Introduction - Build an Awesome PC - page 3

Establishing the Ground Rules
Before we begin with the acquisition of parts and construction of our PC,
I need to share a few thoughts on my approach. First and foremost, this topic
won't compare the variety of hardware components against one another. Not
only are there hundreds of websites that do this kind of thing far more
exhaustively than I could, but doing so would also dilute the topic's primary
intention.
You are reading this topic because you want to build an awesome PC, not be
constantly wondering whether your choice of hardware will be as good as or
better than my recommendations. The manufacturers and products I use in
this topic reflect my personal view and many years of experience building my
own personal computers.
I decided to focus on just one component for each category rather than provide
a range of choices. If I had included a buffet of parts to choose from, it would
have introduced a significant degree of variability in the build. For example,
only certain motherboards work with AMD processors, and certain Intel CPUs
work only with certain socket sizes. A mix of parts for each category also
would have required a potentially confusing matrix comparison for every
component suggested. Besides, for those readers who prefer the matrix
analysis of price versus performance, there are a number of excellent websites
for mixing and matching components for different power-versus-price scenar-
ios. A few of these sites are listed in Appendix 3, Additional Resources , on
page 99 .
I intend to follow up this topic with a new edition when necessary to reflect
the rapid changes in the still-rapidly evolving PC-hardware space. But the
purpose of the topic will be constant, which is to provide you with the best
parts recommendations and instructions to give you the confidence to
assemble your own cutting-edge computer.
What We Will Build
To give you a clear vision of what we will be assembling through the course
of this topic, Figure 1, Inside a completely assembled awesome PC , on page
4 provides a look at the final result.
If you have never built a PC or even opened up a PC case before, this can look
a bit intimidating. Fortunately, it's not scary at all once you start learning
what each of component is called and understanding the function it serves.
Here is a general description of the parts that you see assembled in the photo.