Instead of buying a preconfigured computer, it is becoming increasingly popular to build one. The construction of a computer is not as difficult of a task as once thought. Ricky, a college student, has the desire to take on the process of building his own computer. The decision of what to have in his PC and what type of hardware to get is the first thing he begins figuring out. After creating a plan, he can begin the assembly process. To prevent the loss of parts due to static electricity, it is best to work on a surface that is non-metallic (Otero Website). Before starting this project, Ricky makes sure that all the mandatory parts are present. He must have a motherboard, a hard drive, a computer case, a power supply, CPU (central processing unit) with a heat sink, ram, drives, an OS (operating system) and video card (Otero).
The fist step in this process is to get the computer case and the motherboard. When purchasing a case, he picks one that comes with the power supply preinstalled. Then all he has to do is prep the case and get it ready for the insertion of the motherboard. After this is complete, he can continue with the system build. He starts by removing all the plastic and metal panels, slots, and additional openings as needed. Using needle nose pliers, he removes any metal pieces from the case. After all the additional case pieces are removed, he marks the case on the inside where he will install the mounting riser pins. He installs the riser mounting screws by turning them to the right. Before putting the motherboard inside of the case, he installs the CPU, cooling fan (heat sink) and memory into the motherboard. Then he gently places the board inside the case, making sure the holes lineup, so he can put the screws through. Next, he secures the motherboard by screwing in the mounting screws provided with the case.
The second step is to install the drives, the peripheral cards, and the wiring.