This part of the website is dedicated to instructing you with a step by step guide on how to build your own PC from scratch, including tools you will require and components needed.

You will need certain tools:

• Screwdriver – Crosshead (Phillips)
• Tweezers – for changing jumpers on hard drives
• Screw extractor – when screws fall inside the case or on the motherboard you need to get them out
• Torch – if you are working in a poorly lit room, a touch may come in useful

You will need certain components to make the PC from:

• Case and Power Supply
• Motherboard (usually comes with drive cables, if not buy them separately)
• Memory Modules (RAM)
• CPU Cooling Fan with heatsink
• Graphics Card
• Optical Drive (DVD-RW etc)
• WiFi network card (PCI/USB) – if you plan on using the Internet via WiFi
• Hard Drive
• Keyboard and mouse
• Monitor display

You will need other items to make the PC function:

• Operating System CD (XP, Vista, 7, Linux etc)
• Device Drivers CD (Usually comes with motherboard)
• Thermal Compound for CPU

Once you have all of the above move onto next step below.

STEP 1: Preparing the case

Remove the side panel from the case and fit the I/O plate (comes with motherboard) to the back of the case, this is where the connectors poke through and place the brass stand-offs that are in the case in the right places according to the size of your motherboard, most standard boards are full ATX size so place stand offs at every hole that says ATX, look at the board and decide where they go, there are usually 6 screws holding the motherboard inside the case. When the board is lined up with the stand offs screw it in. You will need to remove the appropriate back plates for your WiFI card or PCI soundcard (if you are going to use any)

STEP 2: Preparing the case

Remove drive bay covers from the front of the PC, they push out towards the front so you can fit optical/floppy drive, remove only what you need.

STEP 3: Fitting the Power Supply

If the power supply did not come with your case you will need to install it now, place it at the top rear of the case and use screws that come with it to secure it in place. The fan should face the rear of the case and if there is a bottom fan this should face downwards. If it is no positioned the correct orientation you will not be able to screw it in.

STEP 4: Installing the CPU and cooling fan

Remove the CPU from its packaging and get the heatsink ready to be fitted. Check the CPU for bent pins, if any are bent be very careful when unbending them as they can snap very easily and cause a non functioning CPU.

Fitting a CPU is fairly straightforward, simply look at the pin orientation and line it up with the holes in the ZIF socket once you have lifted the lever up on the socket. Do not attempt to fit the CPU with the lever down as it will not fit. The lever is to secure the CPU in place and to prevent it moving. The CPU should literally drop into the holes with no force required at all, hence the socket name (Zero insertion force)

Once the CPU is in place it is time to fit the cooling fan, this is very important as the CPU will overheat and potentially burn out if this is not done correctly. Look at the bottom of the heatsink once you have removed the plastic cover (if it is a new heatsink) and see if it has a thermal pad, if it does remove it – thermal pads do not have the same heat dissipating abilities as decent thermal compound, therefore the CPU will run hotter if you were to use the heatsink with the thermal pad. Once the pad is removed put a pea sized drop of thermal compound on the CPU itself and use an old credit card or thin bit of plastic to wipe it all over the top of the CPU to create a fine layer of paste to allow to best heat transfer between the CPU and bottom of the heatsink.

The heatsink will attach to the motherboard either with pins which lock it to the board or with a bracket. Check the instructions for the specific heatsink on how it is to be fitted. Most Socket 775 Intel heatsinks have a push pin design which allows the heatsink to be attached to the board while AM2 will use a locking lever over retention bracket.

Fitting the heatsink while the motherboard is outside the case is easier if you have a large heatsink but this guide is assuming you are using a retail boxed heatsink which are quite small compared to the big hefty heatsinks designed for extreme air cooling.

STEP 5: Installing the RAM (Memory)

Some motherboards have a dual channel capability when running two modules, therefore it is best to check the manual for which slots allow for dual channel use. Usually in my experience it is slots of the same colour that are for dual channel if you have two sticks.

The memory will only slot in one way easily, but they will sometimes go in the wrong way with extreme force so make sure you get them the correct way around or smoke may appear from your PC when you switch it on, and you can be left with a dead set of memory or worse, a dead motherboard as well.

When each stick is lined up correctly with the DIMM slots, simply press down on the top of it to get it seated, make sure it is seated properly, i.e. all the way down so the contacts are making good contact with the bottom of the slot. The locking levers should keep it in place, if these levers are in place the RAM is usually seated correctly.

STEP 6: Install Optical Drives / Floppy Drives

This step is fairly easy, to install a DVD-RW put it into a 5.25″ bay through the front of the case (take the right hand side panel off because you will need to screw it in from both sides to the bay. When it is lined up with the front of the case and the screw holes, screw it into place. Do the same for floppy drive. If you are using two IDE optical drives on one IDE channel you will need to set the jumpers on the back of each to master and slave for each.

STEP 7: Install Hard Drives

This step is also fairly easy, to install a hard drive put it into an internal 3.5″ bay inside the case and screw it into place once the holes line up. If you use IDE hard drives on the same IDE channel one will have to be master and the other slave, according to the jumper settings at the back of the hard drive – use tweezers to move the jumper to the correct place. If you are using SATA drives you do not need to worry about this.

STEP 8: Install Graphics Card

Take the graphics card out of its packaging and remove the back plate from the case where the graphics cards DVI/VGA ports need to come through and line it up with the PCI-Express / AGP slot on the motherboard, then push the card into the slot and screw it in.

STEP 9: Connecting everything up and setting up jumpers.

Connect the main ATX connector (20/24pin) from the power supply to the motherboard and the square 12volt plug to the 4 pin connector.

Connect the graphics card to the power supply if it needs its own power using a PCI-Express connector from the PSU.

Get appropriate data cables for optical / hard drives and connect them to the back of each device and to the motherboard at the other end.

Connect the floppy drive to the floppy drive controller on the motherboard if applicable.

Refer to the motherboard manual for correct jumper settings to use. Most things these days are controlled by the BIOS so jumpers are not used so frequently on the motherboard so there probably won’t be much to worry about here.