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Build It. Fix It. Own It: A Beginner's Guide to Building and Upgrading a PC
- By Paul McFedries
- Published May 19, 2008 by Que.
Book
- Sorry, this book is no longer in print.
Description
- Copyright 2008
- Edition: 1st
- Book
- ISBN-10: 0-7897-3827-9
- ISBN-13: 978-0-7897-3827-1
BUILD IT. FIX it. OWN IT.
A Beginner’s Guide to Building and Upgrading a PC
Build It. Fix It. Own It. is the ultimate beginner’s guide to building and fixing your own PC. With a friendly, knowledgeable tone, this book shows the beginning PC builder everything he or she needs to know to build a computer or upgrade an existing one.
We step you through the parts that lurk inside a PC, from the motherboard and power supply to the CPU, memory, hard drive, video card, sound card, and networking hardware. In each case, you will learn how the hardware works, what it does, what types of hardware are available, and what to look for when buying the hardware.
Then we walk you step-by-step though a series of PC building projects. We show you how to build five different types of PC: a basic business PC, a home theater PC, a high-performance PC, a killer gaming PC, and a budget PC. And if building a new PC from scratch isn’t in your budget, we show you how to resurrect an old PC by swapping out a few key components.
When you have your PC built and running, we show you how to set up a wireless network and the BIOS and maintain your new rig.
Build It. Fix It. Own It. is the ultimate PC builder’s guide, even if you’ve never ventured inside a PC case before!
Author Bio
Paul McFedries is one of the industry’s most well known and respected technical writers and is a passionate computer tinkerer. He is the author of more than 70 computer books that have sold more than three million copies worldwide. His recent titles include the Sams Publishing books Windows Vista Unleashed and Windows Home Server Unleashed and the Que Publishing books Networking with Microsoft Windows Vista, Formulas and Functions with Microsoft Excel 2007, Tricks of the Microsoft Office 2007 Gurus, and Microsoft Access 2007 Forms, Reports, and Queries. Paul also is the proprietor of Word Spy (www.wordspy.com), a website devoted to tracking new words and phrases as they enter the English language.
Category Hardware
Covers PC Hardware
User Level Beginner—Intermediate
Sample Content
Online Sample Chapter
Sample Pages
Table of Contents
Introduction
Part I: Getting to Know Your PC
Chapter 1The Barebones: The Motherboard, Case, and Power Supply
Mobo Mojo: Understanding the Motherboard
A Tour of a Typical Motherboard
Understanding Expansion Slot Types
Sizing Up Motherboard Form Factors
Buying a Motherboard
The Case Is Your Base
Buttons, Bezels, and Bays: A Case Parts List
That’s About the Size of It: Case Form Factors
Case Designs: From Boring to Beautiful
Going with the Flow: Case Fans
Buying a Case
Power to the PC: The Power Supply Unit
Getting to Know the Power Supply
Buying a Power Supply
From Here
Chapter 2 The Brains: The Central Processing Unit
Intel or AMD?
Clocks, Cores, and More: Understanding CPU Specs
The Processor Family
The Processor Cores
The Processor Name
The Processor Clock Speed
The Processor Socket
The Processor Bus Speed
The Processor L2 Cache Size
The Processor Manufacturing Process
The Processor Core Type
The Processor Market: What’s Available
Keeping It Cool: Fans and Heatsinks
Buying a CPU
From Here
Chapter 3The Work Area: Memory
What Is RAM?
Combining Memory Chips Into Memory Modules
DDR, DIMM, and More: Understanding Memory Specs
The Memory Module Standard
The Memory Type and Speed
Dual Channel Mode
The Memory Module Capacity
The Memory Latency and Timings
The Memory Module Configuration and Pins
Windows and RAM: The 4GB Conundrum
Buying Memory
From Here
Chapter 4Hard Drives and Other Storage Devices
Drive Time: How a Hard Drive Works
Capacity, Cache, and More: Understanding Hard Drive Specs
The Hard Drive Interface and Throughput
The Hard Drive Form Factor
The Hard Drive Capacity
The Hard Drive Speed
The Hard Drive Cache
The Hard Drive Seek Time
Buying a Hard Drive
Disc Driving: Ch