Building Your Own Desktop Computer

[Into Darkness]

Just wondered if there was anyone here who was wise in the ways of building your own desktops?
I was just wondering, if I put my desktop together, connect everything up, after I've done that is there anything else I need to do?
I keep hearing people talking about setting up the BIOS, I don't even know what the BIOS is? how do I go about loading up drivers? have I got to upload windows first before loading drivers? I don't know anything about the technicals behind it, all I know is how to connect everything together in the case, after that I'm blind.
Any help is appreciated.

 

[Marc]

Out of the box the bios should be fine for the most part. People might tweak it a bit for extra perfomance or so the system behaves in a slightly different manner.

the only caveat can be relating to processors. Just check for compatability. For 7example Intel is releasing some new i5 and i7 processors. A board might need the bios flashed to support them but if you're buying an older model it won't be an issue.

If you're loading Windows 8.1 there shouldn't be to much on issue with basis drivers (so the system boots). You'll probably need to load drivers for your video card and network adapter before you can really get rolling. There should be a driver CD with the necessary drivers and utilities and you'll load them after Windows has installed.

Read throught the documentation and follow the bouncing balls and you should be okay unless you're doing some fancy stuff but from your post I doubt that's the case.

Updates the system will download from Microsoft. Hope you're got a fast internet connection. My wife got a laptop for Xmas and there was 2gigabytes worth of updates to download and install.

 

[feek61]

It's not hard; I've built many. There are plenty of resources if you have a problem but most of the time everything should work once you put it together.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Just make sure you have an operating system ready to install, on a DVD or USB thumb drive. That's the only thing you won't get out of physical assembling everything.

If you want to ensure all your parts are compatible with each other, I cannot recommend PC Part Picker highly enough. You can find great deals on parts and be sure everything will work together. This is particularly essential if you go with an odd form factor--gotta make sure everything fits in the case!

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

^ This. Building your own desktop requires you to install everything yourself.

I fiddle a lot with the BIOS at first, making sure it sees all my drives and that those drives are set up in the boot order I want.

Also, avoid my mistake, when I built my first desktop around 2005 I put in 8GB of RAM, then realized the 32 bit OS didn't recognize that much RAM. I had to reinstall a 64 bit OS.

 

[scotthm]

all I know is how to connect everything together in the case, after that I'm blind.

I'm curious. What prompted you to build a computer rather than purchase a pre-built PC?

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[YellowSubmarine]

Wait, there is another way to get a desktop computer other than assemble it yourself? Why didn't anyone tell me that? So much less cuts on my fingers...

 

[bbjeg]

I always prefer building a PC from scratch then pre-made PCs (and installing a Linux operating system over Windows). Apart from customizing it the way that works best for me, I like to design it to advance with time. Some (I want to say most) PCs are made to be replaced by a whole new tower after it becomes obsolete (looking at you Compaq).

all I know is how to connect everything together in the case, after that I'm blind.

I'm curious. What prompted you to build a computer rather than purchase a pre-built PC?

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Customization. Some people make computers for gaming (focusing on processing speed and graphics and whatnot) while others make it for graphic editing (focusing on RAM).

I like Linux operating systems because of it's customabillity, down to the look and the way things are run. It takes awhile to get everything running perfectly, but you never have to worry about starting programs or background services you never use, the system becoming obsolete, or viruses.

 

[scotthm]

What prompted you to build a computer rather than purchase a pre-built PC?

Customization.

I wasn't asking generally why anyone would want to custom build their own PC (I do so myself), I was asking Into Darkness what prompted him to want to build his own PC. When I see people say things like "I don't even know what the BIOS is" I have to wonder why a Dell (for example) isn't the way to go.

And speaking of custom built PCs, a new Intel 750 Series NVMe SSD should be in my hands on the 15th.

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[YellowSubmarine]

When I see people say things like "I don't even know what the BIOS is" I have to wonder why a Dell (for example) isn't the way to go.

I've been building my own computers for as long as I remember. I used to know what a BIOS is, but as the years went by computer changed and since I don't buy new parts very often I always end up surprised by a lot of things. Now I positively don't know what the BIOS is any more. Hasn't stopped me.

CPUs and CPU coolers are the worst, they always change and are always a pain to learn, though not as much as 486/Pentium coolers were a pain. I always have to read the manual three times before I even attempt to install a CPU and cooler, and when they come with pictures and no text I wish to strangle somebody (Intel - I AM LOOKING AT YOU). Two years after SATA hard drives came along and I bought some, I realized I have no idea how to attach a power supply to that thing. I watched confusedly for a while and went back to the shop to ask. Recently I learned that PCs no longer have a BIOS – the thing has been gone for years, and I didn't even notice. I had to relearn how to boot Linux with this new thing, however it is now called.

But the strangest thing is that when I look at the parts that are being sold, or at the hardware that my machine has support compiled in for, I don't know what most of the things are any more, and I don't even know what to buy and what I need. Most of the time I don't even know what I have.

 

[.:: TSN ::.]

I upgrade my machine so rarely that I basically need to always re-learn everything. All the parts have changed in the mean time.

I've often thought about buying pre-assembled computer. Computer shops do sell pretty good machines. I dont mean big chains or brand-computers, but smaller shops that sell computer parts. They often sell pre-assembled computers that have really well selected parts. But then I compare the price of assembled computer vs just the parts, and price of assembly is often just so much that I can basically buy a better hard drive or little bit more ram with that.

I actually just upgraded my computer case for a first time in 10 years. I've always just changed the insides but kept the case. But now I decided that old one was too old looking so decided to spend some money on that.

I will probably still buy some more RAM on this machine and probably bigger HDD. Might even buy new graphics card when cards that are new now start to be available cheaper.

Motherboard and processor I selected in a way that I can use them for the next 10 years. Dont want to change them too often. Everything else is pretty easy to upgrade.

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BIOS has been phased out, but it has been replaced with UEFI that is basically same thing.

 

[SPCTRE]

When you're done with setting up your PC hardware-wise and have your OS and all drivers up and running, maybe have a look at Ninite.

Also a good idea when you're just doing a fresh OS install in general, saves a lot of time.

 

[Into Darkness]

Thanks everyone, you've all been very helpful. I'll be giving this a go soon.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Just a word of advice if this is your first time building a computer: make sure you keep yourself electrically grounded at all times. I would strongly consider an anti-static wrist strap, but just making sure you're holding onto the case when you're mucking about with the internals is usually sufficient.

It would just be a shame if you shorted out one of your nice new parts with some errant static electricity.

 

[Into Darkness]

Thankyou for the warning.