It's not terribly difficult - there are plenty of books and web sites that will guide you through it.

Books and websites? Why would you need one of those? Building your own computer isn't brain surgery... If you don't know what you're doing then you probably shouldn't be making it yourself anyway. All you need is an idea about the hardware you want to buy,

Ummm ... ooooo kkkkk! So you are saying that if you don't know something you don't have the right to learn it? Where did you learn to make your own computer the first time you did it - you were born with the knowledge? It came to you in a vision? You dreamt it?

My hats off to you tecks with building pc's, I have taken mine apart a few times to add ram and such, wow, its amazing whats in there. I would never set my mind on doing a re-build/re-create my own, but I know people who have accomplished this. Its amazing, but for me I would have to follow the leaders on this one..I have a friend now who is creating his own distro for Ubuntu...Wizards I tell ya...thats how I see it.

Sherri

Lol no you don't just wake up and decide to build your own computer. It's not something l33t, just cause you can build your own computer doesn't make you smart or something. It's only second nature to put together a computer. If you don't have any preference for what you want then I don't see the point.

no idea what l33t means.

I don't think there is anything second nature about it at all - it's a skill like any other and can easily be learnt. It's no more complex than a complicated recipe or putting together a large piece of flatpacked furniture.

I actually built my first computer because I couldn't afford a new machine - round about 1994 or (if I remember right). New machines were 386's and 486's at the time. I built mine from second hand parts from a swap meet and following a guide in a magazine. I was quite amazed it was as easy as it was but also thrilled with the accomplishment. From then on I built all my own until quite recently when it just became too tiresome to research what were the best parts (and where to get them at good prices). My last two have been purchased from Dell and I do like the convenience and have had zero problems other than a mouse that died.

Leetspeak it's what all the noobs or wanabe "h4x0r" talk in on IRC. For some reason people want to be seen as knowledgeful with computers it's like a little subculture and all these people type in leetspeak because they think it means they're computer wizzes. I really don't understand the obsession our society has with computers and being a computer wizz. It's almost an insult if you're bad with computers but if you can browse the Internet all the sudden you're really smart.Yeah this is what I was talking about. If you can use a screwdriver you can put together a computer. It just comes down to if you want to buy from dell or build it yourself.

Agreed - but I still say that if you've never done it before you will need some kind of a guide - unless you are the type of person who insists on throwing away instructions when you buy flatpack furniture, rather than reading them and using them first. It just makes the job 100 times easier and 100 times quicker.

Sure you could probably work it out by trial and error, but there are important factors, like beware of static electricity when you handle the RAM so you don't fry it, don't force the RAM into its socket (make sure you are putting it in the right way around) but do be firm about it. All that stuff can be easily gleaned from a cheap book or a web article. Many people are just much more comfortable about learning with a guide in hand than just striking out in the dark by them self.

True. Generally speaking though someone who would decide they wanted to build their own computer probably already has some experience with stock computers -- upgrading ram, new video card, hd, etc, so if you've been poking around inside a dell computer for a while I figure all you'd need is like the motherboard manual. Once you've got a case and the motherboard/power supply set up everything else just plugs in.