The document provides instructions for assembling a desktop computer. It lists the basic tools needed like a Phillips-head screwdriver, needlenose pliers, and anti-static wrist strap. It also lists optional tools that can be useful. It provides steps for preparing the work area and unpacking components. Detailed instructions are given for installing the motherboard, CPU, heat sink, and other parts. Safety precautions are outlined to prevent electrostatic discharge damage.

1. Desktop assembly
You wont need many tools to assemble your computer, in fact the only one you must have is
thescrewdriver and an anti-static wristband (very useful), but if you can get most of the following
together,you find things go a little easier.
Basic tools
Before you begin building or refitting a computer, you will need some basic tools:
1.#2Phillips-head (cross-shaped) screwdriver
2 Needlenose pliers
3.Anti-static Wrist Strap
4.A large level working space
Optional, but useful tools
Some other tools and equipment can come in handy as well, such as:
1.Spring action parts grabber.
2.Electrical tape
3.Wire or nylon ties
4.Flashlight, preferably hands-free
5.A second, working computer to swap parts, look for tips, ask for help online, downloaddrivers
and patches, etc. - very useful
6.A can of compressed air - useful when working with older parts that have collected dust.A
better alternative but also more costly, is a vacuum cleaner designed for cleaningelectronics.
Preperation
Proper preparation is the key to a successful build. Before you begin, make sure you have all
thetools you will need, secure a clear, well-lit workspace. Gather all the components you¶ll be
usingand unpack them one at a time, verifying that everything that is supposed to be there is
actually present. At this point you should leave the parts themselves in their protective anti-static
bags,and assemble all the accompanying manuals. Now I know you want to get started, but trust
me,read the manuals, check the diagrams, make sure you understand where each part goes and
howit attaches. If there is anything you don¶t understand, now is the time to do a little extra
internetresearch or call the manufacturer with your questions
Find a dry, well-ventilated place to do your work. You should have plenty of light and
if possible, you should choose an area without carpet on the floor, as carpet tends to generate a
lot of static. An unfurnished basement is a good work location.Safety precautions are important
for your own security. Please read the safety precautionsthoroughly
Safety precautions
1.Static electricity is the biggest danger to the expensive parts you are about assemble. evena tiny
shock, much too small for you to feel, can damage or ruin the delicate electronictraces, many
times smaller than a human hair, that make up your CPU, RAM and other chips. It¶s important
to use your anti-static wrist strap to prevent damage to thesecomponents. Once you have the
power supply installed in the case, clip the end of thewrist strap to the outside of the power
supply. (Never plug your computer in while youare connected to it by a wrist strap.) This will
ensure that you, the case and the power supply are all connected to a common ground, in other
words there will be no inequalityof charge that will allow a spark to jump from you to the case.
It¶s also helpful to have anantistatic mat to set the case and other components on.

2. 2. Nobody but you is at fault if you shock your components with static electricity. Makesure that
you take the precautions in the previous paragraph to ground yourself fromstatic electricity.
(Note: if you really must work on a computer and haven't got proper anti-static equipment, it is
usually
OK if you make sure that you don't move about much;are not wearing any static-prone clothing;
handle components by the edges; and regularly(once a minute or so), touch a grounded object.).
The
case metal
of your PC's power supply will usually be a suitable grounded object. As noted above, touch it
every fewminutes while you are working on your PC if you haven¶t got a wrist strap.
3.Turn off your computer and switch off your Power Supply at the wall before installing
or removing any components - if power is flowing to components as they are installed
or removed, they can be seriously damaged. In order to have a computer properly grounded,you
need it plugged in at the wall but turned off at the power supply and at the wall
.4.Never cut the grounding pin off your power cord. This "safety ground" stands betweenyou and
potentially lethal voltages inside the power supply.
5.Be wary of sharp edges! Many lower-end PC cases have sharp, unfinished edges. This
isespecially so on interior surfaces, and where the case has been cut or punched-out. Usecare and
take your time to avoid cutting your hands.If your case has this problem, a littletime with some
sandpaper before you begin construction can spare you a lot of pain.
6.Dismantling discrete electronic components such as your Power Supply or Monitor
isdangerous. They contain high voltage capacitors, which can cause a severe electric shock if you
touch them. These hold a charge even when the unit is not plugged in and arecapable of
delivering a fatal shock.
Construction
tart by putting your case down on your work surface, with the case door facing up, and open the
case.
Motherboard
Find themotherboardstandoffs (spacers) that should have come with the case. They are screws, usuallybrass, with
large hexagonal heads that are tapped so you can fasten screws into the top. These hold themotherboard up off the
case preventing a short-circuit.Set these aside.
Remove the I/O Shield from the back of the case where the ports on the back of the motherboardwill fit, and put in
the I/O Shield that came with your motherboard. There may be small metaltabs on the inside of this face plate, if so
you may have to adjust them to accommodate the portson the back of the motherboard.
Some case styles make it difficult to install the motherboard or the CPU with the power supplyinstalled. If the power
supply is in your way, take it out and set it aside (we'll put it back in later).
Now locate the screw holes on your motherboard and find the corresponding holes on themotherboard plate (or tray)
in the case. Put a standoff in each of these holes on the tray and position the motherboard so that you can see the
holes in the top of the standoffs through thescrew holes in the motherboard.
Now is the time to make sure the ports on the motherboard are mating with the backplate you just installed, and
make any necessary adjustments. The small metal tabs are intended to makecontact with the metal parts of the
connections on the back of the motherboard and ground them, but you may have to bend these tabs a bit to get the
ports all properly mounted, this is wherethose needlenose pliers may come in handy.
Now fasten a screw through each of the motherboard screw holes into the standoffs underneath.These screws should
be snug but not tight, there is no reason to torque down on them, hand tightis fine, otherwise you can damage the
motherboard.Once the motherboard is installed, it's time to plug the other components.
CPU
Installing the CPU, and the CPU¶sheatsink and fan, are by far the most difficult steps you¶llhave to complete during
your build. Here, more than anywhere else, it will pay to read theinstructions carefully, look at the parts, study the

3. diagrams that came with your CPU and/or third party cooling solution, and make sure you thoroughly understand
what you are going to dobefore you try to do it. During the process, if anything does not seem to fit or make sense,
put the parts down and look things over carefully before you proceed. Some operations, especiallyinstalling the
heatsink/fan combination, can require pretty firm pressure, so don¶t be afraid to push a little harder if you¶re sure
everything is set up correctly.
The details of the installation process differ in slight but important ways for each manufacturer¶s processors, and
even within a manufacturers product line. Therefore, for these details, youshould rely on the instructions that are
provided with the CPU.
The two things that go wrong the most often and most expensively (minimum of a killed CPU,sometimes more) in
building one's own computer are both related to the CPU and its cooler:
1.Switching the computer on "just to see if it works" before adding any CPU cooling unit.Without cooling, CPUs
heat up at extreme rates (a CPU heats up anywhere between tentimes and a thousand times as fast as a cooking area
on your stove!) By the time you seethe first display on the screen, your CPU will already be severely overheating
and might be damaged beyond repair.
2.Mounting the CPU cooler improperly. Read the instructions that came with your CPUand cooler very carefully
and ensure you are using all components in the correct order and correct place.
If you buy a third party cooling solution for your CPU make sure you get one that is compatiblewith the CPU you
have. Most brands come with multiple mounting brackets that will suit manydifferent chipsets, but it's best to check
for compatibility just in case.
If using thermal paste, apply it only to the CPU die (the square piece of silicon in the middle of the CPU) and do so
sparingly -- most modern CPUs take no more than a dab of thermal paste thesize of a grain of rice. Some people do
like to wipe some onto the heatsink's surface and thenwipe it smoothly off so that bits of it may get into tiny holes
for better heat transfer. See ArcticSilver Instructionsfor more info on how to apply and remove thermal paste/grease.
(It waswritten to b e specifically for Arctic S ilver paste, b ut the same techniques canbe applied to other brands of
thermal paste.)
If using a thermal pad supplied with your cooler, make sure you remove any protective tape fromthe die just before
installing and do not get it dirty - and do not combine thermal pads withthermal paste, it's either one or the other.
Then, check that you install the cooler in the rightorientation and that you set it flat on the CPU die without exerting
undue pressure on any edgesor corners - the latter can make small pieces of the die break off, killing the CPU.
One option you may consider, before installing the heatsink, is to "lap" the heatsink, whichmeans to smooth out the
bottom surface. To do this, you will need a very flat surface; a piece of thick window glass will work. Fasten your
sandpaper on the flat surface, invert the heatsink onthe sandpaper and sand in small circles, applying minimum
pressure. Check frequently and whenyou see a uniform pattern of scratches, switch to finer grained sandpaper (the
numbers go up asthe sandpaper is finer, so something such as220is coarse while2000will be very fine.)
Remember that you are not trying to remove any material, just polish out surface irregularities. If you get it right,
you should have a surface which feels completely smooth to the touch (but don¶ttouch it, the oil in your fingers can
cause corrosion of the fresh surface) with a mirror finish.Some companies producing heatsinks lap the surface
themselves, so if the surface already lookslike a perfect mirror, leave it alone. A lapped heatsink is more effective as
it will have better surface contact with the chip.
Tighten the cooler using only the specified holding devices - if you did everything right, theywill fit. If they don't fit,
check your setup - most likely something is wrong. After mounting thecooler, connect any power cables for the fan
that is attached to the cooler.
As an aside to the instructions above, it has been my personal experience that fitting the CPU andheat sink is best
done on a supportive surface (a telephone directory on a table in my case) prior to installation, to avoid excessive
flexing of the motherboard.
If you've got the CPU and its cooler installed, and the motherboard in the case, you¶re over thehump, there just a
few more easy pieces to go before that momentous first power-up.
Server
The server is used quite broadly ininformation technology. Despite the many Server branded products available
(such as Server editions of Hardware, Software and/or Operating Systems), intheory any computerised process that
shares a resource to one or more client processes is aServer. To illustrate this, take the common example of File

4. Sharing. While the existence of fileson a machine does not classify it as a server, the mechanism which shares
thesefiles to clients bythe operating system is the Server.
Similarly, consider a web server application (such as themultiplatform"Apache HTTP Server "). This web server
software can be run on any capablecomputer . For example, while alaptopor Personal Computer is not typically
known as a server, they can in these situations fulfil the roleof one, and hence be labelled as one. It is in this case
that the machine's purpose as aweb server classifies it in general as a Server
.In the hardware sense, the word server typically designates computer models intended for runningsoftware
applicationsunder the heavy demand of anetwork environment. In thisclient± server configuration one or more
machines, either a computer or acomputer appliance, share information with each other with one acting as ahostfor
the other.
While nearly any personal computer is capable of acting as a network server, adedicated server will contain
features making it more suitable for production environments. These features mayinclude a faster CPU, increased
high-performanceRAM, and typically more than one largehard drive. More obvious distinctions include
markedredundancyin power supplies, network connections, and even the servers themselves.
Between the 1990s and2000s an increase in the use of dedicated hardwaresaw the advent of self-containedserver
appliancesOne well-known product is theGoogle Search Appliance, aunit which combines hardware and software in
an out-of-the-box packaging. Simpler examplesof such appliances includeswitches,routers,gateways, and print
server , all of which are available in a near plug-and-playconfiguration.
Modernoperating systemssuch asMicrosoft Windowsor Linux distributionsrightfully seem to be designed with
aclient±server architecture in mind. These OSes attempt toabstract hardware, allowing a wide variety of software to
work with components of the computer. In a sense, theoperating system can be seen as
serving hardware to the software, which in all butlow-level programming languagesmust interact using anAPI.
These operating systems may be able to run programs in the background called either servicesor daemons. Such
programs may wait in asleep statefor their necessity to become apparent, such as the aforementioned
Apache HTTP Server software. Since any software which providesservices can be
called a server, modern personal computers can be seen as a forest of servers andclients operating in parallel.
TheInternetitself is also a forest of servers and clients. Merely requesting aweb pagefrom a few kilometers away
involves satisfying astack of protocolswhich involve many examples of hardware and software servers. The least of
these are therouters,modems,domain name servers, and various other servers necessary to provide us theworld wide
web.
Switched-mode power supply
Aswitched-mode power supply(switching-mode power supply/SMPS, or simplyswitcher)is an electronic power supplyunit
(PSU) that incorporates a switching regulator in order to provide the required output voltage. An SMPS is a power
converter that transmits power from asource (e.g., a battery or the electrical power grid) to a load (e.g., a personal
computer). Thefunction of the converter is to provide a regulated output voltage usually at a different level fromthe
input voltage.
Unlike a linear power supply, the pass transistor of a switching mode supply switches veryquickly (typically
between 50kHz and 1 MHz) between full-on and full-off states, whichminimizes wasted energy. Voltage regulation
is provided by varying the ratio of on to off time.In contrast, a linear power supply must dissipate the excess voltage
to regulate the output. Thishigher efficiency is the chief advantage of a switch-mode power supply.
Switching regulators are used as replacements for the linear regulators when higher efficiency,smaller size or lighter
weight are required. They are, however, more complicated, their switchingcurrents can cause electrical noise
problems if not carefully suppressed, and simple designs mayhave a poor power factor .