Building a PC for Dummies by Mark L. Chambers

From the Back Cover

Build and customize your own PC from start to finish!

By buying components and assembling them yourself, you can save a little money and gain a lifetime of free technical support. Building a PC for Dummies removes the intimidation factor from building your own Intel-based personal computer, explains what you need, and shows you how to put everything together. It's a fine place to start if you've never assembled your own machine before and want to give the process a try.

Author Mark L. Chambers describes what to look for when shopping for components, but he refrains from recommending any specific models or manufacturers. Building a PC for Dummies would be stronger if he had made such recommendations, the way Tom's Hardware Guide does. Even without a specific shopping list, this book makes it possible for a novice computer builder to make informed decisions about motherboards, processors, storage devices, expansion cards, and input devices.

Chambers presents the assembly process logically, explaining how to install a component or two at a time while performing incremental testing. He includes troubleshooting information in each component's section, but it's odd that he puts his discussion of operating systems in an appendix--most system builders will want to see their creations run as soon as possible.

From the author

The second edition of my book has been expanded with information about the latest hardware, including Pentium II and III processors, AGP video, CD-RW, 3D audio and much more!

Building a PC for Dummies explains what you need to know to assemble your own multimedia PC, including how to use "scavenged" parts to cut the cost of your computer even more! Each chapter covers a specific part of your PC completely, so you can make the right choice when shopping for new hardware. I also provide a general set of step-by-step instructions that will familiarize you with the installation process for each part.

Unlike other books of this type, Building a PC for Dummies doesn't stop after you've built a standard multimedia PC - instead, additional chapters address advanced hardware like SCSI, peer-to-peer networking and ISDN, so you can create the ultimate power user PC.

All of this information is provided in the popular Dummies style, making the book a great reference for later projects as well!

Thanks -- and good luck on your next PC project!