by David Hockenbroch

Created on: December 10, 2008   Last Updated: April 09, 2009

Building your own computer can be a very rewarding and money-saving task. Though this process used to be limited to only the geeks, anyone can do it now. This article will include advice on purchasing parts, including how to make sure that parts are compatible, and how to assemble the computer.

The first step is choosing your components. I recommend websites like

Tiger Direct or New Egg. In addition to having decent prices and service, these websites feature user reviews of their products, advanced search filtering, and plenty of supplemental information. If you notice that the majority of the people who buy a product are having problems with it, pass on that one and pick a new one. All manufacturers make mistakes, regardless of their reputation and experience. Throughout the process of choosing the components, you'll want to make a note of the wattage each piece requires if it is listed. If it's not listed, you can safely assume that the motherboard will require 100 Watts, the video card will require 100 Watts, hard drives and optical drives take about 30 Watts each, each PCI card will require 5 Watts, and RAM will take about 7 Watts for every 128 Mhz (1 GHz = 1024 MHz).

Start with the central processing unit (CPU). This will likely be the most expensive single component you buy. With CPU specifications, in general, higher numbers are better. A quad core is better than a dual core. 2.4 GHz is better than 2.0 GHz. You'll want to choose the best one that is within your budget. You'll want to make a note of two things. Does the CPU come with a fan and heat sync? What socket is the CPU? You should see the socket listed as something like, "Socket 775," or, "Socket AM2+," in the CPU's specifications.

If your chose CPU does not come with a CPU heat sync and fan. These are typically listed with the cooling products. They are essential to keeping your computer cooled properly, so do not ignore them!

The next choice you should make will be the motherboard. Remember the socket that you wrote down when you purchased your CPU. You'll need to find a motherboard that matches that socket. It will be listed in the motherboard's specifications in the same way that it was in the CPU's specifications. If the sockets do not match, the CPU will not fit in the motherboard. You'll also want to make sure your motherboard can accommodate the amount of peripherals you want. For example, you may want to get an Ethernet card that will require a PCI port, or a video card that will require

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