Building a PC in Easy Steps

by Stuart Yarnold

Written for those who want more than what the standard pre-built PCs offer. Pre-built systems are often a compromise between what the manufacturers want to sell you and what you want to buy. One solution is to build it yourself.
Acquiring a copy of Building a PC in easy steps is the first step in the right direction to build a PC. Written in concise and easy-to-understand style this book will take you by the hand and walk you through all the stages of building and setting up a Buying the parts and avoiding sales scams; mastering and installing each component (CPU memory video etc); altering default settings in the BIOS for optimum performance installing and configuring device drivers. The troubleshooting chapter is invaluable in the event of problems. By the time you've finished you will have a computer that's tailored to your exact requirements with no superfluous features or functions.
Now updated for Windows 7.

Genres: Computer Science, Computers

192 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 28, 2005

Reviews

[Dan Hyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really good entry level book that describes computer components, what you need to know in selecting them, and how to put everything together.

I learned a fair amount about some of the technologies related to the various components, and had several acronyms that I didn't know explained to me.

If you're going to read this with the intent of putting together a PC, try to get the latest edition possible. Technology continues to move. The 4th edition that I read was 5 years out of date, and there were areas where the book wasn't as current as it could be.

[Garry Whitmore · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book well illustrated and clear information but getting a bit dated regarding some aspects of computer technology.

[Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty good book and it covers the material fairly well. It's obviously a huge topic and the book does not attempt to be exhaustive, instead focusing only on the most-common aspects and issues. Text is laid out well, writing is good, and numerous color photographs help. Book sticks to the most-common hardware and most-common applications. In general, equipment is divided into entry-level, mid-level, gaming, and server/workstation equipments. Heavy focus on mid-level and gaming systems. Old (5+ years) hardware is not considered--basically starts with Intel i Core systems, DDR2 memory, SATA-2 drives, USB3 devices, etc., with occasional explanations of still-common older technologies like firewire and VGA. Compares Intel and AMD CPUs. Compares Nvidia and AMD GPUs. Very brief coverage of common peripherals such as printers and scanners. Includes a brief troubleshooting section and index.

In brief, a good introduction to the topic.

[Abdulaziz Fagih · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was excellent at the year of the release only but it won't benefit you much now

كان ممتاز في سنه الأصدار ولن يفيدك كثير أذا قرأته للوقت الحالي

[David Searle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Useful

As a first time pc builder I found this a useful book to refer to at each stage. It is a bit dated now though.

[Sandeep · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not yet built my 15 year old PC, too much office work keeping me busy. but finished with the book