Continuing from the previous article, “Building Your Own Computer: Part 1,”

Once you have chosen and bought all the parts to you computer, you should have: case, motherboard, CPU, RAM, graphics card, power supply, hard drive, read/write drive. Remember, you should not start building your computer without first having all these parts.

Here are starting tips:

• No food or water near the place you are building.
• A wide open and bright place is best.
• If something doesn’t fit, don’t force it.
• Remember to ask for help if something seems wrong. Professionals at your local tech store are good enough.

Step 1

Organize all your parts and ‘unbox’ them. Double check that you have all the parts you need – it is the worse thing to start building a computer and realize you forgot to buy part. You would then have to go
back to building the rest of the computer after that.

Step 2

Take out your case and ground yourself. This removes the static electricity in your body. Static electricity could potentially fry any chip. Ground yourself by touching the metal chassis of the case when it is lying on the ground.

Step 3

Take out your motherboard and CPU. Align the CPU to the pins on the CPU slot on the motherboard, and gently push the CPU in applying even pressure to the entire surface area. Attach the heat sink and fan on top of the motherboard using the latch or hook oh the fan. Plug the fan into the motherboard for
power, the plug should be right beneath the CPU slot, and is jutting out.

Step 4

Take out your RAM. Depending on your motherboard, the RAM slots should be located on the right of the CPU slot. There is a notch on the bottom of the RAM that should correspond to that on the CPU slot. On either side of the RAM slot should be a hinge. Push these down first. Then take your RAM and push that into the slot. The hinges should move upward and secure the RAM module into place. It is securely fastened when you hear a light click. Do this for all the RAM modules you have.

Step 5

Open the case so that the inside is facing up. Take the screws with a hole in the middle – these come along with the case. These screws act as legs for the motherboard and lift it up off the case allowing better ventilation. Screw these into the holes on the case in the same shape as the holes on your motherboard. Once done, your motherboard should fit onto these legs without any problem.

Step 6

Using the longest screws you have, screw your motherboard on to the legs. Make sure that the back panels of the motherboard can be seen from the outside of the cash and nothing in interfering with them.

Continued in the next article, “Building Your Own Computer: Part 3.”

• Building Your Own Computer: Part 3
• Building Your Own Computer: Part 1
• Determining Your Computer Specifications