What do I need to know before I build my own PC?

Question

What are the different types of motherboards? What kinda case should I get...Tips and tricks please!

I will be mostly using it for gaming,work and online email,etc.

Answer 1

The most important thing about a build is designing it. Design it around what you are going to be using it for. I build sell and repair them and the computers I build for businesses are different than my gaming rigs. Thats one of the benefits of building your own--you build it for you and what you'll be doing if for, not buying a computer designed for the masses. Make sure that all the hardware you buy supports the other hardware. Buying a board is very important and something you dont want to skimp on because replacing a motherboard is the biggest pain there is and usually requires reinstalling the OS. I use Asus boards on almost all my builds but theres a lot of good brands out. With the X38 boards out there are some really good deals on P35 boards. It's always good to go to places like tomshardware or anandtech(2 of the best in the biz) and read their reviews of various boards. Take note of what ram they use in their reviews of the board also so you wont have to worry about compatibility.
Try to keep it simple on your first build and dont try things like water cooling, SLI or Raid setups etc. Go to Newegg.com and read the reviews from people who actually bought the boards youre thinking about to see how well they liked or disliked them. When you finally do your build start out with the bare hardware needed. Dont put your sound card, TV tuner etc in until after you get the OS in. Good idea to have a computer around with access to the net in case you run into probs during your build and need some help.

Answer 2

Well there is a lot of stuff, make sure you get a full tower case especially if you want to be an extreme gamer or have lots of hard drives and liquid cooling in it. For a case I'd say go with a Cooler Master 830, it is SLi ready so that you can put two graphics cards in. For a motherboard I'd say get the new EVGA 780i Tri-SLi so that in the future if you want to get a third graphics card, there will always be space for it.

TIPS:
If you are going to have watercooling, make sure you leak test it, so install everything, add the watercooling, then keep the PC on for 24 hours so that when it is the next day, you can check to see if there are any leaks in the system.

Answer 3

First - Know what are you gonna do with the PC. Intense gaming/ mild web surfing/ office work?

Second - Set a budget.

Third - (Okay, this must be stupid to say but..) Get down to your nearest comp shop and get their recommendations, get many of them. Work from there, source out details of the hardware and specs they recommended and compare. PRICE(Is it too costly?)/ USE(Does it cater your needs?)/ QUALITY(Will it last?).

Forth - BURN YOUR CASH BUYING IT. :D

Answer 4

It may be easier if you check out these guides:
http://arstechnica.com/guides/buyer/guide-200711.ars/2
Also check out page 3.
http://compreviews.about.com/od/tutorials/ss/DIYCPU.htm
http://compreviews.about.com/od/tutorials/ss/DIYSATAHD.htm
http://compreviews.about.com/od/tutorials/ss/DIYCDDVD.htm

Take note that you can test your build halfway through. Even without FDD, DVD/CD drive and HDD, it should beep once, display POST and be able to open BIOS menu.

First build is really challenging but just follow the motherboard manual and you won't get lost. And do not forget to load chipset drivers and drivers of other devices immediately after OS installation.