EQUIPMENT of desktop computer

now lets get one thing strait to start out with, ill repect the first guide of how to build a computer, but at the same time will say it does not go into details that much.

EQUIPMENT

Through this i will specify the characteristics of
a-) a budget computer - common price -
b-) a midrange computer -common price
c-) a high end computer -common price-

so for example if im talking about cooling

a-) Stock Processor heatsink/fan, 2-3 case fans.- Processor heatsink/fan included w/ processor single 80mm(standard) fans usually run 3-7$ea. - 20$ max
b-) Aftermarket CPU/GPU cooling, 4+ fans- GPU cooling around 40, CPU 30-60 so 100$max
c-) Water-cooled component setup- 300$ for decent setup EXOS-2 or 3 system reccomended

so it is very structured in nature and houldnt be hard to understand. my prices may be off but al long as you know what kind of stuff is under which you should have a good idea of what to get.

Im mentioning theese in the order in which you sould get them.

CASE- basically the representation of the computer, its all a "you" thing mostly, some cases offer superior cooling possibilities, but some offer sleek styling etc. reminder- Plastic is inferior to metal as far as computer cases go in terms of durability and cooling, for more metal= more heat dissapation. HOWEVER if your one of those people who intends on running your rig at higher than normal temperatures, you ant a bit more plastic in it, metal dissapates better, but with higher temps will keep a warmer surface temperature than plastic. ATX is reccomended for space and compatibility.

a-) Standard budget case, usually mixed metal/plastic assembly, dominantly plastic. 25-40$
b-) steel/aluminum case, possible windows and integrated cooling/ I/O& USB on front panels- 45-90$
c-) Full tower case, aluminum, integrated cooling, fan control, I/O, USB- 100-200$

CPU- One of the most important components of your computer, for the midrange builder, the possibility of "overclocking" a CPU is always a possibility to squeeze some extra frequency out of your chip. Most processors have included with them a heatsink and fan. If your gonna go big, be ready for the more beastly models can run you into the 700's. More mhz= faster, 1000mhz= 1ghz. L1 & L2 cache is important, again more=better. Dual core models are better suited for desktop applications, like running many at once, but may not be prevalent in its price range to single core processors running higher freqencies. Please note the socket of your processor (939, 940 etc.)

a-) 1.5-2.2 ghz, 64+64 L1 cache, 512-1mb L2 cache, typically 2000mhz Hyper Transport- 100$ max.
b-)2.0ghz- 2.6ghz, Dual core possible, 128+128 L1, 1mb L2 cache 2ghz HT, 100-200$
c-)2.6ghz+, Dual core@ 2.6-8, 128+128L1, 2X1mb L2 cache 2ghz HT, 200$+

GPU (Video Card
)- One of the more obsessed parts of a computer by those who play games, can get by VERY cheap on budget computers, but if your going high-end itll cost ya. more memory= better, more GPU& memory frequency= even better. GDDR3 is better than GDDR2, SLi and cossfire are systems that enable 2 video cards on 1 computer (see motherboard) -IF YOU WANT A MOTHERBOARD WITH INTEGRATED GRAPHICS PLEASE SKIP THIS!

(CPU FREQUENCY/MEM FREQUENCY/MEM AMOUNT/MEM TYPE)

a-)- (200-400mhz/300-600mhz/32-128mb/DDR)- 15-60$
b-)- (400-500mhz/600-1000mhz/128-256mb/gddr2,gddr3) 70-190$
c-)- X2(500-700mhz/1000-2000mhz/256-512mb/gddr3,gddr4)SLi/Cossfire enabled, some can be Dual core 200+$

RAM - Sometimes is overlooked, is basically part of the CPU process. PC**** the bigger the # the better, also see timings, the lower, the better so 2-8-8-7 is better than 3-9-7-11

a-)- 128-512mb of pc2700- 60-80$
b-)- 512-1gb pc 3200- 200$ max.
c-)- 1gb+ pc4000 or more- upwards of 300$ for good 2gb

Hard Drives- more rpm= faster recieving times, look for bigger buffer sizes also.

a-)- 40-100GB IDE drive 5400-7200 RPM- 100$ max
b-)- 100GB-300GB SATA(Serial ATA) drive- 7200 RPM typical- 100-200$
c-)- 500GB+ SATA/SATA2 RAID 250$ and up

Power Supply - More Amps on each voltage line is the most important, wattage is key also. more= better, you can never overpower a computer. Be sure that if your GPU requires a certain type of power supply, (usually SLI) its supported.

a-)- 150-300wt standard- 15-50$
b-)- 350-450wt standard/ maybe modular- 75-100$
c-)- 500+wt Modular- 110$+


Motherboard - IMPORTANT!!!!!- Look to see if your motherboard supports your GPU, CPU, Memory and hard drives!!!, also make sure it fits your case!! youll thank yourself for paying a bit more here, cheaper boards tend to give you alot more problems than you bargained for and may damage other things in the computer.

a-)- Standard 2 ram slots, pci, no SATA support, integrated graphics- 40-70$
b-)- AGP4x/8x or PCI express, 2-4 ram slots, SATA multi-channel sound- 70-130$
c-)- SLi, Crossfire enabled, PCI expressx16, 4 ram slots, SATA, 5.1 integrated audio- 200-300$

CD drives- Almost like case, its all user preference, havent been too many advancements here and theres really no ridiculously high-performance drives. i wont tier them a,b,and c ill just verbally depict them.
- Read-only devices are the way to go for a cheap drive.
- a good cd-r/w drive will run abou 60-80
- a drive capable of burning DVD's would be as high-end as i could imagine...

Cooling (look familiar?)- Well as we all know we gotta keep our baby cool, more heat literally can make the machine more unfriendly. The more insane your computer's performance is,the more you need to invest in cooling, simple as that. DO pay well for cooling if you intend to overclock. Look up a guide to thermal grease also, ive found that spreading it with playing cards woorks best but a guide will give you the finer details to the art. use caution with a water cooling system for it IS water, or some sort of liquid and your electronics will not not play nice if it ever leaves the tubing

a-) Stock Processor heatsink/fan, 2-3 case fans.- Processor heatsink/fan included w/ processor single 80mm(standard) fans usually run 3-7$ea. - 20$ max
b-) Aftermarket CPU/GPU cooling, 4+ fans- GPU cooling around 40, CPU 30-60 so 100$max
c-) Water-cooled component setup- 300$ for decent setup EXOS-2 or 3 system reccomended


after that your left with

OS--- ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL and let me emplasize ALLLLLLLLL opinions here... could go apple, linux, windows, where it stops nobody knows... its all preference. for there is no "high performance" OS, ill throw out an estimate of 100-150 for a solid OS.


From there, you may choose little addons, like PCI cards (sound, wireless, SATA), fan controllers, case lighting etc, which is WAY to much for me to describe to you.

Youll find that with all the manuals to your hardware, your instructions (if you bough from good companies) are very clear and you should basically be able to assemble it from there.



RAID- Basically multiple hard drives simulated into one big drive, possiblity of making drives faster.