinking about putting one together myself. I'm studying computer animation and just killed my laptop trying to put a new fan in it. I'm a lifelong mac user, but I'm thinking I may be able to put together a better machine than, say an iMac, for the same price. How hard would this be with no experience or knowledge of hardware (see above story about laptop fan) and not a ton of time? Is it plug-and-play, or is thre soldering and stuff involved? Where would I start?
 
shandeleo said:
I need to get a new computer and thinking about putting one together myself. I'm studying computer animation and just killed my laptop trying to put a new fan in it. I'm a lifelong mac user, but I'm thinking I may be able to put together a better machine than, say an iMac, for the same price. How hard would this be with no experience or knowledge of hardware (see above story about laptop fan) and not a ton of time? Is it plug-and-play, or is thre soldering and stuff involved? Where would I start?
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Welcome to the forums.Well first of all.putting it together is not that hard.all i can say is google alot.and watch some vid.on youtube.otherwise you will spend money for nothing.
 
shandeleo said:
I need to get a new computer and thinking about putting one together myself. I'm studying computer animation and just killed my laptop trying to put a new fan in it. I'm a lifelong mac user, but I'm thinking I may be able to put together a better machine than, say an iMac, for the same price. How hard would this be with no experience or knowledge of hardware (see above story about laptop fan) and not a ton of time? Is it plug-and-play, or is thre soldering and stuff involved? Where would I start?
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Welcome to the forums. Laptops are definitely not a good choice for beginners unfamiliar with both computer hardware and the procedures for correctly replacing components. Whether a Mac or a PC, the hardware is basically the same. If you want to learn about computer hardware and how to correctly assemble it, I'd suggest learning how to build a PC first. It's not as difficult as you may think and, to help get you started, Newegg TV has a pretty good three part video series on computer building for newbies: How to Build a Computer

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<--- timed 22 sec to build one up from ground up... as long as i have the parts... and screws laid out.

thats my record in getting a system to boot up and post.

building a pc isnt difficult... although us men have a problem called.. "RTFM" which we never seem to be able to do correctly, so it could take some time.
 
It's not terribly difficult to build a computer; you will probably spend more time figuring out what parts to buy than assembling it. If you know the difference between a Phillips head and flat head screwdriver you are pretty much set to go. The only thing you need for the first build is a little bit of patience and the ability to follow directions. Carey Holzman's YouTube channel has a number of different compute build demos and he is pretty thorough (though I don't agree with some of his choices of parts). See: http://www.youtube.com/user/CareyHolzman?feature=watch

Good luck and there are lots of us here who would be happy to provide parts suggestions once you've done some research.
 
It's really not that hard. I would say the hardest being installing the CPU heat sink and the motherboard headers. Get the wrong pin wrong, power up and it could fry the computer. Like a backwards USB connector.
 
shandeleo said:
I need to get a new computer and thinking about putting one together myself. I'm studying computer animation and just killed my laptop trying to put a new fan in it. I'm a lifelong mac user, but I'm thinking I may be able to put together a better machine than, say an iMac, for the same price. How hard would this be with no experience or knowledge of hardware (see above story about laptop fan) and not a ton of time? Is it plug-and-play, or is thre soldering and stuff involved? Where would I start?
Click to expand...

Go to youtube and watch some build videos.
 
It is very easy. The mother is labeled usually and my MOBO came with a DVD to show how to connect everything to the motherboard. Took me about 2 hours to build my 1st computer.
 
Putting the basics together is not that difficult, What can takes some time is fine tuning to get it just the way you want it. Also, deciding which programs to get and downloading/installing them. However, these forums will help you with whatever questions you might have.
 
Step 1. Research what hardware you want based on the PCs intended use and your budget.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=80121 see that thread.

Step. 2 Read the manual that comes with whatever motherboard you choose.
It will tell you (and show you with illustrations/photos) how to install the CPU, CPU cooler, RAM, and other components you may have like a graphics card etc.
It will also tell you what wires to connect from the case (like power button, activity lights, front USB etc)and power supply connections to the mother board.

If you need visuals there are tons of YouTube videos on how to build a computer

There is NO soldering or "special skills" other then common sense and patients needed to build a computer.

Components in a modern computer are kind of like those little peg and board games we (at least us old timers) use to play with as kids..you know the round peg goes in the round hole, the square peg in the square hole, and so on.
In other words most parts and wires are designed to only go in 1 way.

The hardest and by far most time consuming part is installing and configuring the software and doing the initial windows updates.

The best tip I can give when installing any software is to choose "custom" when given the chance. that way you can opt out of all the crapware and/or tool bars which you don't want or need.
 
Definitely look at youtube videos first. There's an order to do things in that will save a lot of frustration (install memory and CPU/CPU cooler onto motherboard before you put the motherboard in the case etc).

Also try to avoid getting a cheap PSU. Nearly everyone will make this mistake with their first build, thinking a $30 PSU will work fine. It will not. You will need a branded proper PSU. Spend more than $60 on it.

Otherwise it's easy but time consuming.
 
Your first time shouldn't be a rushed build. Take your time, and do it right. The alternative is costly mistakes.
 
The aren't that hard. This majority of the posts in this section are people putting a computer together for the first time. Problem is the average Joe is not going to have spare compatible parts laying around to swap stuff out if anything goes wrong. At least the days are gone where you could easily plug in a hard drive backwards and instantly kill the drive and the motherboard when you hit the power button.
 
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