Building the Perfect PC

Final Words

We’ve done our best in this chapter to tell you what components to buy for your new PC and where and how to buy them. The specific components you need will differ according to the type of system you plan to build. We describe how to make component-specific decisions in later chapters in this book. So before you actually start ordering components, you might want to read some (or all) of those chapters.

When the components arrive, restrain yourself. Don’t start building your system before the FedEx truck even pulls out of your driveway, particularly if this is your first system build. Read or reread the relevant project chapter.

One thing you should do immediately, though, is to check the contents of the boxes that were just delivered. Verify what you ordered against the packing list and invoice, and verify what’s actually in the box against those documents. Usually everything will be right, but if you have components coming from different sources, you don’t want to wait a week before you find out that an early shipment was wrong or incomplete.

Take it a step further. Once you’ve verified that everything is correct with the order, start opening the individual component boxes. Look for a packing list in the front of the manual, and make sure that you actually received everything that was supposed to be in the box. It’s not uncommon for small parts—mounting hardware, cables, driver CDs, and so on—to be missing. If that happens, call the vendor immediately and tell them what’s ...