So for a few years now I've thought about building my own PC, but I was always scared to do it, fearing that I might do something wrong and ruin it. I had no experience working with hardware of any kind. Then, about a year and a half ago, I installed my first video card onto the PC I own now. Then I did the same for my parents, and went on to install a sound card as well as a new ethernet card. It turns out that I really enjoy working with hardware. So I've decided that I'm going to build my own PC. Or at least try it. I won't be able to buy everything at once, and it's probably going to take me quite some time to finish it, but that's okay.

There are two reasons I'm posting this here. The first is simply that I think it'll be intresting to have a written account of what I'm doing. When I actually start building it, I'll try to post some pictures here. The second reason I'm posting this, is because I might need some help. I've never done anything like this, and I really have no idea what might be better than something else. I'm going to find a website that gives step-by-step instructions, but I'd love input on exactly what part I should buy when I get to it.

Okay, first things first. I need a case for my PC to live in.After doing some digging, it seems that Case prices range from $20-$600. That's a huge gap. And I don't really want to spend a ton of money just on the case itself. Later on, I'm sure I'll have a much harder time stopping myself from spending a ton of money on things I want but don't need, but that's an argument for a later date. As it stands right now, these are the two cases I'm looking at:

Case One.

Case Two.

They seem to both be in a price range I'm comfortable with (and the rebates help as well). I'd love some input on this, and even other options if anyone has them. I don't really want to spend more than $100 on the case, unless someone can make a really strong argument as to why I should.


Edit: And now I'm thinking this case may be what I want to go with. It goes out of my self-imposed price range by roughly $30, however it's bundled with a nice power supply, and after reading the product reviews on the site, it seems like the power supply that comes with the cheaper systems nearly always need to be replaced anyway.

Good luck with it, Revil, and keep us updated.

My only fear with a metal case would be that they hold heat. But it's well vented, and says it has a built in fan. That's nice. I also like the 7 expansion slots. That leaves a lot of room to play with.

Yeah. Make sure you've got a few good fans in there (most of your equipment that needs it will come with one, I believe).

My idea with the case is to buy one that's large enough that I can upgrade inside it however much I want. I don't mind buying lower end things until I save up the money to go bigger, but I think the case is something that would just be a huge pain in the ass to upgrade. So I figure if I pay more now, I won't need to upgrade the case.

The other thing I should mention is that I'm going to probably cut a few corners. The PC I have now isn't out of date, and in a few cases, like with the video card and probably the RAM, I'm just going to use what I have for now. I'll upgrade both of these at some point down the line, but I can use the money I'll save by doing that to go bigger on the Motherboard and CPU. But we'll get into all that more after I've bought the case.

Well having built a few PC's from scratch in my time, I did actually train somewhat in this so I had a basic idea of what to do. If you're thinking about doing this and I say why the hell not. The main thing you have to remember is make sure you follow the instructions in the booklets that come with such things as Motherboards. Most components these days come set at the default factory settings so all you need to do is plug it all in and away you go. It's just a case of connecting the correct cables to the correct items and they pretty much only go on one way, if it's fitted on incorrectly it won't work. Turn the cable the other way and hey presto. So with all that in mind I'd say it's pretty easy to do and wish you the best of luck.

One thing I would advise is buying the case, motherboard, and processor including a cooling fan all at the same time. Mainly because they are all kind of integral to the working of each other. Case contains a power supply which I think are all based on the higher end type of processor now. But you don't want to buy a case that won't power your motherboard or even fit it in do you. So that would be my seeds of wisdom.