Parts You Will Need To Build Your Own Desktop Computer

Building your own PC can save you a lot of money and allow you to customise your computer to the technical specification you require to increase performance.

Motherboard

This is the main component in a computer. It's the base item (building block) that all the other components attach to. There are many different types of motherboards out there, but not all of them are the same, there are made for different CPU (central processing unit). So when picking your motherboard make sure the CPU is compatible with the motherboard.



CPU

The central processing unit is the main core component that processes all the data. CPUs come in all shapes and sizes ranging from the old 32bit to the new 64bit processors but also now with newer processes coming out all the time they now have multi core processes that range from duel core, quad core and the newest hex core.

RAM

Random access memory is where all the temporary data is stored before it's stored to the hard drive or removed from the memory when not needed any more. The more RAM you have inside your computer reduces the about of times the data is needed to be placed on the hard drive to be accessed and in turn makes the computer faster. The newest type of RAM is DDR3 (double data rate 3) the old standard was DDR2 but most systems will use the new type to greatly improve system performance.

PSU

Power supply unit, this is the component that gives power to all the attached components. This gives power to the hard drives, DVD/CD/Blu Ray drivers and other attached devices. In some cases the video card will require certain power wattage as a minimum for the card to work at its full potential. They are different types of PSUs most support 64bit processors but some old PSU don't have the correct cables to power a 64bit processor.

Video card / Graphics card

Most up-to-date motherboards have built in video / graphics cards but these are not the best you can get, but unless you're using you're compute to play games on these should be fine. When you are picking a new video / graphics card you will need to select the new PCI express card because the new motherboards use these now not the old AGP (advanced graphics port) which is now obsolete.

Hard drive / HDD

Hard drives are used to store all you're data and files they come in a range of sizes and speeds. Most drives today are SATA (serial advanced technology attachment) that replaces PATA (parallel ATA). Most common hard drivers have 7200 rpm (revolutions per minute) which is fast enough for anyone but they are even faster ones out there. The size of hard drive space normally ranges from 40 gigabytes which is really small these days, to over 1 and 2 terabytes.

CD/DVD/Blu Ray drive

These drivers are not really needed as such because you can install windows from a USB pen or another external device. These drivers are all backwards compatible which means a DVD drive can play CDs and a Blue Ray driver can play all of them. Driver speeds are normal displayed with numbers and x e.g. 52x. Which shows the speed of reading or writing also there are other numbers like this which look like this "32xRW" this is the rewrite speed of the drive.

Network Card

This is the component is to allow access to a network and then normally the internet. They are 2 main types of network cards a normal Ethernet connection and wireless network card. Wireless network cards allow for wireless networking so no cables all over the place. Wireless network cards have different speeds which are displayed like this 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n, the "n" is the newest and has the fastest speed.

Sound Card

Sound cards installed so when you play music watch videos you're computer can output the sound, they are many different types and models most of the sounds cards these day are 7.1 surround sound, which means it supports up to 7 speakers and 1 sub speaker.

There are also simple components that don't require installing inside the computer but simply just plug into the back, which are called plug and play devices.

Advice provided by L1 Computers providing Liverpool laptop repair and Liverpool PC repair with a service you are sure to be pleased with.