So once we worked out the types of hardware we wanted we went to the local computer fair to buy the ones we wanted. Rather than buying separately we went to one stall. And had a good nose around, one ABIT motherboard was on show and we decided to go for it. The rest of the system all falled into our car boot.

So by the end of the day we had the following parts;

The component total = £494

The prices are quite lower than in shops as the CD-RW drive we bought was £240 in shops, so we saved £££'s

Construction

This is the most satisfying part for me but took some time.

First was to get the case open, since it was tool free we had no trouble getting in, but the case didn't have a swinging door for the motherboard, which made it awkward to get in. But it was a big case (full ATX) so there's was plenty of room. The motherboard fit in just, one of the feet on the case touched it, but we solved the problem. The power connection was attached for the first and last time.

The old 6.2 hard drive from our other pc was slotted in and connected to the power, and the 1gb drive was also used below the 6.2gb drive. Then I moved to the cpu fan, connecting it to the motherboard, then the other fan at the front, which was also connected to the mb. The graphics card was out now and I started slotting it in, followed by the sound card which lies a few PCI slots below. The modem below the sound card. Then I slotted the CD-RW drive in and connected it up, the old CD-ROM drive was their (to copy a CD direct) and connected. Then I connected the sound out put from the CD-RW drive to the line-in attachment on the sound card, I also connected the other CD-ROM audio output to the AUX in on the sound card. Now we have a running PC, I just had the LED lights on the front as well as the power/reset switches to be connected. All done in 2 1/2 hours. Now I have a fully working PC, I connected it to the monitor and power supply. Please not if you wish to do this in a similar way, like putting the old hard drive in a totally different computer, you will be plagued with Windows has found new hardware as I found out. 

The worst of all was to come, the hardest and most boring part, the software installation.

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