Computersight -

You’ve already gotten much done on your quest to build your custom gaming PC. We’ll now take a look at a few other important pieces of hardware. The GPU, or graphical processing unit, is the bread and butter of your machine. This is what displays all images on your computer, including the amazing colorful and 3D ones utilized in today’s games. The first thing to check will be what company you would like to go with. Again, two main competitors arise here, NVidia and ATI. I am partial to NVidia, as I have never had a problem with their technology, though much of the actual customer contact comes through the company who actually makes the card itself. In other words, NVidia and ATI make the technology available to varying companies such as XFX, BFG Tech, EVGA, and MSI, who then utilize that technology to make their graphics cards to sell to the public. Therefore, upon searching for your card, you’ll see (for example) BFG Tech NVidia GeForce 9800 or XFX Radeon HD 4850. The first word will be the company that makes the card, the second (GeForce or Radeon) is the technology (NVidia or ATI, respectively), and the numbers at the end are the series and model card. For our example, we’ll use a BFG Tech Nvidia GeForce 9800, though in today’s gaming computers I wouldn’t recommend anything less than the 8000 series of NVidia’s technology. The 9000 series is still new enough to play anything you’d like, but old enough to be fairly cheap. If you can afford it, go for the best you can get because it is the most prized piece of a gaming computer. Now, when choosing the card, you have to look at what type of slot it will fit into on the motherboard. For a gaming computer, you’ll want one that fits the PCI-Express 2.0(PCI-E) x 16 slot. This is why I noted earlier on the last article to make sure you’re motherboard has a PCI-E x 16 slot. Whichever card you choose, make sure everything matches up with the motherboard, including what kind of PCI slots it has. Also, note for later reference what kind of power connector the card needs, if it needs one, because that will also determine what kind of power supply is needed. The specifications will usually say Power Connector: 6-pin (4-pin, etc).

Great, so you’ve gotten the video card, and you didn’t have to be too picky about that. However, now comes the finicky piece of hardware: the RAM. RAM is what will speed up your computer in a pinch, and if you don’t have enough of it, you’ll have a tough time running many of today’s games. First of all, I would recommend at least 2 gigabytes of RAM, though more is great if you can afford it. Now for the tough part: determining what type of RAM will fit your motherboard. Return to the specifications of the motherboard you chose. There will be an area under the spec sheet that says something along the lines of “Number of memory slots; memory standard; maximum memory supported; and channel supported.” First, “number of memory slots” simply means how many sticks of RAM you can fit on the motherboard. Usually this will be 4, but it could be more or less. Second, “memory standard” is the most important part, as it determines what RAM can be bought to fit the motherboard. Next to this you will see something like DDR2 800, which is the type of RAM the motherboard can take. A great link to find out which type of RAM you should use can be found here. Search around for that type of RAM, being sure to note how much memory each RAM stick is worth. For example, let’s say you want 2 gigs of RAM. When searching for the RAM, you’ll notice the product may say “2 x 512″ or “1 x 1″ gig or “2 x 1 gig.” The first number in this is how many sticks of RAM you will get. In the “2 x 512,” you’ll get 2 sticks of RAM, but each stick is only 512 megabytes, which combined equal out to only 1 gig. Therefore you’d have to get 2 sets of these to equal two gigs. However, let’s say you get the “1 x 1 gig” stick. This means you’re only getting one stick, but that one stick is one gig by itself, therefore you’d only need 2 sticks to equal 2 gigs of RAM as opposed to 4 for the last group. Also, a good rule of thumb is that the same memory on one stick is usually faster than the equivalent divided by two sticks or more, but also usually more expensive. Do some shopping around once you find what kind of RAM you need to find a good, solid brand for cheap. Next, back to the spec sheet of the motherboard. You’ll see “maximum memory supported,” which will tell you how many gigabytes of RAM the motherboard will recognize. If it says 4 gigs, then you can have a maximum of 4 gigs of memory on that motherboard, whether it be through 4 one-gig sticks or 2 two-gig sticks. Remember though, you don’t have to max the board out. Finally, the “channel supported” means how many different kinds of RAM you should put on the motherboard. If this number is two, you’ll have those 4 slots divided into two different colors. When buying RAM, you should always try to keep the sticks uniform. If, for example, you buy a 1 gig stick from Corsair and a 1 gig stick from Patriot, you’ll want to put each stick in a different color-coded channel. However, if you buy two sticks from Corsair, put those two in the same channel and any others you acquire in the other channel. Another rule of thumb, uniformity in RAM is your best bet.

Woo! We’re done with RAM, now we move on to something a bit simpler, the Hard Drive. The Hard Drive is where everything on your computer is stored, from your operating system itself to your favorite picture or game. Therefore, buying a poor Hard Drive is a bad choice, as it runs a better chance of failing a year or two down the road than a good quality Hard Drive. I recommend Western Digital and Toshiba, though Seagate and Hitachi aren’t bad. When looking over your Hard Drive, check first of all that it is 3.5″, which is the standard for desktop computers. Next, see what interface it is as compared to what interface you have on your motherboard. Under the specs on the Hard Drive you will see “Interface: SATA 1.5 gb/s or SATA 3.0 gb/s.” The most likely alternative you will see is “IDE UltraATA100.” Since most motherboards now will use either, I would go with SATA because it is faster. Also, it is good to note that SATA 3.0 gb/s will move faster than 1.5 gb/s, but either can be hooked up to a SATA port on your motherboard. Since 3.0 gb/s is newer, it will usually be a tad more expensive, as well. Either is fine here, just make sure that you’re motherboard has the appropriate ports (either SATA or IDE). Next, just choose what size Hard Drive you want, whether it is 120 gigs or 500 or more. This is personal preference, though obviously more gigs = more money. This is about it for the Hard Drive compatibility.

Next is the PSU, or Power Supply Unit. Skimping on one of these will cause you’re computer to constantly overheat or not work at all. I would recommend at least a 600 watt power supply for anything less than a 9000 series video card, and at least a 650 watt for anything more. A good area to start for anything over 9000 series GeForce graphics cards is about 700 watt, though. When buying your power supply, there are a couple of things to check. First, the form factor. Again, make sure it matches up to your motherboard and chassis. If you picked an ATX motherboard and ATX chassis, get an ATX power supply. Now, you have to check all the power cables that go various areas on the motherboard. First, check your motherboard for what kind of power connector is has. Most likely it will say “24-pin” or “20+4 – pin.” This will be the main power for your computer, therefore match it up with the type of power supply you’re looking at. On the PSU spec sheet it should say “Main Connector” as the equivalent of whatever your motherboard accepts. Also, note that a 20+4 – pin will work on a 24 pin connector. Next, check all your other cables. Start with your 12v rails. The 12v rails are an extra power supply that hooks into the motherboard at a different spot than the main connector. Usually these are in 4-pin or 6-pin or 8-pin forms, so check you’re motherboard and compare with the power supply. If you have an 8-pin slot, two 4-pin rails will work. Next, check the PCI-Express power cords. Go back to your graphics card and look under the spec sheet for “Power Connector.” Some cards won’t need a connector but most will. Again, match up whatever your card says with whatever your power supply provides. If the card needs a 6-pin connector, make sure you’re PSU has that available even after all other connections have been made. Finally, check your PSU’s SATA, peripheral, and (if you have it) floppy drive power connectors. Most PSU’s come with an ample amount of connectors for all these devices, but check to make sure. The peripherals it talks about are things like the fans on your chassis, and the SATA connectors are for any SATA hardware like the previously mentioned Hard Drive or CD/DVD drive. Also worth noting, look for a PSU with a decent sized fan to blow all that heat away from the inner parts of the PSU. Once you find a powerful enough supply and make sure it has all the required connectors, we move on to the CD/DVD drive!

This is an important part of your gaming PC because without it, obviously you won’t have much of a chance installing any games (unless you’re a downloader, though not all games can be bought this way). This will act very much like the hard drive, as it runs through SATA and SATA power connectors. I would recommend getting a decent CD/DVD drive read/write combo, so you can burn and watch both CD’s and DVD’s. They’re also fairly cheap, unless you make the upgrade to Blu-Ray.

Ok, so you’ve finally gotten all you’re parts together and ready to go. Check one  more time to make sure everything is compatible. After you buy them and get them shipped to you, you can start building! We’ll cover that in part 3!