Basics to building a custom pc?

hi,

i'm getting money together by working over the summer to get money to build a new custom comp....only i've never done it before. at the present i just want to upgrade my vid card (quadro4 64mb....ewww) to a ati 9800pro 128mb (with a different fan added to it because i've heard it over heats). i'm also going to put in another 256mb of ram.

first off, i took of the panel on the computer and looked inside for the first time. i looked online for the quadro4 and found out what it looks like...i tried giving it a pull but it was wedged in there pretty tight so i decided i better stop before i break something. i thought i would ask the newbiest question of all...do i just give the vid card a good yank and pull it out? for the new vid card when i put the fan on it (no idea how to put it on) do i just pop it into the same slot thingy?

also, when i put in the new stick of ram (i have 256 right now and i'm putting in one more to boost it up to 512), does it have to be the same exact company that makes the ram as the stick of ram that is already in it? do i have to wory about overheating or voltage or powersupply?

lastly, for my custom comp (down the road way off in the horizon), do you have any good links for a reference on how to put it together (i.e. what parts, how do newbs put it together, step by step elementary stuff). tell me how you learned how to do this stuff! i have no clue!

thanks

 

No. Do NOT force the video card out. It is locked in there with a locking mechanism...
(someone is probably beating me to this post as I upload...)

 

Here is the picture:
See the lock there? If you release the locking mechanisms and the card still does not want to come out, one trick to get the force applied along the correct direction (UP) to help the card out: Remove your shoe strings, string them around the bottom of the card - one on each side of the card, and pull UP.....
(carefully)..

 

If you really want to learn about the PC hardware, then read this book:
http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/pchardnut3/index.html

Its the best book about the subject, IMHO

 

You don't have to have the RAM all the same, but, and now, this is my opinion, some may disagree, but I go by what people say that I look up to, and I am a little "anal" about RAM:
I never skimp or cut corners on memory. Period. I only buy good memory...
Kingston, or Crucial. Period.

We all make choices.

If you have two different kinds of RAM in terms of the speed of the RAM, put the slow stick into the first slot (usually slot "zero"), and put the fast memory into the second slot (usually called slot "one").

If you do not know what speed your existing memory is... download this program and run it. I think it will tell you:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=181