FAQ : Building Your Own Computer

[Al-Nasser]

let's compile a FAQ for the brothers and sisters...and non Muslims too who want to build their own computer

i am building my own comptuer this week inshallah

so i will post the questions and you answer

1- what is difference between Boxed Cache Memory and Tray Cache Memory?
2- why should i get a motherboard which support LGA technology?
3- PCI VGA Cards?
4- built in sound card (or VGA card)? what is the cons and the pros?
5- what about the new harddisks technology called SATA?
6- recommended VGA card brand?
7- how do i determine the number of fans needed in the Case?
8- and generally what should i look for while buying the following parts1- The Case
2- The CD Driver (DVD writer)
3- The Floppy
4- The Harddisk
5- The RAM
6- The Motherboard
7- The Processor
8- The VGA card
9- The Sound Card
10- The Network Card
11- The Speakers
12- The Keyboard
13- The Mouse
14- The Monitor

give me good, detailed and brief answers while you can

jkk in advance

[Mace]

I'm planning to upgrade one computer I built for home and build another one also. I'd be happy to compare notes.

First of all, what base operating system are you planning to use for this new system?

SATA drives are capable of higher throughput than PATA drives. And around here at least the SATA drives are basically the same price as PATA now. And if you are like me and you want the inside of your computer to be neat, it is much easier to be neat with the SATA cabling since they are so thin. The other advantage is you don't have those large unwieldy PATA cables blocking air flow.

[Al-Nasser]

very good....

iam already settled with SATA....i will get a 200 gb SATA harddisk.....and will be using WIN XP PRO SP2 (until Vista is released) and a powerful linux distro

programs i will be using mostly is photoshop cs 2, illustrator cs2, indesign cs, corel draw, flash mx 2004.....and maybe Maya

as for games.....just a few....championship manager 2006....civ 4....the sims 2......

so a 256 MB VGA card will be fine i guess

also i am thinking of getting a board with a built in sound card......some people say i shouldn't do it but they didn't provide convincing reasons

[Mace]

I personally have been fine with built in audio on my last few computers. But I don't play games that much, so I may not be a good reference there.

The new machine I plan to build is to be used as a MythTV server to try and consolidate the TiVos and DVD changers we have now.

The one I am upgrading is currently an AMD64 running ubuntu which I plan to add some ram and drives to and make it a sol10 box. The onboard SATA on that motherboard is not supported by solaris, so I have to buy a new SATA controller for that.

So which linux dist do you plan to use? I've been playing with SuSE 10.1. I really like it.

What processor(s) are you thinking about?

[Al-Nasser]

intel

2.6 (or 3.0_ 533 bus and a 1 MB cache

but i am confused about Boxed cahce....what is the difference between Boxed cache and Tray cache?

[Mace]

intel

2.6 (or 3.0_ 533 bus and a 1 MB cache

but i am confused about Boxed cahce....what is the difference between Boxed cache and Tray cache?

Honestly I don't know what you mean by boxed cache. Generally "Boxed" and "Tray" refer to the processors, not to the cache on them. Boxed processors are in retail packaging, usually with a fan mounted and longer warranty. Tray processors are in OEM sort of packaging usually with no fan and a shorter warranty. Is that what you meant?

It depends on what the processor pricing is like where you are. I've always gone with the trays myself, even though I don't really mess with overclocking and stuff.

[Al-Nasser]

so boxed is better than tray

very good

and what do u think about RAM.....should i get one 512 MB ram or two 256?

[Mace]

so boxed is better than tray




Well, actually, I prefer the tray myself. They are less expensive, and you can sometimes choose to install your own fan.


very good

and what do u think about RAM.....should i get one 512 MB ram or two 256?

Have you played with Vista yet? I know you mentioned you want to move to that. The Vista beta I've played with needs at least 1 gig to run smoothly with more than one app. I think the minimum is 512. Plus Maya uses a lot of RAM, doesn't it?

Also, you said you are going to run linux also. Are you planning to dual boot or use VMWare or a hypervisor? If you aren't dual-booting, don't forget you'll need extra RAM for a VM/Hypervisor solution.

If you want to just start with 512, then I guess I would get it in one DIMM so you can add another one later to get to 1G.

I don't know which motherboard you are considering. Some have only 2 DIMM slots, as I'm sure you know.

[Mace]

Just another thought, when you said 2.6GHz or 3.0GHz processor, I'm assuming you are talking about a P4 Prescott? Again, I don't know how pricing is where you are, but around here you can get an Athlon 64 for just $10-20 more or a dual core processor for maybe $40-$50 more. Compared to the overall cost of building the system, that might be something to consider. Just a thought.