Don’t want an off-the-shelf computer? Then select the required components yourself and build your own PC! This is how you can create a computer that truly fits your personal needs. The assembly is not exactly easy, but for hobbyists with a bit of time and technical understanding and dexterity, it’s no real problem. The most difficult thing is to select the appropriate technical components. In view of the large number of different platforms, slots and processor generations, it’s easy to lose sight of the whole picture.
Do not save on the housing
When it comes to the housing, the form factor is the most important criterion. Standard desktop PCs are most suited to ATX Midi Tower housing. They usually offer enough space for crafting and for all common main logic boards.
If the computer is on your desk or in the living room, you can access a smart desktop or cube housing.
For large graphic cards, powerful cooling systems and a lot of hard drives, these housings do not usually offer enough space.
What is important for all housings: It is better to spend a bit more. Cheap housings are often inadequately manufactured, for example, they can be tricky to close.
If your PC still vibrates when finished, you may wish that you had spent that little bit extra. Higher-value models from brand manufacturers are usually processed to a certain standard, can be easily locked and unlocked and allow a decoupled hard drive assembly.
Power supply unit: A question of performance
Cheap power supplies can also lead to frustration. They are responsible for the volume of the PC and the subsequent upgradeability. It is difficult to answer the question of how much performance is required.
Very high performance drives the electricity consumption to the roof. Although graphics card manufacturers often require very high performance requirements for the power supply, especially when it comes to particularly powerful graphics cards, you should not necessarily have to use a mega-power supply.
Rule of thumb: A power supply should have at least 450 W for a fast, playable PC.
For an office PC, a small model with 300 W is usually adequate. The watt specification is only a rough guideline for the performance of the power supply. More important is the current strength, which is applied to the individual lines. That is why on each power supply unit there is a label that provides information on the performance of the power supply.
Processor: It doesn’t always have to be a Porsche
When it comes to processors, there are huge price differences. The main difference between the popular model series Core i3, i5 and i7 from Intel is the equipment with processor cores, threads and cache that differ in terms of performance depending on the application.
In this way, an i3 two-core may only be a few percentage points slower when playing than an i7 processor that is two to three times more expensive. For applications such as video editing and 3D rendering, on the other hand, models with multiple cores come into their own. A good compromise, also in terms of price, are the middle classprocessors of the i5-series.
But it is also important to look closely and to study the best benchmark results on the test pages.
Motherboard: The basis of the PC
The motherboard must match the processor and housing. Opt for models with up-to-date chipsets in order to ensure good expandability in future. It is also important to have many and fast connection possibilities, for example, for USB and network.
System memory: Ideally in two modules
Eight gigabytes of memory, ideally in the form of two modules, each with four gigabytes, is more than enough for everyday work and gaming. It is important that the memory modules fit the processor and motherboard.
If in doubt, check on the Internet page of the motherboard manufacturer whether the modules on the board have been tested and are guaranteed to work.
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