Homemade computers

[FordPrefect]

How do people do this? I mean buying quality computer parts cheap and putting it together to get a good custom machine.I read about some people doing it on AO, and it sounded appealing.

I just want know how you guys did it, because I might buy myself a computer, and I'd like it to not cost that much.

[Gitaroo Man]

Just look online they tell you how to do it. PC Gamer had an issue which walked you through every single step.

I personally would not want to build my own. You should know what you are doing because you can have some serious problems.

My friend sorta knew what he was doing and built his own. Now everytime he wants to start up his computer he has to remove the network card then plug it back in once the comp. is booted up to use DSL. Gets annoying.

But if you do it right, you can get a GREAT computer for a VERY low price.

I'm sure they have guides online.

Here:
http://gamespot.com/gshw/stories/fla...842650,00.html

[personman]

Really all you need for a working computer is a:
Motherboard
Case & Powersupply
CPU
Cord from power supply to wall
Thats all.
Of corse, if you want to use it, you will need a:
Video Card
Moniter
Hard Drive
Keyboard
If you want to use it with ease you will need a:
Mouse
Operating System
CD Rom & Floppy
Network Card
Sound Card
Speakers

I just so happened to have alot of old crap that no one uses laying around my house.. I bet I could build another computer out of it too! I have like 6 motherboards laying around that look fairly recent

[FordPrefect]

personman, I saw your thread right after I posted mine. All I have right now is speakers, and an external harddrive, well, its an Archos 10 gig mp3 player, so I might just use that with a small hard drive on the computer.

[bornl33t]

https://www.tigerdirect.com

It's not all that hard, kinda like a car only less to screw up...

I just replaced the motherboard and CPU in my current PC the old harddrives, cd-rom drives, ram, case, video card, network card... blach blah blach all still works. I spent 200$ for the mobo CPU and a cool chrome cooling fan with coper heat sink

IF ya need ANY help man... buzz me. I got time to help out a dood in need

[bornl33t]

Person man... why don't you? I have a DSL router here and soon as I get a new case my old stuff put back together will be a little webserver.... but shhhhhhht, don't let Mediacom know... I think I have the right to do that if I'm paying them 3 times what 56K costs.. that's right 60$ a month

[personman]

Usually those external hard drives have USB/2 connections, so you might as well add a card with a USB slot or two on it unless the motherboard you get comes with one.
Look around for sales, and keep in mind that you only need like 900 mb to install windows XP pro.

Dont be afraid of getting stuff used. As long as it works, its fine in my book. Plus used = cheap!
Throw me a line and I'll rig up a 1 gb hard drive and put windows 98 on it and give it to you for cheap..

Heat: I have two big projects coming up, and I just finished the first computer, Ima wait a while before I start on another one.. plus it would be pointless?
Or I could sell it for cheapo..

Edit: Actually shipping the hard drive with information would be risky, because if a magnet gets near it, it erases all data. (Another thing to keep in mind while building a computer)
In otherwords, you would be screwed if say my hard drive was sitting right next to a package containing the 'Amazing Magneto Magnet kit!'

[FordPrefect]

personman, thanks for the offer. I don't know much about computer hardware though, so it might be a while before I start this project. I might PM you about it in a while, to see if you can still do it.

[rhetor22]

Its mainly buying compatible parts.

After you have all the parts on the floor, you just plug in stuff where it fits.

Not difficult at all if you're techy savvy.

[FordPrefect]

How can you tell if a part is compatable with another? And I've been looking at motherboards, and I can't really tell which is better that what.

[Koosh]

check out this website:

https://www.ttzforums.com

Its alot like AO, only its all Tech related. it was a GREAT resource when I was building my first comp last year. I had picked out all the parts I wanted to build my comp, but then I posted a thread asking if it all looked all right... they immediately pointed out that I was spending too much, and buying the wrong parts.

Plus if you have any problems while you are actually building it, they can help ya too... overall a great site to be a part of.

[personman]

Originally posted by FordPrefect
personman, thanks for the offer. I don't know much about computer hardware though, so it might be a while before I start this project. I might PM you about it in a while, to see if you can still do it.

Hehe, I can do it any time.
I also have random:
Motherboards,
Sound cards
old network cards that dont work
Keyboards
Printer card thingys (dont know what to call them, the card you plug the printers into)

Theres not much to know about computer hardware.
Sence I'm bored I will write up the basics.
You will probally already know most of these but whatever.

Motherboard: The main shizzo of your computer. This is like the Atlanta of your computer (lol I just had to)
All the information goes through your motherboard at one point in time. The motherboard usually includes a BIOS chip (A BIOS is where you store all your main information about your computer, IE Time, settings of how the computer picks up and uses diffrent hardware, ECT. Most modern motherboards include:
PCI slots
AGP slot
Places to plug the cables in from Hard drives/CD Drives ECT.
PS/2 Ports
USB 2 Ports
some even have built in Sound cards/Video cards.
Printer ports.
And lots more slots, and random things all over the motherboard.

Hard Drive: Your computer will run without it, but you cant do anything but configure the BIOS. This stores all information, OSs, Games, Ect. Usually you cant buy them below 20 gigs these days (I think)

Floppy Drive: Everyone knows what a floppy drive is.. If you dont I have rights to call you a dumbarse.

CD Rom Drive: Pretty much ditto as above. You can buy CD Rom, CDR, DVD, and DVDR drives.

CPU: The tiny piece of silicon that controls your whole frickin computer. Usually it has prong like things on the back that plug into a internal slot on your computer, but some motherboards have slots with 'arms' on them for you to use chips that plug in more like a card.

Video Card: Controls how good/Bad the display on the moniter is. You can buy reallly sweet ones for $250 or stick with the decent ones for $60-100 If you buy AGP versions make sure you have an AGP slot on your computer. Most computers have PCI but double check with that as well.

Sound Card: Not much to say on this one, plug it into the slot and hook the speakers into the sound output spot.

Network card: How you communicate with other computers. You should buy a hub/router to set up a network. The router will give you internet connection.

Make sure you have drivers for all plug in play devices!

I dont know too much about networking, I still have alot to learn about that, but then again, I think I'm doing pretty good for only being 13

Edit: Just for the hell of it try not to use webgroups, and all these tech dudes because its really not that hard to do, and its more fun if you build it all by yourself (plus you feel pretty good )
But suit yourself, ya know? Just get an outline on what you need to do and go for it.
The only really tricky thing I could think of is setting up the little button that you push to turn on the computer, but im sure that would only take a second of web searching. I dont know how to do it, and I was fortunate enough to find case with it already set up.

[Koosh]

Personman mostly got it right, but I have yet to see a motherboard with more than one AGP slot!

Just check out TTZ... its a great place to find out about everything... I learned EVERYTHING I know about computers from that place.

But getting the computer assembled is only half the fun... After you get it all working you are going to be in what I like to call "driver Hell." Everything on your new computer is going to have its own drivers... motherboard, video card, sound card etc. etc etc... getting them to work together AND with windows is the hard part. You are going to be suprised at what little problems are going to come up... Oh, if you didn't know, Drivers are basically like instruction manuels for you computer. They tell the computer how to use the hardware...

After I built my computer everything worked fine... I was amazed! then I went to play a game... the game went GREAT! Had fun, and it looked beutifal... then I went to exit... it immediatly restarted the computer! it went on like this for about a month, no matter what game it was, it ran perfect... then when I went to quit it just restarted my computer! I checked up on TTZ and they sent me straight... some little POS driver had to be changed...

[personman]

There I fixed it
But yea, drivers are a real pain in the ***, especially with windows XP.
I had alot of problems with network card drivers if you havent read my thread yet..
I built more of a crappy computer so I dont really care if I get the max out of my components; most of them are 6 years old anyway
Edit: I'll post pics of all the components I talked about soon, or atleast some of them. Breaking out the camera.

Forgot a couple things:
RAM!
Dont forget it, Random Acess memory.
This is where all the temperary info of your computer goes.
The RAM is erased every time you reboot.

Heatsink & Cooling fan:
Usually mounts on top of the CPU so it does not overheat.
VERY IMPORTANT!
Youre screwed without it!

[FordPrefect]

Yeah, I've been surfin TTZ for about a half hour, and it seems a LOT like AO. But the old AO, without to many people on it.

Thanks for all the help guys.