Before we get into everything, I'll explain what different things you can buy. We'll start with motherboards.
There are lots of variations in motherboard, especially the fact the some use different processors. Make sure you buy a motherboard that is compatible with your processor. I will say "up to blah blah blah" anything older, and with the same socket will fit. Sockets are where your processor plugs in, different processors have different numbers of pins and only fit on motherboards with the same socket. So if you buy for example - an AMD dual core X2 5000+, look at the specifications and it will tell you which socket it is, for example this is AM2, so I need to find a motherboard with the same socket. Roam around until you find one.
Now, another thing to take into mind certain motherboards have a maximum amount of ram, so if you want to buy 2 gigs, you need to buy one with a maximum of 2 gigs. But if that motherboard is ideal, and you only want to use 1 gig, that will work. Now, different types of ram will only work in motherboards made for them. For now I would lay off the new ddr3, and buy ddr2 or ddr, don't buy edo or sdram as they are old and will not work in any new motherboards. You need to find out what pc of ram your motherboard can take, and what type.
Ddr is a single speed, and all you need to do is find out what density or "latency" your motherboard takes, either high or low.
Ddr2 is a little different, and you'll need to find out which Pc number yours can take, here is a detailed overview of the types.
- DDR2 - PC2-4200 Which is 533mhz, the slowest form of DDR2 you can buy.
- DDR2 - PC2-5300 Which is 667mhz, Which is reasonably fast. Most supported.
- DDR2 - PC2-6400 which is 800mhz, which is sufficient, and needs a 400 watt power supply.
- DDR2 - PC2-8500 which is 1066mhz, Will suck up power and needs a very high wattage power supply. Fastest.
Be aware, that a lower wattage power supply will work for a while, but will blow after about 5 hours of use. You're going to need cooling for your cpu, so the best idea is to find a fan that can cool to 80 Degrees Celcius, as no dual core processor will be hotter than this. If you're buying quad core, you'll need to opt for water cooling and a case fan.
You will now need to select a case, one that fits your motherboard, look in the specifications, and you will either see (only with computers 1995 and onwards)
Standard atx is bigger, and any case that says standard atx will fit a standard atx motherboard, and a micro atx motherboard.
But a micro atx will not fit a standard atx motherboard, as they are bigger. Find one that has some nice features, like sd reader and neon or whatever you like.
Next comes the graphics card, if you want a performance computer, you need to buy one, if you don't, you can use the onboard graphics built into your motherboard, which are typically 32mb - 64mb.
For the perfomance computers;
You'll need a graphics card, Stick to Nvidia or ATI and make sure it will fit on your motherboard, make sure your motherboard has either of the following
(detailed spec included)
- PCI - All new computers have these slots, but not really for graphics cards, old computers used them for graphics cards.
- AGP - New computers will not come with these, but they did make them, and if you aren't buying a new motherboard its a good idea
- to get a graphics card with agp support. They aren't too bad, went up to about 256mb.
- Pci express x1 - The small slot, all new motherboards will be fitted with one, and sometimes it's the only version of pci express.
- Pci express x16 - The bigger slot, it can have bigger graphics cards, and more power.
If your motherboard does not have a pci express x16 slot, buy a standard pci express card.
If your motherboard has both, buy one for the pci express x16 slot.
You may find more variations of Pci express such as x4 and x8, but 1 and 16 are the most common.
Asus make budget graphics cards that are based on nvidia cards, and are typically not bad, but do not buy one that says "supporting 512mb ram" or alike as it will eat into your main memory. Unless of course you have some to spare. High performance graphics cards will have fans, and lower performance ones will have heatsinks.
Based on the speeds, and memory available I will help you determine what power supply speed you will need.
