There are three highly important questions you need to ask yourself:
Budget
How much are you going to spend on the build? Generally the more you
spend on a system the better it is; however, the performance over cost
diminishes above a certain point as shown by this graph. Most view this
point to be around about $2000 US however opinions vary.
What are you aiming to do?
Is this for a gaming on a single display or 3D rendering? Perhaps the office PC needs an upgrade? One system doesn’t suit all.
Ability – there are three different types of system
- Preassembled
– you can purchase a pre-assembled system from a company such as Dell,
HP or Apple and many others. These are often suitable for most low power
PC users such as families and office systems.
- Custom PC builds
– These come in two options from specialist hardware retailers such as
NCIX and PC Case Gear. They can be designed and assembled by the
retailer and often come with warranty for the build as well as the
individual parts warranty. You can also select your own parts and have
the retailer assemble the system for you for a fee. This also often
includes the peace of mind of a warranty.
- DIY –
This is most common among enthusiasts whereby you select all the
components yourself and then build the system yourself. The downside is
that you are not covered by a warranty for your own work; just those
accompanying the components. This can be a big risk with water cooling
loops.
Selecting Hardware
Any mainstream computer system is made up of seven simple components. These are:
- CPU
or Central Processing Unit with accompanying heat sink – the brain of
the entire system. (Note that Intel 2011 socket CPU’s do not include a
stock heatsink.)
- Motherboard – this is what everything is either mounted to or connected to in some way.
- RAM – Random Access Memory
- PSU or power supply
- GPU or graphics processing unit – these can either be an expansion card purchased separately or be built into the CPU.
- Storage device – where data such as an operating system is stored.
- And lastly, the case – where everything goes.
Of
course, there are other components such as SSD’s (Solid State Drives)
and aftermarket coolers however these are not ‘must have’ items.
Optional components and accessories
Now that you’ve got the core components out of the way, here are certain
optional components that can be added for a performance increase or
aesthetic reasons.
After market coolers
These are a replacement for the stock cooler that comes with your CPU.
They offer a variety of changes from form factor to cooling performance.
They come in three main forms; air coolers, all-in-one (AIO) water
coolers and then custom loop water coolers.
AIO’s and air coolers are the most simple where you simply mount the CPU
block and the other mounting accessories and you’re done. Custom loop
water-cooling is more complicated; however, with experience and
planning, it can be achieved.
Lighting
This comes in the form of either LED’s connected to a power source or
Cathode tubes connected to an inverter. The LED’s are a lot sharper with
their light and do not fade over time. Cathodes, on the other hand,
have a softer appearance but can fade unevenly over time.
Custom cables
Let’s face it – most PSU cables, or rather most internal cables in
general aren’t the most flattering - so why not fix them? Custom
sleeving is a fiddly job but if done properly can yield good results.
Sleeving involves the removal of the pin and wire from the power supply
connector, and applying new sleeve, normally of a different colour, over
it. There are many guides on the forums so I won’t go too in-depth
here. If; however, you’re not up to it, brands such as Bitfenix and NZXT
sell sleeved extensions that make it look like you’ve done your
sleeving. Silverstone and Corsair also offer cable kits for their PSU’s
in a variety of colours and lengths to suit any build, big or small.
Please note though that these cable kits are incompatible with other
PSU’s.
Overclocking
Overclocking is raising the settings of a component above the
manufacturers default settings. It's often done with graphics cards, RAM
and CPU's. It's done in an aim to increase performance without buying a
higher performing product. With increased performance however comes
increased power draw and thus increased heat output. A beefy cooling
system is required for most forms of overclocking especially with CPU's.
RAM isn't too bad and the coolers on most graphics cards will give you a
bit of overhead before you reach the hardware limits set by NVidia and
AMD.
Also note that to overclock an Intel CPU, you need to ensure it has an
unlocked multiplier which is determined by the "K" denomination in its
name. For example a 3570K can be over-clocked whereas a 3570 cannot.
Aside from buying pre overclocked GPU's, all forms of overclocking void
the stock warranty. Intel however realise that enthusiasts want to push
their CPU's faster so they provide the Intel Tuning program. It's an
advanced warranty program set to cover overclocking your Intel CPU.
intel.com/tuningplan/
Overclocking can take two forms - automated and manual. Automated is
often hit and miss and you find that the system will set the voltages
too high which can lead to excess heat and physical damage and
degradation over time leading to a shorter lifespan. Manual depends on
the platform and below I have linked various overclocking guides for
Intel 3rd and 4th generation CPU's and RAM and GPU overclocking basics.
Ivy Bridge Overclocking
Haswell Overclocking
GPU Overclocking
RAM Overclocking
