How To Build A PC: A Visual Guide

Welcome to my biggest tutorial yet! To start off, I've been building PCs since the 1990s. It's been a fun little hobby, and its rewards are apparent when you see that your end result will be a PC that is drastically LESS expensive and MORE powerful than the highest caliber pre-built PC, hands down!

Here, we'll go through all of the steps involved in building your own PC, at home, with your own two hands. In July 2008, my 5 year old PC started getting a CPU error. I immediately knew it was the ultimate excuse to build a new PC, and I cataloged and took pictures of each step of the process, for your information!

All first-timers ask this question. Maybe they're scared of buying all of those parts and having something go wrong. Or, perhaps they would rather "play it safe," take the easy route, and buy a pre-built Dell or HP. Without going into too much dialogue, here are a few simple facts:

• You'll save a LOT of money by building your own PC. It's so true, and I can't say it enough. If you're looking to build the dream PC, it doesn't get more cost-efficient than buying the parts and putting it together yourself. Dell's top-of-the-line XPS system retails at over $4100. My system topped off at almost exactly $2,100 less (and that's WITH a 21" LCD screen and a top-of-the-line scanner!)


• Home built PCs are much, MUCH more powerful than pre-built systems. If you've chosen the right parts, your new PC will blow away any of those retail boxes, any day, hands-down, NO argument! Remember, you're choosing quality parts from the inside out. "Bargain bin" components are frequently seen elsewhere!


• When you build your own PC, there are no restrictions! You're starting off with a clean slate - a formatted hard drive, parts that are all under their own warranties, and no restrictions if you tamper with your own system (in other words, you'll never lose your warranty, as you would if you had tampered with your pre-built system!) Oh, and you won't have to suffer through all of the Crapware that pre-built systems have pre-installed on them, that have clogged up your registry.

On to the next step, Selecting the Right PC Parts >>