Welcome to part one of my three part series on building your own computer. Today, I am going to talk about some of the basics of getting everything set up for the build day. For some strange reason, people think that building a computer is difficult. There are a few rules to building computers, but they are very easy to remember.
Rule #1: Everything must be compatible.
Well, that's a given, isn't it? Compatibility ensures that everything will work right. I could go into detail about what exactly is compatible with what, but that would take a very long time, and you may as well just take an IT course if that's what you want. No, there is a much simpler solution.
As a rule of thumb, as long as "slot A" and "plug A" have the same numbers on them, they will probably work together. Obviously it isn't actually that simple. There are reasons why certain things are incompatible with other things. But you don't need to worry about that. Let me give you an example:
In this picture, we have a motherboard with an AM2+ (We will go over what that means tomorrow) Socket. This means that it is compatible with AM2 type processors and up. The processor we have pictures is an AM3 type processor. Therefore, it will work with the AM2+ socket on the motherboard.
Here we have a motherboard with an AM2 socket. Since the numbers do not match up, and it is not an AM2+ socket, this processor and this motherboard are incompatible.
Numbers are not the only thing that govern compatibility between processors and motherboards. There are currently two major companies who design PC processors: AMD and Intel. Now, there are many many many different companies who make motherboards. Most companies make motherboards for both AMD and Intel. You always have to be sure that your motherboard is designed for your processor, otherwise you will have wasted a fair amount of money. As far as which company to choose, that is mostly personal preference, based on budget and how much you really care.
Rule #2 - Bigger numbers do not always mean a better product.
This rule is the backbone of this post. After reading these posts, you should be able to build your own computer for fairly cheap. Part of that is because of this rule. Bigger numbers, be it in the price, the product name, or even the size/specifications of a part, do NOT necessarily mean you are getting a better product. Yes, having 16 GB of RAM and three eight-core processors will help, but you also don't usually need all that much power. You need to pick parts based on what you need out of your computer. Most of all, you need to pick what you can afford. You have to learn to optimize your budget to get the most bang for your buck, and buying a couple high-numbered parts won't do that.
Rule #3- Don't force it in.
You don't want to break your fancy new i7 because you couldn't be calm and patient enough to figure out that you were putting it in the wrong way. Except for some very rare exceptions, everything should slip cleanly and smoothly into place with a nice, satisfying click.
Check back soon for Computer Building and You - The Parts.
For those of you that care, here are my computer's specs, along with a picture:
