Method 1: Collect components
1, determine the function of the computer. If you plan to assemble a computer that can do word processing and send and receive emails at home, its requirements will be very different from assembling a high-end gaming computer. The function of your computer depends largely on the components you use. Don't waste money on expensive parts you don't need. If your computer will only be used to perform basic functions, you can use some less powerful but more economical components to save money on your computer. You can also buy second-hand products online to save money.
2. Find the parts you need. No matter what the ultimate function of your computer is, the basic components of every computer are basically the same: the processor-this is the brain of the computer. Now almost all processors are multi-core, which means that they all have multiple processors under one chassis. Compare the specifications of different processors, so that the speed of the processor can meet your needs of running programs. In addition, the availability of power supply and the difficulty of ventilation and cooling should also be considered.
Motherboard-Motherboard is the place where all internal components of the computer are plugged in. The processor you buy will determine what type of motherboard you need. Different processors have different "socket" sizes and can only be used on motherboards that support this socket. The motherboard has two main components: ATX and mATX. ATX motherboard is a standard full-size motherboard. If you want to assemble a typical vertical computer, you can use ATX motherboard. MATX board is smaller than standard ATX motherboard, which is more suitable for portable systems and media computers.
Please ensure that your motherboard supports all other components you want to install. If you plan to install a high-end graphics card, the motherboard will need to be able to support PCI-E. If you want to install a lot of memory, your motherboard will need to be able to accommodate at least 4 memory chips.
RAM-Random Access Memory (RAM), commonly known as memory stick, is the place where the program stores the information being used. If you don't have enough memory, the program will run much slower. The RAM you can buy is determined by the motherboard you choose. The motherboard must support the speed of the RAM you installed. Memory modules should always be installed in pairs. All memory chips in the system should have the same speed, preferably the same model as the manufacturer. For example, if you need 8GB memory modules, you can install two matching 4GB memory modules or four matching 2 GB memory modules.
If you plan to use a memory chip larger than 4GB, you will need to install a 64-bit operating system. The 32-bit operating system does not recognize memory chips exceeding 4GB and will not use them even if they are installed.
Hard disk-The hard disk stores all your data and installed programs. Over the years, storage space has been much cheaper, and you can easily buy several megabytes of memory for a little money. There are three kinds of hard disks suitable for desktop: 7200 rpm, 10000 rpm or solid state hard disk. Solid-state hard disk is the fastest, but the cost is much higher than that of traditional drive hard disk.
Putting your operating system and key programs on a smaller hard disk and then storing all other data on a larger hard disk will make your system load faster.
Graphics card-A special graphics card is a powerful tool to play the latest games, but it is not needed for office computers. Most modern motherboards have integrated graphics cards, so if you just plan to use your computer to browse the web and send and receive emails, you don't need a special graphics card.
Chassis—This is the enclosure that contains the computer components. The size of the chassis will be determined by the number of drives you want to install and the size of the motherboard. The choice of chassis ranges from cheap and practical to expensive and flashy. If you plan to run many high-end components, you will generate more heat output than slower components. Choose cabinets that promote good air circulation, so that more fans can be installed.
Power supply-The power supply in the computer is responsible for supplying power to all components. Some cases are equipped with power supply, but most cases have no power supply, so you are required to install it. The power supply should be powerful enough to power all your components, but it doesn't need to be much higher than you need to avoid waste.
3. Investigate every part you plan to buy. You can read magazines and online consumer review websites to get more detailed information. Remember, this is one of the most important steps, because everything depends on your hardware. Online magazines and consumer review websites have many shopping guides and reviews. For example: the computer world
Computer magazine
Computer enthusiast
Guide to computer assembly
Method 2: Start the assembly
1, open the chassis. Some metal edges inside the chassis are not polished, and in some cases they will be very sharp, so it is best to wear gloves or take hand protection measures to avoid scratching your hands.
2. Install the power supply. Some cases have power supply, others have no power supply, so it is necessary to purchase and install power supply separately. Ensure that the power box is installed in the right direction and the outlet of the power fan is not blocked. Please make sure that your power supply is powerful enough to handle all components. This is especially important in high-end gaming computers, because special graphics cards consume a lot of power.
3. Grounding connection. Anti-static wrist cable is used to prevent electrostatic discharge (ESD), which is a fatal threat to computer electronic components. If you can't find the anti-static wrist strap, you can plug the computer's grounding power box into the socket (but don't open it), and always put your hand on the grounding power box whenever you touch any components sensitive to electrostatic discharge.
Method 3: Install the motherboard.
1. Take the motherboard out of the package. Put it on the box. Don't put it in an antistatic bag, because it is conductive outside. Plug all kinds of components into the motherboard first, and then put them into the chassis, because the motherboard is easy to reach outside the chassis.
2. Remove the processor from the package. Observe the missing pins in the processor and match them with the sockets on the motherboard. On most processors, there will be a small golden arrow in the corner, which can be used to aim at the installation position of the processor.
3. Insert the processor into the motherboard. Open the socket of CPU and insert the processor carefully (not too hard). If the processor can't slide into the slot by itself, or it feels like it has to be pushed to get in, it is probably misplaced. Close the socket cover to ensure that the CPU is fixed in place. Some processor sockets have small wrenches, while others have complicated mechanisms to open and close the sockets.
4. Apply a good layer of thermal paste on the CPU. Use a thermal conductive paste no bigger than peas and apply it evenly and thinly on the whole surface of the processor. Applying too much thermal paste will slow down the speed of thermal conduction and make it more difficult for CPU to cool down quickly. Some processors have their own heat sinks without thermal paste, because the heat sinks have been coated with thermal paste in the factory before installation. Before applying thermal paste to the processor, check whether there is thermal paste on the bottom of the radiator.
5. Connect the radiator. Radiators produced by different manufacturers are different. Please read the instructions before installation. Most stacked heat sinks are directly connected to the processor and fixed to the motherboard. The radiator in the retail market may have a card holder, so it should be fixed under the motherboard first. Please refer to the description of your radiator for accurate information.
6. Install the memory module (RAM). Insert the memory module into the corresponding slot by opening the latch and pushing it into place until the small handle can lock it in place. Note that the memory stick and the memory stick slot are connected by a key control line, so they will be very consistent. When pushing the memory module into the slot, the forces on both sides of the memory module should be balanced. If the memory slots have two colors, this may indicate that if you are not going to use all the memory slots, these are the priority slots. Please make sure that you have installed the memory module in the corresponding slot. Please check your motherboard documentation to ensure that the memory module you installed is in the correct location.
7. Remove the entrance/exit tailgate from the chassis. Your motherboard should have its own backplane. The backplane of the chassis is unlikely to fit your motherboard. It may take some force to remove the existing chassis tailgate. Sometimes the tailgate is fixed on the chassis with screws, but in most cases it is only fixed by friction. Press the bracket from the back of the chassis and push out the tailgate.
8. Tear off all labels covering I/O components on the backplane of the motherboard. Push the new tailgate into the rear of the chassis. Make sure that the installation direction is correct.
9. Install the bracket in the correct position. Almost all boxes include a small bag of accessories, including a bracket. The bracket can hang the motherboard in the chassis, and the screws can be fixed through the bracket. There may be more fixing holes in the chassis than you need to support the motherboard. The number of stops required will be determined by the number of shielding holes on the motherboard. Try to find the motherboard and see where the screws can be drilled into the bracket.
10, fix the motherboard. After installing the bracket, put the motherboard into the chassis and push it to the I/O tailgate. All rear ports shall fit the I/O holes on the tailgate. Use the provided screws to firmly install the motherboard to the bracket through the shielding screw holes on the motherboard.
1 1. Insert the chassis connector. These connectors are located on the motherboard near the front of the chassis. The order of these connections will depend on which is the simplest. Please make sure that you have connected the USB port, power and reset switch, LED power and hard disk indicator, and audio cable (HDAudio or AC97). The documentation attached to the motherboard will show where these connections should be plugged into the motherboard. There is usually only one way to plug these connectors into the motherboard. Don't barge in
Method 4: Install the video card
1. Remove the cover strip covering the PCI-E slot on the backplane. Almost all modern graphics cards use PCI-E. The installation of some graphics cards requires you to remove two covers instead of one. You may need to poke these cover strips from the outside of the chassis.
2. Insert the graphics card. You may need to insert a small piece of white card into the slot to insert the graphics card. This small piece is used to help lock the position of graphics cards (especially bulky high-end cards). Gently and evenly apply force until the whole graphics card is in place correctly and the backplane is arranged neatly.
3. Fix the graphics card. After inserting the graphics card, fix it to the back panel of the chassis with screws. If the graphics card is not fastened, it may be damaged after long-term use.
4. Install other PCI cards. If you want to add any other PCI card, such as a dedicated sound card, the installation process is the same as that of a graphics card.
Method 5: Add a drive
1. Remove the cover on the front panel of the chassis where you want to insert the drive. Most chassis have a cover on the front panel to protect the drive bay. Remove the cover on the front panel where the optical drive is to be installed. When installing the hard disk, it is not necessary to remove any panel cover.
2. Insert the optical drive from the front of the chassis. Almost all cases are equipped with grids, which can securely and firmly fix the hard disk. When the drive is installed in place and the front is flush with the front panel of the computer case, tighten the screws on both sides of the drive.
3. Install the hard disk. Slide the hard drive into the corresponding 3.5-inch compartment in the chassis. Some boxes have movable supports. You can install the hard disk on the movable bracket first, and then slide it into the appropriate position of the chassis. After inserting the driver into the grille, tighten the screws on both sides.
4. Connect the SATA cable. All modern drives use SATA cables to connect the drives to the motherboard. Connect the cable to the SATA port on the drive, and then connect the other end to the SATA port on the motherboard. Hard disk and optical disk drive use the same cable. For troubleshooting, connect the hard disk to the first SATA port on the motherboard, and then connect other drives to subsequent SATA ports. Avoid inserting drives into SATA ports at will.
Both ends of SATA cable have the same connector. You can install the cable in any direction.
Method 6: Computer wiring
1. Connect the power supply to the motherboard. The most modern motherboards have a 24-pin connector and a 6-pin or 8-pin connector. These all need to be connected to make your motherboard work. The power cord can only be inserted into the slot designed for it. Push the connector in until the latch clicks. The 24-pin connector is the most powerful connector.
2. Connect the power cord to the video card. If you have a dedicated video card, it probably needs to be connected. Some need one connector, while others need two. This port is usually located at the top of the video card.
3. Connect the power cord to the frequency converter. All drives need to be powered by SATA power connectors. These power connectors are the same for optical drives and hard disks.
4. Adjust the line layout. One of the keys to keep good air circulation in the computer case is not to let the wires wind into a ball to hinder air circulation. However, it is not easy to straighten out the layout of all kinds of wires and cables in the chassis, especially the small desktop chassis. Wires and cables can be tied together with clips and placed in unused drive bays. Make sure that the cable does not interfere with the airflow of the fan blower.
Method 7: Install more fans.
1. Connect the chassis fan. Almost all cases are equipped with one or two fans. These fans need to be connected to the motherboard to work properly.
2. Install a new fan. If your assembled computer runs a lot of high-end components, it may need extra cooling. 120mm fans are usually very quiet, which can greatly increase the airflow in the computer.
3. Optimize the fan installation procedure. The front and top fans are used to suck in air, while the side and rear fans are used to exhaust air. This will keep good cold air flow on the surface of the motherboard. By checking the top of the fan frame, you can see which direction the wind is blowing. Almost all fans are printed with small arrows to indicate which direction the wind blows.
Method 8: Start the computer.
1. Close the back cover of the chassis. It is strongly recommended that you do not run the computer with the chassis open. The chassis is designed to generate maximum airflow inside, and it cannot generate effective airflow when the chassis is opened. Please make sure that all parts are tightened. In most cases, thumbscrews are used to tighten the chassis, so there is no need for tools to open and close the chassis.
Plug in your computer. Connect the monitor to the computer through the port on the back of the video card or motherboard. Connect the keyboard and mouse to the USB port on the front or back of the computer. Please connect all external devices before setting up the computer operating system.
3. Turn on the computer. At this stage, you can't tell whether the computer has been installed successfully, because you haven't installed the operating system yet. But you can check whether all the fans are working properly and whether the computer has passed the power-on self-test (POST).
4. Use the memory test software MemTest86+ to test your computer memory. The test software program can be downloaded for free, and can be started from a CD or USB drive without installing an operating system. This allows you to test the memory module before installing the operating system. Compared with most computer components, the failure rate of memory chips is much higher, especially when they are bought cheaply. So it is wise to test the memory chips first. You may need to set your computer to boot from CD or USB first, rather than from the hard disk. When you start your computer for the first time, go to BIOS settings and then navigate to the startup menu. Select the drive to start.
5. Install your operating system. The computer used at home can be installed with Windows 8 operating system or Linux operating system. Windows operating system costs money, but it is compatible with almost all programs and hardware, and it is worth it. Linux operating system is a free operating system created and supported by community developers, but it can't run many programs designed for Windows operating system. Some hardware doesn't work properly either.
6. Find and update the driver. After installing the operating system, you need to install the driver. Almost all the hardware you buy has a CD, which contains the driver software needed for the hardware to work. Modern versions of Windows and Linux automatically install most drivers when they connect to the Internet.
Tip You can tie wires and cables together with clips, and then straighten them, so as not to hinder the air circulation in the cabinet. If possible, avoid using IDE components, such as hard disk drives and optical disk drives, because the standard broadband cables they use will hinder the air flow in the chassis.
If you don't understand anything, you can ask friends who are familiar with assembling computers for help. At least you can ask them what they think of the components you are going to buy.
If you put the computer system together, but it doesn't work, you can remove all other components except the power supply, motherboard, memory stick and processor cooler (if you have a separate graphics card). Check the BIOS startup screen to ensure that the system works normally. Turn it off, then plug in the hard disk to verify that the system works normally. Turn off the computer, then plug in the CD-ROM drive to confirm that the computer system can work normally. Shut down and continue to plug in each other's peripherals one by one until all the components are connected to the computer system and work normally. This method is to connect with the least number of components, power up the test, and then add other components one by one, so that we can know which component is out of order.
If you purchased the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) version of Microsoft Windows and you have a self-adhesive label for licensing, you may need to paste it on the side of your computer so that you can set up Windows to get data in the future.
Some power supplies have a built-in 1 15/230V converter. If you are in the United States, use the 1 15V setting, otherwise use 230V.
Each power cord can only be installed in the right direction, but it still needs to be plugged in hard. If you use the new 8-pin EPS 12V power connector and PCI Express 8-pin connector, do not forcibly plug in the power cord.
When considering how to install a computer, don't leave the hardware on the floor for a few days, because this may lead to electrostatic discharge, which may damage or destroy computer components (only a voltage of about 10 volts can destroy some computer components). When not connected to the motherboard and chassis, all components should be placed in anti-static bags. Another method is to put the component on the surface of non-conductive material, such as wood, glass table or desk.
Warning Do not insert the cable connection forcibly. Fortunately, the cable behind the computer can only be plugged into the expected connector. Except coaxial cable and some laptop power connections, all cables can only be plugged in when the connector is in the correct direction. For example, both digital video interface (DVI) and video graphics array (VGA) video cables have trapezoidal connectors instead of rectangles.
Do not touch the resistor on the processor or its windows socket.
Please check all connections carefully before starting the computer for the first time. Although a connector can only be installed in one direction in most cases, the position difference in some different directions is very subtle. With a little force, the connector may be inserted in the opposite direction of 180 degrees. This is especially true for dual in-line memory modules (DIMMs) accessing memory (randomly), because they will make the assembler feel that they are inserted in the right direction, but in fact they are not inserted correctly. The memory of this DIMM slot is installed incorrectly, which will lead to the short circuit of the system memory and the failure of the memory bar PCB, which can not be used. This can be avoided by strictly applying the so-called "queuing slot", that is, the modern RAM DIMM module, so that it is more and more obvious for computer assemblers to distinguish whether it is installed correctly.
Do not use excessive force when inserting any component into a slot or socket. Newer hardware components may have narrower tolerances, but they can still be inserted with less force. It may take a little force to insert the memory module and several other components. Before installing the memory modules, make sure that they match the grooves by comparing the gaps on the memory modules.
When inserting CPU and PATA(IDE) devices, the action should be gentle. If you bend the stitch, straighten it with tweezers or needle-nosed pliers. If you damage the pins on the CPU or the socket on the CPU, the hardware will not work properly. If you break a pin on the IDE connector, there is a 7/40 chance to break the ground pin, which may not have an important impact on the function of the device.
The metal plate of the computer case has a sharp edge, so be careful when working. It's easy to cut yourself, especially if the chassis is small.
Keep the grounding circuit connected when assembling the computer. This can be achieved by plugging the computer power supply unit (PSU) into an available main power outlet using a cable that meets the recommended current rating. This cable should actually be a kettle cable attached to the computer. Make sure that the power supply is turned off and the power outlet is available. This is to ensure that the assembly progress of your computer has nothing to do with the various electronic components in the computers you want to connect together. In fact, the power socket is in the closed position and can still be grounded. These are just two other "live" terminals. When their circuits are disconnected, no power is transmitted to the above equipment. In fact, this is a built-in safety measure, which is suitable for all power socket circuit switches.
If you have any doubts about computer assembly, don't rush to do it. You can ask others how to do it, or ask professionals to do it for you. Another option is to seek advice from the manuals of the various components of your assembled computer. Usually, if you don't include these manuals-or maybe the components you use to build a computer system are second-hand, you can consult the manufacturer and try to get the support of the website pages of the necessary teaching documents.
Install components when avoiding electrostatic discharge. Before handling the components, please wear an electrostatic wrist strap or touch the metal part of the chassis frequently to ground the components. Read the article about grounding yourself to prevent static electricity from damaging computer equipment and find out.