We are only going to discuss the common components usually associated with PC users. These include the processing unit components, the various input components i.e. the keyboard, the mouse and the microphone, the output components i.e. the monitor and the speakers, and the storage devices i.e. the hard disk. We will not look at the ethernet card or any other server-related components. However, modems will be included.
Motherboard
The motherboard serves as the base where all your components will be connected to. It holds all your cards and chips. Before selecting a motherboard, you should decide on other things, such as the kind of CPU you are using. For the Pentium motherboards, you will have PCI slots, as well as ISA (and/or VESA) slots. Some motherboards support multiple CPUs while others, only one. Later versions of Pentium motherboards feature built-in IDE controllers, thus freeing up more slots for your cards. There are just so many kinds with so many different features (and permutations of these features) that you have to go out there and see for yourself.
CPU
Right, this is it. This is what a computer is all (almost) about. The CPU.
The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. The light at the end of the tunnel.
The horizon at the end of the blue yonder. The engineroom of a locomotive...
At the moment, Intel is the leader in chip manufacturing. Cyrix and AMD chips are great as well, but motherboard manufacturers seem to favour Intel. The latest thing is MMX which Intel claims to improve multimedia performance. Intel has released the Pentium II, which is a Pentium Pro with MMX capabilities. Cyrix and AMD have released the 6×86MX and AMD-K6 respectively since then. These chips are MMX capable as well and are supposed to be just a teeny weeny bit slower than the Pentium II. But at such affordable prices (I think they're cheaper than Pentium MMX), they're really hard to pass by.
Unfortunately, the CPU alone does not decide the speed of the computer. The bus comes into consideration as well. Sometimes, this may become a bottleneck and restrict the speed of your CPU. But generally, the faster the chip, the faster the machine.
You will want a CPU cooling fan to go with your CPU or you'll smell something burning, and it's not your toast...
RAM
This is where certain information will stay resident on your computer as
long as it is on. Needless to say, the more RAM you have, the faster will
be your computer (most of the time). There are different kinds of RAM, too.
SDRAM seems to be the fastest (AFAIK, which is not very far) and is included in some high-end machines, but difficult to find in some places. DRAM is old and obsolete. EDO RAM is good as well and best of all, getting real cheap. This is the time to stock up on those RAM, baby!
There are low-end motherboards that use 30-pin SIMMs, so be careful to get
the right kind. Usually, it's the 72-pin SIMMs and for Pentiums, they have
to be installed in pairs. DIMMs are OK, but then again, some motherboards
don't support them.
Cache
The cache is a very fast memory that stores what is just processed so that
if you are to call it up again, it doesn't have to retrieve it all over again.
This saves time. Nowadays, 256KB seems to be the minimum cache size. Get
512KB pipelined burst cache.
BIOS
The latest stuff in BIOS is the flash ROM installed on the motherboard that
allows software upgrading of the BIOS. I believe the BIOS now supports bigger
capacity hard disks as well. So don't go for old BIOS!
Recommendation: Get the fastest CPU you can afford
(even if you have to mortgage your house). Make sure your motherboard can
hack it though. 32MB RAM should be the minimum you should be getting. A flash
ROM and 512KB pipelined burst cache will also be desirable.
Video Card
Video cards are very different from what they used to be. Initially, video
cards are video cards, simple and sweet. They offer you as many colours as
you have RAM on it (yes, you need memory on video cards as well), at higher
resolutions. The speed of your card will then be decided by the type
of memory you have on it as well as the chipset. Sounds easy, right? Good.
WRAM is supposed to be the fastest and is featured on the
Matrox Millenium. VRAM is excellent as well. It is
dual-ported so that your CPU and CRT (?) can access it simultaneously,
unlike EDO RAM and the
older DRAM. Of course, EDO RAM is faster than DRAM
and is used on many cards at the moment. I've seen EDO VRAM advertised on
some places as well. I don't know whether this even exists.
Did I tell you video cards are now different? Well, now you can get hardware MPEG as an add-on (even though many cards already support software MPEG) so that you can use VCDs on your computer, but I'd advise you to get a VCD player instead. Then you have the option of 3D capability as well for those 3D design tasks and games. Some cards can even be tuned to watch TV!
Sound Card
A sound card is a real pleasure to have. Most PCs are bundled with multimedia stuff these days.
You don't want to get those old 8-bit sound cards. I think they're gone for good anyway, but I could be wrong. 16-bit offers you stereo. And those equiped with wavetable synthesis are excellent. These babes are a far cry from those rusty FM types that mimic sounds by combining sound waves. Make sure your card supports General MIDI though. It's just a standard that decides how a sound is going to come out.
If you're a gamer, make sure you get a card that is Sound Blaster compatible because it's now the de facto standard for games. On the other hand, if you're using it for other purposes, get a card that supports the software you are using. For example , Creative's support for OS/2 seems non-existent. If that's the case, and you're an OS/2 user (and even when you're not), get another card.
