First on my list was a Rosewill R114A-SLV silver steel mid-tower computer case. This case came with a 400w ATX 20-pin main connector power supply. (See photo A). Next on the list was a motherboard. I needed an ATX Intel motherboard, (ATX meaning it would fit perfectly in my ATX mid-tower). For this I chose the ASUS P5P800 Socket T (LGA775) Intel 865PE ATX Intel motherboard. It is very powerful and affordable, and supports Intel’s Pentium 4 processor®. This processor supports Hyper-Threading technology which, according to Intel’s web site “results in more efficient use of proc

Now I’m not a computer whiz or computer “geek” but I do have some knowledge, although limited, as to how a computer works. After spending literally hours trying to figure out what happened to my CD drive, I finally decided to cross the line and venture into the unknown. I took the cover off the computer case. I had no idea what I was looking for so I started tinkering around to see if maybe something had come loose. Sure enough, a cable going to the back of the CD player was unplugged. I plugged the cable back in, put the cover back on, plugged in the power cord and pushed the power button to fire her up. I was kind of surprised to see that it actually worked. This got me to wondering how hard it would be to build a computer from scratch. I went searching on line to see if this was possible, something that I could do. After reading various articles and visiting numerous web sites I decided to give it a try.

The first step was to determine what kind of computer I wanted. First and foremost it had to be fast. No sense going through all the trouble to build a dud. It also had to be capable of handling large video files, many photographs, and a vast amount of music (songs). And finally I wanted it to be a media center; capable of playing and recording music, playing and recording DVDs, downloading and playing games, and capable of playing cable television. I also wanted to be able to connect an overhead projector and have my wall as the screen while surfing the net. Once I decided what I wanted, I started looking for the components and or parts I would need.

The first thing I needed was a case, or tower. I found out that there are guide lines standardizing case such as ATX Form Factor. This is a standardized case designed to accept certain motherboards, and thus determining the layout of the inside of the case. I found a great source for the parts I would need, in a online store named Newegg.Com. Although I didn’t know it at the time, I quickly found out that in addition to a vast product selection, and very low competitive prices, their customer service was “top flight.” Yes I highly recommend these guys.

First on my list was a Rosewill R114A-SLV silver steel mid-tower computer case. This case came with a 400w ATX 20-pin main connector power supply. (See photo A). Next on the list was a motherboard. I needed an ATX Intel motherboard, (ATX meaning it would fit perfectly in my ATX mid-tower). For this I chose the ASUS P5P800 Socket T (LGA775) Intel 865PE ATX Intel motherboard. It is very powerful and affordable, and supports Intel’s Pentium 4 processor®. This processor supports Hyper-Threading technology which, according to Intel’s web site “results in more efficient use of proce

The first step was to determine what kind of computer I wanted. First and foremost it had to be fast. No sense going through all the trouble to build a dud. It also had to be capable of handling large video files, many photographs, and a vast amount of music (songs). And finally I wanted it to be a media center; capable of playing and recording music, playing and recording DVDs, downloading and playing games, and capable of playing cable television. I also wanted to be able to connect an overhead projector and have my wall as the screen while surfing the net. Once I decided what I wanted, I started looking for the components and or parts I would need.

The first thing I needed was a case, or tower. I found out that there are guide lines standardizing case such as ATX Form Factor. This is a standardized case designed to accept certain motherboards, and thus determining the layout of the inside of the case. I found a great source for the parts I would need, in a online store named Newegg.Com. Although I didn’t know it at the time, I quickly found out that in addition to a vast product selection, and very low competitive prices, their customer service was “top flight.” Yes I highly recommend these guys.

First on my list was a Rosewill R114A-SLV silver steel mid-tower computer case. This case came with a 400w ATX 20-pin main connector power supply. (See photo A). Next on the list was a motherboard. I needed an ATX Intel motherboard, (ATX meaning it would fit perfectly in my ATX mid-tower). For this I chose the ASUS P5P800 Socket T (LGA775) Intel 865PE ATX Intel motherboard. It is very powerful and affordable, and supports Intel’s Pentium 4 processor®. This processor supports Hyper-Threading technology which, according to Intel’s web site “results in more efficient use of proc

The first step was to determine what kind of computer I wanted. First and foremost it had to be fast. No sense going through all the trouble to build a dud. It also had to be capable of handling large video files, many photographs, and a vast amount of music (songs). And finally I wanted it to be a media center; capable of playing and recording music, playing and recording DVDs, downloading and playing games, and capable of playing cable television. I also wanted to be able to connect an overhead projector and have my wall as the screen while surfing the net. Once I decided what I wanted, I started looking for the components and or parts I would need.

The first thing I needed was a case, or tower. I found out that there are guide lines standardizing case such as ATX Form Factor. This is a standardized case designed to accept certain motherboards, and thus determining the layout of the inside of the case. I found a great source for the parts I would need, in a online store named Newegg.Com. Although I didn’t know it at the time, I quickly found out that in addition to a vast product selection, and very low competitive prices, their customer service was “top flight.” Yes I highly recommend these guys.

First on my list was a Rosewill R114A-SLV silver steel mid-tower computer case. This case came with a 400w ATX 20-pin main connector power supply. (See photo A). Next on the list was a motherboard. I needed an ATX Intel motherboard, (ATX meaning it would fit perfectly in my ATX mid-tower). For this I chose the ASUS P5P800 Socket T (LGA775) Intel 865PE ATX Intel motherboard. It is very powerful and affordable, and supports Intel’s Pentium 4 processor®. This processor supports Hyper-Threading technology which, according to Intel’s web site “results in more efficient use of proc

The first thing I needed was a case, or tower. I found out that there are guide lines standardizing case such as ATX Form Factor. This is a standardized case designed to accept certain motherboards, and thus determining the layout of the inside of the case. I found a great source for the parts I would need, in a online store named Newegg.Com. Although I didn’t know it at the time, I quickly found out that in addition to a vast product selection, and very low competitive prices, their customer service was “top flight.” Yes I highly recommend these guys.

First on my list was a Rosewill R114A-SLV silver steel mid-tower computer case. This case came with a 400w ATX 20-pin main connector power supply. (See photo A). Next on the list was a motherboard. I needed an ATX Intel motherboard, (ATX meaning it would fit perfectly in my ATX mid-tower). For this I chose the ASUS P5P800 Socket T (LGA775) Intel 865PE ATX Intel motherboard. It is very powerful and affordable, and supports Intel’s Pentium 4 processor®. This processor supports Hyper-Threading technology which, according to Intel’s web site “results in more efficient use of proc

First on my list was a Rosewill R114A-SLV silver steel mid-tower computer case. This case came with a 400w ATX 20-pin main connector power supply. (See photo A). Next on the list was a motherboard. I needed an ATX Intel motherboard, (ATX meaning it would fit perfectly in my ATX mid-tower). For this I chose the ASUS P5P800 Socket T (LGA775) Intel 865PE ATX Intel motherboard. It is very powerful and affordable, and supports Intel’s Pentium 4 processor®. This processor supports Hyper-Threading technology which, according to Intel’s web site “results in more efficient use of processor resources, higher processing throughput, and improved performance on today’s multithreaded software.” This motherboard also comes with a 775 pin Land Grid Array (LGA-775) socket designed for the Intel® Pentium® 4 processor, and most importantly to me, a Users Guide.

Next on the list was a processor. I chose the Intel® Pentium® 4 processor; 530J 3.0 GHz, 800 MHz FSB in the 775 Land package. This super fast processor comes with a heat sink and fan assembly which uses push pin technology to install. For memory I decided on Rosewill’s 512 MB 184-pin DDR SDRAM DDR400 (PC3200), four times. For the hard drive I chose Western Digital’s WDC1600®, 160 GHz 7200 RPM Serial ATA Hard Drive. I chose a Mitsumi 1.44 MB 3.5 Internal Floppy, a Rosewill DVD burner; model RD-162, and Rosewill CD burner; model RR-52, (both retail). With the exception of the floppy, all of my components were retail, IE, in original manufacturers packaging, etc. Also on my list were 2 80mm Sleeve, Blue LED light case cooling fans, a Sound Blaster Live® sound card, an ATI All In Wonder 9600® 8X graphics/TV card, a Dell® 17” Ultra Sharp flat panel monitor, wireless mouse and keyboard, HP Photo Smart 7660® printer, and Logitech Z 2300® speaker system.

As you can see I did my homework. Before taking on this task, I didn’t have a clue as to what a motherboard was, what was a CPU’s function, what a hard disk was and what it was for, what if any compatibility issues I would encounter, and how all of this “stuff” worked together. So over the course of about three months I purchased all of these components. My very first mistake was that I ordered the ASUS P4P800SE instead of the ASUS P5P800SE. The P4P800SE is not compatible with the Intel P4 LGA-775 processor®. So here was a chance to test the service level of Newegg.com. I emailed them and explained my situation, and without hesitation they exchanged the motherboard and didn’t charge me a restocking fee or freight. They acted as if they had made the mistake. Needless to say, I was VERY impressed.

Once all of the parts and components were here, I laid everything out, identified everything, and read the users guide that came with the motherboard from cover to cover. Now was the “nuts and bolts” time, the time to put this thing together. The motherboard came with ten screws and ten felt washers which were used to attach the motherboard to the case chassis. I placed the felt washers over the holes on the chassis and placed the mo