Build My Own Computer? Are You Kidding?

Posted by JD on May 4, 2009

HP DV2000 Laptop Computer For Parts or Repair

$123.50

2008 NISSAN ALTIMA SEDAN 2.5L ENGINE COMPUTER AT CVT

$213.75

HUSKY HAWK Handheld Computer with Printer Sidebox Parts

$19.88

Have you ever thought about building your next computer? Stop laughing, that’s a serious question. If you’re ready to update your current home computer, or you want to add another one because the kids are using yours 14,000 hours a day, you should consider building a new one. A basic desktop only takes a few major components-a case, a motherboard/processor combination, memory and an optical drive. Let’s take a quick look at each of these in turn.

The Case: It’s what holds the other parts we mentioned. They range in price from $40 to well over $200. You can find practically any design like from basic business to hard-core gamer styles. My personal favorites include clear Lucite panels so you can see what’s inside.

Motherboard/Processor Combo: Your local superstore can help you out here (or do some research online). Usually, there will be deals for certain combos that work well together. Your decisions here will be between Intel and AMD for the processor, and what kind of functions you want out of your motherboard. Prices here can go from just above $100 to much more than that. Which one should you get? Sorry, that depends on what you want to do.

Memory: The memory and the processor together pretty much make up the brains of your new system. Get as much memory as your new motherboard will hold, but you may be limited by your budget.

Optical Drive: We used to just call this a CD drive, but that was before CD-Rs, CD-RWs, DVDs, writable DVDs and Blu-ray. Since they all work with a laser to read and record information, the generic term is optical drive. There’s really no point in getting anything less than a DVD writer. The only extra-price option to consider is if you want to play Blu-ray movies.

Those are the basic parts of a home-built desktop computer. One reason to build your own is because it’s fun. But an even better reason is the understanding you’ll gain about how a computer functions and how everything works together. Believe me, it will change the way you think about computers.