After much hard work and effort, Catamaul (Aaron C.) has created an incredibly detailed and read-able document on how to go about building your very own PC from the beginning idea, down to selecting individual parts and purchasing tips.

This is a long document (14 pages in all) and is available in the following formats:

· MS Word XP Document (75kb)
· Adobe Acrobat Document (PDF) (52kb)
· Standard HTML (100kb)

Reviews, additions, etc would probably be appreciated...
Mods, is this sticky-able?

/me summons Martin from the netherworld...
Oh great Knower of Things! Hear our cry! Maketh this thread sticky, so that the mortal beings who might desire to build their own PCs, should readth it and gain the nessary wisdom to do so.
Amen.

One of the ideas in there is from Brian's Essential Apps Thread. Thanks.

Hmm, very nice... Are you going to keep doing updates as technology changes?

Yes. Don't forget the fusion powered processors.

It would be good to post a list of good site to purchase things, as pricewatch is good and all, but it's much easier to buy everything off one site.

building own PC is easy. the hard parts are getting compatible componants. Software is pretty easy with windows XP, just put cd in and go, format HD etc, then update drivers. I didn't build my pc, it was custom built by a freind. From taking it apart a few times and upgrading it ive learnt what i know, the aspect of physically putting parts together is sooo easy. everything is really just "plug this here, and it only fits here"

hardest part probly processor.

Good UK site- http://www.overclockers.co.uk or http://www.dabs.com (think they do america)

i personally avoid Ebuyer.com as i don't trust em but its your choice

Na, I say the hardest part in plugging in the cables for the case LEDs, don't put them in right, they don't light up, and it's never easy to tell which is the positive and which is the negative. My list of essential Australian PC parts sites:
Queensland Computer Group - Very cheap prices here, but their range is rather narrow
GameDude - Average prices, terrible delivery service, but they do have a large range and most products have a picture so they're good if you're planning a case mod. If you're willing to wait about a month for your purchase to be delivered that is.
UMart - This is a great site, they have a nice range and good prices but best of all they specialize in fast delivery. It only took them a day to deliver to me when other stores take about a week.
The Disk Shop - No longer do they just sell CDRs, they have a large range of products at nice prices (such as 50 pack DVDRs from $50 down to $35) and their site has pictures, but sadly until the shopping service comes back up, you can't buy off their site.

i actually leave mine unplugged. it got on my nerves when i left PC on at night since that tiny green LED lit up entire room.

The large Green LEDs in my case fan light up my entire room, little face LEDs are nothing

i have 4 twin colour super bright ones on front of my pc that control fans. change from red to blue at 7 volts. + a blue and red coolermaster fans. just like a dark room to sleep in and i can turn fans off on front and run one off motherboard for cpu, though i think it almost works without a fan.

While building and buying it is sometimes useful to read manuals before purchasing items. Also many processor and mainboard manufacturers have guides that will assist you in building new machines. The following are some links that may assist you in locating such documents and other information as well:

Processors
AMD
INTEL

Mainboards -
ABIT
ASUS
DFI
EPOX
GIGABYTE
IWILL
MSI
SHUTTLE
SOYO

Storage -
MAXTOR
SAMSUNG
SEAGATE
WESTERN DIGITAL

Memory -
CORSAIR
GEIL
KINGSTON
OCZ

Video -
ATI
NVIDIA

Cases -
ANTEC
APEX
CHENBRO
CODEGEN
COOLER MASTER
DYNAPOWER
KINGWIN
LIAN-LI
POWMAX
RAIDMAX
SUPERPOWER
THERMALTAKE

Cooling -
ANTEC
ARCTIC SILVER
COOLER MASTER
COOLMAX
KINGWIN
THERMALTAKE
UNINCOM
VANTEC

PM me for additions, or changes you think should be on or made to this list.

I had been running a crappy Win98 (upgraded to XPpro later on) Gateway with 400MHz Celeron for the longest time, and when the network card died at school, it was rendered pretty much obsolete, so I took it upon myself to completely dismantle it, including opening up the power supply, just to see what i could see, then I put it back together, and to tell you the truth, that was enough to teach me most of what I needed to know about building a computer, part-wise. After that, I did quite a bit of research of parts and company reliability, and set in stone what I needed for a pc, without going overkill, and I came out with a 2.0GHz Radeon 9600XT beast with 512m RAM for about $400-500. Plenty fast enough for my needs.
I think the most important thing about building a computer is accepting what the most you need is, and don't overkill, because its only going to run up costs, and if you want to go for overkill, you'll find yourself looking for better and faster parts constantly, and not settling on one that you want.

Nice comprehensive document, but I still have a few questions that aren't answered, such as:
Intell or AMD ? Is AMD still just as good for less, or have things changed ?
Celeron or pentium 4 ?
What's the difference between DDR and DDR2 ?
Maxtor: the devil in disguise or not ?
Memory: how much is too much ? Is there such a thing as too much ?

I'm thinking of building a new computer from parts, I can use my old (not so old) monitor, keyboard, CD writer, boxes, but I still need some advice on processor, motherboard and stuff. And what's the recommended graphics cards of the moment ? Not much of a gamer, but I'd like something powerful anyway, below gamer class so to say. Money isn't really an issue.

AMD is now BETTER for less. And if you do go Intel, go Pentium 4.