Video: How to Build a PC - Every Step Explained
Video: How to Build a PC - Every Step Explained
Posted 07/24/2009 at 8:22am
| by Will Smith
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I'm Will Smith, the editor of Maximum PC and the guy in the video below. We shot this video demonstration to show people how to build a killer PC, one step at a time. It's a great reference for beginners and experts alike. This video was created for viewing by attendees of Comic-Con 2009.
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lyth0s
March 05, 2011 at 6:09pm
Excellent video on how to build a computer. If the video goes to fast for you or if you just like to see the instructions in writing I'd suggest checking out http://elitepcbuilding.com they also have a part selection list that is useful for beginners.
Good luck building your computer!
inter4522
December 15, 2010 at 7:16pm
if you can learn how to build a pc then this is the way to go. It is definitely cheaper to go this route. You can gets parts for dirt cheap.
RushManiac
March 03, 2010 at 12:43pm
Excellent video showing how to build a computer from the ground up,
perfect for showing newbie techs/students, just sorry to see you go!!Where
in the world is Will Smith?Keep up the good work wherever you
may be and you too Max PC!!A loyal subscriber from the first
issue of Boot, believe it or not!!Love those podcasts as well!!
Nice
beard, lol!
sexymonkeys
April 05, 2010 at 4:22am
He's working on a new site, www.tested.com
He even did an iPad dissection a few days ago, which was featured on Kotaku as well.
Monsterpally09
September 10, 2009 at 10:20pm
i just spent 4 hours today building my first build :D .. and then i find this video >:p. this video helps a lot with the cable b/c the asus instruction manual is very unclear. excellent vid
paulgj2
August 14, 2009 at 10:04pm
My case has the old style multiple wires and multiple connecters, where can I get one of those cool adapter blocks?
Thanks!
didnot
December 11, 2009 at 11:44am
Wow, that was an amazing tutorial for building a killer pc :)
Thanks for sharing
Neimston A. Polstalki
Web Designer
http://www.pokerbot-online.com/ - The best poker bot software on the market of texas hold'em now getting better.
Jazman
August 10, 2009 at 10:40am
Who is that guy?!?
Holy crap. I've been a subscriber as well as listener of the Max PC podcast for some time. I see Will's face on the intro page of the magazine and then I see this.....
This is NOT a visual I would have ever expected. Are you that SAME guy...
wow.
jimc52
August 04, 2009 at 9:42pm
Waaaayyy too fast! Too darned fast! Slow down, so that people who don't understand any of this can figure it out. You went almost too fast for me, and I have been buiding computers for the last 25 years. Secondly, you are talking too fast. Third, it isn't cool to shoot pictures of you talking while you should be pointing the camera at the work itself. Also, don't switch views between your face and YOU looking at the camera. You are not the star here, it's called "HOW TO." Anyway, you didn't tell people that the motherboard comes in an antistaic matt and that it helps to place the motherboard on the matt when working on it. You showed it, but you didn't say why you did it that way. Also, the case cage for the hard disk is different in just about every computer case, not all of them have back end screws. And it is definitely NOT necessary to screw every hard disk and 5-1/4" device in with all four screws. Two screws on one side of each device is sufficient to hold any device tight - I have been doing that for years and never had a vibrating hard disk problem. You were talking SOO FAST, I just had to stop watching you because you were giving me a headache. So I stopped at the motherboard pin connector part. Maybe if I go get a couple of ibuprofen and lay down for an hour, I'll be able to come back and watch the rest. Next time you do a HOW TO, please take your time explaining and demonstrating everything. You said grounding is important but you did not SHOW or TELL HOW to ground yourself. This whole video was a disappointment to me because I know you guys are great with PC's - you just need to be schooled in photogenics. I might advise you get hold of a video producer and redo this entire flick with a more photogenic saavy rendition. BTW, please clip the beard...it looked ratty.
Olitzen
July 26, 2009 at 12:00pm
Great Video ! How about one on how to install a liquid cooling system upon two video cards...
canman56
July 26, 2009 at 6:34am
Thank you! I've been a MPC subscriber for years now and I'm really glad to see the site come so far. I've built many PC's before but it's always good to see an instructional video. This is priceless. The magazine is great as always but it's nice to see you guys become more involved on the web. This has become without a doubt one of the finest sites on the web for tech info. And that's just how it should be.
noahsachs
July 24, 2009 at 6:23pm
Pretty Cool. I think the first lesson is that there's a particular place for each piece, if it doesn't snap in, keep looking until there is a place to plug it in.
This is a great video, the next step is actually a step backward.... shopping for components. Yeah, I can push together a monster PC in record time, but beyond actually turning a screwdriver, really the most time consuming part is shopping. Shopping for each piece takes up the most amount of time, and we [H]ardcore know this, so we subscribe, but really it took a long time to wean myself off the bad advice of the local big box computer store. I'd say I spend 20 hours shopping online for every 1 hour of building a PC (Newegg FTMFW). Is this component any good? What are the reviews? Is there a new version around the corner, or a price drop planned? Does that component work with my other components? What about this component on sale over here? Does this component actually do what I hope it does? Have I read all the reviews both for and against? Which , not so coincendentally is a lot of the reaosn why I love MaximumPC, because you guys sort all that out for me and review it and most importantly give me the perspective of someone who has the opportunity and the ability to test it all. Shopping for the components is the biggest barrier to building a PC, next chapter could be a video on how-to shop for parts?
P.S. I subsciribe to only a few mags, Wired, Harper's Magazine, The Journal of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Variety, the National Enquirer, and the only two I read from cover to cover as soon as I get them are MaximumPC and the National Enquirer.
sinan
July 24, 2009 at 5:53pm
Why is Santa Claus building a PC instead of having one of his elves do the work?
Nice beard. It could be a static-electricity-hazard though!
drunkalien6
July 24, 2009 at 12:14pm
What a non-maximu PC, im so un subscribing to your mag right now.
s3kShUn7
July 24, 2009 at 11:29am
My first build took me 4 hours. But, then was when I had less knowledge. Not to mention the fact that I was 10 when I built it. And i didnt have any video like this. And my case blocked the holes in the motherboard where the CPU fan needed to go. But, all in all, It was a fun build. And It got me into building things. Like I'm currently building a surface computer, with a large amount of help from maximum PC.
popstop785
July 24, 2009 at 8:53am
I built my first PC back in 06 based off a 1k gaming budget build that was shown on this site. Since then I have always built my own.
I love how non proprietary things are when you construct it on your own. Don't have to worry as much about the "warranty void if removed" stickers when opening your baby up... yes when you build it it becomes "your baby" lol
Good video! :)
dracoress
July 24, 2009 at 8:34am
A good reason to go to comic con for the the MPC purists out there.
Bring other people into PC Gaming by showing them how easy it is to build one!
Great job Will!!
Strider
July 24, 2009 at 7:40am
If you want the quality of a PC then the best bet is to build it yourself and you will save a little bit of money on your builds. Don't forget when you build a computer you are usually putting in top of the line or near the top of the line PC Parts, sure you could buy a computer for less money. However, you get what you pay for.
Dick Motorman
July 24, 2009 at 6:55am
he looks more like Tim Heidecker of Tim and Eric, more than anybody.
AZWizo
July 24, 2009 at 6:06am
Sadly, it is cheaper to go out and buy one than it is to build one. Back in the day (late 90s) I could go to the local computer show and buy parts to make several PCs and turn a nice profit. Not anymore.
RT
www.online-privacy.tk
comptech08
July 24, 2009 at 8:20am
actually your wrong, its cheaper to build then to buy. Go customize a comp at dell or hp or w/e and then go find similar parts at newegg or tigerdirect (or use both sites) and come up with final prices and see.
mesiah
July 24, 2009 at 9:26pm
Wether its cheaper depends on what you are looking to get out of it. If you are just looking to build an ultra budget PC and you aren't using brand name parts to begin with, then there is no way you can build one for the same price as buying one. If you are looking to spend less than $400 and you are starting from scratch with no case or parts you are far better off buying one premade. If you have to put windows on the machine and are doing it legit theres atleast $100 right off the bat. Cheapest case/psu your going to find is going to be in the neighborhood of $40. $30 or so for mobo, another $30 for cheap cpu, $25 dvd drive, $20 ram, $40 HDD, $20 video card, factor in keyboard and mouse and shipping and you are well over $300 for parts that probably wont last 6 months.
On the other hand, I purchased a machine I could use just for surfing the net and not having to worry about it getting mucked up and losing all my critical data or dealing with system downtime. I paid $299 and got a small form factor case with dvd writer, athlon 64 cpu, 3 gb of ram, on board video and audio, keyboard, mouse, speakers, windows vista home premium, a canon printer, AND an 18" lcd monitor. I challenge you to touch that deal for $300. Its emachines so the components aren't exactly the highest quality (gateway owned) but it comes with a waranty. I'm not going to be playing crysis on it at 60fps but thats not what it was intended for. Would a tech savy person use this as their main machine? no way. Could your mother use it to check her email? absolutely.
horzo
July 24, 2009 at 7:13am
Only if you're willing to select from a limited list of components. If you care what's going into your machine, you still need to do it yourself.
maniacm0nk3y
July 23, 2009 at 10:13pm
The first time I built a computer...
It was almost too easy. I thought I was in over my head. But then I read the AMD instruction manual and then the motherboard manual afterwards. It was like building your first birdhouse. Learning everything else was just as easy. I am never arrogant but I never seem to understand why people practically assume I'm very smart, just for the fact that I build and maintain computers. Sorry if it sounds like it?
4 systems so far: 1 AMD, 3 Intel. Only one faulty motherboard so far. The darn Asus PxT-E Dexlue...something like that.
Thanks for the video, though. Anything can help the avid beginner.
....Newegg FTW.
Havok
July 24, 2009 at 9:49am
I was going to post a note saying that after the first video-cast was released, but figured it would be either too obscure a reference, or I'd have flak heading my way from sarcasm :)
OMGWTFBBQ
Shalbatana
July 23, 2009 at 9:48pm
[sorry, this was supposed to be a response to your comment down below]
RE: looking to do more....I'll do it, but it'll have to be remote, as I'm in NY.
By the way, I'm a little confused... where's the blue gloves???? My how we've fallen from grace ;)
_______________________________
"There's no time like the future."
DBsantos77
July 23, 2009 at 7:01pm
Thanks will, now if I can only scavange enough cash for a new build :/
Donations accepted!
Cache
July 23, 2009 at 5:46pm
Unpacking every little piece of packaged, bubble-wrapped component. I swear, it takes almost as much time to unpack (and clean up the mess) all the parts to the computer as it is to put it together.
Evasive
July 23, 2009 at 4:25pm
I used the how-to books you guys put out to build my first two systems about two years ago. I'm going to to build another one as well as update the first two in about a month. This is good stuff....just can't show it to the family so they see how easy it really is :) Thanks.
comptech08
July 23, 2009 at 6:33pm
haha i know what you meen. Its really simple but some people think I am a genious, i just laff.
Devo85x
July 23, 2009 at 3:40pm
wow... I always wondered what will looked like... guess now I know :)
mesiah
July 23, 2009 at 8:59pm
Did you expect anything less fly from the fresh prince of personal computing? :D
Havok
July 23, 2009 at 3:23pm
I JUST FRAKIN' BUILT A RIG TODAY!!!! I was listening to the Podcast music also, and I also documented it!
Too bad I was done like 4 ours ago, this would have been very handy.
Antec Three Hundred
Antec EarthWatss 650W PSU
AMD Phenom II 940 BE
Gigabyte Ultra Durable 3
WD 640 GB HDD
Samsung Optical Drive
2 GB Crucial RAM
ATI 4850 (Saphire)
Win7 RC
OMGWTFBBQ
Vegan
July 23, 2009 at 5:50pm
It's good for anyone to get a refresher course. As hardware evolves, the process of building a computer can change.
TheMurph
July 23, 2009 at 3:42pm
Create a Vimeo account and you *should* be able to download the original video from a link that will appear in the bottom-right corner of the screen...
RedRage
July 23, 2009 at 4:31pm
I hate having to sign up just to do one thing, but in this case it was worth it.
bingojubes
July 23, 2009 at 2:34pm
cool video! now if it would load up here at work, i can finish it.
comptech08
July 23, 2009 at 2:29pm
You guys should definatly make more videos. MaxPC has done really good jobs on the videos they have put out. Maybe you can put a video section in your "new" site?
willsmith
July 23, 2009 at 4:38pm
It's definitely something we want to do. We're figuring out a way to pay for a video guy to help us, as it takes a lot of time to do a shoot like this.
JMG760
July 23, 2009 at 2:19pm
Really easy building a PC for the ones that know what they are doing, wouldn't encourage anybody to build one. The trick is making sure that everything is compatible. But great video for the ones that are serious in building their own PC.
Tunnel_Vision
July 23, 2009 at 1:58pm
Great video guys! This will definitely be useful for people who are just starting out at pc building.
Techie714
July 23, 2009 at 1:53pm
Dude WTH, Will has a crazy beard going on. With a beard like that I expect his next video to be some Linux based educational video...LOL! =)~
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