The first step in building a system is to choose the right components. These general guidelines should help the new or rusty builder avoid common mistakes that might otherwise turn cash into trash.

um, im getting a 404 error. i'll read it when its up though.

edit: ok 404 is gone, good article.

Useful for a first time builder. Offers the standard guidelines. I still recommend most people to talk on the forums though, since there are hordes of people here who have experience. However, if you're seeing this post, you most likely are on the forums anyways, so I'm just preaching to the choir...

There's a bad link on http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/1 [...] page7.html to the hard drive charts. It's looking like there's a space right before the http:// resulting in an effective link of: http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/1 [...] orage.html

May I ask 2 questions regarding home built computers:

What's the difference something like a core 2 duo and a Xeon? It it on-die cache? If so, when is this useful?

Also, when is ECC memory useful?

Thanks! (I guess that technically was a little more than 2 questions.)

Ah yes...the best answer is, don't bother considering server parts. I can think of a long answer, but I don't have time at the moment to write it all out in 5 paragraphs of detail.

Thanks for the quick response. I'm interested in doing some fairly high-end scientific processing (mainly working in Matlab). My guess is if I start needing to do math on fairly large files (say > 2Gb) I could use a server chip, and if I'd want to run a process for a long period of time (> 1 week), I might want ECC memory.

Does that sound reasonable?

That's true, the longer a calculation is the more likely you'll encounter an error, and that's when ECC is useful.

inexpensive???
unless i'm getting older, it was independent i think (i'm seventeen 8) )

Thanks....appreciate the advice!

Inexpensive is older, Independant is more popular

Originally you had a choice in server disks, SLED or RAID. SLED stood for Single Large Expensive Disk, and RAID stood for Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks. Now, "Inexpensive" didn't sound like a nice way to put it, and the drives were mechanically independant of each other, so the word "independant" eventually won favor.

Yet tradiitonalists will argue for the word "inexpensive" which probably explains why it's used here.

it used to be "inexpensive", but ever since the hd market lowered prices dramatically, its been, i think unofficially, changed to "independent". You're not getting older.. you're actually not old enough

yeah obviously
thanks though, i love history 8)

In the article - I'm glad you stated that the power supply is the most critical component. I've put together 19 unique computer systems over the years and one thing I learned more than anything else, USE A GOOD REPUTABLE POWER SUPPLY AND HAVE AT LEAST 100 WATTS MORE THAN YOU ANTICPATE. My first couple systems, I used the power supplies that came with the cases and/or bought bargain budget power supplies. None of them ever blew up on me but I noticed that those computers using budget power supplies caused many instability problems which I spent way too much time trying to resolve. I would experience both software and hardware related glitches caused by power fluxuation, hard drive failure, bootup blue screens etc.

Bottom line: Power supplies aren't the sexiest things in the world, but in a computer it's the heart. If you are a new computer builder, I hope you buy a power supply that is in the $50-$75 range at the least. I use Antec almost exclusively but I've also had good luck with Silverstone.

One more thing - I also suggest buying a power back up supply even if you live in a house or apartment that doesn't experience electrical brown outs. The power back up helps buffer these house/apartment electrical problems which ultimately will make your computer last longer. I use two inexpensive power backups (APC 500 good for about 5-10 mins - about $30 - $50 depending if you buy it on sale or with rebate) one for the computer and one for my two lcd panels.

OK, fine. But where is it??

Every time I've done an informal comparison of DDR to DDR2 prices they came in about roughly the same. 1GB of DDR or DDR2 is in the range of $100; 512MB is in the vicinity of $50-$60. Sure, the DDR is a little cheaper than DDR2. But it's not a jaw-dropping gap of difference.

I have never seen 512MB of PC3200 "for as little as $10". Even if I used Tom's exalted price search engine. So just where is this cheap PC3200 SDRAM??

-john the redundant legacy dinosaur.