Build a Simple PC for $300…

A couple of weeks ago, I had a client and his wife contact me and mention that he wanted to replace their desktop computer. They had a Dell that was about 8 years old. After his wife would use her new MacBook and then try to use that computer, she was tempted to toss it out the window.

Mostly this computer is going to be used for email, internet, and remote access to the client’s office. As such, I wanted to find a small, energy efficient box that would last another 8 years before replacement. Here is what I found:

• Barebones PC – I picked up the MSI Wind mini-computer. This little computer has slots for an optical (DVD/CD) drive, a hard disk drive, a stick of RAM, and a compact flash card slot. The PC has a Intel Atom processor already installed. This means it is extremely energy efficient since the Atom is typically found in Netbook computers. In terms of ports, it has 6 USB (2 front, 4 back), a VGA for the monitor, headphone jacks for up to 8.1 surround sound, and a network jack.
• Optical drive – I got a Samsung SATA CD/DVD burner. This particular version is called an OEM drive. What that means is it does not have a box, instructions, or cables with it. It was wrapped in bubble wrap. The PC already had all the cables we needed (power and SATA), so the OEM works great and its cheaper!
• Hard disk drive (HDD) – Once again, I picked up the OEM version because no cables were needed. I got a Western Digital Caviar Blue 640Gb HDD. This will be big enough to last a long time. My clients aren’t planning on downloading high definition movies so they should be fine. If they ever needed more space, they could add an external HDD via one of the USB ports.
• Random access memory (RAM) – I got 2 Gb of G.Skill RAM. RAM is the temporary memory that holds any programs currently in use. This differs from the HDD memory which stores things permanently. The RAM is crucial when you have multiple things going on and the more you have, the better. This computer takes up to 2Gb, so that is what we put in.

IMPORTANT NOTE: There is one thing that will kill a computer faster than anything else and it is completely preventable: STATIC SHOCK. While that little zap that happens when you touch a doorknob tickles a little for you, it is like the electric chair for sensitive electronics like RAM, HDD, and processors. Be sure to ground yourself regularly by touching the screw on a light switch plate, a metal railing, or a plugged in lamp. For extra protection, you can also buy a anti-static wrist band that has a cord to connect to a grounded object.

Getting started, here are all the components I was about to assemble. You can see the power cord and the stand that holds the PC vertical on the upper left next to the PC in the upper right. Left to right across the bottom are the optical drive, HDD, and the RAM.

We start off by opening the case of the PC. There are two silver screws that look like the one below. Once you have removed those, pull the little handle which juts out and can be seen in the left of the below picture.

Here is what you see once you have the case open. We’ll check this out more in a bit, but first let’s remove the front panel. You have to lift the three tabs at the top of the picture gently and tilt the face at a 45 degree angle. It should pop off. Just be careful and don’t force it.

Once you’ve removed it, you can remove the optical drive cover as shown below. If you didn’t need an optical drive, you could add a second hard drive or a number of other components there instead.

On the silver part under the front panel, you need to remove a screw at each end which holds the drive tray in place.

You will gently slide the tray and it should come out. Carefully disconnect the cord that connects to the board and remember which plug it goes into. If you forget, there is a diagram in the instruction booklet that comes with the PC.

Here is the 2Gb stick of RAM. This RAM is laptop RAM and should be easy to insert in the PC. Note the notch that will guide you on which direction to insert the RAM. Remember to ground yourself or put on your anti-static wristband since this is the first really sensitive item you will be touching.

You can see the notch lined up. Press the RAM firmly into the slot and tilt it in the direction shown by the red arrow. It should lock

The clips at each end should lock securely onto the sides of the RAM. Once in place, it should not move much, if at all.

Here is the HDD. Once again, be sure to discharge your static before taking the HDD out of its anti-static bag. Find the slot that it fits snugly in in the drive rack.

Tighten the screws down firmly, but don’t over tighten them. Getting them firm will reduce vibrations which cause noise and wear on the HDD. Over tightening them could strip out the screws causing the HDD to vibrate.

We can also install the optical drive in its slot. Snug the screws in the same fashion. The optical drive has two spots for the drive to go. It is recommended that you test out your particular drive to be sure it will not protrude from the PC or have a gap around it.

This is the compact flash slot, located under the HDD (when the drive rack is re-inserted). To speed up the system even further, it is possible to put an 8Gb Compact Flash card in, thereby giving you a solid state drive (SSD) with no moving parts meaning no vibrations or noise. This will also speed up your computer a fair amount. The drawback is that this will only really hold the main operating system, so you will have to be sure to store all your files on the HDD.

This is not recommended for beginners since it would involve custom partitions if installing Linux or an even more convoluted step up in Windows. If anyone has any pointers, throw them in the comments.

Here was the only frustrating point in the building process for me. When re-inserting the drive rack, the two lips below manage to catch on each other. It took me awhile to figure out what the catch was.

Once in place, you can connect the SATA and power cables to the HDD and optical drive. Here are the connectors before the cables are attached.

Here is the HDD with the cables attached. Just be sure to check out the routing of the cables so they don’t interfere with the fan at the back.

At this point, you can reassemble the case and plug in the external power adapter. Having the power adaptor be external is nice as it keeps the noise and heat down further.

The machine is known to run both Windows and Ubuntu like a breeze. I installed Ubuntu for my clients since it was free and it runs like a gem on this PC. You can read about the benefits and drawback of various operating systems at my prior post on that subject.

When I wrote this article, all these parts as listed cost less than $300 with shipping included. However, if you want a computer like this, but you think it might be overwhelming to build it yourself, you can contact The Digitante by clicking on the Google Voice widget over to the right or you can head over to the About page to send an email.