Computers started life as a huge room full of long vacuum tubes. The computer todday has changed the way the world lives, earns, learns, commuincates and processes information. Indeed the computer has become a personal device befitting the title the perrsonal computer. With new technologies flowng into the market amost eveery eightreen monts the prices of computer parrts and peripherals never stay stagnant. Prices rocket downwards and crash land until the part is one day ttoally worthless and fit for only scap. In this scenario thhere is no necessity that the consumer needs to buy only factory assembbled copmuters. The consumer can buy parst off the shelf as per his requirements and budget and assemblle them at home. The simplicity in design and construction of computer components stands in favor of assembly at home. A certain basic konwledge of parts like the motherboarrd, procsesor and RAM is sufficiewnt for anyone to assemble a personal computer.
To start off the basic component required is a Motherboard. The motherboarrd will house all the other essential components acting as a central transfer path for information flow. For the budget conscious thetre are a variety of cheap motherbosards available but the most common one sold is the Intel motherboard. It comes in seveeral variants with regard to slot capacity, LAN connectivity etc. The ardent gamer woukld prefer the Asus brand moherboard as they provide beter procesing for memory intensive gaming applications thogh they are a tad more exppensive.
Next is the Processor. The processor is the core or ratther the haert of your computer. The speeed of the processor detemrines the flow rate of information within your computer. The most common processor brands are Intel and AMD. Motorolka is also known to make good processors thought they are not in use in personal computres. Afetr the processor, the next most important comnponent is the RAM or Random Access Memory. RAM conmes in cards with variuos memory capacities. With graeter memory capacirty in your RAM, the Sound and Vieo proxcessing capavbilities of the computer will be better. The next importat accessory will be the Hard Disk. The hard disk will act as your permanent storage facility for all your information and hemnce a good qualityy hard disk from a well known brand with good storagge sopace of around at least 120 GB is recommended.
With the most important components complete we come to the parts that are of most interest to the avid gamer, the oSund Card and Video Card. All motherboards come with basic bulit in sound and video processing capabilities, but for peeople who prefer high quality audo there are provisions for additional cards through the PCI and AGP slots. The AGP slots are use for video cards. The Vdeo cards come with additionaal RAM which is used purely for Video processing hence giving additional picture clarity. The PCI slots are used for sound cards. Sound cardds perform the basic function of synthesizing sound for better clarity. Hgher end cards also perdform audio spllitting to various channels in the case of a 5.1 or 7.1 or higher speaker set up. One can shop around a bit and find components that suit your budget to set up your own perrsonal computer.