Computer Building

Guest post by D

To most people, putting together a computer seems like a daunting task. This was certainly the case for me. I think some people confuse putting together a computer with the actual production of the parts (micro chips/wires/saudering…)

On the contrary, the parts are already made, and building your own computer is as “simple” as buying all of the necessary, compatible parts, and then putting them together in typical lego fashion.

While others might not be so naive as to think that building a computer means making an intel I7 core processor from scratch, they might be intimidated by the task of buying all of the parts. How do you know which ones are compatible? How do you know which ones are ‘good’? I certainly fall into this bucket, and the idea of trying to distinguish between an ATI Radeon HD 6850 video card and a 5870 card (should I assume higher numbers are better?) is a bit mind boggling, not to mention comparing across different brands (what are the bench marks on which I should compare?).

All the same, I set out to build myself a computer for the following reasons:

1. I wanted a desk top computer

2. I was confident that I could build myself a better computer than anything store bought (within my budget + with some diligent research).

3. I thought the process of shopping for parts and building a computer would give me better insight into how a computer works and what actually matters.

Inevitably I can say that 1,2 and 3 were all accomplished, and so I will share my experience.

WHY A COMPUTER?

So, why a computer?. A simple question, but in reality the pivotal question. For example, I knew I wanted a gaming computer, which effectively translates to getting a great video card and a fast, multicore processor. Others might be more interested in lots of downloading (music, movies, etc) in which case they might be interested in more hard drive space than my build. Others may want to produce music, so they may be more interested in the sound components of the motherboard, whereas I was fine to take what my motherboard came with. Constantly reminding yourself why you are getting  a computer will be paramount when it comes time to budget.

BUDGETING

Budgeting is key. Without budgeting, we’d just get all of the best parts. I budgeted about 1k for the computer. Remember to take into account whether you will need a monitor, keyboard/mouse, and/or operating system. Most builds online don’t factor this into the cost…I unfortunately, needed everything.

SHOPPING FOR PARTS (amazon.com/newegg.com)

Shopping for parts is about as difficult as you want to make it. To be honest, you can do pretty quick searches online and there will be plenty of builds available to you, it’s just a matter of taking the time to understand what the different parts are, their features, what features you want, and how much you want to spend. Again, these are all important questions and take time. When I first started, terms like overclocking, or crossfire, were foreign to me. While I am far from an expert now, I do at least have a basic understanding, such that I can read the builds and understand basically what is going on. How is it you find out, what it is, you need to find out? All I can recommend is doing some basic research, and seeing what terms come up often. When there is something you don’t know, look it up, and you’ll probably get the idea. Lastly, try reading up on the basic parts that come together to build a computer, which I’ll discuss below.

Inevitably, I had done some searching and found an article that I particularly liked with a build that was within my budget and mirrored my intention and was written by someone who I believe knew far more about computers than I did. I read the build and the comments, and selectively chose what I liked, and that’s how it all happened. Here is the link to the article. One thing to note, is how up to date it is. Remember that technology changes, don’t get caught reading a building order from a year ago!

http://www.hardware-revolution.com/budget-gaming-pc-q4-2010/

I can’t expect everyone to read through this article as well as mine, so i’m going to lightly go over the parts and the features that I liked. For an in depth look, read the article, it’s well written.

CPU AMD|ATH II X3 455 3.3G AM3 RT $84.99

Basically there are two main producers of CPUs, Intel and AMD, and naturally they compete. As a general rule, more GHZ and more cores are better. This one comes with 3 cores (X3). The more cores you have the better the computer can multitask aka you can more quickly listen to music while surfing the web, while downloading a movie. Most games utilize 2 cores, so anything above that is a bit of “future proofing”, so when games come out that require 3, 4 cores, you won’t have an out of date computer. Remember to always be thinking about the future. AMD is supposed to be a better bargain for the cheaper processors, so I’ve read. Lastly, 3.3GHZ is pretty decent speed. To put that into perspective, the laptop I currently use to play games on is only 1.9GHZ, and my work laptop is 2.5GHZ (remember I’m building a desktop so you would expect more power). (btw, to check your own, go to My Computer -> View System Information)

Motherboard (mobo) ASROCK 770 EXTREME3 AM3 R $74.99

This motherboard had the basics of what I wanted:

-six USB ports (two of them being USB 3.0 – aka faster transfer rates)

-one PCI-Express 2.0 16X, three PCI-Express 1X and two PCI slots, four SATA 3.0GB/s, two SATA 6.0GB/s ports, etc

In the future I will try to define what may seem like strange terms, but for this first time I’m going to let you google it yourself as a little lesson in figuring out what computer terms are…

Video Graphics Card VGA SAPPHIRE|100315L HD6850 R $184.99

Obviously this is a very important component because I want a gaming computer. The best way to learn about video cards is to read performance reviews on them. Essentially people play games with the various video cards and look for specs like how fast the game goes (FPS), how much noise the video card makes, how much power it uses, etc. Within companies, the nomenclature can be a little complicated. Basically, the 6000 represents a series, that it’s in the 6000 series, and particular it’s 6850. So you can assume it’s upgraded in some way from an ATI 5870. To be honest there is still a lot about it I don’t understand, but I do trust the author of the article, and the benchmarking that was done, so I felt confident it wouldn’t be a let down.

RAM MEM 2Gx2|GEIL GVP34GB1333C9DC RT $41.99

The article puts it pretty nicely

“4GB of RAM is pretty much mandatory to handle the latest video games along with Windows and background background such as your anti-virus, web browser, music/video player, etc. Considering the price of RAM these days and the ever-expending memory use of games and programs, 4GB of high-speed DDR3 memory is a no-brainer.” Likewise, right now most games don’t take adv. of more than 4gb. So this is what I got.

Hard Drive Storage HD 500G|SAMSUNG HD502HJ $54.99

My current laptop has around 75GB, so I knew 500GB would be MORE than enough. Ram is pretty cheap though, You could get a whole terabyte for not that much more. Either way, I didn’t need it, so I knew this would be fine.

DVD BRN ASUS | DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS% – OEM $16.99

CD Drive – can read CDs and burn them, what more could you ask for for $17?

PSU ANTEC|BP550 PLUS RT $64.99 (44.99 after $20 rebate)

Power supply, going to refer to the article here. This power supply is capable of delivering up to 550W,

Best of all it’s 80 PLUS certified. That means that it’s not so hard on the power bill, it doesn’t get as hot and it’s quieter than less efficient and/or lower-quality power supplies.

Case Rosewill Destroyer $45

Case needs to be sized to fit the motherboard and have proper ventilation

Cooler Master Hyper 101A H…   $14.99

Was recommended to get an extra cooler to keep temperature down

WIN HOME PREM 7 64-BIT ENG 1PK DSP – OEM $99.99

Windows 7 operating system – recommended by many

Monitor 24in LCD (gift from girl friend’s dad but retails at 175)

Huge screen, big enough to watch movies on like it’s a small TV.

Microphone + Video Camera ($50)

Great for gaming and skype!

Keyboard/Mouse (gift from girlfriend but bought on sale for $45)

no brainer

Wireless Adapter (gift from girlfriend but retails at $50)

So that it doesn’t have to be plugged in to an ethernet cord to get internet

So, let’s tally that up and see where we stand

CPU $85

MOBO $75

Ram $42

HD $55

Video Card $185

Power Supply $45

DVD BRN $17

Cooler $15

case $45

Windows $100

Total Computer: 664

Microphone $20

Video Camera $30

(Gift) Monitor $175

(Gift) Keyboard/Mouse $45

(Gift) Wireless Adapater $50

(Gift) Printer

Total Extras: 370

Either way, we met our budget estimate of $1000 and have a great computer with all the extras!

I thought about writing about putting it together, but to be honest this is long enough as it is, and there are plenty of articles online about putting together a computer, so let me just end with two pictures (or maybe they display above). The left, the parts before. The right, the computer!

I also thought about doing a little comparison. Again, article is too long already, but I can say I was impressed by how my computer stacked up against ones in its price range at Best Buy (which usually cheated the video card and/or power supply).