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Checklist for a Customized System

Building a Customized System

By Lee Penrod (updated by Alex Austin)

An alternative to purchasing a pre-configured system is to create a completely customized system with the parts of your choice. Although this is the ultimate solution for a customized system, new builders are often daunted by this task. This guide is here to help you figure out what parts you need.

Note: This guide is a supplement to our other articles under our knowledge base. We strongly suggest that you consult our various how to choose guides, how to upgrade guides, and BYO guides to find more specific information if you feel some part of this guide isn't covered deeply enough. Our How to Choose guides in particular contain a wealth of information on specific part types.

Fundamentally we can divide a system into two parts: internal and external. The internal parts are those parts that make your system able to function and store information. External parts are those parts that are visible for the normal user of the system such as: the keyboard, mouse, monitor and other similar devices. Without the external parts of a system, you could still make a system but it would be unusable (you wouldn't be able to input commands into it).

Customer Reviews: " Very informative, well written for the beginner or pro.If you can't spec out a computer after reading this,you shouldn't be building your own. " Click here for more reviews.

Logical part selection

Each time you choose a part for your system it limits your further choices. For instance your motherboard greatly influences your processor choice (and vice versa). For this reason you can pick your parts in a logical order to help reduce your choices. Below you will find my suggestion for this ordering. Please bare in mind that this is very far from set in stone. For instance you could choose your motherboard before your case and then go backward or you could choose your CPU after your motherboard.

Pick 1: Choose a Case. Your case defines your work area for internal parts as well as the overall look of the outside of your system. Choosing a good case can make your life easier. Cases come in several major sizes: Mid-Tower, Full-Tower, Desktop/HTPC, MicroATX, FlexATX, Rack Mount, and Cube. The most popular of these sizes is Mid-Tower, and it is adequate for the vast majority of systems. If you want something very small consider an HTPC case, FlexATX, or MicroATX case. If you intend to have a large number of drives (aka you want a high end workstation or a server) then strongly consider a Full-Tower or Rack Mount case. The latter is better for a server situation where you want several in a confined space. The former is better for single system setups. Cube cases are divided among the server and very small category (there are small cubes, and very large cubes). For these it varies on which one you pick. The small ones are often barebones, where the large ones are like two Full-Towers strapped together.

Pick 2: Choose a CPU. Your CPU has a large impact on the performance of your system. Without a CPU you can't have a system. CPUs are sold by four main factors: Socket Type, Speed/Model Number, FSB Speed, and packaging (retail or OEM.

All CPUs require a Cooler. Retail CPUs come with a cooler and a thermal interface pad ( the substance used to allow transfer of heat between the CPU and cooler ). OEM CPUs do not come with a cooler. For those you will need to purchase both the CPU and an appropriate cooler + normally a thermal interface material such as Thermal Compound

FSB Speed is a somewhat complicated subject. Generally higher is better if you are talking about like processors. Please consult our guide on this subject.

Generally the higher the speed/model number of a CPU is (when comparing CPUs of the same socket type), the better. Also, the higher the speed/model number of a CPU is, the more expensive it will be. We recommend purchasing the highest speed you can afford. When comparing AMD to Intel parts: Intel goes by the old Clock Speed standard, and AMD goes by performance rating numbers (model number). Comparing these two processors is really like comparing apples to oranges. The model numbers given by AMD are a measure of performance where as Clock Speed is a poor measure of performance (other factors like basic CPU architecture, FSB, Cache, etc make a big impact). Performance numbers give you a rough guide to comparing the two types. Basically when comparing XP and P4 CPUs: AMD model number = P4 speed equiv +/- 200 (depending on the task). i.e. a XP1600 compares favorably to a 1.6GHz P4. For more information see our how to choose guide.

Pick 3: Choose your motherboard. After your CPU, the motherboard is your most important choice. The motherboard defines what internal parts you support. i.e. how many drives can you use (case defines physical aspect of this), what types of devices you can attach, what memory you can use, and a bunch of other stuff. there are three major factors you need to consider here:

Form Factor: All current motherboards and cases on the market are ATX or a variant there of (AT is no longer supported). ATX comes in the following major variations: ATX (~12x9.6), E-ATX(~12x13), MicroATX (~9.6x9.6), FlexATX (~9.0x7.5), and MiniITX(~6.7x6.7). Each case page will say what type it supports. Generally if a case supports one standard it will work with that one, and all smaller standards. i.e. a microATX case also works with FlexATX and MiniITX. Most Mid-towers support ATX and smaller. Most Full-Towers support E-ATX and smaller. Please note that the reverse is never true: i.e. a MicroATX case won't support ATX. FlexATX/MicroATX cases kind of blue the line due two the minor difference in size. Most FlexATX cases we sell are really small MicroATX cases and support both types + MiniITX. This is due to the fact that FlexATX motherboards are most often part of an existing barebone with a customized case ( a small form factor PC barebone ). It's nearly impossible to buy a FlexATX board outside of a barebone these days. Manufacturers make more money selling the bare bones and the FlexATX boards have a high engineering cost.

Socket Type: Your Motherboard Socket Type *must* match your CPU socket type. For instance a Socket A motherboard (AMD Duron/Thunderbird/XP), won't work with a Socket 478 CPU (P4/Celeron).

Feature Set: Different motherboards have different feature sets. I.E. one board might have onboard IEEE1394 (firewire) while another one might not. A large deal of money can be saved by using onboard components such as onboard sound, video, and lan instead of buying separate cards. You will need to carefully consider the feature set to decide what you want.

Tip: Onboard sound is unavoidable. Almost all modern motherboard chipsets support basic sound. As such there is almost no savings for the manufacturer to produce motherboards w/o sound. Onboard sound has improved remarkably in recent years. Onboard sounds (as well as other onboard components) is very easy to disable in the BIOS of the motherboard and doesn't hamper your ability to use a separate card. It should be a + not a - when making your choice.

Pick 4: Drives There are three main categories of drives: Hard Drives, Optical Drives, and Floppy/removable storage.

The hard drive is the place where all the files on your computer will reside. These drives are measured mainly by connection speed (ATA100, ATA133, or SATA), Size (in Gigabytes), and RPM speed. A modern system should have a minimum hard drive size of 60-80GBs. If you plan on doing a lot of music, gaming, databases, or video editing: a large drive or multiple drives is highly recommended. These days there is very little price difference between 120, 160, 200 and even 320GB hard drives. The difference between say a 120 and a 160 may only be a few dollars. As far as speed: there is little difference between the three (ATA100, ATA133, or SATA). You should go with a standard your motherboard supports. SATA is the fastest of the three and comes in higher RPM speeds that ATA100/ATA133 but it's more expensive and tricky to set up currently. Most users are fine with ATA100/ATA133. RPM speed has an effect on drive performance and heat output. Generally the higher, the better. The most commonly used speed is 7200RPM. 5400RPM drives are good for backup and music files.

Optical Drives include CD-ROM, CD-RW drives, DVD-ROM drives, and DVD Writers. If you are only building a light use or office use system a basic CD-ROM is ok. If you want to watch DVDs on your PC you will need either a DVD-ROM, DVD-Writer, or combination(DVD-ROM + CD-RW) drive. For most people, a CD-RW drive or DVD-Writer is a must on modern systems. These drives provide a cheap means of backing up your most important files, and a way to share your music and or video with family members.

Removable media drives such as Floppy and Zip Drives are slowly going the way of the doodoo. They really are no longer a requirement for a system -- however given the low cost of a floppy drive, and the number of manufacturers still using this medium for driver disks, a basic 1.44" drive is still highly suggested.

Pick 5: Cards Expansion cards such as Sound, Video, Network, and Tuning enhance the functionality of your system. Most cards (except video) are in a PCI format. If you are going with an ATX setup you will likely have 5 or 6 PCI slots (4-5 of them being usable). Video cards will come in an AGP format marked by speed: 4x or 8x. If your motherboard supports 8x, it is better to use an 8x card. We Recommend that gamers go with either GeForce4, GeforceFX, or Radeon (ATI) video cards with 64, 128 or 256MB of on card memory to get the best performance.

Pick 6: Choose a Operating System Your operating system will determine how you will use your system. For normal home systems we recommend either Windows XP Home, or Windows 2000 Professional. Those running home networks, SOHO, or power users will likely want XP Professional. If you are building a server you will need either a server version of a Microsoft OS such as Windows Advanced Server 2003, or a form of Linux. If you are building a new system we recommend going with an OEM operating system CD. It will save you a lot of money and differs very little from the retail one.

Pick 7: Choose Memory Although memory comes in a variety of types, almost all motherboards on the market now take DDR or Double Data Rate memory. This memory is sold by it's own speed ratings ranging from DDR200(double pumped 100) to DDR400(double pumped 200) and higher. As it currently stands: most systems should use either DDR333 or DDR400. You should use memory that is at least as high as the system clock of your processor to 1 or 2 steps above it. For example: A P4 533FSB processor based system should at least use DDR333 (the same goes for an XP processor with 333FSB). Like wise a P4 800FSB processor shoud at least use DDR400 and a XP 400FSB processor should at least DDR400. This yields the best performance. For those using motherboards based on the i865, i875, or nForce1/2 you also have a consideration known as Dual Channel. Dual Channel memory buses basically use two sticks of memory to improve memory performance. For these systems you need either a Dual Channel Memory Kit or you need to buy standard memory in quantities of two. Using 1 stick will reduce performance, and using 3 sticks may not work at all. As far as memory size goes:

If you are building a basic home or office system based on Windows 98, 2000, or XP Home: Choose at least 256MB of memory

If you are building a system for gaming or development based on XP Pro / 2000: choose at least 512MB of memory.

If you do a video editing or large scale graphic editing: choose a min of 512MB of memory and think strongly about 1GB

For servers: Buy as much as you can afford and the board supports (768 or more recommended).

For older systems and light use PCs (especially those based on Linux): consider 128MB of memory (higher is still better though).

Pick 8: Choose your i/o devices. A system can't do much without a Keyboard / Mouse, and Monitor. For the keyboard and mouse we have found that the products by Microsoft and Logitech are the most popular. If you do a lot of typing on a day to day basis or work regularly with your PC, investing a little extra money in these devices can save you from sore wrists. Ergonomically shaped (split) keyboards also help as do good mouse pads. For the monitor: We have found that for most people bigger is better. You may think you need something like a 15" monitor right now, but your eyes will thank you if you go with the largest display your pocket book (and desk) can afford. For those doing regular graphic work or gaming we strongly suggest a 18" or 19" unit. For those going with LCDs DVI helps a bit. Ultimately it's a good idea to do research on these types of devices and read reviews. Additionally you should think about speakers and or headphones.

Once you have all the parts picked out for your system and added to your shopping cart you should decide: Do I want to build it or do I want it built for me? If you want our professional technicians to assemble, install, and configure your system for you, please add $39 labor charge for a complete system with operating system or $27 for a bare-bone system without OS. Systems take 1-5 business days to ship depending on our work load. Or you may just order the parts and put them together yourself. (NOT recommended for people who have not put a computer together before, nor have a close friend who can help!!!)

Recommended Reading: | A guide to the FSB | What is DVI? | ATA100/ATA133(PATA) vs SATA | Firewire and Digital Video | P4 Readiness and installation | How to Choose a motherboard chipset | How to Build a Wireless network | How to Build a Home Network | How to Choose Section

Below you will find a Check List which you can print out to help you make sure you get all the parts you need.

Inside the Case

CPU (Microprocessor) ___________
CPU Cooler ___________________
Motherboard __________________
Memory _______________________
Hard Drive ___________________
Floppy Drive _________________
CD ROM or DVD Drive __________
CD-RW Burner ______________
Tape Drive ___________________
Video Card ___________________
Sound Card ___________________
FAX/data Modem _______________
Network Card _______________
Power Supply _______________

Outside the Case

Case _________________________
Keyboard _____________________
Mouse ________________________
Speakers _____________________
Monitor ______________________
Operating System _____________
Applications Software ____________
System Accessories ____________
Labor Charge for complete, bare-bone and/or modified system

Resources for System Building:

| My System Building Experience |
| Steps to Assemble a System |
| Operating System Installation Guides |
| How to Build an AMD Win2000 System? |

Related Items: | How to Choose a Component? | Glossary | Installation Guides | Trouble Shooting Guides | Technical FAQs |

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