How to build your own Computer

If you are looking
to save some money, or build a computer to fit a particular need then putting
together your own is certainly a viable option. Surprisingly the mechanics of
doing so is fairly easy. Parts fit only certain slots. You don't need a hammer,
a soldering gun, a wrench or any electronic testing equipment. You will need
a non-magnetized crosshead screw driver, a long pair of tweezers, and a great
deal of patience with yourself.

Choosing the right parts

• Save money


• Education/Hobby


• Trick/Fast/Best

Also, do we have an OS in mind? Are we building a machine for Windows, or
Linux or some other OS?

How you answer those questions will determine most of your purchase choices
as we decide capacities, speed and costs. While Windows and Linux both have
reached the development point of being able to work with just about anything,
both have a preferred list of hardware they work best with. For Windows, this
list can be found on
their website. A similar resource for Linux can be found on this
web site. Again, if your favorite, or preferred component isn't on these
lists it may still work for you, you are just going to have to find out how
to set it up.

For the purposes of this article I'm going to put together a tower computer
for my video editing hobby. So my decisions on what I'm suggesting to buy will
be based on that goal. Having a particular application to work with helps thresh
through the tremendous amount of options available on the market.

A video editing system would also make a great gaming computer, since both
systems require fast video display and processing.

The Case

The choice of case is an important one. We want one that will fit in the space
we have, but also allow for good cooling, and enough space inside to work with.

Size: The internal size of the case allows for cooling fans,
circulation, and ease of work.

Cooling: Heat is the number one cause of system failure, and
can be attributed to most 'weird' system errors as well. Heat effects the hard
drives, the CPU, the RAM and every thing else inside the case. You want to have
enough space and power outlets to run fans, and enough space in-between components
to help keep them cool.

Upgrading: The size and layout of the case show how much internal
expansion you can do later.

Ports: Slotted ports for cards, drives, USB, sound etc. How
many do you need, how many do you want

Trick: If you want your case to be more than a box with stuff
in it, then there are certainly answers for you. Here are some web sites to
check
out for ideas.

For my case, I want a tower, and I want lots of access room to the mother board
area. Important to me as well, is the room inside for fans and exhaust. The
system will not only be running most of the time, but will also be under a great
deal of stress while it is running.

I'm going with the
Antec 900, for all the reasons listed above. There are a few features of this
case that I like. One is that the power supply is at the bottom of the tower,
not at the top. It doesn't waste space with an antiquated floppy drive port
area. It comes with several fans, and the hard drive bays have ventilation.
What impresses me most with this case is that despite the amount of fans, it
is quite. While that is not hugely important since I'm constantly blasting MP3
music while working, it is nice.

The price for this case is about 130.00

The Mother Board

The
Mother board is your first purchase, as well as your first installation into
the case. Buy the mother board with the case in mind. Where are the RAM slots,
and where are the expansion slots. How do they line up with the case? You don't
want to get a board layout that puts your RAM right under, or next to the Power
Supply, or Under the Hard Drive array. The expansion slots line up with the
back slots of the Case.

Deciding which mother board is determined or limited to the type of CPU you
want to have, how many expansion slots, what type of expansion slots, how much
RAM, how many hard drives. Most of today's motherboards have one or even two
PCI Express x16 slots to support the latest 3D graphics solutions, while older
technology motherboards feature an AGP or AGP Pro slot. Cheap motherboard models
have no graphics expansion slots at all, and are designed to work primarily
from onboard graphics. We definitely don't want one of these last, but are interested
in the PCI Express slots.

Main power comes to the boards from the PSU (Power Supply Unit) through a 24-pin
connector, with the CPU core powered separately via an 8-pin connector. Another
input common on motherboards with dual interfaces for graphics is a standard
4-pin Molex receptacle, which offers additional power to the PCI Express x16
slots.

Phase and Voltage regulation is important for the over-clockers, and for those
that really want to push their systems. While not unimportant for my application
it isn't a determining factor. A three-phase voltage regulator board is the
older generation. Four-phase regulation has become the norm. Each phase adds
capacity, so a five-phase regulator should have up to 25% more load capacity
than a four-phase design using equal components. What this means to me is that
while a five phase would be nice, a four phase will do just fine. I won't settle
for a 3-phase because I know that the system will be under stress most of the
time it is on. If this computer was for word processing and office needs, a
3 phase would do.

I know I'm going to be using an Atholon CPU, so I need a Socket 939 motherboard.
I didn't want to use the ASUS because of the PCI Express x16 slot in the second
slot position. This makes it too tight for longer graphic cards being so close
to the DIMM ports (where the RAM is going). My next choice is the GA-K8NF-9-RH
which has room to expand the RAM (up to 4 gig) as well as having a good layout.
Other items to consider are Firewire, number of USB ports, access to floppy
controller, RAM expansion and type.

The CPU

By the time you
read this, there will be a better CPU out there. That's just the way it works.
It doesn't really matter. You are going to have to choose one. Your choice is
limited to the type of Mother board you have.

A central processing unit (CPU), is the component in a digital computer that
interprets instructions and processes data contained in computer programs.

Most CPUs are synchronous in nature. That is, they are designed and operate
on assumptions about a synchronization signal. This signal, known as a clock
signal, usually takes the form of a periodic square wave. By calculating the
maximum time that electrical signals can move in various branches of a CPU's
circuits, the designers can select an appropriate period for the clock signal.

The Xeon Woodcrest looks impressive, but I'm going with an AMD. In fact I'm
going with the Athlon 64 4000. The best thing about the processor is of course
that it's already compatible with 64-bit platforms. We're not quite ready yet
as we are all awaiting the final release of Windows XP 64-bit but that OS is
coming sooner then you think. Until that time, the CPU will run in its legacy
32-bit x86 mode. Optimal compatibility without performance loss, that's key
factor here.

Something to seriously
consider when looking at what CPU to purchase is the software you are going
to run. The CPU I'm planning on getting is a 64-bit processor. Right now, however,
there are no 64-bit operating systems which run Sony Vegas (my video editing
software), and even if their were, Sony Vegas is not 64-bit. Of course it will
still run, but it will not utilize the CPU to its full potential.

AMD right now has my personal preference. Intel still needs much higher clockspeeds
to accomplish what AMD can do at only 2400 MHz. A positive side effect here
is that the AMD CPUs run at a lower wattage, voltage and thus is cheaper in
regards to power-consumption but most of all, also heat.

Another good thing about this CPU has to be that it's going to last for a while,
you have a 64-bit ready processor in the heart of that PC of yours that is ready
for Microsoft's 64-bit operating system. It's clear that the Athlon 64 4000+
for both applications and gaming.

Reading up on the various types of CPUs is a good idea. Finding the forums
of people who use the components for the same type of interest helps even more.
I'm using this chip simply because I've worked on machines with it recently
and have noticed that it works very well with the programs I like to use. I
can read reviews and comparisons all day long, but this doesn't change my feeling
that this chip will work very well for my applications.

It is also by far the most expensive item I'm purchasing for this build, going
for about 350.00.

RAM

Because of the board
I have purchased, I know what kind of RAM I need to get. So, the decisions I've
made for the chip and the board, really pre-determine what I'm getting for most
other areas, or those components don't rely on that information. My supported
memory is Dual-Ch DDR400.

Today, there are three common varieties of RAM: SDRAM (synchronous dynamic
RAM), Direct RDRAM (Rambus dynamic RAM), and DDR (double data rate) SDRAM. As
far as you, the end-user, is concerned all three do basically the same job.
The differences lie in the internal designs, and the compatibility with your
motherboard and CPU system.

SDRAM was first used to support for a PC processor bus speed of 66 MHz, but
then was advanced to support the 100-MHz. SDRAM certified to run at 100 MHz
is typically called PC100 SDRAM, and it is available in 168-pin dual in-line
memory modules (DIMMs). Since each DIMM offers a 64-bit data bus, the peak bandwidth
for SDRAM is 800 MBps (it never does, but it could... theorically). Just before
the turn of the century, SDRAM was again advanced to support a 133-MHz FSB speed,
and this was termed PC133 SDRAM.

Rambus is another type
of memory which we don't hear about very often, but has made some very definite
advances since its begining. Instead of using the existing processor bus, as
most RAM technology does, RDRAM uses a 16-bit data bus with a dedicated high-speed
(300 MHz) clock. This method effectively doubles the the clock speed to 600
and using dual channels doubles the data baus to 32 bits which sets the peak
bandwidth to 2.4 GBps. Currently Rambus is advancing to 1,066 MHz (PC1066) and
1,200(PC1200) for very high performance systems.

DDR SDRAM. The issue with SDRAM is that each data line passes only one bit
per clock cycle (resulting, for a 64-bit memory device, in 64 bits per clock).
To compete more closely with RDRAM, SDRAM creators developed memory that would
perform two operations per clock cycle. This memory is called double data rate
or DDR SDRAM. A DDR SDRAM module uses 184 pins (like a RIMM). Since DDR SDRAM
builds on well-established SDRAM technology, it's often cheaper than Direct
Rambus modules.

The important thing to remember is that you cannot mix SDRAM, Rambus, and
DDR SDRAM on the same motherboard. When you're adding memory, select the type
specifically intended for your motherboard and stick to it. SDRAM modules each
have 168 pins. Rambus and DDR SDRAM modules have 184 pins. The difference in
pin count and keying will prevent usage in the wrong type of slot. You'll also
want to check whether the memory for your system will use error-checking techniques
such as parity and ECC (error correction code) and whether it's buffered or
unbuffered.

After looking around for a bit I found OCZ EL DDR400 PC-3200 2GB(2x1GB) Dual
Channel Platinum for 270.00. I may not have extended my budget out so far with
a game computer, and certainly not for an office computer. But for a video editing
computer, the extra RAM is not going to waste.

Video Cards

Again my decisions to this
point dictate roughly the type of card I'm going to purchase. Obviously it is
going to be a PCI Express x16, and have on board RAM (at the very least 256mb).
So, that being the state of things it narrows my research field quite a bit.

Your monitor's refresh rate is the amount of times the graphics card updates
the screen image every second. A refresh rate of 75 Hz means that the monitor
is refreshing 75 times per second.

Refresh rate problems may arise if the computer is processing frames faster
than the monitor's refresh rate. If the computer is fast enough to process 100
frames per second, for example, and the monitor's refresh rate is 75 Hz, there
will be times when a frame is calculated and is displayed halfway through one
of the monitor's refreshes. This can cause "tearing" or "artifacts,"
which is a nuisance. You'll see this effect quite a bit in video games and editing.

Pixel stands for "picture element." It is simply a small dot of graphical
information on your display - the representation of a color (for most purposes
these are values of red, green and blue). If your screen resolution is 1024x768,
your screen shows a grid of 1024 pixels wide by 768 pixels high.

One item you can see advertised on the side of a graphics card's packaging
is the fill rate. The fill rate is generally referred to as the rate at which
a graphics processor can draw pixels. Older cards once had triangle fill rates.
However, there are generally two forms of fill rates: the pixel fill rate and
the texture fill rate. As described above, the pixel fill rate is the total
number of pixels the card can output and is calculated as the number of raster
operations (ROPs) multiplied by the clock frequency.

The texture fill rate
is calculated differently by ATI and Nvidia. Nvidia holds this rate to be the
number of pixel pipelines multiplied by the clock frequency while ATI multiplies
the number of texture units by the clock frequency. Both are correct methods
as Nvidia has one texture unit per pixel shader unit or one per pixel pipe.

Graphics processor clock speed is measured in Megahertz (MHz), which can be
described as 'millions of cycles per second'.

The clock speed has a direct effect on the performance of the graphics processor.
The faster it runs, the more work it does per second.

The memory on the graphics card has a profound impact on performance. However,
different aspects of the memory have different impacts.

The amount of video RAM is probably the most overrated part of a graphics card.
Because of gross misuse of marketing, often people tend to use the amount of
RAM on a card to differentiate it from other cards, but in reality the amount
of RAM has a very small impact on performance when compared to other considerations
like clock speed.

Generally speaking, a card with 128 MB of RAM will perform almost identically
to a card with 256 MB of RAM in most situations. There are situations where
more RAM is advantageous for performance, but it is important to keep in mind
that more RAM does not automatically translate into better performance.

Where RAM does come in useful is for higher-resolution texture sets. Game developers
often make multiple texture sets for their games, and the more RAM your graphics
card has, the higher resolution textures you will be able to use. Higher resolution
textures provide clearer game images and landscapes.

Now that I've gone to all this trouble to naysay the Marketing department and
chuckle at the uniformed consumer, it is still common sense to choose a video
care with the largest amount of RAM you can afford, but only if everything else
about the cards are equal. If you have to choose between the amount of RAM,
and faster bus and clock speed, say no to the RAM.

The memory bus is the most important aspect of performance. A graphics card's
memory bus will range from 64 bits to 256 bits, and in some of the high-end
cards it can be 512-bits wide. As the bus width increases, so does the amount
of data carried per cycle, and that means performance. For example, if you had
two buses running at the same clock frequency, a 128-bit bus could theoretically
carry twice as much data as the 64-bit bus per clock cycle and a 256-bit bus
can carry four times as much.

Higher memory bandwidth equals higher memory performance. This is why the memory
bus is so much more important than the amount of RAM.

Considering the amount of RAM, note that a graphics card with 128 MB of 256-bit
memory would have much higher memory performance than a 512-MB model with 64-bit
memory. It is notable that some of ATI's X1x00 series graphics cards will advertise
their "internal" memory bus specifications, but the "external"
bus is the number to really look at; if the X1600 has a 256-bit internal "ring
bus," but the external bus is 128 bits then in reality, the memory bus
performs at 128-bit.

Memory comes in two main categories: SDR (single data rate) and DDR (double
data rate), which transfers twice the data per clock cycle. Single data rate
memory has long been obsolete as far as graphics cards go. Because DDR memory
does twice the work of SDR memory, it is important to remember that all DDR
memory usually is clock speed-advertised at double its physical clock speed.
For example, DDR memory is considered to be "1000 MHz DDR" memory
("1000 MHz effective") when its actual clock speed is 500 MHz. So
don't be surprised if your 1200 MHz DDR memory is reported by your system to
be running at 600 MHz. DDR2 and GDDR3 memory works on the same principle. The
difference between DDR, DDR2 and GDDR3 memory is only manufacturing technology.
DDR2 can generally run at higher speeds than DDR; and DDR3 can generally run
at higher clock speeds than DDR2.

All communication between the graphics card and the rest of the computer goes
through the graphics card's slot (that slot on the motherboard you installed
the card into). There are three types of graphics interfaces currently in use:
PCI, AGP, and PCI Express. Different slots allow for different amounts of bandwidth,
and the more bandwidth you have the better performance.

The slowest graphics of these three slot types (called bus), is the PCI bus
(Peripheral Components Interconnect). Generally these aren't in play any longer.
The AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) is much better, and you will find computers
still using this one. AGP comes in many different speeds, starting at AGP 1.0
and AGP 2x which can limit performance so much that it really didn't matter
that you put a high performance graphics card in there. Once we reach AGP 4x,
we can see some bennifit to a contemporary graphics card. The AGP 8x would then
sound like a great idea, having twice the bandwidth of the AGP 4x (2.16 GB/s),
but in reality there is a very little difference in performance between these
two.

The newest and highest-bandwidth interconnect is the PCI Express bus. New graphics
cards typically use this slot which reaches as high as 4 GB/s bandwidth; twice
the bandwidth of AGP 8x. PCI Express offers this bandwidth both for uploading
data to the computer and downloading to the graphics cards. However, the AGP
8x is still pretty good in comparison, and I have yet to hear of a PCI Express
graphics card performing better than an AGP 8x model (assuming all other hardware
and parameters are equal). For example, an AGP version of a GeForce 6800 Ultra
will perform identically to the PCI Express version.

PCI Express is the preferred graphics card slot today and will be around for
several years. The high performance parts are not manufactured for the aging
AGP 8x bus anymore, and PCI Express solutions tend to be cheaper and easier
to find than their AGP counterparts.

I don't have to spend a great deal of money on this, just like I don't have
to have 256m of memory on the card. For under 100.00 I could get the Radeon
X800 GTO 256mb or the Geforce 7300 GT GDDR3. Both of these are great graphic
cards, and will due for most game play. All of my video and graphics work is
for the Internet. I don't do much for the print world, and very little for digital
photography at the level where my editing display has to be incredibly high.
So I am only going up to the Radeon X1900 XT 256MB. If I ever use the total
ability of that card, I'll be happy.

Network Cards

My board came with a network card. Most do at this point. It is also preferable.
If I need to add one, it will be wireless, and I'll use the USB port access
for that, not a PCI slot. My board only has two PCI slots. A few years ago I
would not have considered a board with only two, but USB and Firewire have changed
the upgrade need. As it sits right now, I'm not even sure what would use the
two PCI slots I have. I can tell you that it won't be for the sound card.

Sound Card

Again, the sound card that comes with this motherboard is good enough for my
needs. So I'm not going to add one. I can, there is no reason I can't place
a sound card into the PCI slot and have it work. For my stated usage though
it would not be an expense I need.

Sound cards still run on the regular PCI slots, and there is very little compatibility
issue with any setup you have, or what type of RAM you are using. Compatibility
will be OS and Software related only.

USB Ports

More please, thank you. I like to have at least six USB ports available for
a desktop computer. Laptops have to watch their USB port usage, because they
drain batteries. But at home, on this computer, I don't have to worry about
that. I like at least two USB ports in the front of the computer or near the
front on the side. USB ports in the back are for Network Wireless cards, mouse
and keyboard ports, a printer and external hard drives (of which I am very fond
of).

Hard Drives

You might want to get
a 80 gig hard drive, but I prefer the 40 gig types, with two or three external
drives. I don't like anything "stored" on my computer. I like my work
on the computer, what is current, and interesting, and a large archive for what
I collect through the days and weeks of working on the Internet.

The best type of external drive I have come across yet are the types that hook
to the Router, rather than the USB port of your computer. Having them on the
Router, opens ports, keeps speed up, and allows me to use the data from my laptop
or my desktop with equal ease. All around it is a better deal.

I still have an external drive that is USB connected, for travel. I have also
learned to pack the laptop and the external drive in separate bags with the
required data for the trip copied to both devices.

CD Drives

For convenience
we do want a CD drive on the computer. High speed, and Read/Write is very good
as well. We need this to install our software and operating systems. Most people
do not need a floppy drive, and the case that I have chosen doesn't even have
a supporting slot. I don't use floppies and I don't even like them. USB drives
and CD ROMs are far better for storage and data transfer.

Now, I don't want an Internal DVD burner or any other drives. One of the features
of my motherboard is a Firewire connection. This was important to me because
I want the new Sony external DVD burner, which connects through Firewire connections.
It also connects through the USB port, but Firewire is faster, and for burning
I want something fast. Like, under seven minutes fast.

The DRX-820UL/T External FireWire-400 and USB 2.0 Dual Layer DVD Burner from
Sony incorporates 8.5 GB DVD-R Dual Layer as well as DVD+R Double Layer burning
in addition to dual format 4.7 GB DVD burning. The drive features dual USB 2.0
and FireWire-400 interfaces, allowing you to connect it to almost any computer.

The reason I am bent
on this external prerequisite is because of the heat issue again. The less I
have running (even idle) inside the computer, the better. The box, in my design
mind, is for the basics. CPU, RAM, HD, CD, video cards, sound cards, etc. The
basics. Nothing that can't be on the out side of that box.

External also means less power requirements. I don't want to run two hard drives
all the time. I want to run as little as possible. If I want it, then I want
it handy and easy to plug in, but until then I don't want it burning electricity,
and sucking on my power source.

Remember, if you have any questions about what you should purchase for building
your computer, visit our free help forum, where real computer experts will answer
your questions as if you are paying us.