first computer construction

elobire

elobire

Member
i want to make my first computer, it doesnt need to do anything special, nor will i use it (got a pretty nice one anyway), bu i dont know what i need.
last night i got a bit over excited on ebay and got this for £15 (£5 p&p):
ASUS A7V-VM Motheboard
Motherboard Back Plate
AMD 1600 Processor - 462 pin
PC133 Hynix SDRAM


i read some articles on the net, and know that i need a hard drive, cd drive, and memory card, sound card(is this necessary?),a graphics card and the obvious monitor ect (got them already)
is this right? and is their anything that isnt vitally important till i decide to use the computer?

also where can i get the components i need? i live in the UK
also i dont really want to spend more than £50 on this, is that a reasonable price or is it too little?

thanks,-Elobire
 
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elobire said:
also i dont really want to spend more than £50 on this, is that a reasonable price or is it too little?
Click to expand...

I believe that's an outrageously low price my friend. I would estimate that in euros, you would have to pay around 300-450 to buy separate components and create a normal (as defined by current market standards) desktop computer to suit your needs. That extra 20 euros could easily increase capabilities so I suggest you start searching. Begin from the processor, find a graphics card if you like and then suit your mother board to your needs.
 
ok

ok, but i dont want to use it for much more than browsing as i have a computer i would consider to be better than the average pc.
i have realised tho that my budget is low,il have a look around before i buy anything else.
 
GreekIdiot said:
Simply buy a laptop then at a price around 400. :)
Click to expand...

at $400 or £400?
im 15 and have no job atm so either way i cant afford it, anyway i already have a laprtop worth £320, and a £700 pc, i only want to make this pc so i can gain more knowledge of computers.
 
Is this the board?

c00472069.jpg


How much memory did you get with it?

This board is an all-in-one design and if the pic is right, it came out of an HP Pavillion.

If it is the correct board then all you would need is Case, PS, HDD, and CD-ROM and you would be go to go.

Link to the MB specs: A7V-VM

elobire said:
i want to make my first computer, it doesnt need to do anything special, nor will i use it (got a pretty nice one anyway), bu i dont know what i need.
last night i got a bit over excited on ebay and got this for £15 (£5 p&p):
ASUS A7V-VM Motheboard
Motherboard Back Plate
AMD 1600 Processor - 462 pin
PC133 Hynix SDRAM


i read some articles on the net, and know that i need a hard drive, cd drive, and memory card, sound card(is this necessary?),a graphics card and the obvious monitor ect (got them already)
is this right? and is their anything that isnt vitally important till i decide to use the computer?

also where can i get the components i need? i live in the UK
also i dont really want to spend more than £50 on this, is that a reasonable price or is it too little?

thanks,-Elobire
Click to expand...
 
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Ok, honestly if I were you, and I did this when I was around your age also...find some old computers. You say you only want more knowledge, so the abilities of the computer don't matter at all. Check around - people throw out old machines ALL THE TIME! Local classifieds / ads / trash / buddies you know that may have computer connections, offices going out of business etc... Just get some for free from SOMEWHERE, cause you don't need to spend money on it especially if it's not going to be used for anything except gaining knowledge.

You already have the processor, motherboard and RAM. Great! Those are usually the harder parts to find without buying stuff... Also, your Motherboard already has the on-board graphics port, and an on-board sound port, so you don't need to buy either of those. Just as a side note, not EVERY Motherboard comes with integrated graphics and sound...

Other items you'll need...

1) Hard Drive
2) Floppy drive and disks (Older machines rely on the floppy drive more than newer machines, and it's always good to have one lying around cause sometimes you will need it!)
3) CD drive - If you can get a CD/DVD it would be better, but CD will be good depending on Operating System you install)
4) UATX (Micro-ATX)Power Supply
5) Case / Tower - Micro-ATX / ATX (Almost any regular ATX case these days will be compatible with the Micro-ATX boards)
6) Cables - Depending on what you get, you'll need cables for your CD drive, Hard Drive, Sound Card etc. Basically any device that needs to communicate with your Motherboard but is not plugged into the Motherboard, you'll need a cable for it.
7) Heat sink and paste - You mentioned that you already have the processor, but make sure you have a heat sink with paste also.
8) Sound card - not necessary. You have on-board sound on your Motherboard.

Also, your case will probably have a system speaker that will be able to notify you of issues by beeping. It doesn't do anything more than beep, but those beeps are actually codes telling you if anything is wrong with the computer when you start it up.

Now, if you get a couple old computers, you'll end up getting a lot of these parts and you can just mix'n match what you want to keep. On older machines, almost any CD / HDD (Hard Disk Drive) / Floppy will be compatible with any MB (Motherboard)

You have a great setup already having another computer that works fine. Make sure you have internet access when you're building/installing OS (Operating System), cause you'll come to find out that you're going to need to download Drivers and probably get additional help from online as you're working on it. Have some floppy disks available as well.


Have fun building! :D
 
thanks guys, proberly the best help/advice anyone has given me in ages.
il go for a walk next weekend a see if anyone has dumped any old computers i can take. i may also see if i can pick up a few at a car boot, but i wont pay much for them.

also how can i tell if a motherboard has a built in sound card?

best get to some more research,
-Elobire
 
First off, just walking around may not give you the results you need when looking for old computers, but if you keep your eyes open for a couple weeks and just start asking people for some old machine, I'm sure you'll be able to find some pretty quickly.

To find out all the specs on your MB (Motherboard), you just need to look on the board itself. Here is a pic of your configuration (if it's the right MB)

Motherboard.jpg

The three things on the bottom right that look like standard headphone jacks are your on-board sound card. Green is the one for headphones.

If you don't have the MB in front of you, and want to find out its specs, research it online. Easiest way is to go to www.google.com and type in the MB model number along with "specs". Example - For your MB, I go to Google and type "ASUS A7V-VM Specs". In the search results will most likely be a link that describes all the specs in detail. SCHW32M (above) gave us a good link to see your MB specs. Here it is again for you to take a look at.

Anytime you are building a machine, you need to make sure that all the components will be compatible with your MB.
 
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