Well once you get passed the awful "spending" money part of building your own new computer, you can start getting into the fun stuff.

Assembling the system

Assembling the entire system might be a little tricky if you've never done it before. Some things you will want near you while doing this, is a cold drink, plenty of light, computer screws, all the manuals that came with the hardware you purchased, a screw driver and of course, your sanity.

Oh and a word about static electricity. Make sure you de-static yourself (by touching your computer's power supply or wearing a very expensive anti static bracelet), and it would be a good idea to work in a non-static area, such as on a table, or a kitchen counter, and away from carpet. Whatever you do, be very careful not to zap your components.

Configuring the motherboard jumpers.

Configuring the jumpers is the first thing that needs to be done. What you will want to do is consult your motherboard manual on how to set everything correctly. There are just to many motherboards out there that I can cover in this article. Most jumpers listed in your motherboards manual are already set up for you. The main ones you will have to configure are:

a) Power supply type. In the event that you have an AT/ATX motherboard you will need to set this one correctly.

b) CPU external bus frequency. This is where you specify what bus frequency your CPU is at.

c) CPU to bus frequency ratio. Look at the little box that contained your CPU, it will show you the exact ratio (should be a number like 2x, 3.0x, 3.5x, etc.)

d) CPU voltage. It's really important that you get this one right, or else you'll end up with a *really* hot CPU or a non-working board.

Next Page: Inserting the CPU