Porkchop Technology Review's

In this article I will describe some basics of making a computer, also some resources to get you along the way.  You might think that building a computer is difficult and that it requires someone who has a Degree.  But in fact making a computer is real easy, the only difficult part is picking the parts.  Why the parts? you may ask, the reason why is because there are so many parts to choose from, and prices, you will be tempted to buy the fastest one, the cheapest one, etc, it will be a difficult choice, should I buy this graphics card over this one.  That is when you go online to site’s and review the part’s, especially the site’s that sell these parts have community discussion forms, which will lend a helping hand if you have a question over something, need a little bit of help with your computer setup, want to just make sure if it will all work good, and any suggestions they may have.  The advantages of making your own computer is that you will know how to make one, for the rest of your life, and also that you will save money, and make a PC that could last a long time, since you know the exact specifications of all your hardware, and know what you can do in the future.  Also another evil thing that computer manufacturers do, such as Dell, is that they make computer parts specific to the case, motherboard, making it impossible to upgrade in the future, that is another major reason why you will want to build your own computer.

A PC is very basic, it always has these components in it:

Motherboard – The main control of the computer (the brain),  this is where you connect everything, and will determine if you can upgrade in the future, you need to get this first, before building a computer, also make sure that you don’t max it out, if you do, you need a better motherboard, so you can upgrade it in the future.

RAM - Random Access Memory, this controls how many applications you have open, and the speed of opening and closing applications, RAM comes in sticks, very small, and is the biggest thing that is upgraded on older PC’s to boost performance.  RAM needs keep going up for applications/Operating system’s/games so I would get at least 4GIG’s, 6GIG’s even better.  Also don’t buy it in one stick, spread it out, get like 2 x 2GIG sticks, the reason why is you want to spread out the work done, by each chip for speed.

Harddrive – This is where information is stored, I suggest getting at least a 500GIG harddrive, 1 TB even better, its always good to have enough space and never run out, and the harddrive is fairly cheap component to the computer.

Graphics Card – This controls the graphics on the screen, this will depend greatly on what you use your computer for, if you are a gamer, you would want a really good graphics card, if you are not, I would get a cheaper graphics card.  Graphics card is important for 3d applications such as games, this basically makes sure that you are viewing every single detail in the game and don’t have a reduction in frames. Also look at the motherboards that support dual graphics cards, such as crossfire, and SLI.

Power Supply – This powers all your components in the computer, I suggest getting a 700watt or over power supply, especially if you are going to game, graphic cards/ quad core use a lot of power

CPU – central processor unit, this is when you see computers say, for example Pentium D 3.2ghz, it what people usually refer to when they own a computer, they usually say the speed of the CPU, since its the most important part of the computer, this will greatly affect everything, everything goes through the CPU, so the speed of the CPU is important.  Before CPU’s were not as complex as today, now they have different names and stuff, use to be just Athlon XP 1600 – 1.4ghz, or Pentium 4 3.2ghz, but now they have specifications such as, Wolfdale quad 2.2ghz, which might you think, wait My CPU in my computer is already a 3.2GHZ! but in fact that quad 2.2ghz, is 4, 2.2ghz CPU’s.

Case – You need a computer case to hold all these components, if you have a computer already pre-made like a DELL, forgot about using that case, the case will either be to small, or be made for specific components.  The case is actually important it determines the cooling/air flow that your components will get.  I suggest getting the Antec 900, for a case, or even the Antec 300, reviewed on this website.  The case usually comes with fan’s if not you will have to buy some, remember you want a lot of cooling inside, computer parts run warm, my graphics card for example runs a 54degrees inactive, cooling will prolong the life of the parts and also make sure that you receive less errors.  When a computer overheats, the motherboard shuts it down automatically, that is what’s suppose to happen.

DVD Drive – Need to pick one of these up, there cheap, but are important, or else how will get that operating system on that new computer.

Operating system – You will need an operating system, with the system, when you build a PC, it usually comes with no operating system, its the responsibility of you to install it.  I suggest getting 64bit Operating system not 32bit, the future is 64bit, it is more secure, and able to see more Ram, for example 32bit operating system can only recognize 3gig’s.

Of course you can re-use or buy a new Monitor, speakers, keyboard and mouse.
So now  you know what components to look for, and what they do, all computers consist of the components above in order for it work.  I will suggest some of the best site’s if you do not know already where to purchase these parts.  Also remember to always look for deals, computer components change price very quickly, it can be as much as $100 off on the next day, so watch for sales. Also to install all these parts it is not that difficult, it all comes with instructions, especially read the motherboard manual, and follow the slots of the motherboard, where each piece goes where.  Also note that its like Lego, its just putting a piece here and there, no tools are really required, just a screw driver and patience.  Also remember to discharge static on your body, the best way to do this, is to plug the computer in and touch the case while its off, before touching any parts.  Before starting the computer, remember to put the heatsink on the CPU, or else you will fry the CPU, the heatsink comes with the CPU, and its what cools the CPU off, remember to attach it and make sure all the fans are working, be sure to leave the case open, and look for yourself, do not worry you cannot be injured with the CPU case off.  Buy twist tabs and organize the cables inside, the computer will have a lot of cables and if you leave them tangling all over the place, it can reduce the airflow so make sure to twist tie it, and make it neat.

Building your own computer will save you money and get you higher quality parts, most prebuilt computers are built exactly for the hardware in them and don’t easily support adding faster graphics cards, etc.  So its worth learning how to build a computer. You can also add cool things for your computer, such as water cooling, and custom LED lights, which most prebuilt computers don’t come with.  It also requires a lot of research in building the best computer for your money.

These are a few places were to buy the parts, they all ship

United States
http://www.newegg.com/
http://www.tigerdirect.com/
http://www.ncixus.com/

Canada
http://www.ncix.com/
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/
http://www.newegg.ca/

In USA, the best store is Newegg, in Canada NCIX, they carry the best prices usually

Resources for building a PC
http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/default.aspx – Forums to see deals, discuss computer builds ask questions
http://forum.ncix.com/forums/ Another good place to discuss/see topics of hardware and building PC’s
http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/ step by step instructions on how to build a PC
http://www.overclock.net/ Hardware discussion and overclocking

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