i want to build a computer... someone tell me what i need...?

Question

could someone tell me what i need to build a computer- what motherboard, processor, and all that stuff should i get? someone tell me some compatable stuff to get!

its not for gameing... i want to build it to sell at the computer store i work at (i'm not the technician, obviously! i'm the desk manager, but i want to learn.) i just want it to be a pretty basic desktop computer, but i'll probably put it in a cool case.

Windows XP Professional

Answer 1

On www.tigerdirect.com you can buy a barebones kit. It comes with a case, power supply, motherboard, processor and ram. All you need is your own hard drive, video card and sound card (if the sound card isn't build into the mother board.

They also list what hardware is compatible with the motherboard so it is very hard to pick the wrong part.

If this is your first computer build though, you may want to have a more knowledgeable friend guide you a long.

Answer 2

First you have to decide on what kind of porcessor you want, if you want a Pentium or an AMD. I personally prefer Pentium 4 right now it's slightly in the lead for performance too.

The current dual core pentium processor uses an Intel PGA-775 chipset, so look for a motherboard with PGA-775. This is the square or rectangular area where the CPU plugs in to the motherboard. A good thing about PGA-775 is that you can fit either the Dual Core or the Quad Core in that board, Quad Cores are rather new, so they may be rather expensive to get as of this writing. If you can wait a little bit the price should come down a bit. The form factor of your motherboard is most likely ATX, which is fairly standard, if you have a smaller computer case than normal, it may require a diferent mother board form factor, or shape/size.

Next you will need a good video card. Although most motherboards come with onboard video, is not always the top of the line, and if it should burn out, you're stuck without a video card. Right now, from what I've seen, PCI Express is the way to go, there's a lot more available through put than AGP and has a lot more "growing space" for future upgrades before the technology becomes obsolete. Also look for at LEAST 128 Megabytes of on card video memory, especially if you are planning to upgrade to MS-Vista.

Next, you'll need memory. MS-Vista requires at least 1 Gigabyte of memory, it's preferable that you have at least 2 Gigs. If you go with the Dual Core or Quad Core Intel Pentium 4, then you will need DDR2 memory. Most memory is fairly smart, if you plug in a little faster memory than your motherboard can handle, your motherboard usually uses the memory at the speed it can handle. Just make sure that if you get two or more sticks of memory that you keep them the same speed and type.

As for a harddrive, you should have at minimum, 40 gigabytes. You should also look for at least 7200 RPM drive speed, faster the better, especially if you are going to use this as a gaming rig.

Everything else, like floppy drives etc... are just perks. You could probably just transfer any CD/DVD drives from the computer you have now, to the new one.

P.S. If you are going to put it in a "cool case" you might as well make it a gaming rig.

Answer 3

The basic components of a computer are The casing, The Motherboard/Processor (Sometimes a graphics card is build in and almost always a sound card) if not you will have to buy them seperate. A hard drive and some ram. Thats what i can think of off the top of my head. However it is not just a case of going to a computer store with a list of them things, you will be the laughing stock of the store as all the different components have to be compatible with one and other. You would have to do a little research online im sorry i cant offer you a source but something should come up if you google "How to build a computer"

One last thing. When you get all the parts putting them together isnt as hard as you might think!!

Answer 4

Motherboard, processor and RAM go hand in hand.

Each and every motherboard supports one type of processor only, be sure of what you want.

Also, processors use sockets. Each and every motherboard supports a type of socket.

Once you get this clear, you can start building your PC.

Let's say you want an AMD processor. There are four different sockets for AMD processors, namely AM2, Socket 939, Socket 754 and Socket A. Say you settle for an AMD Athlon 64 FX processor. Looking at AMD's website, it says it is an AM2 socket processor. You will then get a motherboard that uses the AM2 socket. You can find a suitable motherboard at http://www.motherboards.org/

Once you figure out the socket that the processor uses, a suitable motherboard, it's time to look for RAM. Go to the motherboard manufacturer's website and look for your motherboard. Read through the specs given to find out the type of RAM supported and whether dual channel is supported.

That done, you need to know the form factor of the motherboard. The motherboard manufacturer will tell you what form factor it's using. Making use of this info, you can then get a suitable casing and power supply.

Also find out from the motherboard manufacturer's website whether graphics is integrated. If it is not, you will need to get a graphics card, otherwise your PC will not boot up and it will give you beep errors.

To summarize everything, you will need to find out these things in order to start building a PC:

1) The socket that the processor is using
2) Suitable motherboards
3) Type of RAM supported by motherboard
4) Form factor of the motherboard
5) Get a suitable power supply and casing
6) Whether or not is graphics integrated with the motherboard

Answer 5

Putting the box together is actually the easy part...you'll pick that up as you go along. It's picking out the pieces that can be a little tricky. There are a few options right now...if you're not entirely knowledgable about the hardware I won't shout tech details at you since they likely will carry little meaning.

....If you are interested if figuring it all out then the best advise I could give is to familiarize yourself with some of the basics. try a site like tom's. http://www.tomshardware.com
they have a lot of reviews on newer archietecture motherboards and chipsets....and they do have a few beginner guides as well. If you understand even 40% of it to start you're off to a better start than most. It gets a little more intuitive as you go along though.

good luck ;)

Answer 6

If you aren't that familiar with computers you are better off buying one rather than building one, as far as building your own there are so many possibilities it's too much to list. What type of processor do you what to use, AMD or Intel, how fast do you want the machine to be, what sort of graphics do you require. There are numerous websites and books that can help you out. Just do a search on building pcs.

Answer 7

I know, I know!!! Pick me Pick me!!!!


Is the answer money?!

Just kidding, why not talk to the technicians at your company? They could give you the best info on the computers you sell in your store. They could even do a walk through and help you do it. Hope this helps.. Good luck and have a good day!

Answer 8

So much hardware, so many possible incompatibilities. What are you going to put on it, Vista?

I wouldn't do that. I recommend a Macintosh. Why? The reason they work so well is because all of the hardware and software is specifically designed by Apple. This closed system allows Apple to make computer that simply "just work".

Answer 9

You need a computer barebones kit - availabe from Tiger Direct, Buy.com, Geeks.com etc.

A basic system requires - chassis with a power supply, motherboard, microprocessor / CPU, memory (RAM), hard disk, CDROM / DVD drives, graphics card (if it is not already on your motherboard), a mouse, a keyboard, a network card (if you are gonna connect to the net), cables - power cord, network cable etc

Answer 10

it is a very long list ! most of the component are compatible you shouldnt have a problem ! for me to list out you should temme for purpose you would be using the pc ???