Building and assembling your PC is certainly a satisfaction, not only because you can save money, but also because you will feel that you have done it alone and, therefore, to be very good. Actually, assembling a computer is like assembling an Ikea piece of furniture, you just need to put the pieces together, screw the screws and fix the joints to make everything work.
Compared to a piece of furniture, however, there are however recommendations to be made for the use of electrical and electronic components that always have their delicacy.
For example, before using your hands on wires and transistors you need to make sure that you discharge electrostatic energy so as not to damage any component with a mini electric shock.
Even a small shock can burn the motherboard or processor, so specific measures must always be taken to ensure that static electricity is not released.
A common way to do this is to wear an antistatic bracelet, or even just touch the radiator before starting and putting a hand in a component and standing on a floor without a carpet, without socks or wool sweaters.
I also recommend that you read the entire guide to assembling your PC before you start, so that you know what you need to do and watch the final video very detailed, at the bottom of the page.
Also keep in mind that there is no precise order in the construction of a PC, one piece can be mounted first or another, the whole computer can be mounted inside the case or, recommended, first attach the most delicate components to the board mother and then mount everything in the case.
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1) Mount the motherboard The motherboard is the main desk on which all other pieces are to be mounted.
To start, open the case by unscrewing the screws and pulling out the side panel.
The houses have a central space in which to insert the motherboard and a library section where to insert the discs that will be the hard disk and the eventual CD DVD player.
In some cases the power supply is included, otherwise it must be mounted separately (this can also be done before mounting the other pieces, see point 8).
There should also be a bag of screws to keep aside.
Before you put the motherboard, detach the metal door panel from the motherboard and attach it to the back of the case, where there is a rectangular space.
The motherboard must be embedded in correspondence with this metal panel by matching the screw holes with the spaces of the case using the bolts of the bag of screws as spacers.
It should be clear which orientation to use, with all door labels outward.
Once the motherboard is properly seated, put the screws one at a time without tightening them too much, just until it no longer moves.
There are a number of cables from the case that can be connected to the motherboard, which are those small connectors marked "LED +", "LED-", "HDD +", "Reset" and so on.
They must be attached to the corresponding pins on the motherboard.
However, each case is different and has more or less connectors depending on the lights and buttons.
Note As mentioned, it may be easier to mount a computer by first installing the processor, fans, RAM and power supply before mounting the motherboard in the case.
2) Installing the processor The processor is the most fragile part of a computer so open the box and take it very gently.
The port for the processor is evident on any motherboard, it is a square panel in the center.
To open the panel, push down on the arm and move it to the side to release the metal fixing piece that holds it from underneath. Then lift your arm to see the processor contacts.
On the processor, notice a corner with a gold arrow that should also be on the motherboard.
That corner indicates the mounting location of the processor.
Lift the interlocking lever on the motherboard and lay the processor down (if there is a cover, lift it first).
Then pull the lever down to lock it, always gently and without forcing (if it does not fit easily, pull it out and try again making sure that the arrows at the corners are aligned and, of course, that the space on the motherboard is compatible with the size processor).
3) Once the processor is fixed, you need to take the CPU fan (if not, you need to buy a separate cooler). The bottom of the cooler should already have some silver-colored thermal paste on the bottom.
Otherwise you will have to buy thermal paste at the computer shop and put some on the processor by spreading it on its surface, without exaggerating.
Then put the fan on top of the processor, fit it by pressing on the four feet or using the levers on the sides to lock it.
The processor instruction booklet always says how to mount the fan so there should be no problem.
The CPU cooler also needs to be connected to the motherboard via a connector and PIN (look for the CPU fan label or something similar).
4) Install the RAM Installing the RAM is very simple and won't give you any problems.
Find the RAM sockets on the motherboard, pull the two side clips down, align the memory card and press to insert it into the desk.
This insertion requires a bit of force to press, on both sides, until the clips click and the card locks.
There are often four RAM slots, usually the second slot first, the fourth slot second (to space them out),
For each RAM slot they have a small lever which you need to push down before inserting the RAM.
READ ALSO: How to increase RAM and add new memory to the PC
5) Install the video card For the video card (or any other PCI expansion card), you need to find the slot, usually colored blue, which is located at the metal plate on the back of the case, underneath that of the motherboard, the one closest to the fan and to the CPU.
Remove (unscrewing) the metal protection and insert, as done with the RAM, the video card in its position, making sure that the video sockets are well aligned and come out of the case.
Finally, screw the metal protection back on to secure the card.
The motherboard will likely have multiple PCIe ports, but not all of the same length, many graphics cards use the PCIe x16 port, which is longer and PCIe x4 ports.
6) Installation of the hard disk The hard disk mounts on the front of the case, in the metal drawer with several slots.
Depending on the motherboard there are different methods of installing the disk: in some cases it is necessary to screw a support first and then insert the disk as if it were a drawer while in other cases the hard disk must be screwed into the motherboard support.
To insert the disc, you have to keep the front of the case open otherwise this operation can be inconvenient and you have to try a little to be able to find the screwing space.
Check the disc manual for more detailed instructions on this particular point.
If you have to screw two discs, it is better to leave a space between them, placing them in the first and third spaces.
To connect the drives to the motherboard, find the SATA cable that came with the board and insert one end into the SATA port on the disk, and another end into the SATA port on the motherboard.
If there are both SATA2 and SATA3 ports, use the SATA3 ports which are faster.
7) Installing the CD DVD player
The CD player is always located above the hard disk and just pull out the plastic cover on the housing to slide it out and screw it in if necessary.
8) Power supply Once everything has been fixed, you need to mount the power supply (where there is the main on / off switch) and connect all the cables.
The location of the power supply is on the back of the case, usually at the top or even bottom, where a large rectangular hole is seen.
The power supply must be mounted with the fan facing the edge and screwed by matching the holes of the case and that of the power supply.
The power supply is a rather heavy piece in the computer and it is the one that distributes energy to the whole machine, so you have to handle it carefully.
The difficult part in connecting the power supply is that of the cables.
If it is a modular power supply, there will be a large bundle of cables coming out of the back of the unit with a 20-, 20+ 4-, or 24-pin connector.
Then find the socket for the connector, make sure it has the same pin number and connect the power supply.
You also need to connect the cable to power the CPU, whose connector is located near the processor and is a 4 or 8 pin socket.
Other connectors will then go to the graphics card and any other expansion cards that need power, including SATA disks.
9) Connect cables and connectors
Since this is, without a doubt, the most boring and difficult part of assembling a PC, which varies depending on the case, motherboard and power supply, we repeat the connections here for a final check.
The most difficult thing is to locate the sockets in which to insert the various plugs, so you have to look carefully at the motherboard.
As already explained in the guide to changing the PC power supply, the electric cables of each piece (separate them first from the pile) that must be connected should be:
- The 24-pin motherboard-power supply cable, the largest, with a long plug with 24 small pins in it
Connect it by putting some force on it until you hear the click and until it is fixed it cannot be pulled out easily.
In some cases the socket is made by a plug with 20 pins and one with 4 pins to be joined together before inserting it on the motherboard.
- 4-pin power supply-motherboard cable is a small 4-pin connector, to be attached somewhere else on the motherboard.
- 6-pin video card cables and other PCI cards : If you have mounted a powerful enough graphics card, you may need to connect it to the power supply.
The 6-pin cable from the power supply should be similar to the 24-pin and 4-pin cables.
This must be connected on the video card if there is this socket (not all of them have it).
- SATA cables for the disks : The connection of the hard disk consists of two cables, one black with a smaller almost square socket and one red.
The small red cable the SATA cable that transfers data, the other, wider with 5 wires that joins 5 wires, is energy.
After connecting both cables into the drive, plug the other end into the motherboard into the SATA labeled sockets.
The same operation is done for the CD DVD player.
- The power cables are similar to the power cables of the hard disk and power components such as fans.
The socket is a female plug to be connected to the male plug with a little force.
- Some fans, such as the CPU fan, may have a much smaller connector that connects directly to the motherboard.
The socket in which to insert the cables is recognized by the writing CPU_FAN or SYS_FAN .
- Audio, USB, FireWire and various connectors : most cases have two or three ports in front which are usually USB ports, headphones and a microphone.
You should see these small cables coming from the front of the case with various labels to be connected on the motherboard to the corresponding sockets.
- Finally, you should have a couple of small cables marked with labels like POWER SW, RESET SW, HDD LED or the like.
These connect the computer switch to turn on and off, the reset button and the bright LEDs .
The switches and LEDs are on the front of the case consisting of one or two pins, to be inserted on the motherboard.
The location of the outlets varies from one model to another so you need to check the motherboard manual here to find them.
The part of connecting the cables, as we understand, is the hardest one because it is not always easy to understand where one goes and where another goes.
Even the most experienced can have difficulties in cable management and it would be appropriate, in addition to checking the instruction booklet of the motherboard and the various components, to look for more specific guides like this
To understand something and not to make a mistake, it would be appropriate to keep them separated from each other as best as possible, without making them tangle in the case and avoiding them blocking the air flow of the fans.
Each case is supplied with some clamps that serve to group the wires.
9) Turn on the computer
Once you've finished assembling and connecting everything, turn on the power switch on the back and then press the power button in front of the case to see if it works.
If everything has been done well, the computer should turn on and, connecting a monitor to the video card (or to the motherboard, if there was no video card), you should see the first screen from which to start installing the system operating (Windows or Linux).
Pressing the Del key you access the BIOS where you can check that all the components are working.
After assembling the computer, put all the pieces and manuals back in the boxes and keep them without throwing them away, because they can always be useful in the future.
10) Troubleshooting
If the computer does not turn on, there is no need to panic.
It may be that some attacks have not been done well, that the RAM is not fully fixed, that an error has been made with the sockets and cables and so on.
Then repeat the whole procedure and try again.
If the system turns on but nothing appears on the screen and you hear a beep from the motherboard, then there is an error.
Depending on the bios, the beep can have different meanings.
If you can find out what type of BIOS is present on the motherboard (always look at the instruction booklet) you can find information on the error codes on the AMIBIOS, AwardBIOS, PhoenixBIOS websites.
For every problem, searching on Google you can find solutions.
It may also be that one of the pieces of the computer is defective and needs to be changed, although this should be the last conclusion after trying them all.
If you have additions to make, changes to suggest or questions, leave a comment.
Below you can see the video of all the operations, from Lifehacker, very concise and precise.
READ ALSO: How to choose the parts of the new computer to be assembled
