how to build a pc | Page 6

incr eases the stability
as well as lifetime of your system. Since most of the energy used by a computer is turned into
heat, you can tell how much heat a part is generating from the amount of power it cons umes.
Price
There are always new hype features in places. Many of them a re good, but buying hardware
one model older may result in better price/quality-relation, when th e new features aren't exactly
needed. And, the market changes very quickly so you can assume that i n a few years the part
you are searching for will become more readily available and cheaper to produce making it less
expensive.
Power
The speed of a processor, the size of memory, resolution of monitor, pri nter or a scanner. Find
out what is enough and look for the best price/quality-relation matching your need and budge t.

11
Core Components
These are the components that will be the core of your new computer
. It is impossible to put
together a computer without these components and a bare set of peripherals.
Chassis (Case) & Power Supply
This was probably the most overlooked part of the whole computer at one s tage. Most cases
were beige, and since most components drew far less power than sim ilar components do now,
power supplies were never talked about. Recently, however, cases have be come considerably
more attractive, and people spend a sizable amount of their upgrade bud gets on lights and
glow-in-the-dark cables. Cases now come in millions of styles, and colours to suit anyone's
taste.
People are spending more money on cases now than they ever have befo re. If you are only
building an office computer, the style of case will be of little concern to you, so you might only
want a inexpensive ATX case (ATX is the specification which ma kes them the same size, so
you can put the same parts inside), and an inexpensive power supply, sinc e you won't be
running high-end processors or high-end graphic cards. Keep in mind not to buy a power
supply with a sleeve bearing fan, as these are of considerably less quality. As a guide, you will
not want a power supply with a rating of less than 300 watts, as you may likely not be able to
power all the parts in your computer with a power supply with a lowe r rating. Most case-power
supply bundles are adequate, but tend to be of a lower quality than power supplies that are sold
separately from cases.
For a quiet system, you may want to choose a fanless power supply - - more expensive but well
worth it if noise is a concern.
For cases and power supply there are 5 things to consider.
· Formfactor : For general use, the ATX formfactor is recommended because it allows your
computer to be easily expanded, and is the most common standard formfactor for computers .
·
ATX In this form factor the motherboard is vertical for more space and more efficie nt cooling.
· Micro ATX is smaller than vanilla ATX, but at the cost of fewer expansi on slots. Flex ATX is
even smaller than Micro ATX, but only allows 2 expansion slots.
·
WTX is intended for workstations and servers.
· BTX is another formfactor designed for more efficient cooling.
· PicoBTX 8"x10.5"
· MicroBTX up to 10.4"x10.5"

12
·
BTX up to 12.8"x10.5"
·
Mini-ITX is even smaller than BTX, at 6.75" square.
· NLX
Many OEM computers use non-standard formfactors. Be sure to choose a motherboard
compatible with your case's formfactor.
· Number