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So your old computer kicked the bucket and you need a new computer to take over the ranks and be even better than the last.

Well, the good news is that if your computer was over two years old any computer today will be able to out-gun it.

Fortunately for you the prices on computer parts have dropped drastically and the ease of building one yourself is much better than a few years ago.

Here’s what you will need to build your own computer:

• Motherboard
• Processor (CPU – Central Processing Unit)
• RAM (Random Access Memory)
• Hard Drive
• Optical Drive (CD/DVD Burner)
• Video Card
• Operating System (Windows or Linux)
• Computer Case
• Other accessories

The question to ask yourself is: What am I going to do with this computer? Well, look at what you did with your last one. Did you do a lot of gaming? Did you listen to a lot of music? Did you like to watch and burn videos? Did you do a lot of internet web surfing or emailing?

My kind of computer needs to do all of the above, and do the fairly well.

The first thing you will need in choosing the parts for your new computer is a processor. A lot has changed in the field of processors in the past few years including the introduction of dual-core and quad-core processors from Intel and AMD (Advanced Micro Devices).

Intel created a new architecture called the Core based on the old Pentium III after the miserable failure of the Pentium IV and D. I chose the new Intel Core 2 Duo 1.86GHz processor. Surprised by the low GHz (gigahertz – 1GHz roughly = 1000MHz) aren’t you. Because of the new architecture employed by the Core 2 the GHz is not as important as it used to be. Also because of the new architecture the processor is more power efficient and thus producing less heat as well. The best part of this processor is that it is two processors in one. No, that doesn’t mean twice the speed but it does mean that you can do more things at once without the computer slowing down.

OK. Now that we have a processor we need a motherboard. A motherboard is the place where all the components eventually plug in to. This is where all the communication takes place between the processor, video card, sound card, keyboard, hard drive and DVD burner takes place. So as you can see it’s very important. In fact, the computer will not work without one.

I chose the one of the cheaper Asus motherboards only because that Asus is a good brand no matter what price the motherboard is. You can actually buy cheaper motherboards than this but they are often less reliable. The Asus P5NSLI supports the Intel Core 2 Duo, DDR2 compatible, SATA headers, and SLI ready. I know those are a lot of letters with no meaning but I promise I’ll get to them later. In this build the most important thing to me is that we have room to upgrade this machine. The motherboard gives you room to do just that. It also has built-in audio so that you don’t have to buy a separate sound card (standard on even the cheapest motherboards these days).

Now let’s talk storage. We want to play games, watch videos and listen to music. With that in mind you are going to need a lot of storage. I chose the Seagate Barracuda 500GB drive. Seagate is a good name nowadays (five years ago I never would have recommended one) and the Barracuda is a great drive (great name too).

Gaming is another hot category in today’s computer world and without a good video card you’ll be left in the dust. I chose the XFX GeForce 7900 GS Extreme with 256MB of on board memory. NVIDIA is the manufacturer of the GeForce 7900 processor and has always had a great name. While the 7900 is not the most powerful video card on the market, it is a good value at $233.00.

So we have the parts. Where do we put them? Well we need a case and I chose the Ultra Grid ATX mid-tower case that includes a 500W power supply. Why half a Kilowatt? 500W provides a lot of room for upgrade and gives ample power for the processor and the video card so the performance of your computer is never slow because of lack of electricity. Oh and I like black too.

Most computers now have combination DVD- burners and CD-burners installed and I decided to go the same route with this computer. The Sony DRU-120C is a great drive and is backed by a good name and for a great price.

So at this point we have a computer that will actually start but only to BIOS (basic input/output system) meaning you still can’t do anything with it. We need an Operating System. You have two choices at this point. You can go the route towards Open Source Linux or to Windows XP/Vista. The only reason I would not choose Linux for this particular computer is because we want to do some gaming. Not going to happen on Linux without some very clever hacking. I chose Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. This will give me the ease of finding all my media files and the ability to play any games that run on Windows.

So we have a running computer but we can’t see anything on it. Well fear not because all we need is a monitor. I chose the Acer AL2216WBD 22” wide screen monitor because it’s nice and big, offers a high resolution and lots of space to do things on the screen. And as an added bonus, if you ever decide to upgrade your current DVD drive to a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD drive then you will be able to watch those movies in High-Definition without very much downscaling.

When it comes to input we think of two things. A mouse and keyboard. At this point since keyboards and mice are so cheap it doesn’t really matter what you buy but I found a good deal on a keyboard and mouse combo. I chose the Adesso RF wirelss keyboard and mouse. It uses RF (radio frequency) to transmit instead of Bluetooth. This is great because Bluetooth functionality for the computer seems to be quite cumbersome.

So all we need now is a great set of speakers. I chose the Logitec X-230 2.1 32W speaker system because of the name and price. For the price it’s a really good deal for computer speakers and if you are into good sounding music, Logitec makes some good speakers.

So that you can reference what I chose I have created a list and below:

• Processor – Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86GHz – $265.99
• Motherboard – Asus P5NSLI NVIDIA Socket 775 ATX – $159.99
• RAM – (2) Corsair 1024MB (1GB) PC5400 DDR2 – $239.98
• Hard Drive – Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200RPM – $239.99
• Video Card – XFX GeForce 7900 GS Extreme 256MB – $232.99
• Computer Case – Ultra Grid ATX Mid-Tower with 500W Power Supply – $132.99
• Optical Drive – Sony DRU-120C Multi-Drive (CD/DVD burner) – $53.99
• Operating System – Windows XP Media Center 2005 OEM – $146.99
• Monitor – Acer AL2216WBD 22” Wide Screen LCD – $349.99
• Keyboard and Mouse – Adesso RF Wireless Keyboard and Mouse- $27.99
• Speakers – Logitech X-230 2.1 32W Speakers – $51.99

All for a price of $1662.89 before taxes. Canadian Dollars of course. So for all this what would a comparable Dell cost you? Well, surprisingly more. $2149 before taxes for a closely spec’d out Dell Dimension 9200.