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PC Building Guide

Building your own custom-made PC is actually a remarkably simple process. It's almost like a jigsaw, the difference being that losing a corner piece is going to be quite a bit more expensive. The real art to building PCs is matching hardware to need and getting the most for your money. The following steps are intended to help you with that.

1: Why are you building this PC?

The first thing to do when planning to build a PC is to consider why you're building it. There are two main factors here: the desired use for the machine, and the budget you have to work with. There's no point in building a multi-processor rig with gigs of RAM and half a terabyte of storage for your granny to surf the web with; nor is there much point trying to run Battlefield 2 with 512MB of DDR266 and an integrated Intel graphics card.

Think about what you want to do with the PC, then think about how much you want to spend to achieve it. This will help a lot when you're choosing components and deciding where to prioritise your spending.

2: What are you building this PC with?

The fun part of building your own PC is that you can tailor the specification to your own requirements. You don't need to compromise on what the various pre-built options that PC vendors offer you, and nor do you have to pay a £25 charge for someone on a production line to shove an extra RAM module into your machine. Of course, this flexibility is only of any use if you know which components to get...

Choosing components is usually a tradeoff between value and performance. In general: at the low end of the scale, you have very cheap parts which don't do the job you need them to do; while at the high end of the scale you might be paying a 100% premium for only a 10% increase in performance (this is especially true of CPUs and GPUs). The key is to try and find a balance point somewhere in the mid-range that you're happy with.

Graphs describing the relation between price and performance
The relationship between price and performance in computer hardware

So how do you research the components available to you? Google can always be your friend, but there are some specific sites out there which may be of use to you. Hardware sites such as Anandtech, Tech Report, [H]ardOCP and Tom's Hardware Guide offer in-depth analysis of what's hot and what's not in the hardware world. They often do big benchmark tests and comparisons so you can easily see what parts offer the best performance. Then it's up to you to decide which offers the best value.

An alternative way of coming up with ideas for building a PC is to follow a system recommendation and adapt it to your own purposes. I can think of none better than the Ars Technica Buyer's Guides, which offer a range of ideas for different budgets and purposes. If you stick close to one of these, you won't go far wrong.

3: Where are you buying your PC gear?

Now that you've got an idea of what you want to buy, you'll be wanting to get the chequebook/credit card/wallet/crowbar out and acquire some high-tech goodies for yourself. But where to go? There are two main options: computer hardware stores, and online retailers.

Computer hardware stores are my preferred way of purchasing hardware, because you can walk into the store, pick out the hardware you want, take it home and test it all in the same day. You can even take it back that day if there's something wrong with it and you'll usually be able to get a replacement with the minimum of fuss. The only problems with this strategy are that brick-and-mortar shops tend not to have such a wide inventory as online shops, and that they're not as easily accessible. In Glasgow there are a number of great shops such as World of Computers or Priceless Computing, but in smaller cities or towns you might not be so lucky.

If you don't mind waiting for delivery, the other approach to buying hardware is to go online where you'll usually be able to get just about any particular piece of hardware you crave. Shopping around usually pays dividends as prices vary from site to site, but there are a few UK sites I usually find to be reliable: Ebuyer, Dabs and Savastore. You can also try eBay, but exercise great care. The biggest problem with shopping online is returning stuff if it doesn't work, which isn't too bad with online stores but can be hellish with eBay. You have been warned.

4: How do you put your new PC together?

As I said earlier, assembling a PC is pretty simple. Most motherboards come with a manual which tell you how to do pretty much anything - although they're sometimes in broken or badly translated English, which can be fun. Nonetheless, it's important to take care when building a PC. These are sensitive pieces of electronic equipment you're dealing with. They can be damaged by static electricity from your fingers, circuits can be broken by excessive force, hard drive platters can be shattered if dropped, and you can even cut yourself on the case if you're not careful (Seriously. I do it regularly).

Of course, it's all very well saying that it's nice and simple to do, but what if you don't know where to start? The Internet comes to the rescue once again, as there are lots of guides and references out there which tell you how to build a PC from scratch. The one I learned from is from Tom's Hardware Guide and, though written in 2002, is still perfectly valid. Part 1 of the guide is here, while part 2 is here.

With regards to tools, you can usually get by with just a philips-head screwdriver; however depending on your case you might need boltdrivers too. Other tools that can be handy include tweezers (for getting at dropped screws in awkward places), pliers (for twisting metal protectors off backplates), and so on. You can often get little toolkits out of electronics shops for a good price (I got a 12-piece set out of Maplin for a fiver and it's been very useful).

5: How do you know if the PC's working?

Erm... turn it on? Seriously, though, if there's something up with a newly built PC it can sometimes be difficult to tell exactly what the problem is. If you're completely flummoxed, a good way to test things is to remove hardware progressively until the problem goes away, but that's not much good if your CPU is duff (as removing your CPU introduces another, more terminal problem). Here's a few things you can do to narrow it down.

One of the most common problems with new PCs is your RAM or graphics card not working properly. If either of these is completely broken the PC won't start at all, but often this can be caused by the stick/card not being seated properly in the slot. Make sure it's firmly in place with all the contacts touching. If you've got intermittent problems, try running a memory tester such as MemTest86 or an intensive graphics app such as a game. These should help you diagnose the problem.

So what if you've tried everything? You've used RAM from another PC that definitely works and you get the same problem, you've tested the graphics card in the other machine with no problems, you've swapped stuff in and out, and it still won't bloody work? Looks like you've got a dodgy CPU or motherboard. Now, this might be down to overheating - check your heatsink is correctly installed, make sure your CPU is running at the right rate and voltage, make sure the fans on the CPU and motherboard are spinning, etc. If none of that helps, you either have a dodgy CPU or dodgy mobo. Unless you've got a spare CPU to test with, you're pretty screwed, so take it somewhere and get it fixed professionally. Or go and buy a Mac.


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