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Introduction

PC building is easy! The first-timer fear is to be expected, you're not alone! This guide will briefly explain how to assemble your PC components once you've ordered and received them. Don't worry about difficulty! If you take your time and don't press the circles into the square slots (and vice versa), you'll have it up and running in no time!

External Resources

It's recommended that you focus on these external resources for PC assembly assistance, but this page also contains a nice step-by-step guide.

Step 1 - Prepare

Get all your parts near you, opening all of your boxes will be a tad bit messy, so be prepared for that too, let's check our needed and optional parts.

1-Motherboard

We can call the motherboard or MoBo as builders would like to call it as the spine of the PC, without it, your PC won't turn on, as a case with a connector to the power button would be connected to the motherboard, not the power supply. Asus, AsRock, MSI and Gigabyte are notable manufacturers of motherboards. The most common chipset is the Z87, as it provides overclockability.

2-CPU or Central Procesor Unit

So far, only two are manufacturing CPUs, they are AMD and Intel, AMD is the most notable for having more powerful multi-core performance, while Intel can provide the most powerful single core performance, Intel is the most used CPU for overkill builds. The alternative for these are APUs, or accelerated Processor unit, which are exclusive to AMD, APUs are combined with a much stronger integrated graphics processor unit, most likely an HD5770.

3-Memory or RAM

The minimum of RAM today is 8GB, or at least for gaming. These do not have much effect on performance if you go above 8GB, unless you use an APU, these will have greater notice of difference. The notable manufacturers are G.Skill, Kingston, Corsair and A-Data

4-Storage

The standard storage is the Hard Drive, but now, SSDs, or Solid State Drives are going to replace them as a boot drive, since it is faster for about 4 times, the most common HDD speed is 7200RPM and the most common space is 1TB, which is becoming a standard. The notable manufacturers of HDDs are Western Digital, Seagate, and Toshiba. The most common space for SSDs, are 120GB, as Operating systems do not need much space.

5-Video Card

Aaahhh, the Master Race's favorite PC part, the GPU or the Graphics processing unit, these can be only made by either AMD or Nvidia, but the manufacturers of GPUs are a lot, namely the Big Four, or most known as Asus, Gigabyte, EVGA and MSI. The most popular models, are the GTX 780/Ti, HD 7990 and R9 290X, these are the big boys of the group, and they cost much. You need to have a good CPU in order to not bottleneck GPUs.

6-Case or Chassis

This is probably going to be around $70-$150, They can have as much features, such as USB 3.0, a power button, a reset button and probably audio jacks. Make sure it's compatible with your parts. Most common manufacturers are Rosewill, Cooler Master, Corsair and Antec.

7- Power Supply

Do not cheap out on this, if you do, your PC will be a pile of ash soon, this is the 2Nd to the most important part, as this is needed to turn the PC on. The most notable manufacturers are Corsair, Seasonic, Cooler Master, Thermaltake and Antec.

8- Optical Drive, you gonna need this for installing the Windows by CD, that's what i'll cover.

OPTIONALS:

1: Cooling Materials

This can be either air cooling or liquid or water, with water being the most expensive and most efficient cooling system, these are installed by a user guide, there are multiple ways, but I can't enlist them all.

2: LEDs

To be used for your PC to look cool in the dark, although I have no knowledge for this.

Step 2: Test outside the case.

This is important because you'll never know if it works or not, if a part arrived DOA or not. Install the CPU, the RAM and the. Power Supply, connect it to your monitor and POST.

Step 3: Install the Power Supply

Slide it under the metal blade thingy in the case, then screw them in with the screws that came in with the power supply, not much caution is needed here.

Step 4: Install CPU and Cooler on motherboard.

Insert the CPU on the socket, you need to be very careful with this, as you can bend the pins. Again, the cooler differs from installation, so I won't cover it. Open the socket lock by pushing down, and then move it side wards, it should open Insert it straight down, not diagonally,and put the lock back on the latch, the plastic cover should pop out, and scare you a bit.

Step 5: Insert Storage

HDD: Install HDD in the 3.5" Bay, and connect the SATA to the motherboard and the power connector.

SSD: Same for HDD, except it is installed in the 2.5" bay.

Step 6: Install Motherboard + CPU and Cooler

Install first the I/O shield that came with your motherboard, and then put the motherboard in and install the stand-offs like you would a normal screw, and make the motherboard fit in both the I/O and the stand-offs in the same time, sounds hard, right? No it's not.

Step 7: Install RAM

Read the text that says DDR3-1/2/3/4, you would know, to install it, open the locks and push the ddr3 ram down straight, it locks itself when the ram is on.

Step 8: Install GPU

My personal favorite part, unlock the lock then unscrew the expansion slot to take them off, and install it into the PCI-E, and lock it again.

Step 9: Connect Power Supply cables and other motherboard cables.

This one's easy, you just need to read which connector is for which inlet.

Step 10 - Operating System Installation

First of all, Insert your boot drive (whether it be DVD or USB) just insert them to the right one, where it's supposed to be. Then, follow the instructions, and you should be done! After this, install all of the drivers for each part. And you're done!

This is actually pretty fun!