How to identify the parts of a PC and the basics to build one.

It's way easier than you think! And if you have the money you could create a powerful PC for work, drawing, and gaming. In the last decade, more people have been interested in building their own PCs for their necessities... and gaming. After all, component companies have breakthroughs and sell their pieces at cheap prices and to general markets. This hobby is incredible and its community is much more welcoming.

Personally speaking, I may not cover all the issues and problems that beginners may encounter when building their PCs. I am a journalist, not an engineer. In this blog, I shall give some tips and tricks on where to start. Pieces that are essential and worth the price, and others that may not. And of course some misconceptions regarding the assembling of your ultimate PC.

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Computer Parts

Starting with 5 key parts of a PC. These components are what makes a PC a PC, think of them as the organs of a human body.

• Central Processing Unit (CPU)

• Motherboard

• Graphic Processing Unit (and Graphics Card)

• Random Access Memory (RAM)

• Hard Disk or Solid-slate Drive

As with any body is important to maintain a good and quality performance for each part. Other computer parts may be needed. Their purpose is as important as any other body part for a human. They are here to protect and reach that perfect dietary balance for the PC.

• Power Supply Unit (PSU)

• CPU Cooler

• Computer Case

• Case Fans

• Peripherals (Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, etc.)

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The 5 Primordial Organ Systems‎‏‏‎

The Central Processing Unit, or CPU in short, is the cardiovascular system of your computer. Here the operations of the PC are controlled and executed. Means that everything you do on a PC. movements, the opening of windows, etc. thanks to this square. There are two types of CPU one can choose from. An AMD CPU is recognizable for being cheap in pricing, but perfect for work-related computers such as architecture and is ideal as the power consumption it uses is useful daily. Meanwhile, as for now, an Intel CPU is a fast component, high performance, and the go-to in terms of gaming and content creation.

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Notice how there's a space between the RAM cards, this is an ideal way to set it up.

A Motherboard is the nervous system of a PC. Well, without the brain part, at least not yet. The motherboard, as its name implies, is what puts together everything, a good motherboard is essential, but generally speaking, any motherboard won't directly affect the performance of your computer. However, the tricky part here is to have a proper setup in this one, as it has been proven that by having a bad setup and making other components clash in unnecessary ways one may have troubles with the performance and quality of life of the machine.

As ApexGamingPCs.com explains, it's important to see where exactly and how you introduce your components into a motherboard, as performance issues may arise over time. It's here where balance plays a big role when making a PC; one needs to keep the part's dimensions in check to fit in the motherboard and eventually into the Computer Case.

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GPUs are becoming larger, so it's important to reserve a space in the case.

Graphics Processing Unit, or GPU in short, does not necessarily refer to something gamer-related. I find the GPU like the muscular system of our human bodies because of its movement. Not referring to the movement within the machine but to the monitor. Everything we see on the screen is thanks to this unit. Without it, the user wouldn't understand the machine, it wouldn't understand its movements.

This is what a Graphics Card looks like.

Maybe that analogy was a little stretched, but without a good graphics unit, the CPU and its actions cannot perform as one would like to. The screen would remain frozen and have a hard time reading each user's action. And for gaming purposes, this unit may be as important as the CPU. Without it, a player would have a hard time playing games and having rendering, more in competitive game situations. A player may improve their GPU by adding a Graphic Card that may improve the overall performance of this organ.

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Daft Punk fans may sound familiar. A Random Access Memory's purpose is to retain small bits of data as long as the computer is on. For example, you open a window for your YouTube music and it plays in the background while you work. The RAM does exactly this, it keeps a quick track of the apps and programs open as long as the computer is on, but once it goes off this one forgets, which is important to save all data that you may not want to lose. Nowadays it's much easier to save that data, but back then it was a hassle. Either way, the RAM is still important because of the memories while the computer is on.

Random Access Memory cards may serve as the respiratory system of the computer, and despite we always breathe air unconsciously, it's necessary for our survival.

Now, there are two types of RAMs one can choose: DDR4 and DDR5. Here the DDR5 is an updated version of the DDR4 and the newest in the market as this post is written. It has been proven that a DDR5 has a much larger capacity and power reliability. Error corrections have also been improved. When making a PC is essential to have at least 2 RAM cards for the motherboard to operate. It's commonly argued that a computer must need at least 16GB of RAM. And the popular belief is to have two RAM cards of 16GB each for the motherboard's port. Usually, the motherboard will count with four RAM ports, but is okay for the user to leave two of these ports without a card, and separate them in between. That way the CPU will have time to breathe and not necessarily force itself to read from two RAM cards back to back.

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The Hard Disk is the brain of the computer. It retains all data of the user. All documents, pictures, videos, apps, and programs live here. From a human perspective is the most important component in the computer. Work documentation, video games, apps, and memories are here, in four inches wide, 5.8 inches long, and around 0.8 inches thick drive. I find it fascinating that one's entire life in pictures can be in less than 2TB. Which is a lot of space for 500,000 images to be held.

This little card is the modern take on a traditional Hard Disk Drive.

This component is important because of the value we give it, which is why I consider it to be the most important part of a computer, it's necessary to get a good hard drive disk, or SSD if you want a lighter and faster machine. But, despite getting a good hard drive, these can be corrupted and have an approximate lifetime of 3 years, according to a report by Secured Data Recovery. This is why it's important to always back up everything you don't want to lose into another drive or straight into Google Drive or The Cloud.

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Find the Balance‎‏‏‎

Power Supply

-The Power Supply is the main source of energy for the computer. It's the digestive system of the computer. Obviously, without an energy source, the machine would never work. Pretty straightforward.

CPU Cooler

-A CPU Cooler is the urinary system of the computer. As its name implies, the CPU works so hard to run your programs and get data from the RAM cards in milliseconds, so it would begin to get hot. This is where the cooler comes in handy and helps the machine breathe around the PC, and perform properly. Without a good CPU Cooler, the computer may crash and won't work properly after a while. Much like one doesn't go to the toilet often.

Case Fans

-Case Fans are an extension to the CPU Cooler as they will help to move cold air into the PC and kick the hot air out of it. It's important to set up these two correctly because we don't want any hot air in the computer case.

-The Computer Case is the Skeletal and Integumentary systems for a PC. It's what makes everything come together, protecting and placing the bed for the motherboard and everything that is connected to it. For many gamers, this is the fun part of the building process. Once you get an idea of the dimensions and where the components are supposed to be, people can begin to decorate their PCs with LED lights or paint. In the end, it's how the PC would look like. After all, having a good appearance is something important for any human body.

Creativity has no limits, as long as all the parts fit together in a good way, everything is fine.

-Last but not least, the Peripherals are those 5 senses that we have in a human body. Without the monitor, the user cannot see what the computer is thinking of. Without a mouse and keyboard, the user cannot access these computer thoughts and programs. Peripherals are everything that can connect to the computer, anything connects and makes the user understand the machine.

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Having a good-performing computer is important. Keeping it cool and clean is essential for the greatest performance. Dust is not only unattractive for any PC. But there are many different ways to develop a PC. This is why the hobby is popular and convenient, as technology advances and updated parts flow into the market, if you want to change your RAM cards for example into something newer and better, you can do it. In contrast with a laptop or a gaming console which may destroy the interface, with a PC, change is constant and cheap for better performance in any aspect. This is more of an investment rather than a one-time purchase. If you work with computers all the time and you need a fast reliable station, creating your way may be the best aspect of this hobby.

It's a shame that PCs don't count with reproductive systems, at least not yet.