The pictures that I have took were from my camera, not really good pictures I know but if you read and follow what im saying, along with good ol common sense, youll be in great shape.
Ok, that computer that we will be building today is very basic. Nothing more than this:
1. Standard atx mid tower case W/built in 300 Watt Atx POwer supply.
2. Mini atx Motherboard with onboard Lan, Sound, and video.
3. One stick of 256mb DDR 2700 Ram (184pin)
4. Retail AMD Socket 754 Semperon Processor. (Heatsink and fan Included)
5. Standard CD-Rom drive. (52X I think.....Yeah 1337!)
6. Generic Black 1.44mb Floppy Drive.
7. Samsung 40GB IDE Hard Drive 7200 RPM 8MB Cache.
8. CrUsH's Monster computer building hands...
This is basically all a noob would need to do basic things. Some of you will not read beyond this point. Again, this is the beginners tutorial. Some of you that have already built a computer but want more advanced techniques you will really have to check out my "Advanced" tutorial when I build my own Rig.
First things first, before you ever, ever start a computer build you make sure you have all the right components. At this time I usually lay everything out on the counter and make sure everything I am going to need for this build is on the bench.
Ok, now that we have everything on the bench ready to go lets put everything off to the side except for a couple things. Lets focus on the Motherboard, Processor, and ram right now. Open each of these things from the packaging and lay them out on the counter. All motherboards are diff and this tutorial will differ if you are not installing a 478pin P4. Keep that in mind. However there are a couple basics that will apply in every situation and that is what im going to mainly cover.
If you look at the picture you will see the "key" in where the pins dont go all the way to the corner like the other corners have. And if you look on the motherboard where the cpu goes you will see the simular layout. Remember when you were little and you put the cylinder in the hole and the star shape with the same cutout? This is basically the same but with 478 pins.... Lift up the lever on the side of the socket in the "up" possition. and then insert the cpu in the socket.
Note: You should never have to force the cpu in the socket, it would be very easy to bend some pins and make your job allot harder. If it doesnt go in easy, then you most likely not putting it in correctly.
After that install the Heatsink for the cpu. If you buy a retail cpu in box it should come with a heatsink and fan. Read the directions for installation as some might be diff. One quick pointer though: When securing the heatsink and fan if it isnt securing properly then check to see if the fins of the heatsink are hitting the plastic on the bottom sides.
Next, install the ram. In this project we are installing 184pin DIMMs (Drop In Memory Modules) They have a "notch" where one side of the stick has more pins then the other. You will see the same kind of notch on the slot which makes for a easy install. DIMM slot 0 or DIMM slot 1 will be closer to the cpu. If you are installing one stick of ram put it in slot 0 or 1 whichever is the first one. If you have a duel channel motherboard refer to your motherboard manual as some duel channel setups are diff.
When installing ram you must open the Levers. Line up the stick of ram and put into the slot. You are going to actually have to put some presure on this to get it in. But you will know when it is installed because the "levers" will snap into place to hold the stick in place.
Ok, at this point we have everything we need to get this party started. If you do not have onboard video then you should install the card now. This board has onboard video so I dont even have to worry about it. I will hook this board up to a power supply, hooking up the two power connectors on the motherboard the 20 and 4 pin connector. Newer motherboards use 24 pin main connectors. Then im going to hook up my video output, keyboard, and mouse. Then connect the power to the PSU and im going to manually start the computer by shorting the Power Switch pins on the motherboard. If you dont know where these are then check your motherboard manual.
The reason I do this is for two very important reasons.
1. To make sure teh leet hardware is working. If you have a bad cpu, or ram you will know. And most of the time the motherboard. This saves you from headaches later I promise.
2. To tweak your bios ( setting the time and date, changing boot order, checking health status)
Ok, now that we have a working mainboard, cpu, and ram, we need to put it in its rightfull place. At this point we will prep the case. We are going to be doing two very simple things to prep our case.
1. Inserting the I/0 Plate.
2. Installing motherboard posts.
I install the I/0 plate first, you will find that in the motherboards box. Cases usually have a temp one already in. If thats the case take it out and then install the new one. Usually just snaps into place. Your keyboard and mouse will be the two conponents on the top or furthest from you when you install it.
After installing that you will need to put the posts in. If im working on a motherboard in not fimiliar with I will quickly lay it down inside the case putting it up with the I/0 Plate to check where the motherboard posts need to go. After that I just twist them in with my fingers.
Ok after we have those installed we can gently put teh motherboard in its case. Double check to make sure all the holes line up with posts and then start screwing them in. I usally get all the screws started before actually tighting any of them all the way down. You DONT want to overtighen them like a tiger........
Next I hook up case wires. These wires connect your case with your motherboard and tell it to do things like Restarting, Power Switch, Hard drive activity light, etc....
Cant exactly go too far into detail on this because every motherboard is different. The mainthing is being able to follow instructions in the manual. Most pins are only two wires, one positive and one negitive. If you have them backwards they will not work.
USB headers come in a four pin flavor. And are usually colored in order "Red, White, Green, Black" Which is the positive, two data channels, and a negitive. The motherboard manual will tell you to put what where and the wires will be marked.
Wire managment as we go also.......
Ok, at this time we are going to put the Optical drive, the floppy drive, and the hard drive in the system. But in order to put them in first we will need to pop out a couple "face plates" which just pop out really easy. as you can see in the pic. Some cases might be diff.
After we do that we will slide each device in their respective hole in the case and secure them with screws, dont forget to screw them in on the other side of the case too! We are nearly done!
Ok, now that we have all our devices in the case we only have two more things to do, yay! When connecting the IDE devices make sure you are thinking about where youare going to "hide" the excess cable. Nobody likes to see anything sloppy. I take pride in every case I build, even the nooobish ones.
Make sure you are connecting your hard drive on the "Primary" channel on your motherboard and the optical drive on the "Secondary" channel. The floppy is special and gets its own channel haha.
Once you have hooked up the cables and you are confident in your hiding capibilities, then its time to wrap this joint up. Lets connect the power connectors. The main power connector in the computer build has been the Standard 4 pin molex connector. This will connect to your Optical Drive and Hard drive. Your floppy will get a small 4 pin connector, and your motherboard will (if its newer) either use 20 and a 4 pin or a 24 and 4 pin. Make sure you have the right power suppply for the job.
If you have the wrong connectors its not a problem, they have 20 to 24 pin adapters and if you have a power supply with a 24 pin connector usually the last 4 pins will slide off if you need a 20.
After you have all that completed and you are happy with your zip tie job then you are ready to put the side back on the case and install your Operating System! Congrats!
Darkstar, pun, and anybody else, any tips you can add put them up. Any questions can get put up here and will be addressed Thanks for reading!
, and generally cool s**t like pre release hype and info for EMZ type stuff and maybe even some shout outs! I would love to write it for the clan if need be. I would just need to compile some articles together and get a distribution list to make it happen. 
