Designing the Perfect PC

Selecting components
This is often the toughest step for system builders. Choosing suitable components requires a fair bit of researching including reading reviews, benchmarks, and forum threads. Never buy parts because they ‘sound cool’, have an appealing advertisement, or because your friend has one. Chances are that the product is not the best value in respect to your individual situation. The following sections will describe methods of choosing each system component.

The Motherboard
A motherboard is a series of busses and chipsets that control the communication of each connected system component. Typically it is the last part to be chosen as it needs to be compatible with all other selected components. That being said, it should be considered throughout the course of the build.

There’s no hard and fast rule when selecting a motherboard, but a general process should be followed to maximise the success of the build:

Selecting the desired chipset: The chipset defines the choice of CPU(s), the GPU bandwidth and scalability, amount and type of RAM, and the overclockability of the system. Generally an NVIDIA chipset allows SLI (Scalable Link Interface), the linking of two or more identical NVIDIA GPUs for combined graphics processing. On the other hand, the Intel chipsets allow Crossfire, which enables two or more ATI GPUs to run in unison. Select the chipset which sports the features you desire (this will require some research), and look out for any new chipset releases. The latest 4-series GPUs from ATI work best in Crossfire when used with an X48 chipset. Although Crossfire is compatible on all current Intel chipsets, the performance takes a hit without the added bandwidth that the X38/X48 chipsets offer. Current NVIDIA cards aren’t as fussy in terms of SLI bandwidth, likely due to their use of lower bandwidth GDDR3 memory, and therefore work well in a range of NVIDIA chipsets. The current NVIDIA picks include the EVGA 750i and 780i FTW boards, which support 2-way and 3-way SLI respectively, while allowing impressive overclocking on the FSB.

Select the form factor: Depending on the purpose of your system, you may need to get a particular sized motherboard. Most enthusiasts will be looking at the ATX and EATX form factors for their range of features and compatibility with high-end gear.

Select the socket type: Unlike in the past, AMD and Intel CPUs use different sockets. Once you’ve decided on the CPU, the choice between AMD’s AM2+ and Intel’s LGA775 sockets becomes clear.

Select expansion slots and ports: The number of expansion slots defines the amount of cards that can be fitted at once. If you intend to install multiple GPUs, then full size PCI-e 16x slots are required. There are also PCI-e 1x slots which can be used for TV tuners and other less demanding components. Other important ports/sockets to consider include SATA, IDE, USB, ethernet and audio.

Select integrated components: Do you require inbuilt audio or graphics capabilities? If this is the case you will need to select a motherboard with the appropriate integrated chipsets. Most motherboards include inbuilt audio (usually of Realtek branding) however integrated graphics chipsets are commonly found in lower-end mini-ATX solutions or specialised full ATX solutions. Being enthusiasts, any inbuilt graphics chipsets will be overshadowed by monolithic floating-point marvels of the dedicated GPU variety. ‘sif integrated.

Enthusiast specialities: Design advantages such as solid state capacitors and high FSB capability help when overclocking a system. The best way to determine motherboard performance is to seek benchmarks and user-submitted overclock results.

Once you find a few products which match your criteria, seek out comparisons, reviews, and benchmarks for each. This will eventually provide you with a clear winner, and if not, go for the cheaper option with the best warranty. Unless, of course, you have money to burn (in that case, send some our way).