How to assemble

and disassemble a
computer
 What is assembling a PC?
Assembling a PC means connecting different components of a computer so that users
can use the PC or computer.

How to assemble and disassemble a Computer

How to assemble a Computer step by step
Here, you will learn to connect various computer parts. I divided the entire assembly
process into two parts with the aim that, you can easily understand the PC assembly
process step by step.

To begin with assembling, in the first part, you will learn the assembly process of
CPU with different CPU components.

And in the second part, you will learn the assembly process of a computer by using
the standard devices of the computer system.

You can read to know more about different parts of the CPU and the basic parts of
the computer system.

Part1: How to assemble a CPU step by step

This part is all about CPU assembling. Specifically, you have to be very careful with this
process.

Following are the steps to assemble CPU:

1. Take Inventory
2. Make space and time
3. Prepare your CPU case
4. Install motherboard
5. Install the processor
6. Install the processor heat sink
7. Install the RAM
8. Install SMPS
9. Install the HDD
10. Install CD/DVD drive
11. Connect Expansion cards
12. Install SYS/Rear cooling fan
13. Bus cable connection
14. Power Cable connection
15. Front Panel connector connection

1. Take Inventory: 

Before you start, take inventory of your parts. Make sure you have the following
components and tools with you.

1. Case/ Tower/Cabinet
2. Motherboard
3. Processor
4. HeatSink and CPU Fan
5. SMPS
6. Hard disk drive
7. CD/ DVD drive
8. RAM
9. CMOS Battery
10. A good screwdriver sets

2. Make Space, Make Time: 

Building a PC takes space. You can use your dining room table to build your PC. So,
make sure you have plenty of working space and a few hours to proceed with minimal
interruption. You must work on a flat, stable tabletop surface or bare floor, where you
have room to lay out all of the items, to begin with, assemble.
 3. Prepare your CPU cabinet:

Now it is time to prepare the case. Remove the case cover from the CPU cabinet.

You need to check Screw brass standoffs are perfectly placed or not. If it is not in a
proper position, in that case, you need to position them accurately. (always check the
manual and follow their instructions)

4. INSTALL THE MOTHERBOARD:

Fig: motherboard and Back panel cover

You must take great care, especially when installing the motherboard. First, remove the
motherboard of its packaging and put it on top of the antistatic bag it came in.
Remember, you always want to safeguard your components from potentially hazardous
static electricity.

1. You need to secure the motherboard onto the PC case/chassis and inspect carefully for
any visible defects.
2. Next, review the motherboard handbook, to make sure you are familiar with the
motherboard layout and understand which socket is which. Manuals are immensely
helpful, usually easy to read, and include illustrations instructions.
3. Check the layout of the sockets on the motherboard. And confirm that the ports on your
motherboard’s back panel match the holes on the case’s Input/output (I/O) shield
installed in your case. If it is necessary, then remove the old I/O shield by tapping it
firmly a few times with the thicker end of a screwdriver. And then replace it with the
shield that came with the new motherboard.
4. You need carefully position the motherboard on top of the brass standoffs. After that
line up all the holes, use the screws that accompanied the case to fasten down the
motherboard.
5. Don’t forget to place the CMOS in the proper position.

5. INSTALL THE PROCESSOR (CPU):

Fig: CPU placement

1. Use the unlocking mechanism to open the CPU socket which is, usually a lever.
2. Carefully line up the pins and place the chip in its socket; it will fit only when oriented
correctly. An arrow or a missing pin on one corner of the chip will show you how to line
things up.
3. Align with the triangular symbol with the processor and socket key marks, as shown in
the Figure.
4. Lower the lever to lock the CPU into place.
 6. INSTALL THE CPU HEAT SINK:

You should follow the manufacturer instructions to install the heat sink and the cooling
fan. If you bought an OEM CPU and a separate heat sink, then you need to spread a thin
layer of the thermal grease over the chip. The thermal grease ensures proper transfer of
heat.

There are some heat sinks that come with this grease already applied. In that case, you
don’t need to use thermal grease over the chip.

1. Attach the clip that holds the heat sink in place, keeping in mind that it may require a
fair amount of force. Again, follow the instructions that came with the heat sink. They
will show you how to fit it correctly. If you are in doubt, you can visit the manufacturer’s
website for more information.
2. Plug the CPU fan’s power connector into the proper connector on the motherboard.

7. INSTALL RAM MEMORY:

Fig
: Install RAM

1. Unlock the two tabs from both ends of the RAM slot.
2. To install the RAM, insert them into the proper sockets and push down firmly but evenly
until the clips on both sides of the socket pop into place. If your motherboard supports
 dual-channel memory, consult the user manual to determine which pairs of RAM
sockets you should use.

8. Install the Power Supply Unit (SMPS):

Fig
: Install Power supply unit (SMPS)

1. Place the SMPS inside the CPU cabinet in the proper position. If you are not able to find
the correct location, then check the manual.
2. Final steps, to install SMPS, you need to tighten the screw to secure the SMPS to the
case.

9. To install HDD:

You can see a 3.5 inch bay inside the CPU cabinet. If you are unable to find it, then check
the manual of the case to identify the bay location.

Place the HDD inside the bay properly and tighten the screw.
 Fig
: Install drives

10. To install CD/DVD:

You can see a 5.25 inch bay inside the CPU cabinet. If you are unable to find it, check the
manual of the case to identify the bay location.

Place the CD/DVD inside the CPU cabinet to align with the 5.25-inch bay. And, finally,
you need to tighten all the screws to hold firmly.

11. Install Expansion cards:

Expansion cards help to increase the functionality of your computer. You can place
Expansion cards on the motherboard.
 Fig
: Install Expansion Cards

PCI compatible expansion cards can place on the PCI slots of the motherboard.

PCI-e compatible expansion cards can place on the PCI-e slots of the motherboard.

Video cards or graphics cards can place on the AGP slot of the motherboard.

You must know about various parts of a motherboard such that, you can effortlessly
identify the different connectors.

12. Install Sys/Rear cooling fan:

Cooling Fans

Find the location where you can place the Sys/Rear cooling Fan. Generally, SYS/Rear
cooling can place below the SMPS. 
 Fig
: Cooling fans

13. Bus cable connection:

Amazingly, bus cable or data cable connections are prime connections. Bus cable helps
to share information or data between the storage device and motherboard.

sata-pata bus and

connector

If your motherboard has a SATA Bus connector, then you need to use SATA cables.
AND if your motherboard has a PATA Bus connector, then you can use PATA
cable or IDE cable.

In general, two bus cables need to connect inside the CPU. First, Bus cable connects the
HDD and motherboard. And the second Bus cable connects the CD/DVD drive and
motherboard.

14. Power Cable connection:

 Fig
: Cable connection

This one is the final step of assembling a CPU. You need to provide power to the
different parts of the CPU. Plug the ATX power connector from your power supply into
the matching port on your motherboard.

1. You can find a 20/24 pins ATX power connector port on the motherboard. The 20/24
pins ATX power connector cable coming from SMPS needs to connect here. Check the
lock system in both ends of the connector and the port, and place it properly. As always,
refer to your motherboard’s manual for the exact locations.
2. There is another 4-pins ATX power connector port, you can find on the motherboard.
You can locate this port near the processor socket.  You must connect the 4-pins power
connector in this port properly.

15. Front Panel connector connection:

Use your motherboard user manual and find the description of front-panel connectors.

First, Attach each of the tiny leads from the power and reset switches. After that, the
hard-disk activity lights, the PC speaker, and any front-panel USB to the corresponding
pin on your motherboard.

Part2: How to assemble PC

 This one is the final part of assembling a computer system.

1. Check your keyboard connector port. If it is a USB connector, then connect your
keyboard into the proper USB port. And if it is a PS/2 connector, then connect to the
correct, PS/2 port.
2. Same steps you need to follow to connect your mouse into the proper port.
3. You require a VGA (Video Graphic Array) cable to connect the monitor and CPU. Find
the 15 pins male connector on the backside of the CPU cabinet and your monitor. Use
the VGA cable to connect the CPU cabinet and the monitor. Finally, you need to tighten
the lock screws.
4. If you have a speaker, you can connect the speaker on the backside of your CPU cabinet.
To get sound from the speaker, you need to plug the speaker’s cable with the Aux port.
5. And if you have a printer, you can connect the printer on the backside of your CPU
cabinet. These days, you can connect your speaker BUS cable on the USB port.
Finally, connects power to the various parts of your computer. You have to connect the
power cable with the CPU case, monitor, speaker, and printer.

Check your PC Set-Up:

It is time to turn on your system and check your PC set up. Make sure the keyboard,
mouse, and monitor are all plugged into the appropriate ports on the back of the PC.
Plug the power cord back in, and turn the machine on.

To boot a computer you need hardware and software. Till now you have understood to
assemble a computer. If you want to work on that computer you need to install an
Operating System.

If you do not know how to install an operating system on a computer, check the

following two articles:
 What is disassembling a PC?
Disassembling a PC means disconnecting the different components of a PC.

Steps for disassembling a PC

Generally, people want to know both assemble and disassemble steps of a computer.
Therefore I am sharing my ideas to help you to assemble and disassemble a computer
system.

1. Unplugged the AC power supply to the PC from the wall socket

2. Remove the Cover or chassis or case.
3. Unplugged bus cables and ATX power cables
4. Remove Adapter Cards if any
5. Now Remove the processor and the heatsink and fan
6. Remove hard disk and CD/ DVD drives
7. Next, remove the Memory Modules
8. Remove the Power Supply (SMPS)
9. Finally, Remove the Motherboard

1. Unplugged the AC power supply to the PC from the

wall socket
This one is the first step to begin a PC disassemble process. Always remember first
disconnect all the power supply connected to your computer system before starting to
remove parts.

2. Remove the case covering

Loose the screws and remove the case covering to access the inside parts of the CPU
cabinet case.

3. Unplugged bus cables and ATX power cables

Disconnect all the cables one by one inside the CPU case. First, disconnect ATX power
cables from the motherboard. After that, disconnect power supply cables, bus cables
from the HDD/SSD, and motherboard.

4. Remove adapter cards if any

If any adapter is connected then, disconnect the card from the motherboard.

5. Remove the processor and the heatsink and fan

Now its time to remove the heatsink from the motherboard. Generally, the CPU fan and
the heatsink attach together. If it is separated in that case, you need to remove the fan
first after that, you can remove the CPU heatsink.

In the final step, unlock the processor socket and remove the processor from the
motherboard carefully.

6. Remove hard disk and CD/ DVD drives

Its time to remove the other parts of the computer system. Remove the Hard disk drive
or SSD from the motherboard. You can also remove the CD/DVD drive from the CPU
case. 

Sometimes, to remove CD/DVD drive from the CPU case, you need to remove the front
cover of the CPU cabinet case first. After that, you can remove the ROM drives.

7. Remove memory modules

In this process, you do remove the RAM from the motherboard. First, unlock the RAM
from both ends and pull the RAM carefully.

8. Remove the Power Supply Unit (PSU)

Already you know, SMPS supplies power to the various parts of the computer system.
Here you need to remove the SMPS from the CPU cabinet case.

9. Remove the motherboard

The final step of the PC disassemble process is this one. Carefully remove the
motherboard from the CPU cabinet case.

Note: Remember, bolts or screws are the very essential things. They help to make rigid,
all the parts used inside the computer. To remove any part from the computer system
mostly, you need to take out bolts first. Here in PC disassemble steps, I have ignored
that portion.

Conclusion
Assembling and disassembling a computer system is not a difficult task but
requires keen observation and knowledge of the different components of the
system. You need to be extra careful when fitting in these components and make
sure that they are not fitted forcefully but firmly.

In case of hardware failure or to install new add-on cards, you need to have good
knowledge to assemble and disassemble a computer system.

Once you have assembled your computer system, the next step is to install the
Operating System so that you can start using the computer.

I wish you understand the entire process to assemble and disassemble a computer
system. If you practice more, then you can comfortably perform the assemble and
disassemble of a computer.