Can I 13 year old with little knowledge build a gaming pc?

[jack_269]

I'm 13, and although I've already heard some people say that "anybody can build a computer", is this really true? Or does it take a tech wiz to build it? Are these cases when kids are building desktops 1 in a million?

 

[Supahos]

Anyone can if you have some patence some brains and a tiny bit of tech or mechanical experience. There are literally hundreds of YouTube videos showing how it all goes. Just follow along. I was 14-15 when I built my first from scratch.

 

[Wolfshadw]

While the first time may be a bit nerve-wracking, once you get past that, it is fairly easy to build a PC yourself. There is no age requirement. I've read, here on Tom's, people younger than you (with parental supervision), building systems.

Yeah. You can do it.

Watch a few videos.
Read the manuals.
Ask questions (that's why we're here!).
There's no deadline, so take your time.

-Wolf sends

Edit:

Newegg - How to build a PC Part 1
Newegg - How to build a PC Part 2

 

[SchizTech]

It's not rocket science. Make sure the parts are compatible (this info is widely available, and pcpartpicker.com is pretty good at checking against common compatibility concerns). The actual assembly then is a bit like putting lego bricks together. Mostly it's putting the pieces into the right slots in the motherboard. The CPU and RAM can be placed outside of the case, as the heatsink might be easier to put on this way and once installed you can slip the board into the case handling it by the heatsink.

There's a rear shield that just pops into a cutout in the back of the case to cover the area around the ports in the rear of the board (this goes in before the board). Once the board is screwed down it's just sliding any cards into place, putting the power, USB, audio and front panel cables on the board as well as SATA cables from hard drive or SSD and optical drive (if any).

Observe basic precautions - working on an insulated surface and ground yourself by touching a metal surface should suffice to protect the parts from shock. Make sure there are standoffs (little extensions from the back plate in the case that space the board from the metal beneath) and that these match the hole locations but there are no others that don't line up with the mounting holes. Most obviously, never plug or unplug components while there's power in the system.

Once all together, power it on and assuming it starts, boot from a windows install disk to start the installation process. When windows is done, take out that disk or flash drive and put in the motherboard driver disk (and graphics driver disk if including a card) to get everything working in Windows.

 

[4745454b]

When I was 6 or 7 I was helping my dad swap motherboards. (I had smaller hands so it made sense.) By your age I could build one myself with ease. I vote you start like I did, with your dad. Who lets face it will probably be paying for most of this in some way. Get some parts, watch some videos, spend a Saturday putting parts together. Trust me. It's totally worth it.

 

[Carnaxus]

and once installed you can slip the board into the case handling it by the heatsink.

Everything you said is great advice except for this. Never put extra stress on the heatsink or the retention clip; that's a great way to break your motherboard. Always hold your motherboard directly when installing it; I usually hold it by the edge opposite the ports and lay it almost in place, then gently push it to where the ports are in position and the mounting holes are lined up with the standoffs.