Building a PC - is it difficult?

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mailmarshall

349 posts

Ultimate Geek

#14404 2-Jul-2007 12:13

Hi

I was overseas recently and bought a whole lot of parts so that Icould build a PC.

CPU = Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 2.4GHz

Motherboard = GIGABYTE GA-965P-DS3 Pro Core 2 Duo DDR2 800 PCI-EX16 x2 sk775

Memory = 2* 1GB DDR2 SDRAM PC667

HD = Seagate 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3Gb/s 16MB cache Barracuda

Video Card = Gigabyte GV-NX86T256D Video Card, GeForce 8600 GT

Anyway can you tell me if it is difficult to build a PC these days? The last PC I built was years ago and had 100s of jumper settings etc.

Is this still the norm today or has technology made it more plug and play i.e no need to play with jumper setting etc?

Bought a case recently also - Thermaltake Soprano VB1430BWSA ATX Mid Tower Case with 430W PSU.

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#76577 2-Jul-2007 12:31

It is basically plug and play :)

As long as all the components are compatible with each other, which they sound like they are, then you should have no real problems with getting it going.

The only thing missing is a DVD drive so you can install your O/S.

grant_k

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#76585 2-Jul-2007 13:31

mailmarshall: Anyway can you tell me if it is difficult to build a PC these days? The last PC I built was years ago and had 100s of jumper settings etc.

Is this still the norm today or has technology made it more plug and play i.e no need to play with jumper setting etc?

Yeah, I built lots of PCs in those days too... All sorts of things like IRQ and I/O address jumpers, not to mention RAM jumpers, FSB speeds and Multipliers for the CPU

Thankfully those days are over and everything is set from the BIOS or Windows Drivers with few exceptions. It's a piece of p1ss now compared to the long arduous process in days gone by.

You should have a very nice system there by the time you've got it all put together. 2.4GHz Core2 Duo, hmmm, that would be a nice upgrade some time...

bradstewart

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#76595 2-Jul-2007 14:23

The most difficult part is plugging front USB/1394/Audio and power button etc into the motherboard and generally the motherboard will come with an easy to understand guide to doing that.

Batman

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#76603 2-Jul-2007 15:24

i guess also keep in mind that on the odd occasion, the system just wouldn't work because of component incompatibilities (usually ram), however having said that, it's fun, should work ... enjoy!!!

mailmarshall

349 posts

Ultimate Geek

#76800 3-Jul-2007 20:41

Thanks everyone.
I am off to build this beast.. I do remember working out the IRQ settings etc etc in the old days...

Nightwyrm

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#77916 12-Jul-2007 21:55

bradstewart: The most difficult part is plugging front USB/1394/Audio and power button etc into the motherboard...

Ah yes, those @%&*#$ fiddly little plugs (damn you Antec P-160WF!!)

Post-geek, opinionated mediaphile, and natural born cynic. Jack of all genres, master of none.

Fossie

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#78099 14-Jul-2007 18:01

My old box had a firewire connector at the front...but the end wasn't 1 single connector, but like 12 separate ones. It was practically impossible to put in.

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AllNightNerding

411 posts

Ultimate Geek

#78118 14-Jul-2007 21:37

Hi there what are the issues relating to staitic is it the same problem as it used to be or is it nor much of a problem. thats the only thing thats stopping me from building my own pc because if i blow it up then it costs more :'(

Fossie

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#78125 14-Jul-2007 22:48

All I ever do when inside a computer is ground myself...no problems so far.

redjet

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#78135 15-Jul-2007 08:44

Just make sure you read and follow the installation instructions in motherboard manual and you can't really go wrong.

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sbiddle

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#78138 15-Jul-2007 08:51

lugh:
bradstewart: The most difficult part is plugging front USB/1394/Audio and power button etc into the motherboard...

Ah yes, those @%&*#$ fiddly little plugs (damn you Antec P-160WF!!)

It would be great if manufacturers could agree on a standard for front panel connectors and then have a single plug! They did it with USB and Firewire!

canigetafix

2 posts

Wannabe Geek

#78436 17-Jul-2007 12:08

sbiddle:
lugh:
bradstewart: The most difficult part is plugging front USB/1394/Audio and power button etc into the motherboard...

Ah yes, those @%&*#$ fiddly little plugs (damn you Antec P-160WF!!)

It would be great if manufacturers could agree on a standard for front panel connectors and then have a single plug! They did it with USB and Firewire!

Damn straight!

Nightwyrm

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#78439 17-Jul-2007 12:44

I had to give up on connecting my front audio - the pins on the mobo were in a really inconvenient location (between the PCIe-16 slot and I/O ports i.e. right under the PSU), there was one fiddly little plug for each pin, and it turned out in the end that the front audio didn't really work (somehting to do with the front audio being legacy AC07 and the hardware sounds being 5.1). The same problem applied to my Audigy2 card but, in addition, if you knocked the case or desk, at least one of the little plugs would fall out.

As for static, I didn't really mind it an issue. My case is completely metal so I was pretty grounding myself regularly. The only downside to an all metal case is those nasty little sharp edges that hide away from sight. But hey, I don't think you can properly own that you've built your own PC unless some of your blood has been contributed.

Post-geek, opinionated mediaphile, and natural born cynic. Jack of all genres, master of none.

whitefoxxx

91 posts

Master Geek

#79375 24-Jul-2007 08:18

Guy modern day computer building can't be that hard.

Im 15 and i built my pc once i ordered the parts off my own knowledge and it works great.

the parts were:

AMD Athlon 64 x2 3800+
Geforce GA-M61VME-S2
160gb western digital HD
1gb ddr2 ram
lite-on dvd-rw drive
MaxCase case

not the highest end pc but im yet to buy a new gfx card for it so i don have 2 use the onboard

but a point is still there

Nightwyrm

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#79377 24-Jul-2007 08:26

whitefoxxx: Guy modern day computer building can't be that hard.

It's not hard - just requires a little patience.

Post-geek, opinionated mediaphile, and natural born cynic. Jack of all genres, master of none.

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