hardware guide . . . How to build a PC Basics of buying a Case Basics of buying a Motherboard Basics of buying a CPU and Cooler Which Graphics Card ? Hardware Information Links More questions and answers ? How to build a Computer It is not difficult to build your own Computer, for a first timer it helps to have seen one built or have another one thats already assembled in front of you. However, all you need are the essential components, and the ability to figure out what goes where. Below are a list of these items all of which you can find on this site. Case PSU/Power Supply Unit (May already be built into the Case) Motherboard (May be all in one and have some components built in *) CPU/Processor Heatsink and Fan (goes on top of the CPU) Memory Hard Drive CDrom Floppy Drive (is not essential) VGA card/Graphics Card * Sound Card * (is not essential) Modem * (is not essential) Keyboard Mouse Monitor OS/Operating System (like Windows XP/2000) You will need a small Phillips screwdriver, the rest of the screws and cables should come with the motherboard box, or with the hardware. You should also get a manual with the motherboard and some of the hardware, the one with the motherboard usually has detailed descriptions of where everything goes on it. Below are some very basic guides on compatibility and other issues you may come across plus a buying guide if applicable. « back to top Basics of buying a Case The case you buy is normally related to the motherboard you will use on it, therefore, it will say 'P4' if its for a P4 motherboard. Cases sometimes have PSUs built into them, so there is not always a need to buy a separate PSU. Some motherboards require a minimum Watts from a PSU. Prices vary in cases, from build quality, the amount of slots for drives to additional features. « back to top Basics of buying a Motherboard The motherboard holds all components together. There are performance factors which effect your choice of motherboard: You have to buy a motherboard specific to the brand and speed of CPU that you want. Motherboards are AMD or Intel specific. The amount and bandwidth of Memory that you require is related. If you intend to use a high end AGP graphics (VGA) card you should make sure the motherboard will make the most of it. Sometimes motherboards are all in one, so have a built in VGA, sound card, modem and LAN, please check info. There is usually a complex manual with the motherboard which will help you fit it. « back to top Basics of buying a CPU and Cooler When buying a CPU make sure the motherboard supports it. Pentium 4 chips will need motherboards with descriptions like 'P4' in them. Not all motherboards support different CPU speeds e.g. the motherboard description should tell you if it supports the Pentium P4 3.066GHz 533MHz. If the CPU does not come with a heatsink and fan, make sure the cooler you buy supports it. In the heatsink/fan section the description tells you which CPU they are for. In general the AMD CPUs are better value for money, when compared with other brands with similar benchmarks. However, the P4 3.066GHz with its hyper-threading is one of the fastest, but you get what you pay for. « back to top Which Graphics Card ? There are more advanced and basic Graphics Cards available, but generally the top end cards we supply will be good enough to play the latest next generation games like Half Life 2, Doom 3 or Star Wars Galaxies. Currently out of the medium to high end cards we supply the ATI 9600PRO and FX5600 are good choices -reasonably priced and powerful, but to get the best out of them make sure your motherboard, memory and CPU compliment them. For example if the graphics card has DDR and 8xAGP, it is best to have a motherboard which support this. The CPU can also be a bottleneck if its processing power is slower than the output of the graphics cards, if you have an old Athlon 1.3Ghz, no matter how fast your new graphics card is, you will not achieve better graphics and frame rates than with the some of the low end graphics cards. If you are on a budget the other cards like the ATI 9200 or the FX5200 are a good buy, they will work fine for most games new and old, but you will have to tone down the quality of the ground breaking games to get a good play. If you do not play games or have no need for a card that supports 3D or online gaming, any card will do depending on if you need PCI or AGP, and most should support the resolution you need. « back to top Hardware Information Links http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/misc/systemadvisor/pc-budget.html - An analysis of PC Desktop Systems, options are Budget, Performance or Ultimate. http://www.tomshardware.com - Popular hardware site, for the latest News, Reviews and Advice. « back to top More questions and answers ? When buying, please feel free to call us or email to clear up any compatibility and technical issues. If you would like to see some other topics here, or would like to add to this section from your own experience, please email your input. tel: 020 8900 1911, email: info@avco.biz « back to top