Paradigm^
20-06-2008, 06:15 PM
There's been quite a few threads recently asking about PC building. This thread will (hopefully) guide you through the process; I also touch on upgrades in a couple of places. I can't promise I'll be able to keep it updated, so please bear in mind that the computer world changes very quickly and this post will become out-of-date very rapidly. For reference, I've written this on 20th June 2008.
HOW STUFF WORKS
This is a guide for the noobs. I'll keep it brief, since noobs shouldn't really be building PCs anyway ;) The main parts of a computer are:
Motherboard aka 'mobo' - The main board that everything plugs in to.
Processor aka CPU (Central Processing Unit) - The main chip that executes your programs and does funny things with all the 1s and 0s. This does a lot of work and gets quite hot, so it comes with a heatsink (a big lump of metal) to dissipate the heat. You might want to consider getting a better heatsink than the one that comes with the CPU (called the 'stock' heatsink), especially if you're going to try to get your CPU to run faster than it's supposed to (overclocking).
Memory aka RAM - An intermediate store between your hard drive and CPU. The CPU can access things in memory much, much faster than it can read from the hard disk, so stuff that gets used frequently gets temporarily stored in RAM. Think of it as the difference between having a bigger desk (more space for things you can grab close to you) and a bigger filing cabinet (which will allow you to store more stuff overall, but you need to get out of your chair to reach it).
Hard drive aka HD - The filing cabinet mentioned above. This is what actually stores everything on your computer. Stuff in RAM disappears when you turn your computer off; stuff on your HD stays there.
Graphics card - The graphics card offloads the graphics processing work from the CPU. This leaves the CPU free to do other things, like work out what that bad guy is going to do next. Graphics cards are very heavily specialised, so they push pixels blindingly fast. For this reason, they usually end up being the most expensive single component in any given system.
Power supply aka PSU - Supplies juice to your components.
Case / cooling - A box for your stuff to go in. Adding fans to the box helps draw cool air in and push hot air out. This is a good thing.
BUYING BITS
This section will go out of date quickly. If you're reading this in a year or more's time, any information here will probably be old and useless to you. Six months is a long time in terms of computer bits. While I'm going to give suggestions here (which applies now, as I write it), the best advice I can give is do your research. If you want to know which of two CPUs or graphics cards is better, type them both into Google next to each other and you'll very likely find some reviews, complete with benchmarks. Looking at the bar charts will tell you far more about which to buy than I will. I can't recommend this enough.
Processor
A fairly recent development in the techy world is the advent of multi-core processors. Basically, instead of one processor, you have two or four or more. They're still on a single chip though, so don't go out and buy four of the same processor, whatever you do!
If you're building a system or upgrading, you'll want at least a dual-core processor. As the name suggests, these have two processors on board. Depending on your budget, how long you want your new computer to last, and how extravagant you're feeling, you might want to go for a quad-core.
The two main companies that produce CPUs are AMD and Intel. There was once a time when AMD sold brilliant CPUs and had an awesome price/performance ratio for the majority of their chips. That's not the case any more. You want to go with Intel, and you specifically want a Core 2 processor. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.
Which exact Core 2 processor you get is very much down to your budget. Do be aware that the cheaper ones overclock very, very well, so if you're an advanced user you can save yourself a fair amount of money by buying a cheaper Core 2 and overclocking it. However, this takes some skill and you may end up frying your CPU (although that's less likely these days), so it's a bit of a risk. If you're going to overclock, you might want to think about getting a better heatsink, too, although the Core 2s tend to overclock pretty well on the stock cooler. Still, it's something to consider.
If you're rich and a bit crazy, you might be wondering whether to go for a quad-core Core 2. (For those without a basic grasp of the roots of English, Core 2 Duos are dual-core (two processors in one), and Core 2 Quads are quad-core (four processors in one).) Opinion is split on this. There's no doubt that having a quad-core is better for certain applications, and if you do lots of CPU-intensive work like video encoding it's a good buy. But programming for multiple cores is hard, and there's not really much around that will be able to take advantage of a quad-core machine. Even games, which generally try to stay at the bleeding edge of technology, often don't utilise all four cores as well as they could. Personally (at the time of writing), I would be tempted to spend the extra cash on an even better dual-core. But if you're rich and want to compensate for your tiny cock, feel free to go for a quad-core.
Memory
There's no arguing here. You want 2GB of RAM at the very least. This is a respectable amount of RAM for a modern system. However, RAM runs at different speeds, too, and you need to make sure that your CPU and motherboard can support these speeds, otherwise your Ferrari will eternally be stuck in residential 30mph zones. The latest craze (at the time of writing) is RAM that runs at the heady speed of 1333MHz. This is a bit faster than the more standard 1066MHz, but has the downside of entirely draining your wallet. If you're going to go for 1333MHz, you absolutely must get both a CPU and a motherboard that supports that speed, otherwise it'll run at the lowest speed of the three elements (CPU, RAM, and motherboard). I can't stress this enough. Similarly, I would recommend going for DDR2 RAM at the moment - very little supports DDR3 and it's hideously expensive.
Graphics card
There was once a time when a company called ATi sold brilliant graphics cards and had an awesome price/performance ratio for the majority of their chips. That's not the case any more. (Familiar story, anyone?) You want to go with a company called NVidia. ATi have now been taken over by AMD, so you'll find that your choices are between AMD and NVidia. If you're serious about gaming, go with NVidia. AMD's cards are about a generation behind NVidia's. If you're not too bothered, you might want to consider AMD. I'm going to assume you're after a mid-to-high end gaming machine - the typical machine that everyone wants to build for around £700. In that case, I have one piece of advice for you:
Buy an NVidia 8800GT.
It's a no-brainer. It offers the best price/performance ratio of any card on the market, and will cope with most things you throw at it admirably (excluding Crysis of course, but if you want to run Crysis at anything above a resolution of 320x240 you'd better be a billionaire). I really can't recommend it enough as a card - it's fantastic, and will last you a good few years. DO NOT be tempted to go a generation up and a series down and buy the 9600. It's not as good, and this is a general rule of thumb: an x800 is still better than an (x+1)600, despite the fact that the (x+1)600 is a generation ahead. As for the different models, very roughly speaking (and with plenty of exceptions): GTX > GT > GTS > GS. However, I reiterate my earlier advice: read reviews and look at benchmarks before making up your mind. Graphics cards vary hugely and the nomenclature is confusing. Don't fall into the trap of thinking more expensive is better - read reviews and find out for yourself.
But if you're after the easy option, just buy an 8800GT.
For those who are upgrading, a word of warning: if you have a particularly old computer (more than two to three years old), you may well bump into the AGP problem. A while ago, motherboard manufacturers started supplying a slot for graphics cards called PCI-Express. This is much, much better than the previous type of slot, called AGP. If you have an older computer, you may well have an AGP slot, and if you buy a PCI-Express card, it's not going to fit. Find out what type of slot you have and make sure you buy the right card. People do still manufacture AGP cards, but if your computer is that old, I'd seriously consider a new build.
In the next post: motherboards, power supplies, and how to put it all together.
HOW STUFF WORKS
This is a guide for the noobs. I'll keep it brief, since noobs shouldn't really be building PCs anyway ;) The main parts of a computer are:
Motherboard aka 'mobo' - The main board that everything plugs in to.
Processor aka CPU (Central Processing Unit) - The main chip that executes your programs and does funny things with all the 1s and 0s. This does a lot of work and gets quite hot, so it comes with a heatsink (a big lump of metal) to dissipate the heat. You might want to consider getting a better heatsink than the one that comes with the CPU (called the 'stock' heatsink), especially if you're going to try to get your CPU to run faster than it's supposed to (overclocking).
Memory aka RAM - An intermediate store between your hard drive and CPU. The CPU can access things in memory much, much faster than it can read from the hard disk, so stuff that gets used frequently gets temporarily stored in RAM. Think of it as the difference between having a bigger desk (more space for things you can grab close to you) and a bigger filing cabinet (which will allow you to store more stuff overall, but you need to get out of your chair to reach it).
Hard drive aka HD - The filing cabinet mentioned above. This is what actually stores everything on your computer. Stuff in RAM disappears when you turn your computer off; stuff on your HD stays there.
Graphics card - The graphics card offloads the graphics processing work from the CPU. This leaves the CPU free to do other things, like work out what that bad guy is going to do next. Graphics cards are very heavily specialised, so they push pixels blindingly fast. For this reason, they usually end up being the most expensive single component in any given system.
Power supply aka PSU - Supplies juice to your components.
Case / cooling - A box for your stuff to go in. Adding fans to the box helps draw cool air in and push hot air out. This is a good thing.
BUYING BITS
This section will go out of date quickly. If you're reading this in a year or more's time, any information here will probably be old and useless to you. Six months is a long time in terms of computer bits. While I'm going to give suggestions here (which applies now, as I write it), the best advice I can give is do your research. If you want to know which of two CPUs or graphics cards is better, type them both into Google next to each other and you'll very likely find some reviews, complete with benchmarks. Looking at the bar charts will tell you far more about which to buy than I will. I can't recommend this enough.
Processor
A fairly recent development in the techy world is the advent of multi-core processors. Basically, instead of one processor, you have two or four or more. They're still on a single chip though, so don't go out and buy four of the same processor, whatever you do!
If you're building a system or upgrading, you'll want at least a dual-core processor. As the name suggests, these have two processors on board. Depending on your budget, how long you want your new computer to last, and how extravagant you're feeling, you might want to go for a quad-core.
The two main companies that produce CPUs are AMD and Intel. There was once a time when AMD sold brilliant CPUs and had an awesome price/performance ratio for the majority of their chips. That's not the case any more. You want to go with Intel, and you specifically want a Core 2 processor. Anyone who tells you otherwise is lying.
Which exact Core 2 processor you get is very much down to your budget. Do be aware that the cheaper ones overclock very, very well, so if you're an advanced user you can save yourself a fair amount of money by buying a cheaper Core 2 and overclocking it. However, this takes some skill and you may end up frying your CPU (although that's less likely these days), so it's a bit of a risk. If you're going to overclock, you might want to think about getting a better heatsink, too, although the Core 2s tend to overclock pretty well on the stock cooler. Still, it's something to consider.
If you're rich and a bit crazy, you might be wondering whether to go for a quad-core Core 2. (For those without a basic grasp of the roots of English, Core 2 Duos are dual-core (two processors in one), and Core 2 Quads are quad-core (four processors in one).) Opinion is split on this. There's no doubt that having a quad-core is better for certain applications, and if you do lots of CPU-intensive work like video encoding it's a good buy. But programming for multiple cores is hard, and there's not really much around that will be able to take advantage of a quad-core machine. Even games, which generally try to stay at the bleeding edge of technology, often don't utilise all four cores as well as they could. Personally (at the time of writing), I would be tempted to spend the extra cash on an even better dual-core. But if you're rich and want to compensate for your tiny cock, feel free to go for a quad-core.
Memory
There's no arguing here. You want 2GB of RAM at the very least. This is a respectable amount of RAM for a modern system. However, RAM runs at different speeds, too, and you need to make sure that your CPU and motherboard can support these speeds, otherwise your Ferrari will eternally be stuck in residential 30mph zones. The latest craze (at the time of writing) is RAM that runs at the heady speed of 1333MHz. This is a bit faster than the more standard 1066MHz, but has the downside of entirely draining your wallet. If you're going to go for 1333MHz, you absolutely must get both a CPU and a motherboard that supports that speed, otherwise it'll run at the lowest speed of the three elements (CPU, RAM, and motherboard). I can't stress this enough. Similarly, I would recommend going for DDR2 RAM at the moment - very little supports DDR3 and it's hideously expensive.
Graphics card
There was once a time when a company called ATi sold brilliant graphics cards and had an awesome price/performance ratio for the majority of their chips. That's not the case any more. (Familiar story, anyone?) You want to go with a company called NVidia. ATi have now been taken over by AMD, so you'll find that your choices are between AMD and NVidia. If you're serious about gaming, go with NVidia. AMD's cards are about a generation behind NVidia's. If you're not too bothered, you might want to consider AMD. I'm going to assume you're after a mid-to-high end gaming machine - the typical machine that everyone wants to build for around £700. In that case, I have one piece of advice for you:
Buy an NVidia 8800GT.
It's a no-brainer. It offers the best price/performance ratio of any card on the market, and will cope with most things you throw at it admirably (excluding Crysis of course, but if you want to run Crysis at anything above a resolution of 320x240 you'd better be a billionaire). I really can't recommend it enough as a card - it's fantastic, and will last you a good few years. DO NOT be tempted to go a generation up and a series down and buy the 9600. It's not as good, and this is a general rule of thumb: an x800 is still better than an (x+1)600, despite the fact that the (x+1)600 is a generation ahead. As for the different models, very roughly speaking (and with plenty of exceptions): GTX > GT > GTS > GS. However, I reiterate my earlier advice: read reviews and look at benchmarks before making up your mind. Graphics cards vary hugely and the nomenclature is confusing. Don't fall into the trap of thinking more expensive is better - read reviews and find out for yourself.
But if you're after the easy option, just buy an 8800GT.
For those who are upgrading, a word of warning: if you have a particularly old computer (more than two to three years old), you may well bump into the AGP problem. A while ago, motherboard manufacturers started supplying a slot for graphics cards called PCI-Express. This is much, much better than the previous type of slot, called AGP. If you have an older computer, you may well have an AGP slot, and if you buy a PCI-Express card, it's not going to fit. Find out what type of slot you have and make sure you buy the right card. People do still manufacture AGP cards, but if your computer is that old, I'd seriously consider a new build.
In the next post: motherboards, power supplies, and how to put it all together.