Build Your Own PC Arianto Gunawan CS 147 Fall 2004

Main Components  CPU (Intel and AMD)  Hard Drive (IDE and SCSI)  Motherboard  Memory  Power Supply  Video Card

Other components  Computer case  Monitor  CD or DVD drive  Floppy drive  Speakers

Auxiliary Components  Sound card  Printer  Web cam  Surround speakers  USB Flash drive

First Step: Choosing the CPU  Intel or AMD?  AMD is more cost effective  AMD takes less power consumption  Older AMD models are more sensitive to heat  Intel processors are generally better for multitasking

Business/General Use Performance, Intel vs. AMD

2 nd Step: Choosing Motherboard  Each CPU has its own socket  AMD Athlon XP = Socket A  AMD Athlon 64 = Socket 754, 940, or 939  AMD Sempron = Socket 754  Intel Pentium 4 = Socket 775 or 478  Intel Celeron = Socket 775 or 478  Be sure to get a motherboard that supports your CPU’s socket

Choosing a Motherboard (cont’d)  Determine how much memory you are going to buy, motherboards can support memory ranging from 2GB to 4GB  Determine the type of your Video card, some video cards requires PCI/PCI express slot. But generally, most video cards requires an AGP slot.

3 rd Step: Adding Memory  After choosing a motherboard, consult your motherboard’s manual to find out which memory type is supported  Good memory brands: Mushkin, Corsair, Samsung  Value memory brand: Kingston

4 th Step: Choosing a Video Card  Depends on what type of computer you want to build  For general purpose computer, a GeForce MX card should be sufficient.  For multimedia and gaming, a GeForce 6600 or ATi X700 should be enough  For extreme 3D gaming, a GeForce 6800 or ATi X800 is recommended

Video Card Power Consumption

Video Card Benchmark

Hard Drive  IDE or SCSI?  IDE is a lot cheaper  SCSI is faster  IDE drives generally has more storage  Unless you need speed, go with IDE

Monitor  CRT or LCD?  CRT is less expensive  CRT generally has higher refresh rate  LCD takes up less space  LCD produces less heat  LCD requires less power  In the long run, LCD is more cost effective

Power Supply  In general buying a 350W power supply is enough for most computers  But if you plan to build a multimedia computer, get a power supply with higher power rating, preferably 400+W

CPU Power Consumption

Average Power Consumptions Component Average Power (W) Hard Drive (IDE) 28 Memory (128MB DDRx3) 30 DVD-ROM20 Motherboard25 Floppy4 CD-RW16 Other basic components 32 Total155

Where to Buy?  Research first  Figure out the system you want to buy     Shop smart  

References     