A few questions

[TheOneFreeMan]

As a newb at this, I have a few confusions that I would be grateful for being cleared up ...

1. What should I look for in a motherboard, beyond compatibility with my CPU/GPU? What makes one motherboard better than another?

2. Is RAM basically RAM, regardless of brand? Should I just be looking to pick up about 4GB of RAM at the cheapest price and not pay regards to the maker?

3. How can I be sure the chassis I buy will fit the components I choose? Or do they all do?

4. How do I calculate how powerful a PSU I'll need given the components I'll eventually choose?

Thanks in advance.

 

[VirusType2]

motherboard chassis types:

ATX

micro ATX


Micro ATX will fit in an ATX case, but ATX is too big for a microATX case.

ATX motherboards generally have more features like more PCI slots, since they are larger.

Ram basically RAM regardless of brand: no - er ... yes? A car is a car, regardless of brand. That doesn't make them equal in any way.

when looking for a motherboard, it is a buyers market. Buy one with features that you want. SATA slots, extra USB ports, on board sound or not, etc...

 

[Yorick]

1. What should I look for in a motherboard, beyond compatibility with my CPU/GPU? What makes one motherboard better than another?

Amount of Ram slots are usually something to be noted. As long as it's compatible with the processor, though, I don't think it matters a whole lot. Processor and Ram are the important parts.

2. Is RAM basically RAM, regardless of brand? Should I just be looking to pick up about 4GB of RAM at the cheapest price and not pay regards to the maker?

I usually go for the cheapest, regardless of brand. Other people will probably say to do differently. RAM is not just RAM, though. You need to check out to make sure the pin size fits your motherboard, and then there is speed as well.

3. How can I be sure the chassis I buy will fit the components I choose? Or do they all do?

4. How do I calculate how powerful a PSU I'll need given the components I'll eventually choose?.

If this is your first time, which it seems like it is, I'd recommend using a website like www.ibuypower.com. I used them on my latest rig and it really works wonderfully. You can start with a barebones, cheap system, and upgrade the parts that you want. And it will only show things that are compatible with what you've chosen so far.

Best of luck.

 

[Asus]

1)The first thing I look at is that the board supports the CPU I want to get, has the memory type I want (DDR3 or DDR2 if I think 3 is too expensive or already have DDR2 etc) and does it have enough expansion slots (1 PCI Express 16x or 2 for Crossfire/SLI, how many PCI Express 1x or plain PCI slots if I have a sound card etc). Also, does it have good onboard sound if I don't have a sound card or does it have gigabit networking if I have a couple PCs I want to share files between quickly.
Brand may come into play based on reliability or overclock ability. Or what chipset a board has also may impact features and OCing.

2)When I get RAM for my PC I ignore the bottom feeders for brands. I usually jump up to the low end stuff from brands I trust (Corsair, Kingston etc). Then go up further if I want lower timings, higher speeds or better OCing ability. Depending on your goal that is where it can go beyond the basic stuff and spend $$ for 'just RAM'.

3)If you get a midtower or full tower a plain ATX board fits fine or even a micro ATX board (there would be some extra space). The one thing people look at is how long their GPUs they want to get are and if the case has enough room. Sometimes the cases have the hard drive cage right where the end of the GPU will be and if it's too long it won't fit. Ask around if you are looking at a long GPU (high end stuff).

4)You can look at reviews and see how much power a system takes when they run intense benchmarks. (example: 5th chart shows peak watts. That is total system power and not just the CPU) Get a good quality PSU (high +12v rail) that is maybe double that watts (400-500watts for the systems in the benchmark I linked to above). If you get 2 GPUs and go Crossfire/SLI then 2x the power will be 700-1000 watts. But I would try not to just buy a large PSU running just a single GPU for the unlikely possibility that you would go Crossfire/SLI. I'd have it planned better. Like if I was just using a single GPU for now with a new system but I knew I was going to get a 2nd one then obviously go ahead.

 

[TheOneFreeMan]

Thanks for the help guys ... when you're new at this, there aren't many places out there it seems that will give you good clear information about what you should be looking for to suit your needs.

 

[VirusType2]

Things get really complicated when you want to make sure everything matches up right for best performance and is compatible with everything, including your OS and Service Pack! You may even need to flash the BIOS.

So, for someone completely new to this, I definitely recommend building a computer based on someone else's, or a Computer Website's recommended build. That way you know it all works together, and there are absolutely no worries or issues or time spent matching parts.