☻↓Build A Computer↓☻

build a computer *. _ ATX tower (or mid-tower) case *. _ Power Supply *. _ CPU *. _ ATX Motherboard *. _ RAM *. _ Graphics/video card *. _ Sound card *. _ Hard drive(s) *. _ Speakers *. _ Screen (LCD) *. _ Keyboard *. _ Mouse *. _ optical drive (DVD burner or Blu-ray) *. _ Surge Protector *. _ Network Interface Card *. _ Wi-Fi *. _ USB2 card *. _ Operating System software *. _ Modem (optional) *. _ Printer (optional) *. _ Scanner (optional) *. _ Webcam (optional) -»¦«- -»¦«- -»¦«- -»¦«- -»¦«- -»¦«- Graphics/video card For some, the integrated graphics chip that comes on the ATX motherboard may be sufficient for their needs. That said, graphics cards can easily be added and upgraded on an available port on the motherboard(typically a PCI-Express port). There are a very, very wide range of video cards, typically ranging from 128MB of memory on up. This is one part, along with the CPU, that I highly suggest you spend quite a bit of timeresearching before making your purchase. If you use the on-board integrated graphics chip, you’ll probably be borrowing from system memory. Ifthe on-board chip is configured for 128MB of video RAM, you’d subtract the 128MB from the total memory, leaving what’s left as available to your operating system. Example, your system has 1GB of RAM, but uses on-board integratedgraphics at 128MB. You would onlyhave 896MB of RAM available to theoperating system. `°*.`°*.`°*.`*.¸.*´.*°´.*°´.*°´ The Hard Drive(s) Your hard drives are what store all of your data, ranging from your operating system to your documents,music, and movies. If the RAM is your computer's short-term memory, yourhard drive is the long-term memory. It stores the things you want to keeparound for awhile. The kind ofhard drive you choose will be determined mainly by how much data you need to store, but certain kinds of hard drives (like solid state drives) can alsoaffect your computer's speed. `°*.`°*.`°*.`*.¸.*´.*°´.*°´.*°´ The Processor The Processor (CPU) is the "brain" of your computer, the thing that carries out the tasks you give it. Better CPUs can perform more tasks at once, and perform them faster. That said, not everyone actually takes advantage oftheir processor's full speed, so the high-end models are only really crucial if you're performing intensive tasks like gaming, video editing, video conversion, or compiling code. It's also one of themost expensive parts of a machine,so if you aren't performing these types of tasks, you don't necessarily need to worry about buying the latest and greatest `°*.`°*.`°*.`*.¸.*´.*°´.*°´.*°´ The Motherboard The motherboard connects all the other components to one another, and is the physical base upon which you build everything else. It contains a lot of your machine's core features, like the number of USB ports, the number of expansion cards you can put in (such as video, sound, and Wi-Fi), and also determines how big your computer will be. Which motherboard you pick will depend on whether you build a low, medium, or high performance machine and how advanced of a .user you are. `°*.`°*.`°*.`*.¸.*´.*°´.*°´.*°´ The Case The case holds all of your computer's parts together. For the most part, a case is less about features that affect how your computer runs and more about features that affect you and your home—that is, how quiet it is, howlarge it is, and of course, how it looks in your office. Still, it's an important consideration that is dependent on your other choices, so you might want to think about what you want in terms of a case before moving on to the shopping step. `°*.`°*.`°*.`*.¸.*´.*°´.*°´.*°´ RAM, or Random Access Memory, islike your computer's short-term memory. It stores data your computer needs quick access to to help your programs run faster, andhelp you run more programs at one time. Thus, if you run a lot of programs at once, you'll want a computer with more RAM. If you use virtual machines, you'll want even more RAM, since it has to run its own programs in addition to yours. `°*.`°*.`°*.`*.¸.*´.*°´.*°´.*°´ The Graphics Card The Graphics card, or GPU, is a processor specifically designed to handle graphics. It's what you hook your monitor up to, and it's what draws your desktop and your windows on the screen. Somemotherboards come with a GPU already integrated, which is enough to manage your desktop, but not enough for watching high definition video or playing 3D games. For those,you'll need a dedicated graphics card,since it can do the legwork needed todraw those complex images. `°*.`°*.`°*.`*.¸.*´.*°´.*°´.*°´ The Power Supply The power supply directs electricityto the other components in your machine. Generally speaking, if youhave a high performance computer with a fast processor, a graphics card,and a few hard drives, you'll need a higher wattage power supply than you would if you were building a low-end PC. This is probably the last component you'll shop for, once you've nailed down your other parts and how much electricity they'll require.