Building Your Own System

Building my own system is something I have wanted to do. Two years ago I had decided that I was building one when I retired to part-time work. As luck would have it about four months before that happened my system died and due to having to have one rather quickly I was forced to have one made rather than building my own. When I get a 64-bit system, hopefully in a couple of years, I will build my own. When you built your first one, how long did it take? What references did you use to do it? Any insight to it would be appreciated.

pparks1 said:

I think the longest part of the process is learning about all of the components so that you know that what you are buying is compatible. The greatest advantage you have today is that you can pose the hardware that you are considering on forums such as these and get instant feedback on whether or not there are any glaring problems.

The actual process of putting the pieces together for somebody who hasn't done it before is probably going to be 4-6 hours. This gives you time to read the manuals, figure out how the heat sinks work, look over the case and get adjusted to the little cables for the case lights and so forth that plug into the motherboard.

Today, I can build a PC in about 1 hour if I have to. On the box that I built in July, I spent about 4 hours assembling it all to get nice wire management and keep it as clean as possible.

There are tons of great references on the web on how to build and assemble your own PC. Here are a couple of them for quick reference.

Build the Perfect PC! Step-by-Step Illustrated How-To Guide | Maximum PC
Building Your Own PC, Part 1: Know-How for Do-It-Yourselfers : Building A PC System - Review Tom's Hardware

Thanks for the info on it. Despite when looking inside a computer, it looks rather daunting, it seems to me that there would not be that many pieces to put together. About how many pieces would you say are involved in a build?

the first time i built my own PC, i spent about 6-7 months researching ''system building'' sites & researching components, as im an avid gamer knowing what the components were capable of was a MUST!!

i actually researched the parts i wanted, then printed out a 12 page '' step by step'' manual on how to do it, when the parts arrived (i wont lie) i crapped myself, upon opening the old HP tower i had... it just hit me ''where do i start'', but once i got going all was well......(my 1st ever rig was built inside of this old case )

i found the manual i had printed out was mostly not needed, as all that was really required was the motherboard info.. the rest was pretty simple TBH, i also had the added advantage that i could correlate the new components i had to the old in the case, so i had an instant idea of where it all went...


i guarantee once you've built your own....you'll never stop. :)

I have to agree with everyone above. Research the parts before you purchase. The computer in my specs is the first one that I ever fully built on my own. I was a little nervous going in but, as SkunkSmash says, the Mobo manual was really helpful. Took me a little over an hour to put it all together, and it posted and booted the first time I plugged it in.

It is pretty addicting though. I finally managed to talk my boss into letting me build one for him, and I'm probably more excited about that than I should be.

skunksmash said:

i guarantee once you've built your own....you'll never stop. :)

+1 to that part...

bigmck said:

Building my own system is something I have wanted to do. Two years ago I had decided that I was building one when I retired to part-time work. As luck would have it about four months before that happened my system died and due to having to have one rather quickly I was forced to have one made rather than building my own. When I get a 64-bit system, hopefully in a couple of years, I will build my own. When you built your first one, how long did it take? What references did you use to do it? Any insight to it would be appreciated.

You'd better watch what you ask for, they'll corrupt you and you'll never be the same/sane again!

Read reviews and read about compatibility. YouTube is also useful if you can weed through all the crap. There's some good stuff there but it takes time to find. 3DGameman you will get to know...

YOUR AVATAR IS MAKING ME HUNGRY.....seriously.

Resistance is Futile.