Our home computer is about 5 years old and it’s time for a new one.  I figured its time to build one myself, and give my son a chance to experience first hand what is inside the black box  and understand the basics such as the difference between RAM memory and hard disk drive storage.  He is (almost) nine , has programmed a bit in Scratch and seems to have an interest in computers.

I worked with my friend Chris (computer aficionado) to assemble a list of components from newegg.  I wanted to build a cheap machine, but still have enough power to allow me to experiment with LAMP infrastructure and virtualization, and also enough storage to archive the family’s growing collection of digital photos and video.

Here is what we chose for hardware:

• GIGABYTE GZ-X5BPD-500 Black SECC Steel / ABS ATX Mid Tower Computer Case –Model #:GZ-X5BPD-500
• ASUS M3N78-EM AM2+/AM2 NVIDIA GeForce 8300 HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard – Model M3N78-EM
  
• Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU 500W ATX 12V 2.0 Power Supply – Model #:W0100RU
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ Brisbane 2.3GHz Socket AM2 Dual-Core Processor –Model ADO4400IAA5DU
• Kingston 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model KVR800D2N6K2/4G – Model #:KVR800D2N6K2/4G
• Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive – Model #:ST3250410AS
• SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner Black SATA – Model SH-S223F
• And a Thermaltake CPU cooler, TR2-R1 P/N A4022 (more about this later).
  

All said and done, minus rebates and including shipping, about 380  bucks.

I ordered the gear on Sunday morning, and received the shipment Thursday afternoon.  My son and I split the assembly pretty evenly, while my daughter even helped mount the HDD.  I won’t review the steps I took to build it, you can find that info many places on the web, such as here, here and here.  For the sake of transparency, I will mention the two mistakes that I made while building it:

1. I mistakenly bought a CPU without a cooling fan.  Dumb. I had the correct CPU picked out, then at the last minute saw a cheaper/nearly identical version, and quickly picked it, not paying attention to the details (or the picture, clearly showing a CPU only).  Impact? Since I didn’t want to wait for the delivery of a fan, or attempt to exchange the CPU, I went out to CompUSA/TigerDirect and picked up a $23 Thermaltake CPU cooler and some thermal paste (more than I ‘saved’ on my last-minute CPU choice).
2. Despite very good and very clear instructions from ASUS, I forgot to attach the 4 pin 12V ATX power cable to the motherboard.  I got the 24 pin power connection, but I guess I had seen too many web pages showing the connection of the 24 pin connector and convinced myself that was all that was needed.  The impact? When I turned on the machine, the CPU fan and the case fan would spin, but that was it.  The power LED would not come on, the monitor showed nothing, and I couldn’t turn off the motherboard with the soft switch, but rather had to cut the AC.  I started looking on the web for possible solutions.  I reseated the memory, & CPU, disconnected the HDD and DVD, and checked the power switch connections.  I had all but given up and was ready to contact ASUS for an RMA, when I gave the board one last look over and spotted the 4 pin ‘hole’, then rechecked the ASUS manual and found a very clear statement (as well as a picture): “Do not forget to connect the  4 pin ATX 12V power plug. Otherwise the system will not boot.” Duhuhh.  I’m lucky that I didn’t fry the board with my power cycles.

So, with only a couple of stumbles (er, rather,  “learning opportunities”), I now have a system that will POST.  More importantly, the day after completing the build, my son asked me, “I wonder if my Nintendo DS has the same parts as the computer?”  That alone was worth the time and energy spent. I like seeing the lightbulbs ignite.

Next adventure on the new PC, loading CentOS Linux.