FusionMods

Well in a very random twist, a week after I did my post on building a computer, mine happened to die, lol.

So this really presents me with the perfect opportunity to show you guys how to assemble a PC. The parts all arrive tomorrow (hopefully), and then I’ll be rebuilding everything!

But today, I’ll run down the components I went with.

For the CPU, Intel Core 2 Quad Q8400 Yorkfield 2.66GHz
This isn’t the most powerful CPU out there, but he’s still a really nice model. I opted for the quad core because I really wanted to see the difference in performance. My last CPU was a Core 2 Duo, 2.4 GHz, so it’s a pretty good level for comparison.

For the motherboard, GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3R
This was actually really close between an ASUS board. I’ve used both manufacturers in the past though and I’ve been very happy with each. Both boards have a large number of positive reviews as well. In the end, they were so close in their builds that the deciding factor turned out to be the number of USB ports, lol

Some faster Ram, OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB)
I currently have two slower sticks of 1GB each DDR2 that I might add as well. It’s true that it’ll lower the speeds all around on the ram, but I’m thinking the simple capacity will make up for it comfortably.

I’m also debating on doing some water cooling. I do have a pretty nice CPU cooler, but I’m really wondering how big of a temperature difference I’ll see on a quad core vs my old dual core CPU.

But like I said, the parts arrive tomorrow, then I’ll do a full write up on everything! lots of pictures

This is one area I should probably touch on a lot more. There are many people who are avid computer users, who want more bang for their buck, but don’t know where to start. The lucky part is, it is suprisingly easy. I built my first computer as a 9th grade research project. At the time I have no prior knowledge, but still managed to throw something completly new together.

The first step is setting your price range. from there you can start choosing your components and features. I do want to say, that you’ll have a hard time building your own computer for $300 or whatever walmarts selling them for these days, but honestly, if you’re going to build your own PC, you probably want something a bit better than the bare minimum. After all, how many people take the time to restore something like a Geo Metro?

Ok so a fair price for an intro PC is $800. It’s true, you can get these in stores comfortably, but we’re looking for more bang at a comparable price.

Step 1 – Choose a motherboard and processor. If the processor (CPU) was the brain, the motherboard would be the spine. These two components pretty much make the computer. If you change these, you pretty much have a whole new computer. These are one of the few items that you need to check for compatability.

The easiest way to purchase these is as a combo item. If you can’t find them that way, all you want to check is first, is your motherboard intel or amd, second, you want to get the pin number. For example, my home computer is an Intel Core 2 Duo, LGA 775. This is a few years old, but still runs great.

What to look for in a CPU? Speed. The larger the numbers the better (except for price). I almost never go for the newest model because of price. When I got my Core 2 Dou, it was one model below the Core 2 Dou Extreme. Mine cost about $200, the Extreme cost a lovely $800 total, and I don’t think it would have been justified.

The motherboard is something that is really up to you. Remember this is the nervous system of your computer, so it’s not something you’ll just upgrade every couple months. Features to look for…

• How many USB Ports (internal and external) – Honestly, in the many years I’ve been building computers, I still feel the same, you can never have too many USB ports.
• Types of ports available – This is something to look at now as every manufacturer tries to put his favorite specs into the motherboard. some might have fiber optic  audio ports, some might have HDMI, there are really a lot of options, so make sure you consider some of the different things you might use your computer for so you can make sure you won’t be missing out on some key functionality.
• Number of expansion slots – These just aren’t nearly as used as they used to be with so many things coming integrated now, but it’s still something to pay attention to. If you have a TV Tuner, SCSI card, and three other random cards, your modern computer might be pushing the limits.
• Number of memory slots – Odds are you’ll have 4 slots, but it’s always good to make sure. Unless you’re building something that intentionally won’t take up much space, don’t settle for anything that doesn’t have 4 slots available.
• Maximum Memory – In windows XP 32 bit this didn’t matter much since the limit was 4 GBs, and you never saw the full 4 GB since some of it was reserved for the system. Now with 64 bit operating systems really taking over, i believe the limit starts at 32 GB and just goes up from there. It’s always good to know what your hardware can handle in upgrades, even if you know you’ll never be hitting that.
• Compatible CPUs – This is something I took note of in my last build. Swapping a CPU isn’t as difficult as it sounds, but it is still a big purchase. Knowing I might build on the cheap for my next computer, I selected on that would handle compadible quad core CPUs as a potential upgrade. But keep in mind, this is still iffy. In 2-5 years when you upgrade, if you had planned to do this, they might have just junked that socket type all together, lol.
• Sli/Crossfire support – This is for the gamer in all of us. If you wanna go all out, Go SLi or Crossfire (depending on your preference or budget).

And I won’t go into this too much in this post, but I’d really reccomend getting a seperate CPU cooler. The stock coolers are never very good, and the life that it’ll add to your computer is easily worth the extra $30 or so you’ll spend on it.

Step 2 – Now that we’ve covered the CPU and Motherboard, the next best thing would probably be the graphics card.

This is where you start to really look at the type of computer you want. If you plan to only check email and browse the web, you might as well get a motherboard that handles your graphics. But if you’re looking for some gaming power, I’d reccomend getting a seperate graphics card. Finally, if you want a real lot of graphics power, get two graphics cards and chain them together with SLi or Crossfire, just make sure they support it first

Costs here depend greatly on the route you plan to go. Integrated graphics won’t cost you anything. A single graphics card can cost from $150 to $500, and sdual graphics cards can cost double that!

Step 3 – Now I think it’s time we talked about memory. Ram is probably the cheapest component you can spend on. It’s also the easiest to upgrade in the future, so don’t worry about buying the best, because honestly, prices on ram are getting better every day. I’d reccomend getting about 4gb of ram. You’ll be very well off for just about any PC use you plan to tackle. This will probably cost you around or just over $100 unless you’re deal shopping. If you’re getting a computer just for web browsing, you’d be fine with just 2gb.

Keeping with comparing to parts of the human body, Ram would be like another chunk of the brain. Nothing is stored here, but it helps process your thoughts. There are different types of ram, that do have some speed differences, but for the most part you just have to look at it as, “This is where all my thoughts are kept, while I focus on individual ones, and can’t get to the rest at this moment. In all honesty, these “moments” are only microseconds. But the easiest way to get ram is, start with 2gb, if you feel like you’re computer is sluggish, get another 2.

Additionally, you’ll want to check compatability with your motherboard, don’t worry all these specs will be listed. It will say something like DDR2 or 3.

Step 4 – The hard drive. This is where you get a lot of fun. With the new flow of technology going into hard drives you can land some great deals. Honestly, 500gb is likely more than enough for anyone, but without searching too hard you can commonly find deals for 1TB hard drives around $100.

Odds are you will go with a SATA drive as IDE drives are slowly being phased out. Additionally if you want a bit of a speed boost or added personal security, I’d say go with a RAID setup. This is easy to do, takes nothing to maintain, and and widely supported on almost all motherboards these days. Also, I’ll always reccomend Hardware Raid controllers, software might offer a few extra options, but you’ll lose any speed benefits you might have gained.

Step 5 – The power supply…. This is the most insignifigant component that plays the largest role in a computer. With a proper power supply you’ll never know it even exists, and thats the way you want it. With a poor power supply, you’ll run into all kinds of problems, that could easily cost you your entire setup. The main thing to look at is wattage. You want to supply enough power to everything. The rule of thumb is add up all the wattage and add 10-15% for startup bursts. A safe number in general is, shoot for 400w. You can easily find these things under $50, but I wouldn’t reccomend going much under $50. The reason for that is, you really do get what you pay for when it comes to Power Supplies. This is the sort of thing that if theres a thunder storm, and have a good power supply, you might just lowe your power supply, if you have a poor power supply, you might lose your entire system. I might do a seperate write up on power supplies in general to stress this, but like I said, 400w is a good number to shoot for. I have a 600w, and I paid $75 for it. The best thing you can do, is find a model with a lot of reviews, and a lot of positive marks.

Step – 6 The Case – This is something that I could have brought up any time. All common setups fit an ATX case. Unless you’re building something like an HTPC, you’ll end up with an ATX everything. Whats ATX? it’s just the name of the form factor, or size of the motherboard, expansion cards, ect. Before ATX it was just AT, there’s also things like micro ATX and baby ATX, and all sorts of off shoots that are used with specific purposes, but that would be getting too off track.

Choosing a case really just comes down to what you think looks good. You can spend anything from $10 to $300 on these. The best advice I can give is first, keep in mind, you’ll want some space to work in there. Second, make sure it’ll be ventilated. I run the XClio Wind Tunnel, and I love that case, ThermalTake makes excellent cases, so does AeroCool, but it all comes down to whatever your preference is.

The Final Step – The peripherals. This includes things like your DVD Roms, card readers, temp monitors, I could w4rite many pages on all the options here. but again, this all comes down to preference. One thing to keep in mind, these are all extremly universal. The only thing you’ll want to keep a bit of an eye on is, if you have enough drive bays to fit everything, and if you’ll have enough power connectors to fit everything. and you’ll rarly run out of either.

I think this concludes the components. Over the next couple days I’ll cover in some detail the specifics on a few components, like CPUs, Power Supples, and even the variety of the Peripherials. I’ll also be doing one on cooling. Next week some time I’ll do the write up on assembly and turning it on for the first time

If anyone has anything specific to ask, feel free. If i can’t answer it, I’ll direct you to the people who can.