Put Together a Custom PC

Despite the wide selection and low prices of name-brand PCs, there are good reasons to consider the build-it-yourself route for your next machine. An off-the-shelf system, at any price, is essentially a compromise. It may meet your current computing needs, but if your requirements change and you want to upgrade it later, you may run into problems.

Don't expect your custom PC to save you big bucks over an off-the-shelf purchase. Building your own PC lets you match your system to your needs and your budget, giving you the most for your money. Do you need oodles of hard-drive space for your digital photos or video? Pop in one (or more) ultrahigh-capacity drives. Into high-end audio? Go for the gold with a cutting-edge sound card.

Home-built PCs can be a lot of work, but in the end you'll have a no-compromise system that's yours alone. The downside? You are your own help desk.

For this month's Step-By-Step, we put together a relatively high-end system, utilizing many of the latest components. Our system is just an example of one approach that you can take.

Our purpose here isn't to show you in excruciating detail how to build the system but rather to give you some tips on choosing the parts and pieces and avoiding problems when you put it all together. To read more-detailed PC assembly instructions, see "Build Your Own PC." You will also need to choose your display, a printer, and other components. For suggestions, see our Top 100 charts and read about the Best Buys.

The Top Down

Benefits: Get a custom PC tuned to your needs and wallet.

Cost: As low as $700 to $800 for a budget system; $5000-plus for a no-holds-barred, high-end system

Tools required: Phillips screwdrivers, needle-nose pliers, small flashlight, antistatic wrist strap (recommended)

Expertise: Intermediate to advanced

The PC World Do-It-Yourself System

1. Case and power supply

Remove the case's side, front, and top panels to give yourself room to work. Inside the case, you should find a box or an envelope containing critical parts and pieces for the assembly, such as hexagonal brass standoffs and screws for mounting the motherboard, drives, and other hardware. You'll also see the AC power cable and mounting brackets for drives and other peripherals. Separate the parts and read the instructions closely.

Be especially careful to use the correct screws when mounting components. Cases come with two types of screws: fine thread (for mounting the motherboard to the case and attaching floppy disk and optical drives) and coarse thread (for attaching hard drives and add-in boards). Don't force the mounting screws; if they don't go in smoothly, then you are using the wrong size.

Most cases come with the power supply preinstalled. If yours is separate, see "Keep It Powered, Keep It Cool" for tips.

2. Motherboard

Before you install the motherboard, remove the case's generic mounting plate, where the motherboard's rear connections appear, and replace it with the custom plate that comes packaged with the motherboard. Make sure there's a brass standoff on the case for all the mounting holes on the motherboard. Be very careful not to overtighten the screws that mount the motherboard to the case--just "snug them up."

Among the many connectors on the motherboard, the one for power is crucial. Motherboards that use AMD processors have a single, rectangular power connector. Motherboards that use the Pentium 4 have an additional, small, square power connector.

You'll also need to connect the thin cables from the front panel of the case to a line of pins on the motherboard. The most important connector is for the power switch. You'll also hook up cables for the reset switch, hard-disk activity light, power LED, and case speaker.

Go to "Upgrade Your System With a Motherboard Swap" for more on installing motherboards.

3. Processor

Be extremely careful when mounting the CPU into the motherboard socket. Don't try to force it, and don't use your bare finger to hold the processor as you push down the locking lever, since skin oils can affect CPU cooling; use a glove or a piece of paper. As for mounting the CPU cooling fan (included with most CPUs), don't twist or move the fan once it contacts the processor surface. Double-check to make sure that the heat sink and the fan are securely attached to the CPU bracket--if they aren't, the delicate CPU can destroy itself in seconds when you move a tower case from its side to vertical. Finally, don't forget to attach the fan power cable to the appropriate connector on the motherboard.

4. Memory

When installing RAM modules, have plenty of light. Insert the modules into the thin, bracketed memory slots, and then press them down firmly. You'll know they're correctly inserted when the brackets on each side of the RAM modules click into place. If you're not filling every slot, make sure that you place the modules into the correct ones; sometimes if there's no module in the first slot, your computer won't boot.

See "Bulk Up Your PC's RAM" for more on installing memory.

5. Graphics card

An AGP graphics card that isn't completely seated in its motherboard slot is a surprisingly common cause of computer problems. Press the card down firmly when you insert it. Note, too, that some of the latest-generation graphics cards--like the Radeon 9700 Pro that we used--require their own connector from the power supply. Graphics drivers are also updated regularly, so be sure to get the latest from the maker's Web site.

See "Upgrade Your PC's Graphics Performance" for more on installing graphics cards.

6. Sound

Audio integrated onto the motherboard has come a very long way from the tinny on-board sound of just a couple years ago. But to get the best quality, it's essential that you obtain the latest drivers from the Web site of the motherboard maker. More-advanced sound systems such as the one we used include digital inputs and outputs, which normally require an additional connection panel that fits into one of the rear slots in the PC case. Hook up the I/O panel connector to the appropriate motherboard header. The operating system installation will usually include basic sound support for the on-board audio, but to access all the features, you'll need to install the drivers after you've set up the operating system.

Note that if you opt to add a sound card to a motherboard that already has built-in sound support, you'll need to disable the built-in sound using a jumper or a setting in the motherboard BIOS.

Go to "Revamp Your PC's Sound System" for more on installing sound cards.

7. Networking

These days almost all motherboards include a network adapter. It's a wise design choice, since most users will require one for a broadband Internet connection or a SOHO network.

Most of the time, the OS you're installing will recognize the adapter and automatically add the drivers. Sometimes it won't, in which case you'll need to install the drivers manually afterward. If you're using Windows XP, not having a network connection may prevent you from running Product Activation during the installation; you'll have to handle activation after you install the network drivers.

8. Floppy disk drive

You can build your PC without including a standard 3.5-inch floppy drive, but having one can be invaluable if you need to boot from a floppy disk to run emergency repair utilities when your PC's hard drive has problems.

Beware: It's easy to connect the ribbon cable that runs from the floppy drive to the motherboard backward. You know you've done it wrong if the floppy drive light stays on continuously when the power is on. If you encounter problems, power off your PC, disconnect one end of the cable, turn that end over, and reconnect it.

9. Hard drives

Don't skimp on hard drives--no matter what type of system you're putting together. The speed at which drives read and write data can be a major bottleneck on overall performance. Many noticeably faster 7200-rpm drives don't cost much more than 5400-rpm drives.

Make sure that the main drive is jumpered as the "master" and connected to the first IDE channel on the motherboard.

If your motherboard has RAID capabilities (like the Soyo we used), you can create a RAID 0 array. Known as "striping," this setup can combine two to four drives into a single, huge virtual drive that's much faster than a lone drive. Other RAID options create redundant drives with automatic backup.

Initial setup of the RAID array can be tricky, but it's far from rocket science. Read the instructions on RAID in your motherboard manual very carefully. You'll usually need to create a floppy disk with the RAID drivers that you install at the beginning of the Windows XP installation.

10. Optical drive

For the best results, jumper the optical drive as the master and install it on the second IDE channel of the motherboard to keep it separate from your hard drives.

11. Modem

If you're still tied to a dial-up Internet connection, a modem that supports the new V.92 standard is a wise investment. More and more Internet service providers are supporting it. V.92 offers faster connection times and slightly better transfer rates than the old V.90 standard. And if you have call waiting, a V.92 modem allows you to put your Internet session on "hold" briefly while you answer a phone call. Check with your ISP about V.92 support.

Even if you're blessed with a broadband (cable or DSL) Internet connection, having a backup modem and dial-up ISP account for the times the broadband connection goes down is not a bad idea.

12. FireWire

Having a FireWire adapter isn't necessary for connecting high-speed peripherals, since most motherboards now come standard with USB 2.0, which offers about the same speed as FireWire. But FireWire remains the best way to connect a digital video camcorder so you can download movies from it to the computer for editing.

There aren't any special tricks involved in installing a FireWire card. Just plug it into a free PCI slot and fasten it down with a screw. FireWire drivers are standard and included in the operating system; Windows XP will detect the card and install the needed driver automatically.

Tools and Troubleshooting

Once you have the components, here's what you'll need before you get your hands into the hardware:

• a large, clean, well-lit workspace,
• several containers for screws and other small parts (empty coffee cups will do),
• large and small nonmagnetic Phillips-head screwdrivers,
• needle-nose pliers for removing and inserting motherboard and drive jumpers,
• a small, nonmetallic flashlight for peering into the dark recesses of the case,
• an antistatic wrist strap, available at your local electronics store,
• plenty of time (allow at least a full day),
• a source of help and advice--if you have a computer-savvy friend, include them in the fun.

Make a list of the components that will require drivers or other special software (such as the motherboard, graphics card, modem, and optical drive). Go to the Web sites of the respective component manufacturers and download the latest software for each item. If possible, place all of these drivers and programs on a CD-R so that you won't have to continually swap CDs when you're installing drivers. Check if your motherboard has a BIOS upgrade, which can be critical for compatibility with the latest processors and maximum performance.

If you run into problems: Dead-on-arrival components are rare these days, though not unheard of. If you have difficulties, the most likely cause is that you've hooked something up incorrectly. If everything's installed properly, the next step is to isolate the bad component by unplugging add-in cards and disconnecting other components one at a time until the problem goes away.

Stan Miastkowski is a PC World contributing editor. Contact him at stan_miastkowski@pcworld.com. Click here to view past Step-By-Step columns.