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Did you ever wonder what a bit, a pixel, a latch, a word (of memory), a data bus, an
address bus, a memory, a register, a processor, a timing diagram, a clock (of a processor),
an instruction, or machine code is? Though most explanations of how computers work
are a lot of analogies or require a background in electrical engineering, this book will tell
you precisely what each of them is and how each of them works without requiring any
previous knowledge of computers or electronics. However, this book starts out very easy
and gets harder as it goes along. You must read the book starting at the first page and not
skip around because later topics depend on understanding earlier topics. How far you can
get may depend on your background. A junior high school science background should be
enough. There is no mathematics required other than simple addition and multiplication.
This is a short book, but it must be studied carefully. This means that you will have to
read some parts more than once to understand them. Get as far as you can. You will be
much more knowledgeable about how computers work when you are done than when you
started, even if you are not able to get through the whole text. This is a technical book
though it is aimed at a non-technical audience. Though this book takes considerable
effort to understand, it is very easy for what it explains. After you have studied this book,
if you go back and read it, it will seem simple.

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In my day to day jobs as a Network Administrator / AskTheAdmin I am often asked the
question, “How can I build my own computer?”. Well actually the question usually goes a little
more like hey Karl can YOU build me a GREAT, CHEAP computer?

I usually try to keep walking but the end users do eventually catch up. So I am here on behalf
of MakeUseOf.com to give you a walk through on how you can build your own cheap
computer. Before we start you should know that building a computer has become A LOT
easier than it was 5 years ago. Parts are easier to install, cases are readily available and
there is a crap load of free support available on the internet.

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The good news is you don’t even need to bother reading the entire USB standard. Some chapters were churned out by marketing, others aimed at the lower link layer normally taken care off by your USB controller IC and a couple aimed at host and hub developers. Lets take a little journey through the various chapters of the USB 2.0 specification and briefly introduce the key points.

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Feast your eyes on the massive table of contents, splashed across the next page. It reveals that the Guide includes all 8 parts of computer lore: “Buyer’s guide”, “Operating systems”, “Internet”, “Word processing”, “Tricky applications”, “Fix your computer”, “Programming”, and “Management”.

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The Hardest part of building a PC is trying to find all the components you need.

I will show you a simple way to find your components and then you can assemble them.

Start by setting a budget. Our budget for today is $200.

First, we need a computer case to put all of our fun goodies into.

On our budget, I recommend the Power Up ATX Mid-Tower Case, in black with front USB ports. There are many cases to choose from, if you prefer something more flashy, then choose one you like. Be prepared to pay more for it.

But as far as function goes, a simple Plain Jane computer case will work. Just be sure that the your motherboard will fit inside before you make your purchase.

Next, you will need to select a power supply. Some computer cases will have a power supply included.

For our project, let’s select the Ultra LS400 Lifetime Series 400 watt power supply. A solid power supply unit, worth the money and so far very reliable. Again, you can select your own. There are may to choose from, just keep in mind that some can be very noisy and I recommend that you pick one that has 300 watts or more.

Now for the motherboard, as long as your not trying to break any land speed records with it, we can use MSI’s K9MM-V Motherboard. This one has all the basic requirements covered. This one includes a LAN port, sound on board, a VGA port, and a AM2 CPU socket.

Now it’s time for the brains, the CPU, we can use an AMD Athon 64 3500+ OEM. OEM means Original Equipment Manufacturer, this means that you don’t get any fancy packaging and in this case, you’ll need to get your own CPU cooling fan and heat sink.

There two roads you can choose, the AMD road or the Intel road. The choice is yours, but remember we are building a computer on a budget. If you do get a different CPU, this opens a whole different set of problems. Basically keep in mind socket type, cooling issues, and motherboard compatibility.

To go with your new brains, your will want some new memory. Let’s use Crucial 1024 MB PC4200 DDR 2 533 MHz memory. Simply put, this is the memory card that matches our motherboard selection.

This is the basic start of building a PC. The next part of the build, you will have more choices to make. These include the hard drive, DVD-RW, monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers and operating system.

For more about Building a PC on Budget visit http://www.buildtheperfectpc.com/pg017.html