Mr. Anderson!  Glad you could join us!  Please take your seat and class will begin.  Today we will be discussing the basics of computer creation.  We'll call this the 'design' stage.  We'll be covering high level computer design.  We're not going to go into very many specifics, we just want you to understand what goes into a computer so you can start planning.  So let's get to it.  EAT AT JOES !!

What Components Will I Need? 
All computers (x86 based) are made of the same basic components.  Let's hit on those briefly before we continue.  Yo yo', component, you lookin' hot.  You want a date?  Um.  Let me try again.  Here's a little check list:  ALL YOUR PARTS ARE BELONG TO US !!

• CPU - Central Processing Unit.  Your computer's brains.  Biggest determining factor in speed.
• Heat Sinc - Often overlooked.  You must have one.  Make it a good one.
• Mother Board (also called Main Board and MoBo.) - The Central Nerv System.  Very important.
• Hard Drive - Not only the amount of space, but the speed of data!  This will influence speed a lot.
• Video Card - Depending on what you want, this may or may not be a HUGE factor in speed.
• CD-Rom - Like you don't know.
• Case - The Shell of your computer.  Good to have.
• Power Supply - Converts AC110 to DC + or - 5 or 12 volts.  Make sure you've got juice for all parts.
• Floppy Drive - We aren't building an iMac here, buddy.  You might need one of these.
• Cards - Sound, modem, video card, TV-in, NIC, etc, etc, etc...
• Cables - We'll get into these later.

All right.  That covers most of the basic components.  Let's hop to it.

Basic System Overview:
You should have some idea as to how a system is put together before we proceed.  If you already do, continue on to the next heading.  If not, read on.

First, what is x86?  (You may hear it around so you best to be hip to the lingo, ya' dig?)  Back in the good old days, they came out with an 8088 (CPU).  It was really neat except that it sucks by today's standards (running about as fast as your household VCR.)  Then came the 286.  (Notice the 86 on the end.)  This was just the next step in a chain of processors.  Next cane the 386, then 486, then Pentium (586), then Pentium II (686), and so on.  Thus, x86 means that it is a processor that is compatible with code written for all these other processors.  (I'm betting you're using an x86 right now, unless you're on a Mac or a Sony Picture Book.)  The vast bulk of desktop computers out there are x86 based.  Not so much because it is better, but because the vast bulk of desktop computers out there are x86 based.  (Chicken and the egg thing.  x86 actually sucks in a lot of ways.  It's just a huge standard.)  So on to the goods.

CPU:
The CPU is the brain of your computer.  Modern ones are flat with a few hundred golden pins on the bottom and a square protrusion on top.  (The square protrusion is the core.  That's the actual processor.  The rest is mostly casing.)  You'll either have an Intel or AMD chip.  Ok ok...  You might have a Cyrix chip, but only if you have no money or no use for speed.  Don't get me wrong, Cyrix makes ok chips, they're just slower than hell.  They're usually integrated into the Mother Board (which usually has integrated video and sound or something.)  So I'm going to assume that you'll be using an Intel or AMD chip.  If you want to know what the real differences are between them, there's an article about it in the Tech section.  All in all, they're both good chips.  I like AMD because they're a bit faster in many cases and a lot cheaper in every case.

Mother Board:
Once you have picked out a CPU, you need to work your way outward.  The next thing is the Mother Board.  I'm not going to go into specific manufactures or anything because a new one is released almost weekly.  If you have an AMD chip, you'll need a board that will fit it.  (Like socket A maybe?)  If you have an Intel, you'll need a board to fit it.  The main board determines much of your speed.  You should research chipsets and motherboard manufacturers before making a purchase.  (The Chipset is the Brain of the motherboard.  The motherboard is mostly wires and casing.  The chipset is what makes the magic happen.)  Start in the link section for your research.  Tomshardware usually has some awesome reviews of CPU's, Video cards, and Mother boards.  The most important thing is that it'll work with your processor!  (Cause if it doesn't, nothing else matters now does it?)  When looking at MoBo's, keep an eye on how many expansion slots they have.  After you've finished reading this guide, you'll probably know how many you need.

Hard Drives:
Next up, hard drives.  Most people only need 1.  There are only really 2 things to look at when buying a hard drive.  1.  Size.  (Size does matter.)  2.  Speed.  (Speed matters to.)  If you don't mind a little lag when you're starting a program, loading a file, going to the next level on Quake III, etc. then size is all that really matters to you.  A 5400 RPM Hard drive will do you just fine.  If you'd like a little boost, go with 7200 RPM, or if you can find one in your price range, 10000 RPM.  (IBM Deskstar HD's rock for speed.  Maxtor and Western Digital do good stuff to.)  99% of home users can do just fine with an IDE (or ATA same thing) hard drive.  IDE just means that you'll be plugging that baby right into the mother board.  They're cheaper and they're totally standard.  If you really need performance, you've got 2 other options:  WHAT YOU SAY !!

1. Get a SCSI card and 1 or more SCSI drives.  This is expensive and will only make a big difference if you are doing a ton of Disk I/O and/or using more than 1 drive!  This falls into the overkill arena, generally.  (Or the movie making, high end server, etc... arena.)
2. Get an IDE RAID controller and 2 or more identical Hard Drives.  They'll work together to make a big speed difference.  (This is overkill to, but not super-expensive overkill.)  Good luck.

That's hard drives...  Not to tough.  You probably already have some idea of what you want.  Let's move on, G' Funk.

Heat Sinc:
I almost forgot!  You need a heat sinc.  This thing sits on the CPU and dissipates heat.  (An Athlon 1200 will completely toast itself in roughly 8 seconds without a heat sinc.)  These are important.  These are very important.  Please, if you want your system to live a long and happy life, don't use the stalk heat sinc.  Go here and find a really good one (and some good heat grease...  Just check it out.  This guy will tell you all you need to know.)

Video Card:
The Video card...  Hard Core Gamer's buddy.  You gotta ask yourself, will I be playing the 3D games much?  If the answer is yes, even a hesitant yes, get yourself a decent graphics card.  (Video card.)  Here's the 411 on why:

Nice video cards have built in CPUs called GPUs (graphic processing units).  All this does is take a load off the CPU and handle things like 2D and 3D graphic rendering on the accelerated GPU.  This will make things run much faster and look much nicer, even if you have a fast fast machine.  A GPU is better at rendering graphics than a CPU.  It's built for it.  So please, if you think you need it, just get one.  They're not very expensive.  You can get a cheap TNT2 if you're reluctant to spend to much.  Or a G-Force II MX.

That said, you need to make an easy decision.  Does you're MoBo have an AGP slot (look on the spec sheet.)  If so, look for an AGP graphics card.  If not, you either have an integrated graphics card running on an integrated AGP slot, or you have no AGP slot.  (AGP slots are for graphics cards only and there's only 1 of them on every board.)  If you don't have an AGP slot, you may want to consider a different MoBo.  If you have integrated video, it's a toss up.  I'd still reconsider.  AGP is very important.  Why?  It's just faster.

CD/DVD-Rom/Ram/Burner:
Ok...  What do you want?  You want a CD Burner?  (CD-R or CD-RW.  CD-R will write CDs.  CD-RW will write CD's and can rewrite special CDs.  Most are CD-RW's now days.)  You want a CD-Rom?  You want a DVD-Rom?  You want a DVD-Ram?  (DVD Burner.)  You should know what these are.  I generally go for a DVD-Rom (a nice one) and a CD-RW.  I can watch DVDs, play cds, burn copies, etc...  You really don't need more unless you want to burn DVD's.  (Note:  DVD Rams are not full capacity DVD disks.  But they are much bigger than CDs.  Also more expensive.)  Again, you've got the option to go SCSI, but unless you're prize crazy, don't do it.  IDE is plenty fast.

Case and power!
The case...  This will determine how easily stuff goes in, how it fits, how it looks, how easy it is to upgrade, how much room you have, etc...  I usually go for an Enlight case.  They're high quality and easy to work with.  Make sure the case is the right kind and size for your MoBo.  (As of January 2001, ATX was the standard.  AT was old school.)  If the case says ATX, you're probably OK.  (Make sure the mother board says ATX.)  Generally, if you get a mid-tower or bigger, you'll be fine.  (I haven't seen an ATX MoBo not fit into an ATX yet.)  Also, make sure you've got enough drive bays for CD-Roms, Burners, DVD-Roms, Floppy, and Hard drives.  YOUR ADVERTISEMENT HERE !!

Some cases come with power supplies, some don't.  If you've got a lot of stuff, or want to be on the safe side, get a 300 Watt power supply or bigger.  Also, if you're running an AMD chip, go to AMD's web site and make sure it's AMD Certified.  (Sparkle power supplies are supposed to be very nice.)  The AMD chips are power hogs and crumby power supplies will make them unstable.  Many power supplies are listed with the AMD Certified listed with them.  :)  That makes things easier.

Floppy drive:
Just get a stupid floppy drive.

Cables:
Let see...  You'll need 1 or 2 IDE cables.  If you're running an ATA66 or ATA100 drive, you'll need an ATA66 cable.  (They're listed specifically as such.)  Otherwise, you're drive won't run as fast.  (ATA-33 -standard- will work for everything else.)  Each IDE cable can hold 2 drives.  If you're running a burner, put it on it's own cable if possible.  Put your DVD/CD-Rom and HD on the first cable.  Note that every drive is master or slave (or, if you're weird, cable select.)  Set your hard drive to Master and your CD-Rom to Slave.  (This is done by moving little jumpers on the back of the drive.)  If you can't boot, check your drive settings and cable connections first.  This is usually the problem.

You'll also need a cable to go to that dumb little floppy drive.  Any old floppy cable will do.  If you run out of power connectors, buy a splitter or two.  Check each drive's power consumption and make sure it doesn't exceed what you're power supply is capable of.  If it does, you may do damage or you may not be able to turn your computer on.  (It's happened to me once when I ran 3 Hard Drives, 3 CD-Roms, and a Floppy of a 230 Watt Power supply.)

You need to run an audio cable from your CD-Rom to your sound card.  For the music!  Do not buy a 25$ Belkin Audio cable.  Buy a 50 cent audio cable instead.  These are cheap.  Don't get ripped off.

You'll also need 1 or 2 power cables to run from the wall to the computer and monitor.  (Monitor may already have one.  Many cases/power supplies come with them.)

Expansion Cards:
We're coming down the home stretch here, my friend.  Stay with me.  Your expansion cards are things like Video (discussed earlier), Sound Cards, Modems, Network Cards, SCSI cards, and whatever else you want to stick in your computer.  You can pick these out yourself.  The nice salesperson will help you.  Everything but your Video card should probably be PCI.  (AMR riser slots kinda suck.)  Please stay clear of 'soft' devices.  i.e. soft-modems, soft-sound cards.  These are controlled by the Operating system through the CPU and put an extra load on your computer.  If you're running a Game online using a soft-modem, you'll have problems if you CPU usage hits 100%.  You're modem may hiccup repeatedly and that could mean DEATH for you online player.  Poor guy!  All because you had to go and buy the stupid soft modem, ya' cheap skate!

RAM:
Dag blast it!  I forgot RAM.  This is the stuff dreams are made of.  (Really.  In movies, those computer animated dream sequences ate up a lot of RAM while they were being rendered back at the studio.)  RAM (random access memory) is where your programs and files live while your working on them.  More is better.  Faster is better.  We'll go into this more in the advanced guide.  (ArsTechnica has some good articles on RAM.)  But for now, make sure the type of RAM you're buying will fit in your MoBo and you're fine.  (Unless you're going to be knocking your computer around with a lot of heavy programs, 256-512MB of RAM should work and it really doesn't matter what kind you get.  128 will probably be ok to.)  (NOTE:  RD-RAM/Rambus RAM is a rip off.  It's not much faster, if it's faster at all.  But you'll pay a lot more for it.  Beware of MoBos that only use Rambus RAM.  This applies to Intel MoBo's only.)

Rapping it all up:
That's about it for this edition.  You've got got your work cut out for you now.  Do some research, and you'll be ready to take on building your own system.  It's really not very hard and it is very rewarding.  (Unless you break something.  Then you feel really sick and depressed.  But just don't do that and you'll be fine.  And remember.  Parts usually have a 30 day warranty!)

Once you're built, install an OS, install drivers for all your stuff (!!!Get latest drivers off internet for Chipset, Vid Card, etc...), and you're ready to rock!  But please, before you finish putting your case back together, tuck all your cables away so the air can flow and cool things down.  This will help more than you may think, my friend.  Many don't realize the importance of such a small task.  But we do, right?  >: )

Good luck with your new system.  Let me know if you need some assistance.  I'm always willing to help someone so please don't hesitate to email me.  Thanks for reading.

(NOTE:  There are a lot of sites out there that tell you what components to use for 'the ultimate game box' or 'the budget box' or 'the god box'.  ArsTechnica has 3 listed, but there are lots of others.)