On March 10, 2008, Class seven started a two-day project on building a PC computer. We were put into ten groups of five or six. Within these groups, we rotated the jobs of technician (computer builder), web page builder, and photographer/runner every three steps. Group eight, The Aliens, consists of AG, CR, CS, GS, and KC. Here is a picture of our group:

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Step 1 of building our computer: Inserting the CPU

• The CPU stands for Central Processing Unit
• This is where all of the computer's comands are processed, it is the "brain" of the computer
• The CPU attaches to the motherboard
• To attach the CPU to the motherboard, we lined up the gold corners and it fell into place. Locking it down was a bit harder. We were afraid to push hard on the lock because we did not want to break it, but Mr. B said it would not break. After a little more force, it locked down.

Step 2 of building our computer: Inserting the heat sync

• We placed the heat sink ontop of the CPU
• It acts like a fan to cool the equipment down
• We pushed really hard on the latch inorder to get it in a secure position

Step 3 of building our computer: Installing the motherboard

• The motherboard gives a place for everything to attatch to
• It is the main central unit and allows everything to function properly
• We screwed down "platform" screws that the motherboard would sit ontop of
• Then we placed the motherboard on top and screwed more screws through motherboard and into the "platform" screws

Step 4 of building our computer: Putting in the floppy drive

• The floppy drive is short for the floppy disk drive (FDD)
• The floppy drive is a disk drive that can read and write to floppy disks
• We slid the floppy disk drive into a slot in the front of the computer. Then we screwed it down on the top and bottom to make sure it doesn't move

Step 5 of building our computer: Installing the hard drive

• The hard drive is a disk drive that can read and write to hard disks
• The hard drive is located under the floppy disk drive
• We slid the hard drive into the slot next to the floppy disk and screwed it down

Step 6 of building our computer: Installing the CD drive

• The CD drive reads data onto DVD's and disks
• The CD drive is also known as the optical drive

Step 7 of building our computer: Inserting the memory card

• RAM=Random Access Memory
• ROM=Read Only Memory
• We inserted the memory card into a slot on the mother board

Step 8 of building our computer: Installing the Power Supply

• The Power Supply supplies power needed to perform other function in the computer
• It provides energy that makes everything do its function
• We screwed the power supply box into the side of the monitor. These cables from the power supply will later be conneccted to the floppy disk, the hard drive, motherboard, heat sink, CD drive, and anything else inside the monitot to give them power so they will work

Step 9 of building our computer: Connecting cables to the motherboard

• This transfers power and data from the power supply to the motherboard
• It provides energy that makes everything do it's function
• We conected one of the sets of the cables to the motherboard to give it power. With out power in the motherboard, no other equipment will function

Step 10 of building our computer: Attaching ribbon cables to the CD drive then to the floppy drive

• Transfers out data from the CD drive, floppy drive, or the hard drive to and from the motherboard
• We attached one side of the ribbon cable to the motherboard and the other to either the CD drive, floppy drive, aor the hard drive

Step 11 of building our computer: Attaching Ribbon Cables to Motherboard

• We attached the ribbon cables from the CD drive, hard drive, and floppy disk to the motherboard

Step 12 of building our computer: Connecting the cable from the power supply to the hard drive and the floppy drive

• We connected the cables from the power supply to the hard drive and the floppy drive
• With out power to the hard drive and floppy drive, they are not able to run because they won't recieve any power

Step 13 of building our computer: Tucking away cables

Step 14 of building our computer: Connecting cables from the heat sync fan to the motherboard.

Step 15 of building our computer: Inserting the sound card into the 3rd of 5 PCI slots

Step 16 of building our computer: Inserting the Ethernet card into the fourth PCI.

Step 17 of building our computer: Inserting the video card into the black AGP slot

Step 18 of building our computer: Screwing in all cards to the case with the hexagonal screws

Step 19 of building our computer: OUR LAST STEP! We brought our finsihed computer up to the front table for inspection

Last updated 09.09.06

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