What do I need to build my own computer?

To build your own computer, you will need to decide a few things before you begin. You will need to determine what brand and speed of processor you want, what kind of motherboard is compatible with the processor, how much RAM you want, what type of video card you want, what style case you want, what kind of soundcard you want, what speed CD or DVD ROM you want, how much hard disk space do you need and how much do you want to pay for it.

The most important thing to decide is what kind of processor to get. If you want excellent graphics and multimedia, get a Pentium II or III regular, if you want the Intel reliability without the huge prices, get the Pentium II Celeron (caution this chip seems slow because it lacks much cache memory), if you want a powerful business end machine without Intel's high prices, get an AMD, and if you want a cheap processor, get a Cyrix (caution, I have had more than 1 bad Cyrix processor).

Once you have chosen a processor, pick out a motherboard to go with it. Some motherboards come with sound built on, and other features, and others do not. If you are getting an AMD K6-2 you will want to get a Super Socket 7 100MHz board, and if you are getting a Pentium II processor, you should get a 100MHz Slot 1 or Slot 2 (depending on the processor) motherboard. You should definitely look at motherboards with Intel chipsets first.

You will need to get a case to build the computer in. After you buy your motherboard, pick out a case that the board will fit in. Most mini-tower cases will easily fit most boards on the market.

Next you should get your RAM, I strongly recommend spending a little extra money and getting SDRAM rather than SIMM memory modules. You will need to buy RAM that fits in your board, however. If you have a 100MHz board, get PC-100 SDRAM, but if you have a 66MHz board, why spend the extra money, just get the 66MHz SDRAM.

You will also need to get a video card. If you only plan on using the machine for business purposes, a 2MB PCI card will do, but if you intend on gaming, you should get a high-end 3d video card. If your motherboard contains an AGP slot, get an AGP card, because AGP is much faster. AGP cards typically cost more than PCI cards, and the high end PCI cards are sometimes just as good. You will need to determine how much video memory you need by what resolutions you intend on working with. If you have a 15" monitor, you video cards should have at least enough video memory to display 800x600 at 32-bit color. You will also have to find a card with the type of RAM you need. There is SGRAM, SDRAM, VRAM, and WRAM. SGRAM is currently the best, because it runs at the speed of your processor.

If you want good sound, I wouldn't suggest getting a cheap sound card. If at all possible, get a Creative Labs Sound Blaster of some variety. They are not only compatible with the standard, they are the standard. Some of the cheaper card have lousy sound when you are using processor intensive programs. Some cards aren't compatible with Microsoft's DirectX, which normally works very well with brand name cards. Most of the games written now use DirectX.

A CD-ROM drive is also you shouldn't skimp on. Some of the generic CD-ROM drives can't read all CD-ROMs and don't last very long. Stay away from CD-ROMs with big rebates. If you get a Sony, Memorex or Creative Labs CD-ROM drive you should be safe.

One other vital part of your computer system is the hard disk. You should get at least a 4GB drive since most of today's applications take up more space than they used to. You have to realize that the application will get even larger. I recently installed a game that used 200MB of disk space, compared to a typical 16-20MBs.