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The Components of a Computer
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| This is a list of what is needed to build a new
PC. Of course they are many other components in some PCs, but
this is the bare minimum you need to start with. |
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| Case |
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Houses all the computer's components. It comes in different
sizes, shapes and colours. |
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Sizes: Mini tower, Mid Tower, Full Tower and Desktop. |
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| Motherboard or MainBoard |
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The components inside your PC are connected to the motherboard.
Without it, your computer is useless. It is the foundation of
your system. Do NOT try to cut cost here! Buy the best quality
motherboard you can afford. |
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Recommended Brands: Abit, Asus, Microstar & Tyan |
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| Processor or CPU |
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The CPU is consider the brain of the computer. It does all
the processing. Its speed is measured in Megahertz (MHZ). Buy
the fastest you can afford. Anything under 500MHZ is now considered
old. |
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Recommended Brands: AMD & INTEL
Common Processor names: Intel's most common processor
is the Pentium and their value processor is the Celeron.
The most common type of Pentium is called a Pentium III and
now there is a Pentium IV. The Celeron is not as powerful
as the Pentium but they are cheaper.
AMD's most common processor is the Athlon and their value
processor is the Duron. The Duron is not as powerful
as the Athalon but they are cheaper. |
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| Memory |
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What good is a brain if you can't remember anything? Your
computer wouldn't work without memory. It's very important you
buy the highest quality memory you can afford. Cheap memory
can cause your computer to crash or corrupt important files.
Don't try to cut cost when it comes to memory. Try to avoid
generic brands if your are building a high performance machine. |
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Recommended Brands: Corsair, Kingston, Micron, Mushkin,
Siemems/Infineon, Viking |
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Video Card or
Video Board |
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The Video card allows you to see stuff on your monitor's screen.
Some allow you to see stuff on your TV too. The video card enhances
graphics on the screen. A 3D card is recommended for games.
Your choice of video card really depends on what you will mainly
be using your computer for. Basically, if you are not going
to play games or do graphic arts, you do not need an expensive
Vedeo card. The Vedeo card can easily be the one of the most
expensive component in your computer. |
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Recommended Brands: ATI, Creative Labs, Elsa, Guillemot
& Maxtor, |
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Sound Card
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As the name suggest, this allows your computer to play sound
(provided you have speakers of course). Your motherboard may
have one built-in. If your motherboard has sound device built
on to it, then you don't need a sound card. If you really take
you music seriously, a sound card would be a better option.
Built-in sound devices may not always be of top quality. |
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Recommended Brand: Creative Labs |
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| Hard Drive or Hard Disk |
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This is your storage device. It stores all your software and
files that you save. Its capacity is measured in Gigabytes (GB).
The larger the capacity the more programs you can install. |
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Recommended Brands: Maxtor, Seagate & Quantum |
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| Floppy Drive |
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This device allows you to store and access files onto portable
floppy disk. |
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| CD-ROM |
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This device allows you to access files from CD-Rom disk. Most
software now come on CDs. You can also use the CD-Rom to play
your favorite music on CDs. CD-Rom disk have a much larger capacity
than floppy disk. The standard CD-Rom speed is 32X; the highest
is 72x. The higher the number the better. |
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