While I've run ISP-Planet, a news site for internet service providers, for seven years, I have never built a computer before. My old PC, a powerful but bulky Alienware unit, started to die off component by component. First the DVD drive went, then the AGP slot died (but the graphics card was still good). I purchased a new, less powerful graphics card that fit in a PCI slot.

That was enough. I decided to build a new PC, and as I would find out later, it would be a real learning experience. This was not intended to be a hardcore box capable of running the latest software. Instead, I would use a mix of both current and last-generation hardware to achieve a nice mainstream system. The Windows XP and DirectX 9 era was ending, soon to be replaced by Windows Vista and DirectX 10.

Therefore, I would build a Windows XP system with DirectX 9 graphics, making use of name brand, well-respected components, so that no piece would fail.

My old PC was a tower unit. The new unit would be a desktop (flat) case. In a desktop case, the motherboard lies flat, and the cards rise up from it. I felt that my tower case's graphics slot might have died because the card hung off the motherboard, with its entire weight supported only on two sides and with its cooling fan underneath. Right or wrong, I believe that the computer's components will last longer in a desktop case than in a tower.

Like many new system builders, a modular format, like LEGO building blocks, would have been preferable, however impractical it is. I also looked up several stories about people building a PC in a refrigerator. That too, however, seemed unrealistic, as apart from the time, effort and cost, I would not be able to determine whether the PC had too much humidity.

So I decided to use a standard desktop case.

But before building a PC, I went to a publisher I trust, O'Reilly. Building the Perfect PC, 2nd Edition, looked good, and it had been updated in December 2006. O'Reilly has an ongoing "buy two get one free" offer, so I also bought Repairing and Upgrading Your PC and PC Hardware Annoyances. I felt prepared.

Building the Perfect PC recommended Newegg.com for parts, as did Internet.com's own Chris Saunders, so that's where I went.