Introduction
So, with a growing number of people requesting help on designing their new build, I thought someone should share what a new pc entails. The parts of a build consists of:
Case
Power supply
CPU
RAM
Motherboard
Hard drive
Media card reader
DVD burner
Video card (optional)
Sound card (optional)
Operating system
The Case
ATX Desktop, full tower, mid tower, mini tower
Micro-ATX, desktop, mid tower, mini tower, slim case
Mini-ITX tower and desktop
The Power Supply
This topic has been beat to death many times over. However, it is the most important component when building your computer. Most common problem with random reboots and freezing. Having enough power to run your rig is very important, especially if you plan on overclocking it. There are many manufacturers, but which one should you get?
Highest rated manufacturers:
Corsair
Thermaltake
PC power and cooling
Antec
Silverstone
Seasonic
Enermax
The RAM
RAM can big a pain in the neck sometimes.. so many different types, speeds and voltages. The two most common types are DDR2 and DDR3. However, there are many manufacturers. What most people do when looking for RAM is to check the reviews. You can learn alot from that. If you do not plan on overclocking then stick with either 1066 or 1333 for DDR3 and 800 and 1066 for DDR2. However, for a few bucks more 1600Mhz DDR3 ram will give you the best of both worlds if you decide to overclock in the future.
DDR2 speeds are: 400, 533, 667, 800, 1000, 1066, 1100 and 1200 Mhz
DDR3 speeds are: 1066, 1333, 1600, 1800, 1866, 2000, 2133, 2200, 2250, and 2400 Mhz
Most common for DDR2 is 800 and 1066
Most common for DDR3 is 1066, 1333, and 1600 Mhz
Highest rated manufacturers
Corsair
Geil
Kingston
Mushkin
OCZ
Patriot
PNY
Crucial
GSkill
The Motherboard
This must work around your case purchase. Either you get an ATX motherboard or a Micro ATX (uATX), it needs to fit in the case you just picked out. Again, there are many options to look at here. Intel is known for their Matrix RAID setups, the ICH7R, ICH8R, ICH9R, and ICH10R. These all have the RAID option. If you find these chipsets without the "R", it does not support RAID. However AMD offers a much cheaper solution when choosing a motherboard, also in ATX and micro ATX (uATX).
Key Features:
Matrix RAID
SLI (Nvidia) or Crossfire (ATI)
USB 3.0 (5Gb/s) and SATA III (6Gb/s) P55 and x58 only
eSATA
Overclocking ability
How many SATA ports
Highest rated manufacturers:
Asus
Gigabyte
MSI
Evga
ASRock
Biostar
Intel
The Hard Drive
Most beginners will probably stick with a mechanical drive. For one, its much cheaper and two, you get a better bang for your buck in terms of overall space. However, SSD's (Solid State Disks) offer much better performance and the latency is pretty much nonexistent. Again, many sizes to choose from, you just need to find the one you really need.
Highest rated manufacturers:
Western Digital
Kingston
OCZ
Intel
Samsung
SeaGate
Apricorn
Samsung
Corsair
Hitachi
Video Cards
Choosing the right video card for you is very important, and unfortunately, can drain your bank account quickly. Depending on how you plan to use your computer, you can select the graphics card that's right for you.
Highest rated manufacturers:
AMD
Nvidia
Asus
Evga
BioStar
Gigabyte
Sapphire
Sound Cards
While many gamers decide to rely on the onboard sound that is integrated into most of the recent motherboards. Consumers have the option to purchase a reliable, high quality card, but need to also purchase an A/V receiver to accomplish this. You'll be connecting an optical cable from your sound card to your receiver at which it will be doing the decoding of the content for you.
Highest rated manufacturers:
Asus
C-Media
Auzentech
Razer
Turtle Beach
The Operating System
Here is a list of operating systems (Windows 7 is recommended) and max visible RAM:
Windows 7 Starter ; 32bit: 2gig | 64bit: 8gig
Windows 7 Home basic ; 32bit: 4gig | 64bit: 8gig
Windows 7 Home premium ; 32bit: 4gig | 64bit: 16gig
Windows 7 Professional ; 32bit: 4gig | 64bit: 192gig
Windows 7 Ultimate ; 32bit: 4gig | 64bit: 192gig
There are other alternatives such as Linux, this however should not be attempted by a beginner. Wait until you fully understand your computer and its function before you dive into a new type of OS.
NOTICE:
While a lot of this is copy and pasted, I believe it is worthy of being share with NextGenUpdate, and its members.
Respective credits are awarded to those whom it concerns.
If there's any errors, inform me, and I'll correct them as soon as possible.
So, with a growing number of people requesting help on designing their new build, I thought someone should share what a new pc entails. The parts of a build consists of:
Case
Power supply
CPU
RAM
Motherboard
Hard drive
Media card reader
DVD burner
Video card (optional)
Sound card (optional)
Operating system
The Case
ATX Desktop, full tower, mid tower, mini tower
Micro-ATX, desktop, mid tower, mini tower, slim case
Mini-ITX tower and desktop
The Power Supply
This topic has been beat to death many times over. However, it is the most important component when building your computer. Most common problem with random reboots and freezing. Having enough power to run your rig is very important, especially if you plan on overclocking it. There are many manufacturers, but which one should you get?
Highest rated manufacturers:
Corsair
Thermaltake
PC power and cooling
Antec
Silverstone
Seasonic
Enermax
The RAM
RAM can big a pain in the neck sometimes.. so many different types, speeds and voltages. The two most common types are DDR2 and DDR3. However, there are many manufacturers. What most people do when looking for RAM is to check the reviews. You can learn alot from that. If you do not plan on overclocking then stick with either 1066 or 1333 for DDR3 and 800 and 1066 for DDR2. However, for a few bucks more 1600Mhz DDR3 ram will give you the best of both worlds if you decide to overclock in the future.
DDR2 speeds are: 400, 533, 667, 800, 1000, 1066, 1100 and 1200 Mhz
DDR3 speeds are: 1066, 1333, 1600, 1800, 1866, 2000, 2133, 2200, 2250, and 2400 Mhz
Most common for DDR2 is 800 and 1066
Most common for DDR3 is 1066, 1333, and 1600 Mhz
Highest rated manufacturers
Corsair
Geil
Kingston
Mushkin
OCZ
Patriot
PNY
Crucial
GSkill
The Motherboard
This must work around your case purchase. Either you get an ATX motherboard or a Micro ATX (uATX), it needs to fit in the case you just picked out. Again, there are many options to look at here. Intel is known for their Matrix RAID setups, the ICH7R, ICH8R, ICH9R, and ICH10R. These all have the RAID option. If you find these chipsets without the "R", it does not support RAID. However AMD offers a much cheaper solution when choosing a motherboard, also in ATX and micro ATX (uATX).
Key Features:
Matrix RAID
SLI (Nvidia) or Crossfire (ATI)
USB 3.0 (5Gb/s) and SATA III (6Gb/s) P55 and x58 only
eSATA
Overclocking ability
How many SATA ports
Highest rated manufacturers:
Asus
Gigabyte
MSI
Evga
ASRock
Biostar
Intel
The Hard Drive
Most beginners will probably stick with a mechanical drive. For one, its much cheaper and two, you get a better bang for your buck in terms of overall space. However, SSD's (Solid State Disks) offer much better performance and the latency is pretty much nonexistent. Again, many sizes to choose from, you just need to find the one you really need.
Highest rated manufacturers:
Western Digital
Kingston
OCZ
Intel
Samsung
SeaGate
Apricorn
Samsung
Corsair
Hitachi
Video Cards
Choosing the right video card for you is very important, and unfortunately, can drain your bank account quickly. Depending on how you plan to use your computer, you can select the graphics card that's right for you.
Highest rated manufacturers:
AMD
Nvidia
Asus
Evga
BioStar
Gigabyte
Sapphire
Sound Cards
While many gamers decide to rely on the onboard sound that is integrated into most of the recent motherboards. Consumers have the option to purchase a reliable, high quality card, but need to also purchase an A/V receiver to accomplish this. You'll be connecting an optical cable from your sound card to your receiver at which it will be doing the decoding of the content for you.
Highest rated manufacturers:
Asus
C-Media
Auzentech
Razer
Turtle Beach
The Operating System
Here is a list of operating systems (Windows 7 is recommended) and max visible RAM:
Windows 7 Starter ; 32bit: 2gig | 64bit: 8gig
Windows 7 Home basic ; 32bit: 4gig | 64bit: 8gig
Windows 7 Home premium ; 32bit: 4gig | 64bit: 16gig
Windows 7 Professional ; 32bit: 4gig | 64bit: 192gig
Windows 7 Ultimate ; 32bit: 4gig | 64bit: 192gig
There are other alternatives such as Linux, this however should not be attempted by a beginner. Wait until you fully understand your computer and its function before you dive into a new type of OS.
NOTICE:
While a lot of this is copy and pasted, I believe it is worthy of being share with NextGenUpdate, and its members.
Respective credits are awarded to those whom it concerns.
If there's any errors, inform me, and I'll correct them as soon as possible.