Would making my own PC be fun/and practical?

[Mishandled]

I'm looking for a hobby type thing, and thought that maybe I could combine my need for a new pc withthis goal. Do any of you people out in ppruneland have experience building your own machine? Is it fun? How long would it take? Any suggestions as to a good way to start? Thanks:ok:

(Edited to say that I have done a search on pprune about how to. Its the fun bit I am really interested in)

[CBLong]

Short answer: yes! :)

Long answer: it depends... :( I think this runs closely parallel with the usual answers to "should I build a kit plane?" - ie if you think you'd enjoy actually learning about and building a PC, then do it, *but* if you're just hoping to save a few quid on a new PC, then don't.

I haven't bought a complete PC since about 1995 - that was a 90Mhz Pentium with a new whiz-bang technology called 'multi-media' :) Since then, I've just upgraded, upgraded, upgraded - I think the only things that are still original in the whole set up are the keyboard, mouse and an IDE cable! I enjoy doing the upgrading and it's allowed me to only upgrade the bits I wanted, when I wanted, without having to worry about copying data/software/setup from one machine to another, but it hasn't saved me any money. On the other hand, I've built a second PC (on which I run Linux) using many of the 'old' parts from my main machine.

A good way to start is probably to get an old machine from somewhere and take it to bits. You need to get familiar with what all the parts look like, how they fit together, how much force you physically need to use when slotting the (eg) video card into place, etc etc. Once you've got that basic level of competence with all the components, it's actually a very quick and easy process. Provided you order all the correct and compatible bits and pieces, an experienced PC-builder would be able to put them all together and have a working machine in two or three hours.

It's a lot easier these days now that most motherboards have 'soft' setups - when I was a lad, you had to spend a couple of hours just reading the motherboard manual and fiddling with tiny little bits of plastic called 'jumpers'...

:ok: :ok:

cbl.

ps be warned though, this can be addictive - some people end up spending every hour of every day trying to wring the last ounce of performance out of their home-builts - they are known as 'overclockers'. They remind me of audiophiles who spend more time tweaking their stereos than they do actually listening to music... :)

[Roger That]

I agree with CB Long about the addictive nature of this but you'll certainly know a lot more about how PCs work once you've built one yourself

As well as the usual books ("Dummies" guide etc...) have a look at http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/ or http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/ where you'll get the basics explained.

Best of luck !

RT

[ratsarrse]

There is a lot to be said for building your own PC. You get exactly the bits you want in it for a start. No crappy pre-installed software that you never wanted. So many PC's come with onboard graphics or sound which make it awkward when you want to upgrade later. Plus, you can effectively get a new PC for less money if you reuse your monitor, CD-ROM drive etc.

If you really get into it, you can transform your dull beige box into something like a work of art. Take a look at these two sites for some inspiration:
http://www.mini-itx.com/
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/

I built my own PC, but the best bit for me was choosing the different components. It does become a never-ending process - I guess you're never quite satisfied. It's a little like maintaining your own car: there's always something to tweak.

How long it will take? Depends on how familiar you are with upgrading computer hardware and whether you encounter any unforeseen problems. It pays to be well organised beforehand. Unpack your various bits and read the instructions. Dig out all the original CD's for software and drivers that you might need. It took me about an afternoon to go from a collection of bits to a running system. It took a few evenings to get all my software and patches installed, files copied across, and drivers updated.

The benefits? You'll know your machine inside out, so when something goes wrong you're in a much better position to sort it out. You get exactly the machine you want. A sense of pride and achievement is an added bonus...have fun!

[bughunta]

And for the finishing touch for your overclocked beast, let's see now...yes,
this should do the trick (http://www.computergear.com/computergear/monitormorphs.html)

bug

[Mishandled]

Thank you all for your replies and encouragement.

[Evo]

Personally, i'd say no and yes.

Fun? Do you find making an ikea cupboard fun? Building a PC is similar. It's easy enough to do (just slot the pieces together), frustrating at times and you may need to take it to pieces and put it back together before it all works. :)

Practical, certainly. It's not hard at all. I'd agree with most that has been said, although personally i'm fairly disinterested in the parts - I'm not interested getting a tweaked, overclocked cutting-edge PC, just something solid and stable that does the job. That's probably because I work with computers, so I'm not interested in them as a hobby.

Definitely recommend it though. It will teach you something about how it all works.

[snodgrass]

Build one yourself ?, definately !
My last three I built myself. But you have to spend time researching for the components which do not conflict.
You will however still get conflicts and as such getting advice from 'tech-heads' on these forums is VITAL. I have sort advice 100's of times and without these guys I would have fallen at the first hurdle !!


http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/
http://discuss.futuremark.com/forum/wwwthreads.pl

Here is the spec. I just recently built, but bear in mind this pc is for running fantastic combat flight sim games such as IL-2 Sturmovic/Forgotten Battles. You might not want something so powerfull if all you want to do is browse and word process.

Abit NF7-s mobo
Geforce 4 Ti4600
1 gb Corsair XMS 3200 ram
Athlon Barton 2600 + PCU
Thermaltake Xaser ll case

[Mac the Knife]

Building your own PC isn't difficult provided you're not too clumsy or the prosessor of two left thumbs - also quite educational. As has been pointed out, you'll know your new machine inside out.

snodgrass mentions the case just as I was going to. DON'T skimp money on an el cheapo flimsy case - it just isn't worth it. The cheaper cases are just sort of bunged together, half the mounting holes aren't there or are irritatingly "off", the whole thing flexes, the drive cages don't fit, the edges are sharp, the LEDs are duff, the power switch wobbles, etc., etc. Spare yourself some grief and get a solid good quality one - the mid tower designs give you plenty of room to work in (and at least 3 external bays) but aren't so tall that you need to hunt up special (expensive) long connectors. I always stick in an extra fan too - look for quiet ball-bearing ones.

No need to go overboard tho' - snodder's Thermaltake Xaser case is gorgeous (and functional) in the extreme but very pricey!

Finally, don't force things and be careful about breaking off any of those little plastic tabs - and before you start find yourself a collection of a variety of the right little screws and nuts - you HAVE got all the right connectors haven't you? Bad idea to start on a Saturday afternoon, because what with work and all it'll be several days before you can get to the shops to buy that eentsy-teentsy little widget without which you can't progress any further!

Have fun!

[18-Wheeler]

My rice-boy computer - http://www.geocities.com/mnanscawen/

Mods to come soon are a refigeration cooling system, so I can HEAVILY overclock the Athlon I got the other day.

[BayAreaLondoner]

If you're interested, I reviewed (http://www.groovelicious.org/mt/david/archives/000063.html) the motherboard that powers the PC that I built in December.
I second the comment on using a quality case.

[18-Wheeler]

Nice case 18-Wheeler. What’s the motherboard? Which Athlon and how heavily are you planning on OC’ing it? What’s the video card? Is it OC’ed too? RAM? Etc, etc? Tell us your system specs.

That's the old motherboard, an Asus A7V333. The new one that's going in is a Soltek SRN-75 somethingorother with an Athlon XP1800 DLT3C. The Nvidia chipset in the Soltek lets you unlock the frequency multiplyer of the Athlon, so you can run it as fast as it'll go.
The memory will be two stick of DDR400 512meg ram.
The HD will be a Western Digital 60gig with an 8meg cache.
The video card is an Nvidia Ti4200.
The sound card is an SB Audigy.

The refrigeration system is from www.creativecooling.com.au and they're making one up specially for me. It'll be an otherwise conventional fridge system, but it'll have a heat exchanger that will use radiator fluid to be pumped through the CPU & GPU water blocks.
I only want to go down to about 3° - 4°C odd to avoid condensation. I guess I could go a lot colder, but the condensation problem is something I don't want to deal with. The Creative Cooling mob are also going to sell me a bunch of silica gell, just to be sure. ;)

[ORAC]

Just to give you options, don't get stuck on power and speed. Nearly everything will run on 800-900Mhz chips and you can have great fun building ITX machines. See here (http://www.mini-itx.com/) for lots of ideas and projects. I like the ToAsTOr.

[18-Wheeler]

Will it be quiet?

I sat a few feet away from one of those fridge for about four hours one night, watching movies at a friend's place. When I got up to go home, I realised that I hadn't heard the fridge all night.
So yeah, they're quiet!

[spycatcher]

my computer started out 10 years ago as a 286. its now a pentium 4 2.8Ghz with a gig of sdram. i guess they just evolve. Still the same box though

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Building your own computer is great fun. Just do your research before you buy any components. There are quite a few tech websites that review all the new hardware. You will save many hours of headaches and RMAs if you read everything you can find on the type of system (Hardware Components) you want before you actually purchase the parts.

Best Bang for the Buck:

MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR or ASUS A7N8X (rev 2.0) nForce2 Ultra400 Motherboard
AMD AthlonXP 2500+ (Barton Core)
2x256 PC-3200 (Make Sure it is nForce Approved)
MSI/ASUS/Gainward GeForce4 Ti4200
LG/Lite-on DVD + CD-RW Combo Drive
WD SE 80GB 7200rpm HD with 8Mb Cache
Generic Floppy
A good Name Brand Case with a Good Power Supply (28a on the 3.3V RAIL and a Max Combined Wattage of 200W on the 3.3v + 5v RAILs)
Logitech Z-560 400W 4.1 THX Speakers

If you want a little better performance:
2 x Western Digital 10,000rpm Raptor SATA Drives w/8Mb Cache Striped on the SATA RAID
Logitech Z680 Dolby Digital 500W 5.1 THX Speakers

Take Care,

Capt. Richard J. Gentil, Pres.
Naples Air Center, Inc.
Custom Computers of Naples, Inc.