How to Build a Budget Computer

Save your pennies and build your own budget computer, it's easier than you think.  Whether you just need word processing or to play your favorite music or to balance your budget, computers are your portal to the information superhighway. There is such a wide array of computers, printers and supporting equipment that buying a computer can be quite expensive, but you can cut your costs with a little knowledge.  

As a consumer today, you are in luck because most budget components share the same technology or manufacturing process with mainstream and high-end components.  The slowest and cheapest processor out there today is fast enough to run all sorts of office and multimedia applications, including Windows Vista or Windows XP.  

1. Choose a processor.  If you can, choose a dual-core processor, which doubles your computing power and makes your computer more responsive. However, dual-core processors are more expensive and a good single-core processor like a Celeron or Pentium 4 will work well.  Avoid the outdated socket AM2 processors because socket 939 and 754 are outdated.  All Intel processors in the channel use socket 775.


2. Choose a motherboard.  Most decent motherboards will cost $150 or more.  All motherboards carry several USB 2.0 interfaces, a sound system and basic network connectivity.  You will want at least two Serial ATA ports for two individual hard drives, one or two PCI slots for expansion cards and an x16 PCI Express slot in case you want to use a video card instead of integrated graphics.


3. RAM.  1 GB of RAM is the magic number for the amount of memory you will need.  Windows Vista needs one gigabyte of RAM to run smoothly.  If you can, use two memory modules instead of one with the same capacity so that you can operate in dual channel mode to double the memory throughput.


4. Hard Drive.  Choose a more current hard drive for better performance with at least 250 GB, which should be $100 or less.  If you want an extensive multimedia database, choose a hard drive with 320-400 GB, which will cost around $150.


5. Case/Power Supply.   Cases can cost you from $40 to $400 for the more high-end aluminum case.  Check the case for the number of drive bays you want, modularity, ventilation options and front interfaces.  If you want to use a dedicated graphics card, get a power supply with a maximum output of 350 Watts.  High-end systems use 500W and above.

Most PC makers choose computer parts to be attractive to a wide range of consumers.  Building your own computer can help cut costs by using only the parts that you want for your specific needs.  There are sites now that will build a computer to your specifications like ComputerShopper.com so that you won't have to worry about hardware incompatibilities or assembling the computer yourself.  Newegg.com is a good source for one-stop computer component shopping, but you may went to check around at several sites by utilizing deal tracking sites.