Choosing the Right Computer Components to Suit Your Needs

Building your own computer is not a rite of passage for anyone, regardless of how tech savvy you are, or aren’t. The reason to build your own computer – and choose the best components for it – is because of the need to do so. When you build your own computer:

• You can easily upgrade it because it’s custom-built.
• By choosing your own components you avoid buying a low-end computer if you’re on a budget, and what you’ll build will run faster. Many low-end computers use inferior components.
• You get more benefits by choosing what you really need:

• Basic system – if you just need something for homebased work and nothing special, you can get solid parts.
• Home system for the family – mainly more RAM and a dual-core processor so all family members can be served.
• Gaming system – you’ll need a faster ATI or Nvidia graphics card, a dual-core processor or quad-core processor, a good quality and faster RAM, and a good SATA hard drive.
• Music sound mixing and production – you’ll need a strong and non-integrated sound card, a decent amount of RAM, and a decent processor.
• Video editing – you need to choose a graphics card fast enough to render what you need to be done. These cards are not the same as gaming cards since there are cards actually made for the professional editing market. A quad-core processor is needed and a large hard drive is needed with multiple terabytes if you need to do a lot of video editing.

What are the bare minimum components you can choose for a computer?

• CPU case with a power supply
• Motherboard (be careful since some motherboards come with integrated video card while most have integrated sound and network)
• Processor
• Memory (RAM)
• Hard Drive
• Video Card

The Processor

This is fairly easy because although you may choose AMD for basic units depending on the motherboard, the best choice will always be an Intel, particularly one of the Intel Core 2 CPU’s if you’re unsure what to choose. Even with an Intel, examine the specs to know what kind of motherboard you need. Just take note that if you plan to purchase a separate video card, don’t get a board with integrated video on it.

The Graphics Card

Choosing a video card will depend on whether you play PC video games or not. If you do, then you’ll need to spend some money for a good card. If not, then you can pick up the regular $50 ATI or Nvidia DVI video card that works fine. Just make sure your motherboard has the correct slot. If you’re a serious gamer, then you’ll need at least an Nvidia 8800 GTS card since it’s blazing fast. Take note that most high-end video cards require a separate power connector, so make sure your power supply has the right connector.

Hard Drives

Most computers at least hold 80GB and you can install a SATA 500GB hard drive for $100. Always get SATA since it’s faster and more stable than the older IDE or PATA. You can also get the newer RAID (redundant array of independent disks) that allows multiple, lower cost hard drives to function as a single unit. SSD’s are more expensive and has less capacity but is more mechanically reliable.