Working Inside Your PC

If you've never opened up a computer before, it can be pretty overwhelming. In this section, I'm going to help you get started with practical advice on how to

  • Open the case.

  • Protect your system against electrostatic discharge (ESD).

  • Connect internal and external data cables.

  • Install a PCI card.

Some systems can transfer CD music through the standard ATA/IDE cable and don't require a separate patch cable. If you can play music CDs through your speakers and your system doesn't use analog or digital audio cables, don't worry about it. Most CD-ROM and other types of optical drives include analog or digital audio cables, but if you ...

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