PC Building: The Project Begins
Jan 6th, 2007 by Tony
I just wanted to give you guys a heads up about a new project that I am working on that should last until the end of the year: building a new computer. I’ve used homebuilt systems ever since my uncle gave me an old Gateway 486 back in 1997. Well, it used to be a Gateway until my uncle and I replaced the motherboard and mutilated the case with metal cutters (the RAM had to fit somehow). 
Since then, I’ve upgraded my system to a Pentium 166 w/ MMX, an AMD Athlon 700, an AMD Athlon 1100, and finally an AMD Athlon 64 3200. Throughout this upgrade process I’ve done a variety of research into technology behind the system, including RAM, chipsets, graphics cards, sound cards, IDE/SATA, and other technologies.
This time around, I’ll give you a detailed look at putting together a system from scratch. I’ll start at the research and planning stages and take you all the way to the BIOS configuration and OS installation stages. I’ll also post some side articles to give a little more insight about some of the technology that you’ll run into when building your own system. In the meantime, here is a rundown of what I am looking for:
- Intel Core 2 Duo Processor
- RAID-5 capable Motherboard
- SLI Support not required
- Overclocking Not Required
- 2 GB of RAM
- 600+ Watt Power Supply
- A slick case that will support this setup
I won’t be focusing on overclocking the system in this series. Since I am on a fairly limited budget, I don’t want to have to spend more money on cooling then I have to. In the future this might be a possibility however. For now, here are some resources to get you started on overclocking if you are interested:
Well, that’s it for this post. Next time I will detail my favorite retailers and how I research current technology. If you want more information in the meantime, check out these sites:
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