Ariyana Resendiz

English 105
6/12/22

Building a Desktop

In all our lives, we have used technology in one way or another, whether our phones or a
computer. Most of the time when people get a Desktop it will be pre-build as some do not have
the or the want to build to do so. However, if you feel you want to build your desktop for fun or
for the experience this manual will help you.

Required Materials
▪ A PC Case
▪ 1 stick of RAM
▪ 1 CPU
▪ 1 GPU
▪ 1 Motherboard
▪ 2 fan Coolers
▪ 1 CPU Cooler
▪ 1 Phillips screwdriver
▪ 1 Thermal paste tube
▪ 1 Power supply
▪ 1 monitor
▪ 1 mouse
▪ 1 keyboard
▪ 1 Hard drive or Solidi-state drive
▪ 1 Anti-static wrist strap
▪ USB with windows

Step 1: Picking the parts

Ariyana Resendiz
English 105
6/12/22
1 Before we can start picking the parts you must decide what the Desktop will be used for. If
you want a Desktop for gaming you will need to get a high-end part however f you want a PC
for everyday life you won’t need to have those high-end parts.
2 Once you know what kind of PC you want to build you start picking the part you want based
on those requirements. You will need to make sure that the part is compatible with one
another I recommend going to a website like pcpartpicker.com to help you with this.

Step 2: Find A place to Build

1 Once all the parts have arrived at your house you will need to find a place to build your new
PC. It is Ideal to have a stable table on flat ground that is large enough to fit your new PC if you
don’t have a place the floor will work, it is not recommended
2Make sure that you are near a power outlet as when you are done building you need to plug it
in.
3 Have all the parts on your PC Near you with all of the packaging removed from the parts.
Open the PC case some have s screw in the black others may have a pull tab on the top of the
PC. Open the Side and place the PC on its side.

Step 3: Fans

1 Insert the Fan in the Case you will need to have a least two fans one sucking air in and another
blowing air out the back. The fans will have gauds on them to help tell you the decisions the
fans will be blowing.
2 Screw the fans into a place where the small holes are on the case.

Step 4: Install that motherboard and CPU

1 Make sure that you are wearing the anti-static wrist strap and touch something metal like the
computer case before installing the motherboard.
2 Aline the motherboard with the holes in the case. The I/O ports should be in the back of the
case
Ariyana Resendiz
English 105
6/12/22
3 Screw in the motherboard with screws that came with the case
4 Open the CPU socket by lifting the arm. take your CPU and align the triangle with the bottom
corner it should look different than the other. The CPU should not be pushed in rather place
gently
5 Close the socket by putting the arm back in its original place

Step 5: Ram

1 Find the ram Slots on the motherboard they are usually black or blue that have latches on the
sides of the slots. Push down on the latch to open them up
2 Take the ram stick and align the hole in the middle of the ram with the notch of the ports
3 insert the ram in the slots you will know when you did it when the latches click into place

Step 6: Cool the CPU

Ariyana Resendiz
English 105
6/12/22
1 Put some thermal paste onto the CPU before you put it on the heatsink. It should only be the
size of a pea, not a whole lot.
2 You can remove the fan from the heatsink before put f you want to. Make sure to remove the
sticker on the bottom of the heatsink before putting the CPU cooler onto the CPU
3 Orient the heatsink into place and screw in the fan if you do take it off. Then Screw down the
heatsink

Step 7: Storage

1 Remove the drive bays from the case by unscrewing them or using a pull tab
2 If you have a hard drive slide the drives into the drive bay and screw them in. The SSD Drive
installs similarly to the HHD it is smaller so it may need an adapter
3 make sure that the ports on the Drives are faced outward to make cabling easier.
Ariyana Resendiz
English 105
6/12/22

Step 8: GPU

1 The GPU Install similarly to the ram find the PCIe close to the CPU
2 You will need to remove the PCIe covers from the case. This may need you to unscrew
the cover or it may be another pull tab
3 Remove the cover in front of the PCIe slot, you may need to remove two of the cove
for the GPU to fit.

Step 9: Power and Buttons

1 Depending on the case that you have you may have to slide it to place and screw it in place.
Some cases have mounts that you will need to remove to place the Power supply place
2Once n placed and securely in the case go to the back of the power supply. There’s usually a
red switch on the back make sure that the switch is flipped to the 115W Setting if you don’t the
computer will not turn on
3 Find the connecter from the power button to the pins that are sticking out of the
motherboard it should be labeled accordingly. Do the same with the USB-able cable t should be
next to the power one
Ariyana Resendiz
English 105
6/12/22
Step 10: Wires like a puzzle
1 Now that everything is in place it is time to connect everything to the motherboard and the
power. We will start with the board itself find the 24-pin the biggest one and connect it to the
board
2 Find where the fans are and connect the 4-pin cable to the board both should be white
3 Next connect the 8 pins from the GPU to the board
4 Find the SATA cable that came with your storage device and connect to the motherboard.
Then connect it to the storage device and the SATA cable from the power supply to the Driver
5 Connect the heat sink to the board and ensure that all wires have been connected to the
board or the power supply

Step 11: Test

1 Once everything is all connected put the coves to the case you took off back one the case. Scerw it in
or do what is near to out it on

2 Content the power from the power supply to an electric outlet. Connect the monitor to the
GPU or one of the I/O ports. Then confect the mouse and the key into the computer.
3 Finally turn on the computer, if it makes a beeping sound something when wrong and you will
have to refer to the manufactory’s guide of the motherboard to fix the issue. If all is well spam
the delete key to access the BOIS to check the temperature and state of all of the parts

Step 12: Install Windows

1 Once everything is working get the USB that has the windows installer on and plug it in.

2 Go back into the BOIS and the computer boot from the USB stick this will start the windows
installation

3 allocate the space needed for the window and wait for until it is finished

4 Once it is finished you will need to go into your computer, connect to the wifi, and check for updates,
Ariyana Resendiz
English 105
6/12/22

Once all of this is finished you will have a computer that is full of work and ready to be customized
however you like it

References
Pic in the order they appear in.

https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/help-needed-in-installing-motherboard-and-
processor.198281/

https://www.crucial.com/articles/about-memory/difference-among-ddr2-ddr3-and-ddr4-memory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_sink

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware-and-Upgrade-Questions/additional-3-5-hard-
drive-for-the-pavillion-gaming-desktop/td-p/6879844

https://www.thewindowsclub.com/boot-or-repair-windows-10-using-the-installation-media