Build Your Own PC By Wayne Maruna 7/19/08

Top 10 Reasons to Build Your Own PC You’re a masochist Since retiring, you don’t have enough irritation in your life. You like paying more for things You need to use up extra bandages Your spouse said “Don’t even think about it”.

More reasons to build your own PC You’re a person who likes a challenge. You find satisfaction in doing things yourself. You like being able to fix things, and need to know how they work. You don’t like talking to people in India Ever since watching “When Harry Met Sally”, you just have to have things the way you want them, or not at all.

Lots of good reasons for a new PC! Dilbert, by Scott Adams

Our little project Based on a micro-ATX LAN party case AMD Dual Core CPU, AM2 Socket Biostar motherboard, nVidia chipset 4GB DDR2-800 (PC6400) A-Data RAM 250GB Seagate Serial ATA Hard Drive Twin DVD Burners (one with LightScribe) MSI PCI-E video card, nVidia 8400GS GPU Using on-board sound & LAN 400 Watt Power Supply

Anatomy of a Computer BRAINS = CPU BACKBONE = Motherboard SPINAL COLUMN = Chipset HEART = Power Supply SKIN = Case In the interest of good taste, we’ll end the physical analogy there.

THE BRAIN It all starts with the CPU selection I like AMD CPUs because of price / performance ratio retail CPU with fan and 3-year warranty for only $58 delivered (Jan 08) AM2 Socket, currently AMD’s most popular (but migrating to AM2+) Low 65 watt power consumption cuts heat

Socket To Me – Choices Galore CPUs and Motherboards By Socket Type on NewEgg.com as of 7/14/08

THE BACKBONE Next, choose a motherboard We chose a Biostar TF7025-M2 AM2 socket motherboard because of price / feature ratio. Delivered cost of $72 nVidia GeForce 7025/NF630a chipset Micro-ATX form factor

Motherboard Details Four memory module slots, 4GB max Four SATA connectors, 1 IDE, 1 Floppy 1 PCI-E x16 slot, 1 PCI-E x1 slot, 2 PCI Supports 8 USB ports (4 on board) On-board nVidia video, sound, LAN. VGA and DVI-I video connections

THE SPINAL COLUMN Chipset Vendor choices usually include Intel, AMD, nVidia, SiS, and Via Northbridge – responsible for high performance devices, e.g. memory controller, integrated graphics or interface to discrete graphics card Southbridge – less sensitive devices, incl. networking, audio, storage, peripherals

SKIN - Many Case Styles to Choose From

The Case for a MicroFly So-called LAN party case. Small footprint: 11”W x 15” D x 9-1/2” H Fits micro-ATX motherboard (only 4 expansion slots) See-through top and sides (other models have solid piano black finish) Made of lightweight aluminum. No power supply Delivered from Tiger Direct for $59

The MicroFly Case

Case ¾ Side View

The Top Slides Off….

…and the sides slide out

The Drives Have Already Been Installed.

400 Watt Micro-ATX Power Supply Installed.

The motherboard tray slides out

The tray has stand- offs for mounting the board.

Each motherboard requires its own “back plate” or “I/O Shield”. Here the back plate that came with the case has been removed.

Here the back plate that came with the motherboard has been installed.

The back plate will mate up with the back of the motherboard and its I/O ports

The motherboard as it comes out of the box

…and as it is mounted on the slide-out tray.

A mole’s eye view of the slide-in tray

The processor’s back side. Note square notch (lower right) with triangle marker used to orient CPU in mobo socket.

Motherboard socket has matching square in lower right corner so CPU can only go in one way. Never force the CPU in. It should drop in.

CPU Pin-outs Must Match Socket Socket 939Socket AM2 Socket 940 Can you locate the differences?

CPU must be installed with thermal compound. Retail CPU/Fan comes with it already applied to the bottom of the heat sink. For OEM installations or reinstalls, use a good after-market compound like Artic Silver.

CPU, Heat Sink, Fan in place.

The motherboard utilizes up to 4GB of DDR2-800 (PC6400) memory in 4 slots. Pictured below are two of the four 1GB RAM modules

4GB of Memory installed

Although the motherboard comes equipped with on-board nVidia GeForce 7025 video with up to 64MB of shared system memory, we opted for an MSI (MicroStar International) PCI-E x16 video card with 256MB of dedicated memory. It utilizes the nVidia 8400GS graphics engine, and has both VGA and DVI-I outputs. Delivered cost of about $42 before $10 MIR Video Card

The video card has its own heat sink and fan that look like they should be mounted on a Harley.

Video Card mounted in Motherboard

Slide it in, Big Boy.

Hard drive (or 2) mounts vertically

IDE Vs. Serial ATA (SATA) Drives

Lightscribe Before (Top), After (Bottom) ( GPartEd = Gnome Partition Editor) – think Partition Magic for Linux

Sides and Top Installed

People who live in glass houses…

Ready for action!

And….. Action! When you build your own PC, few sounds are more satisfying than that “Beep” that signifies a successful POST (Power On Self Test) which means the PC works!

Measuring the hole in my wallet Does not include mouse, keyboard, speakers, or monitor Does not include operating system or any software.

Final Tally: Case Power Supply Motherboard CPU/Heatsink/Fan Memory Video Card Hard drive 2 DVD drives Floppy drive SATA power/data cables Total Hardware Cost $58.85 $38.21 $72.10 $57.99 $85.98 $41.98 $69.99 $70.31 $11.98 $10.00 $517,39 $65.00 $ Incl above $52.00 $40.00 $49.00 $00.00 $70.00 (IDE) $31.00 (one) $00.00 (none) $307,00 A Cheaper Alternative My Project’s Cost

Show’s Over! Questions? Comments?