How to Build a Computer

Computers are often thought of as being very mysterious and "magical" pieces of equipment that only "smart" people can understand. People think the best option when it comes to getting a new computer is just to buy one altogether from a company like Dell or Sony. While this option may seem the most convenient, it is also the most expensive. That's not a good option considering today's economy. Building a computer can often save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars on computer equipment. The first computer I got only cost around 200 bucks or less, and this thing is fast as hell!

Enough about why it's a good idea; let's begin on how to actually do it! For your computer you will need to buy these things:

1. Motherboard
2. CD/DVD Drive
3. Hard Disk
4. CPU
5. Video Card (Depends)
6. Sound Card (Depends)
7. Network Card (If you plan to use the internet)
8. CPU Cooling Fan
9. RAM
10. Computer Case
11. Powersupply
    

Your motherboard is simply the board with all the parts fit together, but not just any motherboard will do. What you get depends on what processor and the amount of RAM you want to put in your computer. It also depends on if you want to buy a sound and video card or not. Go to your local computer center or research online for more info.

The CPU is basically the brain of the computer. There are different CPUs out there, but there are two main manufacturers. Namely, AMD and Intel. AMD is the most price friendly brand, and Intel is the best performance wise. While this may be true, I must say that the performance in brands is often negligible depending on the processor. Whether you get a 64 bit or 32 bit processor is up to you.

RAM is very simple, and all I can say is that you should probably get around 1GB of RAM minimum these days.

The other hardware is very easy to research and you should be able to get the information at your local computer center. I recommend Fry's electronics or Microcenter.

Next, you need to choose your operating system. If your a real tech geek who doesn't care about games (or at least you want to be). Go with one of the Unix based operating systems.

1. Solaris
2. Linux- Ubuntu, Gentoo, OpenSuse, Fedora
   
3. OpenBSD
4. FreeBSD
5. NetBSD

The great part about these is that they are all free! Otherwise just go with the latest windows version if you want to do a lot of multimedia (or mac, but then you wouldn't be building anything).