Building a computer is not as hard as you think. There is some basic information that you need to be aware of and you can do it yourself. There are those who would like to build their own computer so they can save money, by buying the parts they need, for the most basic computer (not that this is necessary true always) but in some cases, it might work.

There are those who would like to build a supercomputer, a special computer with special features and capabilities that they desire, like a special gaming station, with powerful capabilities that will run any and every game or super graphical software there is on the market.

The base of it all, are the parts you choose for your computer. The computer is built on these basic hardware parts:

1. Motherboard
2. Processor (CPU)
3. RAM (Memory)
4. Video Card (Graphic Card)
5. Computer Case (Where it all will fit into – the Computer BOX)
6. Power supply
7. Hard Disk drive
8. Optical drive (CD/DVD Drive).
9. Keyboard
10. Mouse
11. Speakers
12. Sound Card (usually comes onboard the motherboard) but you can choose to have a separate sound card – maybe for advanced audio capabilities

When your intention is to build a cheap simple computer, you just need to select the suitable computer parts, do a survey, and choose simple parts.

When your intention is to build a supercomputer, well choose the best (or by your budget) parts there are there, and you will get a boosted supercomputer. The main parts that affect the performance of a supercomputer are the
Motherboard, CPU (Duo, Quad, i5 or i7 etc…), Large capacity of RAM, and a good Graphic Card, with at least 1GB of RAM on-board it.

Another issue that might really speed up your computer is a really fast Hard-disk drive, which is more expensive, but as we know the READ/WRITE operations are what effects the performance of the operating system and any software/game running on it.

The process of building a computer from scratch is explained well on this video I found on YouTube that shows the whole process of how to build a computer from scratch. Pictures are better than words they say 🙂 (Well the video is even better). The basic idea is, of course, connecting all of the parts and inserting them into the computer case.

• Build a Computer

When we want to work with a computer, we first need to purchase one :). So, how can we know what type of a computer to choose? there are so many types, so many different configurations?!

I am writing about PC’s / Servers computer and not laptops, but the basics are the same. The easier part of doing laptop purchase, is the models have an exact configuration, so you can see all of the parts that each laptop model is made from, and compare it to other price offers (exact configuration).
There are websites that conduct computer surveys, where anyone can submit his opinion, on different subjects. Those websites contain information from the people, where you can get some idea of what goes, and maybe get some recommendations.

Well, the basic answer is pretty simple and it breaks down to some basics:

1. What is the purpose of the computer: First, we need to know what do we need the computer for? what are we going to do with it, and for what purpose. Do we need it only for office use, meaning internet browsing, and office processing (those do not require a faster computer) or maybe we are gamers, or graphic designers which require us to purchase a stronger faster computer that can deal with the heavy graphic, demanding programs/games we use.
2. Computer made from hardware parts: All of the computers are made from parts (computer parts), the type of hardware parts we choose determine the price of the computer. When we want a simple computer just for internet browsing and some office use, we can take the simpler computer configuration, which will be enough for our purpose. When we need a stronger computer that will be able to run heavy and memory demanding applications, it will need faster more advanced hardware parts.
3. Operating system: Computers can come without an operating system, if you purchase software on your own (most organizations buy a large amount of software at one) so they need only the computer as it is or if you are using an open source Linux operating system that you will install by yourself. When you don’t have an operating system in your possession, you might want to purchase the computer with an operating system (mostly it will be a Windows OS) as a bundle.
4. Warranty: Computers should come with service warranty, most of the good known computers come with at least 3 years of warranty, and for any problem with the hardware you might encounter, they should fix on their expense (unless it was due to damage from misuse).

Now, after we figured out all of those basic things, we can start taking price offers, from different vendors. I would recommend you to take these steps, when taking computer price offers.

1. Find a dealer/vendor you trust, or that someone recommended you because he is working with him and knows he is a great guy to trust his opinions and recommendations. Then you can discuss with him about your needs, so he can offer you a proper computer configuration and a price offer that best fit your needs. Make sure the price offer specify in full all of the parts that builds the computer, like the motherboard, hard disks, memory types and capacity, graphic card, power supply etc…
2. After you get the first price offer by this dealer/vendor, send the exact configuration from that price offer you have received to some other dealers/vendors (without the prices of course), to get a price offer for the exact computer configuration, only then you will be able to compare between the price offers and negotiate/argue for a better price.

Now that you have some price offers, you can also compare them to what goes in the market, by finding a common comparison website, and see what type of prices are out there for a computer that resemble the computer you requested.

Example websites for comparing prices:

• http://www.consumersearch.com/laptops/reviews
• http://www.google.com/products
• http://reviews.cnet.com/laptop-reviews/?sa=all&tag=centerColumnArea1.0
• http://computershopper.com/
• http://hothardware.com/category.aspx?cid=10
• http://www.trustedreviews.com/laptops/