How to build Your Own Computer - STEP 5Choosing the Right CPUYou have to make a choice between 2 big brands of processor manufacturers, they are Intel and AMD. These two companies both make good CPUs and there is hardly any difference between them. I will not focus on which brand is better because this article is about building your computer and it is beyound the scope of this article.
Before choosing a brand of processor, you have to know what you are going to do on your pc. If you are not a gaming enthusiast, then a little older processor will serve your needs and you will save quiet a lot of money. But if you intend to do some multimedia work with graphics applications like coreldraw, photoshop, animation and the like the you have to spend a little more money on a fast processor.
Also if you only plan to use your computer for only internet browsing, email and running office applications like word, excel etc. then you can buy a processor between $25 to $80 range. Knowing yourself how much often you will be using your computer will help you decide if you need a powerful processor. Processor Specifications The normal specifications that you may see when you search for a CPU (processor) are: Brand, model type, series, core type, socket type, FSB, operating frequency, L1 & L2 cache etc. Most important ones that you should look for are FSB, operating frequency & socket type. Socket Type You should look for socket type first. The socket type should be supported by your motherboard. There are different types of sockets, but it should be compatible with your motherboard. FSB FSB means front side bus speeds. The measurement will tell us how fast the computer can send or exchange information with the motherboard. It is measured in MHz. If you need a basic computer for internet browsing or running office applications then an FSB of around 533Mhz should be enough. Gaming and Multimedia applications need higher FSB. Operating Frequency Operating Frequency can determine how fast your processor, processes information. The faster the operating frequency, the faster your answer. This frequency is measured in GHz. The highter the frequency, the faster the CPU.
Operating Frequency and FSB Working Together These 2 specification work together in making your computer work faster. The processor is solving your problems & running the application code. After the processor has completed its work, it passes the information to the motherboard at its FSB speed. You have to keep in mind that even mother boards have FSB speeds. If the speed of your processor is faster that your motherboard, you have a bottleneck and it will slow your computer down. If you have a fast processor than you require a fast motherboard. This helps to avoid creating bottleneck and keep your pc running smoothly. In the next article, STEP 6 we will go through the process of Installing a CPU (processor) and heatsink onto your motherboard. |
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