You have got 3 big categories of budgets where you can choose from.
Budget PC (home server, surfing on the Internet)
Mid range PC(for surfing on the Internet, watching movies, downloading stuff)
High end PC(gamer computers)
Now you have found your budget you need to look for the parts you need. To build a computer you need the following parts:
-Processor(CPU)
-motherboard
-Graphics card(GPU) (optional, some motherboards have an on board graphics card)
-RAM
-Case
-power supply(PSU)
-Hard drive
With these parts you can already start your computer and install the software on it(like windows).
Then you find the parts that you can add to your build to make it complete like:
-Disc drive
-Soundcard(optional, most motherboards have an onboard soundcard)
-Internetcard(motherboards usually have an Ethernet port)
Each part that you buy has got a very variable price range. A motherboard can go from 40 euro to 400 euro
So choose them carefully and research each part and look for reviews about them to see what other people think of the parts.
I am now going to go into detail of each part:
CPU:
A processor is the hart of the computer this is a small chip that goes into your motherboard. There are many different types of processors with their own socket. When you buy your motherboard you have to make sure it has a socket where you can fit your processor into.
Their are two processor brands on the market: Intel and Amd
Intel tends to be more expensive but I usually go for Amd because they are cheaper and I can't really tell the difference.
If you want a budget PC you will get a processor with 1 or 2 cores.
For mid range computers you will get 2-4 cores
And for high end computers 4-6 cores.
When you buy a CPU you get a stock fan in the box to cool it, but if you want to overclock the CPU(increase the speed) you need to get a third party fan. Because this will make the CPU hotter and the stock fan will not be able to cool it down enough.
Here is a vid of me unboxing a high-end 6 core CPU:
Motherboard:
Is the board where all your parts connect to each other.
Every board is different and can handle different parts: you can find what things it can handle on the website of the board or on the box.
Their are 3 main sizes of motherboards
-uATX(small size
-ATX(normal size)
-E-ATX(big size)
Here is vid of me unboxing a motherboard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ae5YTryCk8s&feature=plcp
Ram:
The ram is fitted in the slots in this photo(black modules in the yellow slots)
This is the memory of the computer and determines the speed of the computer together with the processor. You have 3 main types of ram
-ddr(old)
-ddr2(old)
-ddr3
Most new motherboards have ddr3 slots.
Every ram module has its speed. and it will be displayed as ddr3-1066 or ddr3-1333 and it keeps on going up until ddr-2300 and higher. When you choose what ram you buy you also have to make sure if the motherboard can handle the speed. You will also find this on the website of the motherboard or on the box. The CPU must also be able to handle the speed. Most motherboards today will automatically reduce the speed of the ram to make it cope with the processor.
Here is a vid of me unboxing a high end ram:
PSU:
This is the power unit that you need to give the computer power. Each parts uses an amount of watts and you have to calculate the sum of all the parts to see how manny Watts your power supply needs.
I use an interesting site to calculate how much power the PC needs:http://support.asus.com/powersupply.aspx here you just fill in all the parts your computer has and it will then show you how much power your psu needs.
Case:
There are many cases out there, there are 3 main sizes you can buy
-mini tower
-midi tower
-big tower
Each tower can hold different types of motherboards. Make sure the size of your motherboard fits in the tower. So make sure you read the description of the case before you buy one.
Also look at the specs of the case, if you have high end parts your parts will get very hot so you need to make sure your parts stay cool by buying a case with fans.
Here is a vid of me unboxing a midi tower gaming case:
GPU:
The graphics card is the part in the build that you need to bring an image to your monitor. The better the graphics card the higher resolutions you can display on your monitor and the smoother your games will play. There are 2 brands of graphics card: nvidia and amd's ATI. they both have high and low end cards ranging from 30 euro to 600 euro. As usual you have to make sure your graphics card has the same slot as on your motherboard, the most used slot is called PCIe. Do some research on how your card works. And if your motherboard has an onboard graphics card you don't even have to buy one. This is only if you are using the computer for low demanding tasks. Not like gaming, then I strongly recommend to get a new graphics card. Also look out for the better cards. They usually take up 2 slot of your motherboard so this will leave no space for a device that you would like to put straight next to the graphics card. I will make it easier to understand in a photo.
As you can see this graphics card has taken up 2 slots.
On the better graphics cards you can also run 2 cards if you have a motherboard that has 2 or more graphic card slots. In the photo you can see that there is an other slot(orange) where you can fit an other one. You have to make sure that both cards are the same. By adding a second one it will boost the power of the visuals on computer. So you will be able to game at an even higher resolution.
HDD: The hard drive is the device where all your data is saved onto.
When you buy a hard drive, you first of all choose the size which is calculated in giga bytes. Hard drives used to connect with an ATA cabel, now a days it is connected to the motherboard with a sata cabel.
When you buy an HDD make sure the speed is 7200rpm or higher. This is what is recommended to have a good speed of data transferring.
Last but not least you have the slots on your motherboard. In these slots you can but soundcards, networkcards, graphic cards, capture devices,... We have already seen that graphic cards go into the PCIe x16 slots, the rest of the slots depends on the device that you want to connect to the motherboard.(see Photo)
If you wan't to know what the end result was of the computer I unboxed all the parts from you can look at my vid on youtube, I also have a vid of another build I did of a budget pc.
High end gaming rig:
Budget pc:
I hope you now feel more motivated to build your own system. If you have any questions feel free to ask ;)
