Jesse+K

=So I built a computer.... (By Jesse Kardon)= toc

I didn't want a wimpy Mac.
You pay a lot of money for a Mac, that is not very powerful, or able to run a lot of programs. I figured I could build a computer 3 times as powerful for half the price.

I did research on what to buy
Mostly at new egg I ordered all the hardware from newegg.com





All the parts are here; let's start the build!


Step one:Install the ram into the mother board

Opening the motherboard and ram:

Time to put the ram in:

Step two: Install the CPU

Now to put in the heat sink

Step three: Installing the power supply (this is going to be cut up into several parts, as you plug things in as you go)



Step four: Install the drives into the case (hard drive and optical drive)



Step five: Put the mother board into the case. This is a big one. I was very nervous trying to fit an extremely fragile and expensive board into a case; one slip and it's $600 down the drain. The following are pictures of various wires being plugged in. These cables include the sata, sound, and others. These are all important cables that are either for main power, the optical drive, the hard drive, or other components.



Step six: Install Graphics card (video card) This is last physical step besides plugging it into the wall, but also one of the most important.

Finishing up
Now we are going to un-box and plug in the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and install the operating system by booting to the built in BIOS that came with the motherboard. For this time, we are going to use linux until I can get a copy of windows.



Reflection
When I first came up with the idea for a gaming computer, my goal was to make my own powerful PC and spend less than $1000 doing it. I have been using a Mac for the past couple years, and I still do, but this PC was going to be twice as powerful, and half the price. And it almost literally is. I definitely met my goal and learned a lot doing so. I learned more than I could have imagined about computer hardware, architecture, and design. This is a huge plus considering this is the type of field I want to study in college.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my new computer!