This msg. signifies two first for me:  One, it's the first time I've 
initiated a topic.  And two, I've decided that the next PC I get will 
be one made, or at least assembled, by yours truely.

I've never done this before, but I've little apprehension about it.  
I've fiddled about inside my box more than once: installed cards, 
drives, yadda-yadda... But I've never started from step one.  That's 
why I started this item.  To discuss the various aspects of homebrewing 
your own system.  What components to look for, and look out for.  Tips 
and traps, etc.  You get the picture.

Okay, so whip out your tools, rool up your sleeves and let's get 
hacking!

12 responses total.

 I built a 386 from the junk I had in the basement. I would say it's not
exactly rocket science.

  The motherboard came from God only knows where.
  The memory (1M) came from an old Mac Plus. Yes you read that right.
  The hard drive was something from another computer. Once I figured
out the cylinders and the heads, it was a small task to spinrite it
and install it.
  The assorted cards came from the junk box
  The keyboard came from Nephi, and needed an adaptor from PS/2 to IBM.
  The case came from a dead AT. 
 
  Final cost- $5

  It can be done. I'm sur if you pay a little more money for decent
components, greg, you'll do OK. I still have a 486 chip that needs
a motherboard to call home. Everything else, except the memory is
here waiting for me to get on with it.

I also wanted to assemble my own PC. The reason why is, I don't get the exact
type of configuration I would like to have. My worries it that, If I buy all
the cards seperately, the overall cost may be higger than a readymade PC. I
would like to know, does anybody build PC with the exact specification what
I give? I would like to use the best motherboard which could be used to
upgrade to any future intel processor, the best video card which also has the
TV/FM tuner card(All in Wonder Pro card). 256 MB ram upgrable to more than
a 1 GB. Fastest DVDRom with hardware decode card, ....

Re. 1:  That's great, Omni.  Gotta be the cheapest outside of free 
anybody'll spend on a PC.  As for the RAM, yeah, I had to read that 
twice.  I'm no chip expert, I figured that since Macs run off the 68000 
series CPU, I figgered the RAM's arch would be as different.

I don't really enticipate any major problems, I am somewhat 
apprehensive regarding the motherboard.  Mostly about it fitting into 
whatever case I get.  I've heard that you sometimes have to drill new 
screw holes, which I'm not prepared to do as I don't have a drill.  
I've also heard there are these little "spacer" thingies.  I have yet 
to learn exactly what they're for, though I have an idea.  Once the 
board's in, everything else will be familiar.  I hope.


Re. 2:  While I can't offer any names, I've no doubt there are vendors 
that'll go that for you.  I suspect, however, that the cost of such a 
custom job will be higher than if you did it yourself.  Regarding 
cost:  Seems to me the savings will vary depending on what you put in 
it.  And of course any components you move to your homebrew system will 
give even more savings.

When you're drilling holes, just don't drill them in the motherboard!
Drill them in the chassis.  Those motherboards have about 8 layers to
them you don't know when you drill through a trace.  One guy I know
just fried his pentium motherboard by mounting it on a chassis that had
too many mounting standoffs.  One of the unused standoffs shorted two
pins on the bottom of the board and it don't play no more.  Most cases
currently sold will accommodate the hole patterns in current boards.

There are currently two types of motherboards and cases, AT and ATX.  The big
thing to make sure about is that if you're using an ATX case you get an ATX
motherboard, and if you're using an AT case you get an AT motherboard.  As
long as you do that, it should fit fine with no drilling needed.

Most cases will have enough holes to accomodate most motherboards (see
Steve's warning though).  The spacers are there for a couple reasons-
so the motherboard doesn't bend (or break) when you start piling
cards up on it.  They also keep the traces (the gold lines) from touching
the metal case and shorting anything out.

To respond to the original post, I did my first major project when my 
computer died.  My brother gave me one of his, and I created "Frankenputer"
out of the two of them.  A while later, he needed it back, soI built 
another out of all the junk I had left over.  Eventually I went and 
bought a case and hard drive, and tossed all the stuff I sitll had in it...
that's what I'm using still :).

All the mother boards I've ever seen were made of epoxy-glass.  Flexible
but virtually unbreakable.  Nothing like those phenolic boards used in,
say, most monitors.

Okay, looks like we got some experienced people here.  So, the next Q 
is, which vendor do you reccomend for motherboards and/or cases?  I've 
got a couple people interested in my current system so I need to get 
going on this project.

I personally recommend ASUS boards.  They're cheap and very high quality.
Acer cases are easy to work with, but they're big and clunky.
You can order things from cdw.com or use shopper.com to check around
for prices.

Yes, I'm still around... :)
This item looks like it was made for me. All of my machines, save the laptop,
are kitbashed/homebuilt. My current project is AhrounGamma, it's main function
is a Linux experimentation box. 
Specs:
motherboard: Unknown Socket3 VLB/ISA w/AMD 486 DX4-100, 32MB
Drives: 2 IBM 540MB SCSI, Mitsumi 4x IDE CD-ROM
Video: Chips & Tech CD64300 VLB 1MB
Sound: Reveal/Opti 929C 
Adaptec 1535/42 SCSI controller, generic dual-IDE controller
SMC Ultra NIC
AOC 15" SVGA monitor
old IBM heavy-as-heck keyboard. 
AT Mini Tower case w/250w p/s
Total Cost: $0

Yep. $0. Most of the stuff I had laying around the house. I got the monitor
from my neighbour, they had bought a new one. The AOC was flaking out dur to
dirty controls. cleaned 'em out and is works fine. I traded an old Amdek 14"
monitor that I found in the trash for the 486 board. I'm just really lucky
whne it some to spending very little on computers I guess. 

'Cept for a few minor differences, it sounds like my box.  I heard a 
news story on CNet today about a company who's selling Red Hat 
configured boxes for $600.  No monitor, of course.  While it's not as 
good as "FREE," that's not a bad deal for a turnkey Linux box.

As far as getting a motherboard that is upgradable to "all future Intel
chips", forget it.  I have a PII 300 in what was, at the time, the top
of the line MB (AL440LX).  Now, it isn't upgradable to even a 450, let
alone any PIII.  The reason is that processors, for the first time in
years, are starting to require faster busses.  Older MBs don't have
them, so newer processors won't work.  I'm waiting for bus speed to
settle down a bit before I build my next computer. 

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss