Building the System
With all the components in hand, it’s time to start building the system. If you’ve built systems before, you may be able to complete a simple system in a couple of hours, and even a complex system should take only an evening to build. If this is your first system, plan to assemble, configure, and test it over a weekend. Choose a well-lighted work area (the kitchen table is traditional) and lay out all of your components. We use old towels to protect the surface of the table. Observe anti-static precautions throughout.
Tip
Many of the following steps may be done in whatever order is convenient. You may, for example, install the motherboard before the drives (although, having once dropped a drive on an installed motherboard, we prefer to install the drives first). Case design and motherboard layout determine the most logical order of steps, and may mandate doing things in a slightly different order than that listed here. Use your best judgment. Many of the complex steps—such as setting drive jumpers—are described in more detail in the relevant chapter.
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