Choosing Components
Welcome to the choosing components section of the wiki. Here we will, as the name states, choose the components for your computer. First we will choose a CPU, the central processing unit, for the computer. This will determine what kind of motherboard and RAM you will need to select for everything to work together. The two manufactures of CPUs for desktop computers are Intel and AMD. Both options have their pros and cons but it is best to choose what is right for your use case. If you are planning to use the computer primarily for gaming eight CPU cores should be plenty, but if you are going to be using the computer for more CPU intensive tasks you may want extra cores. Intel and AMD have plenty of options for almost any use case. In addition to the CPU itself you will also need a cooler which can come in the form of air cooling or liquid cooling each has their advantages and disadvantages, for most people air cooling will be perfectly fine for their use case. Generally Intel is better in single threaded performance, how much work a single software thread can complete in a given time. AMD generally is better in power efficiency, multi threaded performance, and longevity.
Once you have selected a CPU you will need a motherboard for the CPU and all of the other components to connect to. Intel and AMD use different sockets for their CPUs and have different naming schemes for their motherboards. Current, as of writing this, Intel is using LGA 1851 for their newest CPUs. AMD is using their AM5 socket for their most recent
series of CPUs. The two types of motherboards are very similar but the main differences are their chipset, which acts as the controller for a ll of the data flowing through the system and the CPU sockets. The CPU socket is the main way you will end up choosing a motherboard, the features and size will be the second deciding factor. Motherboards come in three main sizes, ATX, Micro ATX and Mini ATX, the size will be important when choosing a case for everything to fit into at the end.
After choosing a motherboard you will need to select RAM, random access memory, for your computer. In a desktop the minimum recommended amount of RAM is 16GB with most people going for 32 GB due to how resource hungry windows and other programs can be. Most new builds are going to be using DDR5 which is the fastest and best for desktops, as of writing this. In addition to RAM you will also need storage to store all of your files, apps, and operating system. Most computers are going to have between 256 GB of storage and one terabyte, 1024 GB of storage. This should provide enough storage for the average user but if you keep a lot of files, are a creative or, use your computer gaming then two terabytes of storage oddly be a good lace to start. Storage drives come in two different forms, SSD and HDDs or hard disk drives. SSD stands for solid-state storage drive. SSDs are similar to flash drives but generally much faster, these are good for apps that need quick access to files. HHDs are good for long term storage and archival of files because they are fairly resistant to failure.
Another component that is quite important is the Graphics Processing Unit, this component is what creates an image for us to look at so that we can interact with the computer. GPUs are incredibly powerful and expensive, these are typically the most expensive component of a build, but not everyone needs one. GPUs are generally installed when the computer is going to be used for gaming, video and photo editing, 3D modeling and rendering, machine learning, and Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. All of these tasks require the computer to do a lot of math at the same time to display the image. The GPU does all of this work so that the CPU can focus on other tasks. If you are not planning to use your computer for any of the above use cases you can probably skip this section but make sure sure you get a CPU with integrated graphics so that the computer will still output video.
One of the last components you will need is the power supply unit, this converts high voltage AC, alternating current, into low voltage DC, direct current, required by computer components. The PSU also provides over current protections and standby power for war functions. PSUs come in many wattages which is how much power they are able to output and each unit has an efficiency rating so that you can choose which one is the right one for you.
The final component needed is the case which house and protects all of the components. The size of the motherboard typically dictates how big of a case you will need. Full-size ATX boards will not fit in a