Build Your Own Computer, Part 1, Case & Motherboard Considerations
Apr 04 '01
The Bottom Line The best way to get exactly the machine that you want is to assemble it yourself. It is not difficult. Written in English, not Geek Speak.
It has been said, " If you want it done right, do it yourself". This readily applies to building just exactly the computer that you need and want. It is not as daunting a task as it may appear, and is the best way to learn about what goes on inside as well as to ensure that you get exactly the components that you want. It is not a very expensive process, and a great many of the components from your existing system are perfectly satisfactory, no need to pay for new ones. This will be the first of a series designed to present all the necessary information and details to enable you to confidently complete the project. Best of all, hopefully, the information will be presented in plain English, so that you do not need to be a techno-geek to understand the presentation. I will use a system that I built as an example.
The first step is to decide what you want for your self-built machine. You know best what it is that you do with a computer now and where you are likely to go. Once you get over the initial apprehension about doing it yourself, you will see that it is entirely feasible to upgrade and add components as your needs evolve. This first entry in the series will be about the factors to be considered for selecting the case and motherboard. The next installment will detail the set up of the motherboard and BIOS.
Cases come in two basic configurations, the desktop and the tower varieties. The selection depends upon the physical space you have to place the computer and the growth potential that you want. The desktop case is the traditional form usually situated with the monitor sitting on top of it. The tower configuration is the upright case with the visible components stacked on top of each other. Towers come in different sizes, mini-towers (where you do not have much available height), mid-towers and full-towers. Your available space is usually the determining factor. Obviously the mid-tower has room for more internal devices than the mini-tower and the full tower has the most space of all. With the advent of easy external attachments such as USB, growth may still be achieved in a smaller space. I opted for an Antec KS-288 mid-tower ATX case. Right now, don't be concerned about the nomenclature, ATX is just the name of a particular form factor and more will be said about it later. Since I have many peripherals, I need an adequate power supply. The minimum size for me was 250W. If you are a relatively light user (in terms of peripherals), 200 W should be adequate. 300W should be more than enough for anyone. All of these choices affect the cost; so keep a budget in mind.
I counted up all the devices that I wanted to install in the case. There was the 3.5 inch floppy, three 5.25 inch drives and two hard drives. I also wanted future space for at least one more 3.5 inch unit. The Antec case has five external bays, two 3.5 inch and three 5.25 inch. There are also two internal 3.5 inch bays to house my hard drives. I really liked the solid construction of the case, the folded edges so that there were no sharp edges to catch and cut my hands when I manipulated devices inside. The case requires no tools other than a screwdriver to bolt the drives in their bays. Since I frequently add and move internal devices, easy access to the case is important. This one does not need any tools to open. There is a single thumbscrew that is opened by hand. The top slides off and each side fits in with clips, so that it just slides in and out. It takes less than 10 seconds to open the case for work inside. It takes about 20 seconds to close it back up again.
The next consideration is the form factor of the rectangular motherboard. The so-called ATX form factor seems to be the more preferred one compared to the older ATA. The basic difference is that the ATX form has the expansion slots on the long side of the rectangle, while the ATA has the slots on the narrow side. You will find other differences; such as the power connector on the ATX is a single unit, while the ATA is usually in two sections. The CPU socket on the ATX is located in a different area of the board that makes for better access and cooling. I selected the ATX form factor and the Antec MB-5987 motherboard. One nice feature is that critical connectors can only be inserted the correct way; there is a mechanical key that ensures the correct alignment. This was not true with the power connectors on the older ATA boards, and many were damaged by improper power connections.
The next major decision is to decide upon a CPU. The choice again depends upon your usage. If you are into high demand processing capabilities such as gaming or graphics you want a high-speed processor. If you are interested in economy with excellent performance, you really don't need the latest and fastest Pentium II class processors, but can be well served with an AMD K6-2 CPU. These are available at speeds such as 450 MHz, which is fast enough for most typical home users. These CPU's mount into a ZIF (Zero Insertion Force) super 7 socket. These motherboards provide a range of clock speeds that handle these fast processors. More on this next time when we discuss setting up the motherboard. Don't get caught up in the marketing hype over who has the fastest processor. The facts are that it is the weakest link in the chain that determines system performance. Once you cross some CPU speed point, say 200 MHz, you will find that there greater overall system performance enhancement likely by increasing RAM and video RAM capacities. The access time of other memory devices such as the hard drives and CD-ROM's also play a big part.
The next choice is for the RAM. Ensure that the motherboard has the proper sockets for the type of RAM that you want; my suggestion is SDRAM. For our purposes right now, that is just a name, but it is probably your best choice. Make sure that the board can accommodate the desired amount of RAM. There are two things to look for, the number of RAM slots and the ability to mix sizes, such as one slot taking a 32M stick and the other a 64M stick. Just to confuse you, these sockets are called DIMM sockets, but for right now that too is just a name. My motherboard selection was the Antec MB-5987. It's memory support is extremely versatile. There are 3 slots that can accommodate 8,16,32,64or 128 MB of 168 pin modules totaling 384 MB. My first PC had 1 MB of RAM. I placed three 32 MB modules on the board, principally because I had another computer with two 32MB modules and I took them out and used them here.
The next consideration should be the expansion slot configuration. If you plan to use any of your older expansion slots, make sure that you count the type and number of slots needed. The internal modem on my old machine was an ISA card, that is, it used the black expansion slots. I also had some PCI cards (the white slots). The Antec motherboard has four 32-bit PCI slots and three 16-bit ISA slots. I needed two of the ISA slots and all of the PCI slots. If you are upgrading from a much older machine, say a 486, you might have some VESA cards. These are the really long cards that fit in the black slots. They will not be useable in newer motherboards, since VESA slots are not usually provided anymore.
Some more esoteric motherboard considerations are the chip set, the BIOS, and the secondary cache. The Antec motherboard uses the Award BIOS, which is one of the industry standards. It is flash upgradeable, which means that you can install upgrades as they become available on the Award web site. The chipset is the VIA MVP3 chipset, which is a highly regarded industry favorite. The onboard secondary cache can be either 512 KB or 1023 KB. I opted for the larger cache under the theory that bigger is better. The price difference is trivial, but the performance enhancement can be significant. You can tell which the board has by looking at the component placement diagram and locating the cache slots. If both cache slots are filled, then you have 1023 KB's. If there is only one cache slot on the board or only one is filled, then you most likely have 512 KB. There are other features to look for in motherboard selection. This Antec unit has two outboard USB slots, so that you do not need to purchase anything else to plug in USB devices. There is also an AGP (Accelerated Graphics Port) available for the gamers and those heavy into graphics. This allows you to use the latest in graphic card technology, which presents great 3-D effects and much greater display speeds. Since I had two hard drives and two IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics) devices I needed two IDE connectors on the board. This is pretty much a standard these days. (IDE is the type of connection used by most hard drives and CD-ROM's.) Should I decide to go wireless some time in the future, there is an IR (infra red) connector on the board. This will allow me to add an IR sensor much like TV sets have for remote control. There are also PS-2 (the small round connector) sockets for the mouse and the keyboard. All the outboard connectors are properly labeled, so that you will have no trouble figuring out where to place what. Of course, since both the motherboard and case were Antec products, the case had the proper holes and alignment to accommodate the USB, PS-2, serial ports and parallel ports of the motherboard. Some cases come with several external panels that you bolt on to accommodate different motherboard external connections. Using the same source for both will simplify this situation.
This is probably a bit to digest at once, so we will stop here and continue on in Part 2, when we will discuss setting up the motherboard and the case. Subsequent columns will be devoted to other device selection and installation. I trust that you are all smart enough to ignore all the come-on ads for really low price computers that require purchase of a high priced Internet service for a long time. However, we might just include some caveats on where not to go to buy parts. Stay tuned.
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