learning to build

[tad214]

hello.

i am wanting to start learning how to build computers.

could anyone tell me what would be a good little cheap

motherboard that is upgradeable that i can play with

in the process of learning. i will be using a at form

factor box. i want it to be a very cheap little board

so if i break something (which i am sure i will) it will

not be no big deal. i have found a lot of little cheap

ones on e-bay, but i am not sure which is a good one to

start with. just basically something that will allow me

to upgrade it a little, and still be learning in the

process. thanks a lot. p.s. i need all the help i can

recieve, so there is no limit on replies. god bless, dale

[Paleo Pete]

Check prices and availability at CSO (http://www.computersurplusoutlet.com) and PriceWatch (http://www.pricewatch.com)

They usually have some good deals. Some brands that have a good reputation:

Epox, Asus, DTK, MicroStar, Soyo. Several others are around, I can't remember them right now.

If you want to learn and not risk a lot of money, you might check around at resale shops and such for older, obsolete machines and tinker with them. It may be only a 386 or so, but you can learn how to deal with installing cards, swapping hard drives, motherboard installation and configurations, BIOS, etc, and not throw several hundred dollars out the window if you crash it. I learned on XT machines, and gradually managed to get to the point I talked my sister through a complete rebuild on the phone a few months ago. From a pile of parts on the table to a working Win 98 machine. And she'd never seen the inside of a computer except for when I worked on one at her house.

The older machines use DOS, but that's a good thing to learn too, sure helps to know what you're doing when you have to fdisk and format a hard drive. Plus you can look around a bit and find some neat old games that few people even remember, and learn what computers were like before Micro$oft came up with Windows. I crashed a couple in the learning process, but wasn't out more than $5 at a time. By the time I had to rebuild mine, I knew exactly how to do it and had little fear of wiping out $500 worth of components.

Also take a look at my site posted below. Several good links there pertaining to building your own computer and using DOS. Check around in the resale shops as well for books, you'd be amazed what you can find for under $2 at Goodwill stores etc. I have all kinds of books on DOS, Windows 3.11, Lotus, Word 97, MS Publisher, PFS Window Works, MS Works, Word Perfect, and a lot of software to go with them. Never paid more than $2 for any of it. The local library should have a good selection of books too. But you can't keep them...

------------------
If you had everything...Where would you put it?

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)