Build Your Own PC Do-It-Yourself For Dummies

If you’ve dreamed about having a customized multimedia PC or one tricked out for your favorite games, build your own and make your dreams come true! Build Your Own PC Do-It-Yourself For Dummies makes it easy.

Not only is building your own PC a really rewarding project, it can also save you a nice chunk of cash. This step-by-step guide helps you decide what you need, teaches you what all those computer terms mean, and tells you exactly how to put the pieces together. It shows you:

What tools you need (not as many as you might think!)
All about operating systems
How to install CD and DVD drives
The scoop on sound and video, and how to put a sound system together from start to finish
How to connect a monitor and install a modem
All about setting up and configuring the hard drive
Secrets for securing your system, and more

Included is a bonus DVD showing you how to install the motherboard, CPU, RAM, ports, hard drive, video and sound cards, a DVD drive, and more. With Build Your Own PC Do-It-Yourself For Dummies, you can have the computer you want plus the satisfaction of doing it yourself!

Note: CD-ROM/DVD and other supplementary materials are not included as part of eBook file.

Customer Reviews:

Hand-holding for the novice

By J. B Kraft "lonestargazer" - April 27, 2009

Imagine all of those beautiful, expensive parts on your work table, and a trusted friend shows up to walk you through the process of building your first computer. He's there to look over your should and help when you need. You are confident and empowered.

This is an excellent book, with very clear logic about laying out and building three different levels of computer systems. While I have been a PC user since 1981, I never tried to build one until now, and I was worried about how the big bucks I was plunking down would translate.

Now that you have all these parts, where do you start? What should your concerns be? in 28 years of PC fiddling and replacing parts, for example, I never had anybody tell me that it was okay (and useful) to use a magnetic screwdriver.

While it is, technologically speaking, a step behind the latest state of the art, it covers the fundamental order and process of assembly and test in clear, concise and memorable prose. Couple... read more

Great introduction and written in a easy to understand style

By K. Breit - May 11, 2009

I've worked with PCs for over twenty years, but it's been ten-plus years since I had a need to look inside one other than to add the occasional RAM chip. I decided its time to replace my PC and was disappointed at the configuration options available from Dell,HP, and Sony, so I decided to consider building one with my specific wants in mind.

Mark does a wonderful job explaining the basics of what you need to know, what's important and what's not important. I read the book in one day and felt completely comfortable specifying my a PC to meet my needs. I've already decided what I want in my new PC. I went back and figured out what I would have to add to the HP and Dell configurations to match my own design. Doing it myself looks like I'll save 20% to 25% ($1,400 vs $1,750-$1,900). Not bad for a day of reading and day of assembly. An added bonus will be the lack of bloat-ware (a/k/a/ useless software) usually installed by HP and Dell.

Not surprising, Amazon sells... read more

Useful but flawed

By Drew - April 23, 2010

I was excited to find this book when I decided to build my own gaming desktop...it was up to date and full of good reviews. This is 6 months down the road and I'm typing this on the very computer it helped me build. I hadn't ever built a computer before and I didn't have any experts in person who I could call over to help in tough moments. I do owe quite a bit to this book and I don't want to overlook that, however there are flaws. I'm pretty sure that this book alone wouldn't be enough for everybody.

My biggest complaint is that the book tries to not alienate people with "techno babble". Granted, I bought a "for dummies" book...I knew it wasn't going to read like a motherboard manual, but come on...we're talking about building a freaking computer here, you'd be foolish not to expect some "techno babble". You're better off having to google some technical terms than being left in the dark entirely!

One moment that had me freaked out was connecting the... read more