Building a Budget PC

This video shows how to build a budget desktop PC based around a dual core 2.4GHz G530 Intel Celeron processor. The total build cost (November 2012) was about $270 US / £200 UK, including everything except a monitor.

You can find a compete parts list here: http://www.explainingcomputers.com/pc...

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Closed Caption:

yeah
welcome to another video from explaining
computers . com
this time i'm going to show you how to
scratch build a budget desktop pc i'm
going to do this using this intel
celeron 2.4 gigahertz dual-core
processor and this
gigabyte 861 ma d3v motherboard
these are both very good value
components and can together be purchased
for about 80 pounds UK a hundred and ten
dollars us
of course in addition to these i'm going
to need some more components so for
start
I'm going to need some memory and this
is going to be a gigabytes of course sir
ddr3 1333 megahertz ram which cost about
29 pounds UK $37 us
I'm going to need a case here i'm going
to use a CIT vantage midi match gaming
case which cost 31 pounds
although you do after the power supply
on top of that but here I've got a power
supply lying around in my bits box but
if you didn't you can buy a case with a
power supply from about 30 pounds UK
about forty dollars u.s. also going to
install some drives so we're going to
need a DVD writer here here i'm going to
use is LG bare-bones model at cost me 13
pounds 47 and in the US you can buy a
similar drive for about eighteen dollars
finally we're going to be a hard disk
here i'm using an old route to drive
again I happen to have lying around
but you can buy yourself a suitable hard
drive for about 40 pounds UK sixty
dollars us for more information on the
components I've mentioned just follow
the link in the video description but
now with everything introduced
I think it's high time we got on with
the build
ok I thought we'd start out by opening
up the motherboard
here we are this is a micro ATX board
and gigabyte or was like the blackboard
that's getting there that's just to get
to the extra pieces and what we got here
SATA cables connecting with drives and I
Oh screen will have fun fitting later on
and here's the board itself just like go
down onto the floor that and open up the
anti-static bag
get in there can't we just slide that
out and carefully
I'll stick it down on that board so you
can hopefully see that
and this is the board we're going to
build our computer from you can see here
very clearly we've got the processor
socket a couple of slots for memory
stop we can fit a graphics card that we
won't be doing that and then down here
we have audio jacks
assonet connected protected network and
to usb2 ports two USB 3 ports DVI or vga
sockets for connecting monitor two more
USB 2 ports and a legacy keyboard and
mouse port so having unboxing
motherboard i think we should move on a
box
the processor
ok this is r celeron processor 2.4
gigahertz dual-core just taken part in
to just cut through that Intel approved
see all that
open the box up and then slide out the
processor fans the heat single cause
most of this box is actually the
heatsink not post so itself
there's the processor on the top of me
get it out of the box is coming apart
these days
I don't know oh yes sometimes the ideas
come down to see and put a computer
together but taking an entire box of
heart is a much more complicated task
there we are there is the processor
quite extraordinary the the size of the
things these days we weren't taking out
of the and package until we need it
and there's the process we're going to
be fitting and here is the the heat sink
this is going to fit on top of the
process started getting too hot
there's a thermal paste must be sure we
have touched up so i'll leave that on
until we actually need it
finally thought we start putting things
together
let's just take a look at our own memory
again where the knife is to get in to
think we do we wake up and we just
opened that up will be very exciting but
we'll just check we have all they come
out in several things
now they are as Ireland corsair ddr3
memory all ready to go in and says it
it's now high time to start actually
plugging things together
right the first part of the construction
is to fit the processor and we have here
into the processor socket on the
motherboard
to do this we need to release the lever
that hold back the progress of retention
mechanism like that and we also need to
remove very carefully
the processor cover from the socket
that's how to protect the pins just in
case we ever need to put it and do this
again so make sure you keep that cover
because you may want it if you ever want
to change the processor on this board
we tend to take the processor itself
check it out of this little plastic
container
I tend to tip them out because this way
you're not risking touching it anymore
and you have to
we don't need to flick the thing over
just touching it very carefully by the
edges don't want to touch the pins
mustn't touch the top because that will
stop the thermal compound from the
heating sticking properly and you can
hopefully see they were too small not
just on either side here and these have
to line up and with the notches in the
process of socket so if I now very
carefully pick this up
why those edges move it along I can now
just drop processor very gently onto the
socket there's no need for any force at
all when you put a processor in these
days it's zero insertion force
we don't need to make sure we can take
this retention mechanism
slide it back out by and then push down
on the lever underneath and there we are
the processor is now installed in the
computer
the processor does need on top of it I
hate sink
we need to think i'll show you remember
earlier and we are it's got the thermal
paste on the bottom which will make
contact with the processor melt and make
a very good seal
now there's a lot of debate about do you
fit your heat sink when your motherboard
out of the case - 15 minutes in the case
the same with the processor itself
here I'm using Intel's standard advice
which is to fit your processor when the
motherboard is out of the case on its
anti-static bag but to fit your head
think when the motherboard is secured in
the case at hand i'll do that
a little bit later on however before we
go to look at the case itself the final
thing I can do here is to fit the memory
so I'll open up the clips that will
retain the dim memory that I'll take our
first stick of memory and then store it
in the first tim socket
no way up and clips will cut and secure
it ends up and take our second stick of
memory another four gigabytes going in
here and that goes in there and again
the clips will secure it and there we
are we've now got a motherboard equipped
with a processor and memory
do is to start stripping down the case
and we can work on it so if we take off
some screws here for worthy is that
scoop to it once then once we take these
off we can take off the side panels
it's always a good idea to take off both
panels going to have to go off the
mountain drive anyway you can see on
this case we've actually got to case
fans as well on the side on which is
which is very nice
take off the back panel to we have come
on get off you little
that's very very tight come on you want
to come after all we got
that's it and we also as on most cases
going to take off eventually the front
panel because we don't take that off
we'll never get into and to fit the
drives so hopefully this will come off
it will always looks a bit drastic
doesn't but it's perfectly fine really
just read that back through there and
the case is now pretty much
slim down to a state where we can
actually start to work with it we can
just put that down last week to mount
the mother board motherboard will go in
here
you might be wondering what this little
orange bag is well actually contains and
i would imagine having to actually check
by imagining what contained and look and
exciting instruction sheet and more
importantly it contains all the metal
screws and mounting opinions we need to
actually make this work
so what we'll do is we'll put a little
back down there was a nice little baby
thing and will now take out all of those
screws
now you'll see here we have a little
sounder there isn't a speaker in this
case but there was a sound we can we can
link it will do that later on of course
get these all out and here we have all
the parts we need to actually put the
thing together and the first thing we
need to do with down to school parts
again is to fit these mother board
mounting pins at least have to be fitted
in the case
exactly where the ball is going to line
up so i'll do that now
hopefully you can see what i'm doing
here is mounting in these pins which
will in a second support the motherboard
is quite a few of these to go in and as
you might expect on a cheaper
motherboard and the threads on perfect
they sometimes need a little bit of help
to finish off with mr. players right
it's now time to fit their the dreaded
i/o shield the backing plate of the
mother board connectors it still was a
good start
that just fits in here hopefully it goes
in
go on your little spine and we are
that's in there and need to be in the
back as well of course which is not yet
here we are
that's now properly fitted because this
place hasn't got a power supply fitted
I'm next going to fit the power supply
in service what I'm working with is
something exactly like what you will
have if you're getting a case with a
power supply it just slots in there
hopefully the screw holes line up which
they do and see this is gonna be a
little swine to fit but if we lined up
like that we can hopefully take a power
supply screw their little black ones
there you can just fit that in their
final part of our screws there and we
now have a case ready to accept
it's motherboard which has to line up
with those little mounting holes and it
also has to line up with all the holes
in the back so it will come through and
and we and we are that worked pretty
well that's so pretty good motherboard
first fitting
so all we need to do now is to grab some
motherboards screws so we can secure the
motherboard nice and firmly and into the
case right
the next job is to fit a heat sink and
this has to line up with these pins
lining up with the holes on the
motherboard so we just first of all
gently have to get these sitting in
place carefully in the right places
which I think they all now are you then
hold the heat sink down and press Donald
Turner caller so we'll start with that
one that's locked
keeping the heat sink nice and secure
will do the alternate corner
that's a lot there this one will look
here
and finally we look over that
so we've now got the heatsink securely
locked in place
you might wonder what happened to those
pins that comes through on the other
side of the board by the magic of
filmmaking
here they are now it's time to start
doing what I i sometimes term the
Knitting start we need to connect to be
however this fan which is carefully
wrapped around their this small
connector has to plug into a socket just
down there and we need to make sure the
wire is of course free of the fan itself
serve it doesn't get caught up in it
that final spin freely
next we'll think about power connectors
the main power will connect in down here
you might notice if your eagle eyed as
four pins left on the edge where many
more modern power supplies would have an
additional four pins and more 12 volt
power and you don't need that if you
were fitting a very powerful processor
on this motherboard but here
my older power supply without that
connection will work just fine
I do have to connect the other 12 volt
connector which goes in down that i also
have to connect up all of these things
that link into the case and SD card
connector USB connectors power switch we
switch power LED etc
you might wonder how I know where these
go well there are markings on the
motherboard for people with a very young
eyes for everybody else
if you look inside the manual which
you'll find in in the middle box i saw
on the floor but here it is
you'll see was a key to everything goes
because my fingers were get in the way
i'm not going to plug these in on camera
but i'll just show you that i would have
to put in the hard drive activity led
the reset switch wires the power LED
wires the power switch and the the
speaker also connect in we have front
USB connectors another front USB
connected connects to what is the SD
card reader on this case and we also
have to connect from to do
finally I have to make sure the case fan
is connected to a power supply
often these plug onto the motherboard
but in this case it's a big fan and it
connects directly to a standard power
connector
right with all about wiring out of the
way it is now time to think up and your
case and get on with fitting some drives
so to do that we will Bend that this
plate and it will come out or not it has
to actually just been done up after the
way know it's going to get in the way so
we need to somehow remove this metal
sheet which will come off hopefully
really soon and we are
that's gone and we can now insert our LG
DVD writer
it's only fitting in that is to line up
with the front hole and start putting in
the first of the screws one screw their
know that the front and then two more on
the other side
we are we then want to start in hard
disk goes into now in this Bay and again
screw it in two screws on this side and
again two screws also needed on the
other side and we are the hard disk is
now secured in
we then need to connect power to a
cd-rom drive and also a satyr a table
which will clip in there
similarly we need to connect power and
also data to our hard drive
what i use a red wire there you can see
it more easily at the other end I just
need to connect the SATA cable from the
hard disk into satyr 0 and the SATA
cable from the DVD into Sutter one
I'm not going to deal with the the front
panel
you know this panel has a pop-out
section so i need to take out just one
of these so DVD one wall will poke
through
i also want to put me wiring through
because this one panel has a fan fitted
and indeed the melodies to make it look
pretty
so we put all those through hopefully we
line this up with the appropriate holes
DVD going to come through it is
correctly lovely we got the front panel
back home
well then bring the wiring through for
this fan on lighting and just connected
to another spare power connectors I
don't have a lot of are connected in
this case natural never want to fit too
late but I little that'll do
and it's just a case now it's sitting on
the back panel which hopefully will go
back on a little bit easier than it came
off
yes that's there and I think we now have
a pc that is probably ready to set up
with some other components and for a
first boot
okay well here we are at the final
hurdle I've got the pc i'll set it up
with a a test keyboard and mouse
obviously a monitor you can see there's
nothing on the monitor screen
I just need to press the magic button
i'll do it in real time so you'll see
what's happening
we have fun life what's happening on the
screen nothing yet
here hard this all we've got by us
fantastic
it works it works on the screen of
course it just says reboot is no boot
disk will of course there's nothing on
the disk
but all this means the whole thing is
working
marvelous so there you have it
I've now shown you how to scratch build
a desktop pc for about 200 pounds UK
$275 us those prices include all the
components with the exception of a
monitor
however on top of all this you will of
course need some software or the
computer won't be a great deal of use in
my next video
i therefore going to show you how to
install a linux operating system and
applications but now that's it for
another video and i hope to talk to you
very very soon indeed
that looks installation goodbye
yeah