No special skills or tools are required for this guide, just a desire to save money and a taste for state-of-the-art technology. It explains how to build a complete Pentium chip-based system out of mail-order parts and peripherals. The text provides a brief overview of the Pentium processor"s capabilites and then describes step-by-step, how to purchase and assemble all the necessary components: motherboards, floppy and hard drives, CD-ROM, printers, input devices, memory chips, monitors, graphics cards, fax/modems and backup systems. Readers also learn how to use the computer they build to meet a variety of home, business, multimedia, desktop publishing and networking needs. In addition, the author lists low-cost hardware sources, reviews operating systems and software that take advantage of the Pentium chip"s power, and devotes an entire chapter to the art of troubleshooting.