Need some help with PC stuff, hardware, etc.

[dekkarax]

I've had my current PC for about two/three years now, and it's getting to the point where I will need to upgrade it; plus, in a couple of years I will most likely be heading off to university, so I want to learn how to construct a pc, I think that I could probably save a lot of money if I did this.

Unfortunately I have next to no experience with computer hardware, my computer is a family one, so my parents are a bit reluctant to let me go spelunking in our pc's innards to add stuff like RAM or a new graphics card. Plus, my last computer was an ancient windows 98, which was pretty much un-upgradable.

I have been snooping online for a while in search of anything which will help me learn how to build a pc, if any of you guys could offer any advice that would be very helpful.

While I most likely won't be building a pc for a while, any help I can get will be a start; and it would certainly help me upgrade my current pc.

 

[wordsmith]

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/
Hardware recommendations/talk about what fits together

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/computer-hardware-channel.htm
Videos of Assemblies/the correct way to plug stuff in.

Finally- Always remember to GROUND YOURSELF. It'll save a lot of static-electricity-blow based woes later on.

 

[wordsmith]

One last piece is that if you are going for Vista

Don't.

/topic

 

[Irridium]

If your unsure of where something goes, NEVER guess.

thats my advice to you.


oh, and read the fucking manual.
harsh but true

 

[dekkarax]

Ok thanks guys, I'm learning a lot about motherboards at the moment (best to start with the core components right?), but I do have a couple of questions.

multi core CPUs, what does a dual/tri/quad actually do, in layman's terms? My current pc has a dual core CPU with 1.8GHz, basically, what I'd like to know is if the 1.8 refers to the power of the processor as a whole or a single core.

Also, I'm planning to possibly see if I can do some upgrades to my current pc so I can get Fallout 3; what would you guys recommend?
From the top of my head, my pc has
Vista 32-bit (which to be honest, was probably worth it, when we bought our pc it was the best deal we could get, as it had a good processor and graphics card for the time)
Intel dual core CPU @ 1.8GHz (I can't remember the model)
1GB of RAM (which I will be upgrading to 3GB when I get the money)
Nvidia 7500 LE 512MB video card with pixel shader 3.0 and vertex(?) shader 3.0

That's all I can remember, if it helps, the computer is a Compaq presaro SR2129UK.

 

[Sketchy]

Ok thanks guys, I'm learning a lot about motherboards at the moment (best to start with the core components right?), but I do have a couple of questions.

multi core CPUs, what does a dual/tri/quad actually do, in layman's terms? My current pc has a dual core CPU with 1.8GHz, basically, what I'd like to know is if the 1.8 refers to the power of the processor as a whole or a single core.

Also, I'm planning to possibly see if I can do some upgrades to my current pc so I can get Fallout 3; what would you guys recommend?
From the top of my head, my pc has
Vista 32-bit (which to be honest, was probably worth it, when we bought our pc it was the best deal we could get, as it had a good processor and graphics card for the time)
Intel dual core CPU @ 1.8GHz (I can't remember the model)
1GB of RAM (which I will be upgrading to 3GB when I get the money)
Nvidia 7500 LE 512MB video card with pixel shader 3.0 and vertex(?) shader 3.0

That's all I can remember, if it helps, the computer is a Compaq presaro 2100UK.

Not sure that will run Fallout 3 very well at all. Maybe on very low settings.

EDIT: And I think the 1.8 would refer to a single core, but I don't really know.

 

[dekkarax]

Ok thanks guys, I'm learning a lot about motherboards at the moment (best to start with the core components right?), but I do have a couple of questions.

multi core CPUs, what does a dual/tri/quad actually do, in layman's terms? My current pc has a dual core CPU with 1.8GHz, basically, what I'd like to know is if the 1.8 refers to the power of the processor as a whole or a single core.

Also, I'm planning to possibly see if I can do some upgrades to my current pc so I can get Fallout 3; what would you guys recommend?
From the top of my head, my pc has
Vista 32-bit (which to be honest, was probably worth it, when we bought our pc it was the best deal we could get, as it had a good processor and graphics card for the time)
Intel dual core CPU @ 1.8GHz (I can't remember the model)
1GB of RAM (which I will be upgrading to 3GB when I get the money)
Nvidia 7500 LE 512MB video card with pixel shader 3.0 and vertex(?) shader 3.0

That's all I can remember, if it helps, the computer is a Compaq presaro 2100UK.

Not sure that will run Fallout 3 very well at all. Maybe on very low settings.

EDIT: And I think the 1.8 would refer to a single core, but I don't really know.

I've checked my computer, and my processor is listed as: Intel Core 2 CPU 6300 @ 1.86 GHz, 1.87GHz, so I know assume it does refer to one core instead of both.

As for Fallout, I may just try my luck after I've upgraded my RAM, if I bought it on console I probably would have eventually bought it on pc anyway, so I might as well see whether I can run it, it's about £20 cheaper than the consoles where I live so I probably won't lose a lot of money on it.

 

[dekkarax]

ok, I've been snooping around some more and I found quite a few parts that I may eventually buy, I just have a couple more questions.

1. What do you need to consider when choosing cooling systems?

2. Is there any difference between SATA-300 and SATA-150?