The Great Guide to building your computer.

Building a computer is a challenge of mythical proportions, that's what some people might think when in reality it is actually quite easy if you can follow instructions and they are quite simple.


Guide to choosing the right hardware for your computer:
http://cytech.blogspot.com/2011/09/great-guide-to-choosing-right-computer.html

What This Guide is For.


This guide is for reference only you should consult the manufacturers manual since there are many variations of parts which might be installed in other ways. As manufacturers manual are pretty clear on the instructions this guide will help you to know the steps in which you assemble your computer and which manuals to consult.



To build a computer you will need the following:

1. Case
2. Motherboard
3. CPU
4. RAM
5. Hard Drive(HDD)
6. Power Supply
7. GPU (Video Card) this may be optional if you plan to use integrated gpu instead of dedicated.






I.

IMPORTANT: Make sure to touch the metal casing inside your case to ground yourself, so when you handle your computer parts you will not burn them with static electricity.

Take your case and unscrew the screws on the side so you can take off the side panel or refer to the manufacturers manual if your case opens differently.







II. 

Before installing the motherboard inside your case it is better to install CPU first since it will be harder to install the cpu if the motherboard was already inside your case. Take your time in installing the CPU as it is the most fragile part out of all components that you will be installing. Since this guide has to cover the other parts of the computer, there will only be a brief summary on how to install the cpu (please follow manufacturers instructions precisely).

You will have to match up the pin 1 of the CPU with the motherboards pin 1 it is usually marked by a triangle in a corner. Also almost any component will not require any force, if something does not want to fit do not try to "hammer" it in, check again if you have done everything right. After the CPU is inside the socket you will lock it down by putting down a small lever of the socket. After that you will install the fan or any other cooling system that you have make sure to connect a small cable coming from the fan to your motherboard.

After the fan is in place, install the RAM as it might be hard if you install it last with all the cables in the way.








III.

IMPORTANT: Before lining up your motherboard you will need to install the the special screws (look at the screws on the left).

You will have to line up your motherboard with the holes inside your case, make sure to use all available holes as this is very important for properly grounding your motherboard inside your case. However do not worry if some holes do not match up. Screw the motherboard in place with the screws provided in the box that came with a case. Also to not forget to install the backpanel that came with the motherboards as some cases might have the one that does not fit your motherboard and some do not have one at all (if it does have one you will be able to remove it).







IV.

Install the DVD-ROM and Hard Drive(s), make sure to remove a metal plate in the front of the bays if the case has one, it would be wise to use something other then your hands when removing it since the edges can be very sharp and you might get a very deep cut. The HDD and DVD installation should be pretty straight forward as some cases do not even require you to have screws.








V.

This part might be a bit tricky when you are doing for the first time, you will have to connect the front panel of your case to your motherboard, basically you will be connecting small colored cables coming from your case to your mobo, the part that you connect it to is usually at the the bottom of your motherboard. When you are connecting it DO NOT always trust your manual, you have to trust what is written on the cables themselves and whats on the motherboard. TIP: White/Black cable is usually negative and colored ones are positive however check your manual first.







VI.

Install your video card in the right slot which is usually PCI-E x16, before you put it in release the lever on the side of the slot and when the card is in place lift the lever so the card will stay in place. Put a screw where the ports of the video card meet the case refer to the manual.








VII.

Install the power supply then connect the cables to other parts of your computer such as the motherboard, Hard Drive, DVD-ROM. Also make sure to connect SATA cables to the DVD and HDD from your motherboard.

Now you should be done all that is left is to plug in the power and turn on the power supply from the back (it has a little switch which will either turn on the power supply or off). Once you power your computer for the first time go to the BIOS menu by pressing DEL key as soon as you see anything on the monitor, refer to your manual as these keys differ. Once you are there go to the boot menu and set 1st boot device to CD, after that insert the Windows 7 disk and it should start installing, the on screen instructions are quite simple so you will be able to follow them without much problems.



Feel free to leave any comments if you have any trouble with building your computer I will gladly help you out.



Guide to choosing the right hardware for your computer:
http://cytech.blogspot.com/2011/09/great-guide-to-choosing-right-computer.html

Review: Intel i5 2400

Screenshot taken from Anandtech

For those who want a very decent CPU for a decent price (around 180$ and lower) will likely consider getting an i5 2400, performs absolutely great at stock speeds and if you plan on overclocking you will have better performance with the i5 2500K. However if you do not plan to overclock at all i5 2400 is a great CPU. Above is a benchmark of Crysis Warhead for numerous CPUs, you might notice that the 2400 is only slightly below the 2500K. Keep in mind that Crysis 1 is much more power hungry then the optimized Crysis 2 thus it makes a great benchmarking system.

A note of caution no matter at how many benchmarks you look it does not automatically mean that you will get the exact results, sometimes you might get higher or lower then the listed benchmark, as your computer will most likely will have different system specifications then the system that was used for the benchmark. I can tell you however that in other tasks such as video rendering and gaming the i5 2400 is only 5% or less below then the 2500K. The price however can be quite a bit more for the 2500K sometimes it can add up to 50$ but rebates can make a big difference.

Another great thing about buying a less expensive cpu now is that i5 2400 uses LGA1555 socket which will be compatible with the new Ivy bridge cpus which might be released at the beginning of 2012. Keep in mind that you will still have to confirm with the manufacturer of your motherboard to insure that it will support it and if any special firmware updates are needed.

This is a great cpu and certainly stands up to its price to performance ratio.