r/ElectricalEngineering • u/Altugsalt • 1d ago

Education Making my own computer

Hello everyone, I am going to get out of high school in a year and I will have a lot of free time after. I have a background in computer science and I have worked on projects that mostly involved information retrieval techniques. I would like to learn how to create my own usable computer, mostly for the sake of exploring the field, however I don'T really know where I should start. I am open for any suggestions, resources, books. Thanks

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5

u/zacce 1d ago

how to create my own usable computer

be more specific. any electronic device is essentially a computer these days.

1

u/ThaumKeeper 1d ago

This could easily be an 8 bit breadboard computer, a FPGA programmed to be a CPU or just a normal PC

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u/bobd60067 1d ago

building a computer is a matter of identifying the components and assembling them. sounds easy but requires attention to detail.

I'd suggest start with the CPU, then pick a compatible motherboard with ports you want (# of usbs, max ethernet speed, # of memory slots and max allowed memory, # of sata ports for hdd or ssd, m2 or other ssd ports, etc), then select memory (don't have to max it out, but install them in pairs), power supply, video card (or stick with on board video for now if budget is tight), storage (perhaps ssd for os and hdd for data), case that your motherboard fits in. and of course the os.

it can be interesting and fun to go thru all the options and come to with a combination that is just what you want. keep in mind that you don't have to max everything out at the onset of you don't have the funds, but keep upgrades in mind so you can do it later. this applies to memory (ram), ssd, hdd, even video card.

good luck!

1

u/MrKyleOwns 1d ago

What kind of computer are you talking about?

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u/Altugsalt 1d ago

The kind that could be used as a server.

3

u/2old2bThisDumb 1d ago

If you're wanting to get into building servers, start with raspberry pi. I have an old Pi 4b board that has been my inventory database + API server for years now. There are tons of open source user friendly projects you can build with these cheap little single board computers.

If you're talking about building out something a little more powerful, I'm sorry you're getting into it while memory and solid state drives are so ridiculously priced.

1

u/Conor_Stewart 1d ago

You need to be far more specific on what your goals are. Do you want to make a basic computer from scratch? Right down to building the individual parts of the processor? Do you want to build a regular PC?

If you want to build a computer from scratch then you are most likely not going to end up with anything that can be used for more than a few demos and definitely not as a server. Building a simple processor just to learn or because you can is one thing, but building something that can run an OS like Linux and actually be useful as server is something else entirely.

If you are on about just putting together a computer with standard parts then that is very easy these days, just pick the parts and assemble it. It is very far removed from EE and doesn't need much special knowledge now. If you are going this route then you could even just buy or use an old PC or see if you can find a mini PC anywhere.

1

u/mattynmax 1d ago

As in you want to buy a motherboard and processor form Best Buy and put parts together or you want to buy some copper wire and clips and make one from the ground up? Those are two very different things

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u/Altugsalt 18h ago

I was thinking of getting the processor and RAM from somewhere else and make the motherboard from the groundup.

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u/mattynmax 18h ago

Ah, gotcha.

That will be virtually impossible because neither Intel nor AMD publish pinouts of their processors. It would also involve making your own BIOS which is difficult.

This guy managed to do it though. maybe reach out to him and see what advice he has

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u/Altugsalt 18h ago

Maybe I could find another CPU producer that does publish pinouts. I'll see if I can contact the guy.

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u/Connorbball33 1d ago

Do you mean build a pc like buying the cpu,gpu etc and building it? Or do you genuinely want to MAKE your own CPU?

1

u/Electrical_Hat_680 1d ago

BenEater 8-BIT CPU Breadboard Projects on Reddit, on YouTube, and they have their own website.

Also. Take BenEater for what it's worth. Take the ideas and write them down. Then you can use those concepts and build your own computer.

Like, zeros and ones represent the electronical voltages of off and on. So, just because the computers of today use voltages stored in capacitors and such. Doesn't mean we can't use LED's, which are either turned on or left off. These LEDs can also be used to store data in ROM, rather than just stored in RAM. We can also use and even better understand Dip switches.

So if we break this all down. We have our own understanding. And that's all we will ever really own, our own understanding.

You'll be enabled to build your own binary, your own assembly, and your own Instructions Sets, aka, the Instructions Set Architecture. It's not all Proprietary. Some are, but most are not. Rear Admiral Grace Hopper is a key to understanding the ISA and the commands. Passed that. We have a main option, which is: to be compatible, or not to be compatible.

2

u/LeCriquetParlant 15h ago

Regardless of what kind of computer you're interested in, you might find it REALLY helpful and interesting to get the game "Turing Complete" on Steam. It's not really a game... rather a set of design challenges that will take you all the way from basic AND and NOT gates all the way to building your own (virtual) CPU with its own assembly language.

My daughter went from "I kinda like science and technology" to "I'm taking CS at university next year" from playing that game.