Buyers Guide

1

Unit 02 – Assignment OneCasey-Jo Kenny

Student ID - 20259930

In this buyers guide I am going to be explaining all of the internal and external components that

you will need to build your own pc. I will also explain the different types of components you

can get and what jobs they are most suitable for. There will also be example pictures and links

that you could look at yourself to see what type of parts that you need to buy.

Introduction

32

Game Max GM-One Knight Gaming Black Midi Tower Case -

£31.79

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Cases/Midi+Tower/Game+Max+GM-

One+Knight+Gaming+Black+Midi+Tower+Case+-+Green+LED+?productId=65569

The case is used to keep all the different components together inside of it. A Desktop case is a smaller case for an ordinary computer without any special or upgraded parts this is used mainly in businesses for jobs that don’t need much power, such as someone working in an office. The Tower case is much bigger than the desktop, this case is more commonly used for bigger parts, the more expensive and powerful parts tend to be a lot bigger than the cheaper simple parts. This computer is typically used for bigger jobs where they will need larger graphics cards to do tasks like Photoshop, animation or web design.

Cases – Towers and Desktops.

Aerocool Slim Black Desktop Computer Chassis - £24.90

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/aerocool-slim-

black-desktop-computer-chassis-2x-usb-30-black-interior-mini-itx-micro-atx

The motherboard organises the computer and connects all the components so that they can communicate with each other. It has multiple ports all over it for different components to go in. Motherboards come in 4 main sizes, M-ITX, M-ATX, ATX and e-ATX, with ATX being the most common size. There are low cost, budget motherboards that are used in businesses and have not got many features but you could also get a high-end expensive motherboard that has room for additional or more higher performance components to be put into it, these motherboards would be used in a computer for gaming or a workstation computer.

MotherboardHeat Sink and FanThe heat sink is used to transfer the heat created by the CPU running to itself. The heatsink has a large surface area compared to the CPU so it will be able to move the heat away into the air much more efficiently. The fan is used to move air over the heatsink much faster, increasing the rate at which the heat is transferred. A CPU with a higher clock speed and more voltage running to it will create more heat and so will need a larger heatsink or a faster fan. A slower clocked CPU or one that has a lower voltage will not need a big heatsink and may not need a fan at all in some cases.

CPU – Central Processing UnitThe CPU does all of the calculations for the computer and follows out the instructions input into the computer by the user. A computer can have more than one processing core which determines how good it is at multi-tasking, for example: browsing the internet and listening to music. Another important factor when looking at a CPU is its clock speed. A CPUs clock speed is almost always measured in GigaHertz. The higher the GHz of the processor, the faster it will run and so the more instructions it can process in a second. Cheaper processors are good in laptops or something that has a limited load but more expensive CPUs are for high load computers

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E5 2600 C602 2 Sata 3 6 Sata2 - £364.32

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4S844G6179

Gigabyte F2A68HM-HD2 AMD FM2+ Micro ATX Motherboard -

£38.94

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Motherboards/AMD+Socket/

Socket+FM2%2B+AMD+A68/Gigabyte+F2A68HM-

HD2+AMD+FM2%2B+Micro+ATX+Motherboard+?productId=63113

RAM is volatile memory that is used to store the short term memory that is needed by the CPU. A standard computer that is used only for simpler tasks such as Microsoft Office and internet browsing will only need 2GB-4GB of RAM (depending on the operating system) to run efficiently. A computer that is used for intensive tasks such as Photoshop or playing video games will need more RAM (8GB+ depending on the task). There are different types of RAM so you have to get RAM that matches your motherboard and you also need to make sure your motherboard can manage the amount of RAM you put into it.

Ram – Random Access MemoryThe SSD is an electronic drive which is very much like the HDD but there are no moving parts inside of it and the information is written on to the drive electronically. This is much faster way to store and read data and it is less likely to get damaged when moving a computer. However, it’s significantly more expensive than a HDD. SSDs with a large amount of memory are very expensive so small sized SSDs are often used in laptops or other computers were you don’t need a lot of storage space.

SSD – Solid State Drive

Intel i7-5820K 3.30GHz (Haswell-E) x6 Core Processor -

£370

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Processors/Intel+CPUs/Core+i7+-+Socket+2011-v3+X99/Intel+i7-5820K+3.30GHz+%28Haswell-E

%29+x6+Core+Processor+?productId=61708

AMD (Richland) A4-4000 3.00GHz (3.20GHz Turbo)

Socket FM2 Dual-Core Processor - £25.14

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Processors/AMD+CPUs/APU+%28Richland%29+-

+Socket+FM2/AMD+%28Richland%29+A4-4000+3.00GHz+%283.20GHz+Turbo

%29+Socket+FM2+Dual-Core+Processor+?

be quiet! Shadow Rock 2 Silent CPU Cooler - £40

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Fans+%26+Cooling/Air/be+quiet

%21+Shadow+Rock+2+Silent+CPU+Cooler+?productId=57187

AMD stock CPU cooler – comes free with most AMD CPUs

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Processors/AMD+CPUs/APU+%28Richland%29+-

+Socket+FM2/AMD+%28Richland%29+A4-4000+3.00GHz+%283.20GHz+Turbo

%29+Socket+FM2+Dual-Core+Processor+?productId=55471

RAM is volatile memory that is used to store the short term memory that is needed by the CPU. A standard computer that is used only for simpler tasks such as Microsoft Office and internet browsing will only need 2GB-4GB of RAM (depending on the operating system) to run efficiently. A computer that is used for intensive tasks such as Photoshop or playing video games will need more RAM (8GB+ depending on the task). There are different types of RAM so you have to get RAM that matches your motherboard and you also need to make sure your motherboard can manage the amount of RAM you put into it.

The SSD is an electronic drive which is very much like the HDD but there are no moving parts inside of it and the information is written on to the drive electronically. This is much faster way to store and read data and it is less likely to get damaged when moving a computer. However, it’s significantly more expensive than a HDD. SSDs with a large amount of memory are very expensive so small sized SSDs are often used in laptops or other computers were you don’t need a lot of storage space.

6TB Western Digital Red WD60EFRX 3.5" SATA III Hard

Drive – HDD - £209.34

320GB Seagate Pipeline HD.2 SATA II 3.5" HDD Drive - £17.94

PNY K2200 NVIDIA Quadro 4GB Workstation Graphics Card, PCI-

E 2.0 (x16), DP/DVI - VCQK2200-PB - £480

GIGABYTE GeForce® GT 710 - 1GB Graphics Card - £32.53

This is a drive that goes in the front of a computer. When you put a cd into it will read the disc using a laser. This allows you to transfer information from CD’s onto your computer. For example, you would use CD’s to install the operating system onto a new computer. This is important because without it you won’t be able to use your computer properly. More expensive CD drives might be able to do things like write onto blank discs or read higher capacity disc types such as blu-rays or hd-dvds.

CD RomA sound card is used to play sound through the computer. Most computers will have a sound card built in to the motherboard which will provide average sound quality but if you need higher quality sound if you are something like a sound engineer or if you are just enthusiastic about how your music or your games play you can get a sound card to get higher quality sound.

Sound Card

6TB Western Digital Red WD60EFRX 3.5" SATA III Hard

Drive – HDD - £209.34

320GB Seagate Pipeline HD.2 SATA II 3.5" HDD Drive - £17.94

PNY K2200 NVIDIA Quadro 4GB Workstation Graphics Card, PCI-

E 2.0 (x16), DP/DVI - VCQK2200-PB - £480

GIGABYTE GeForce® GT 710 - 1GB Graphics Card - £32.53

LG WH14NS40 Blu-ray Writer Optical Drive 14X BDR- £52.49

Samsung SH-118CB/BEBE Black 18x SATA DVD ROM -

£10.75

ASUS Xonar Essence STX II 7.1- £254

ASUS Xonar DGX 5.1-Channel PCIe Sound Card- £24.99

PSU - Power Supply UnitThe power supply unit is used to convert alternating current from the plug into direct current that can be used by your computer. There are different connecters on your motherboard to supply power directly to the motherboard itself and one to supply power straight to the CPU. More expensive power supplies will have a higher watt output which means they are able to power more high performance parts. The higher end PSU would also have more connecters for different parts to be connected.

Ethernet Card (Internet Card)An Ethernet/internet card allows the computer to connect to the internet. Without this your computer would be stuck only having access to the programs already installed and being unable to go online. You can get a range of Ethernet cards, some that are simple and that allow you to just connect to the internet. However, the more expensive ones give you a higher bandwidth which will make your internet much faster.

LG WH14NS40 Blu-ray Writer Optical Drive 14X BDR- £52.49

Samsung SH-118CB/BEBE Black 18x SATA DVD ROM -

£10.75

ASUS Xonar Essence STX II 7.1- £254

ASUS Xonar DGX 5.1-Channel PCIe Sound Card- £24.99

Intel Gigabit PRO 1000CT PCIe Desktop Adapter - £36.48

TP-Link TG-3269 32-bit Gigabit PCI Network Interface Card-

£7.19

Corsair HX1000i High Performance Series (1000

Watt) 80 PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply Unit- £192.43

Corsair VS450 450 Watt ATX Power Supply Unit- £36.38

Power Supply Cable (Kettle) & Ethernet Cable

The Power Supply cable connects the Power Supply Unit to the socket on the wall and allows electricity to get to the computer so that it can turn on.

The Ethernet cable also now as an RJ-45 Cable allows you to connect your Internet Router directly to the network card inside the computer allowing for a faster internet connection.

SATA Cable – Serial Attachment & PATA Cable – Old Parallel Attachment

SATA and PATA cables are types of data cables. They are used to send data from hard drives or other kinds of drives like the CD drive. Whether you use a SATA or a PATA cable depends on the components that you are using. PATA cables are used in older computers and are usually not used anymore since SATA cables have taken over their job since they are cheaper, smaller and can transfer data faster.

Intel Gigabit PRO 1000CT PCIe Desktop Adapter - £36.48

TP-Link TG-3269 32-bit Gigabit PCI Network Interface Card-

£7.19

Corsair HX1000i High Performance Series (1000

Watt) 80 PLUS Platinum ATX Power Supply Unit- £192.43

Corsair VS450 450 Watt ATX Power Supply Unit- £36.38

18in Dual Drive Ultra ATA IDE Hard Drive Cable- £2.87

https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-18in-

SATA Cable 1m - £1.44 5m 5 metre White Cat5e Ethernet RJ45 High Speed

Network Cable Lead Cat 5e - £2.70

C2G 1m 16 AWG UK Power Cord- £3.03

Keyboard (Input Device)The keyboard plugs into the computer and allows you to input information using different keys from the keyboard. Keyboards are mainly used to type but there are other keys on the keyboard that can be used for different things. Keyboards come in two main categories. Membrane keyboards are cheap but they wear out quickly and usually do not feel very nice to type on. Mechanical keyboards feel much better to type on and are much higher quality so wear out slower but are significantly more expensive.

Mouse (Input Device)The mouse plugs into the computer and allows you to move a cursor around on the computer monitor and input information into the computer by clicking on different icons and options. A mouse is rated by its DPI (this is the dots per inch that can be measured by the laser on the underneath of the mouse)There are different types of mice you can get. The simple office mice have the two buttons on the left and the right and a scroll wheel in the middle and are used for every-day tasks. However, you can also get more complicated mice which have more buttons on the sides that you can program to do certain commands.

18in Dual Drive Ultra ATA IDE Hard Drive Cable- £2.87

https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-18in-

SATA Cable 1m - £1.44 5m 5 metre White Cat5e Ethernet RJ45 High Speed

Network Cable Lead Cat 5e - £2.70

C2G 1m 16 AWG UK Power Cord- £3.03

Corsair Sabre RGB LED USB 10000 DPI Optical Gaming

Mouse - £44.39

ARIAnet Wired Black USB Optical Mouse- £2.64

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/

Corsair Gaming STRAFE Mechanical Gaming Keyboard-

£108

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/

ARIAnet KB-2106C USB Keyboard Black- £3.23

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/

Monitor ( Output Device) Monitors are the screens that display all the information from your computer. They come in different resolutions that measure the amount of pixels in the width and height of the screen (eg 1920 x 1080). Another thing to look at is the refresh rate of a monitor this is measured in hertz the number of hertz is a measurement of how many frames the monitor can display per second (eg 60hz means the monitor displays 60 frames every second). A basic monitor might have a resolution of 1280x1024 and a refresh rate of 30hz while a more expensive professional monitor might have a resolution of 3840x2160(4k) and a refresh rate of 144hz. This type of monitor would only be needed by a graphics artist or a very intense gamer.

Microphone (Input Device)

Microphones are plugged into your computer and used to input sound onto the computer. This allows you to either record your voice or the sound around you which can then be attached to other documents like creating a video. Or it allows you to use your voice for commands on your computer instead of using a keyboard and mouse. Or you can use VoIP to communicate with others over the internet.A basic microphone would do this for you but the sound quality would be pretty bad. The more expensive the microphone the better the quality.

2019

Corsair Sabre RGB LED USB 10000 DPI Optical Gaming

Mouse - £44.39

ARIAnet Wired Black USB Optical Mouse- £2.64

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/

Corsair Gaming STRAFE Mechanical Gaming Keyboard-

£108

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/

ARIAnet KB-2106C USB Keyboard Black- £3.23

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/

Razer Seiren Elite Studio-Grade Multi-Pattern USB Digital

Microphone - £139

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00R88RNFC/

ref=s9_zwish_hd_bw_bT8jB1_g147_i1?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=merchandisedsearch4&pf_rd_r=2YJFSJYE8CHQ5549WN1C

Plantronics Audio 300 Skype/Voip Computer

Microphone- £11

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000GCFN72/

ref=s9_zgift_hd_bw_bT8jB1_g147_i3?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=merchand

ised-search-5&pf_rd_r=2YJFSJYE8CHQ5549WN1C&pf_rd_t=1

Samsung U28E590D 28-Inch 4K LED Monitor- £328

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-U28E590D-28-Inch-Monitor-3840/dp/

B00WUACE4S/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1475687614&sr=1-

1&keywords=4k+monitors

AOC E2270SWN 21.5 inch Widescreen Monitor- £75

https://www.amazon.co.uk/AOC-E2270SWN-21-5-Widescreen-Monitor/dp/B00DULAVPA/

ref=sr_1_9?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1475687436&sr=1-

9&keywords=monitors

Printers ( Output Device) A printer is used to print out different documents and information from your computer onto paper. There are many different types of printers that you can get. Laser printers are much more efficient than ink-jet printer due to being able to print several thousand prints from one ink cartridge. However they are very expensive and tend to be better for printing text than graphics due to an artificial look to the paper. Ink-Jet printers are better suited for realistic looking images and graphics. This is because it works by spraying tiny dots of ink on the paper of all different colours to make the image. This type of printer is cheaper but requires the ink cartridge to be changed often.

Speakers ( Output Device)

Speakers are plugged into your computer and they allow you to be able to hear the sounds that your computer is making. This can be music or videos that you are playing, basic operating software sound effects, etc.The basic speakers are ok for everyday office use but if you are doing a sound dependant job such as a sound engineer you will need higher quality speakers which are more expensive.

2322

Bose® Solo 5 Sound Bar with Bluetooth - £179

http://www.johnlewis.com/bose-solo-5-sound-bar-with-bluetooth/p2131256?

sku=234636824&s_kwcid=2dx92700012712019447&tmad=c&tmcampid=2&gclid=CMiur72axM8C

FYvYGQod8MIDug&gclsrc=ds

Logitech S120 2.0 Channel Speakers- £11.80

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/Speakers/2.0/

Logitech+S120+2.0+Channel+Speakers+?productId=28297

Epson Expression Photo XP-860, Wireless All-in-One Inkjet Colour Printer, A4 - £145.50

http://www.tesco.com/direct/epson-expression-photo-xp-860-wireless-all-in-one-inkjet-colour-printer-a4-black/374-9582.prd?skuId=374-9582

Xerox Phaser 6600N A4 Colour Laser Printer- £213

http://www.printerland.co.uk/Xerox-Phaser-6600N-P130320.aspx

Memory Stick/Pen DriveA memory stick is a small external memory storage that you can plug into your computer and save files and documents onto that you can then eject and take anywhere with you due to its small size and portability.Its good for having a backup of your work on in-case anything happens to your computer or your files on it. It is also handy to transfer files to different computers.There are many different sizes of pen drives, the range being from about 1GB up to 1TB+.

Headset (Input/ Output Device)

A headset allows the user to hear the sound of the computer through the headphones but it also have a microphone attached so the user can input their voice into the computer. This is best used in offices when the worker has to either use the phone a lot through their computer or for people playing games either online or talking to other people. This type of device is best for VoIP. A headset used in offices is very basic and won’t cost you very much money. However, a much more expensive headset which has a much better sound quality is best for gamers or quality sound dependant workers.

2524

Corsair Gaming CGH2100 Dolby 7.1 Wireless Gaming

Headset - £103.79

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Peripherals/Headsets/Gaming/

Corsair+Gaming+CGH2100+Dolby+7.1+Wireless+Gaming+Headset+?productId=61880

Afterglow LVL 1 Wired Gaming Headset - £9.99

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/5015667.htm

Kingston Technology 1TB USB 3.0 DataTraveler HyperX

Predator Flash Drive - 240MB/s- £599.99

https://www.mymemory.co.uk/USB-Flash-Drives/Kingston/Kingston-Technology-1TB-USB-3.0-DataTraveler-HyperX-Predator-Flash-Drive---

240MB_s

Toshiba TransMemory U202 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive- £3.94

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Toshiba-TransMemory-U202-Flash-Drive/dp/

B014VM3FMM/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1475690352&sr=8-

6&keywords=pen+drive

Cloud StorageOne drive is a cloud storage. This means that you can back up all of your data onto an online storage space that saves all your work off your computer in sever farms so that you have a safe backup online. You are also able to use this on many devices so you can transfer documents quickly across computer systems. Cloud Storage is a lot more secure than just backing your files up onto a pen drive or external hard drive because you’re also paying for the security.There are different types of cloud storage, some being more expensive and more secure than others.

External Hard Drive/SSDAn External Hard Drive is similar to a pen drive because it is a memory storage that plugs into your computer externally. External Hard Drive/SSD are likely to have a higher capacity of space and are less prone to breaking and are much more reliable than your typical pen drive. However they are considerably more expensive.

2726

Samsung T3 Portable SSD - 500GB- £175

http://www.wexphotographic.com/buy-samsung-t3-portable-ssd-500gb/p1593600?

mkwid=sqw4jncsb_dc&pcrid=103078184939&kword=&match=&plid=&product=1593600&gclid

=ciyuuo2lxs8cfcup0wod9pigug

Seagate Expansion 1TB USB 3.0 Portable Hard Drive -

£44.99

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/1427187.htm?

CMPID=GS001&_$ja=tsid:59158|cid:200290250|agid:12504949730|tid:pla-

94813860050|crid:66128553890|nw:g|rnd:14268337694390214013|dvc:c|

Office 365 Business Essentials

https://products.office.com/en-GB/onedrive-for-

business/compare-onedrive-for-business-

plans#omac?tab=omGB/

Drop Box cloud storage

https://www.dropbox.com/business/

pricingGB/

Office SoftwareOffice software is software that is made to be used in offices, software like this can do things like word processing, making databases and making spreadsheets. The most popular office software package is Microsoft office which is considered to be the best software although there are other office software like libre office and oxygen office. These office softwares are not as good as Microsoft office due to the GUI being different and having a different layout to what everyone is used to. It also will have different features that Microsoft Office doesn’t, but they are open source and also free.

Operating System

An operating system is the main program that runs your computer. It acts as a base for you to add other programs on top of to add extra functionality to your computer. Most modern operating systems use a graphical user interface to make it easier for people who are not experienced with computers. The most common type of operating system is windows but there are also other operating systems such as OSX and Linux. Different OS’s are good at different things. Windows is good for simple computer use and playing games on, OSX is good for creative programs like Photoshop and Linux is good for programmers.

2928

Linux Ubuntu Desktop - FREE

http://www.ubuntu.com/download

Windows 10 Pro - £189.99

https://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msuk/en_GB/cat/Windows/categoryID.70034700

Libre Office 5 - FREE

https://www.libreoffice.org/

Afterglow LVL 1 Wired Gaming Headset - £9.99

Anti-Virus Software

Anti-virus software is made to protect your computer from viruses. It scans your computer to find any viruses on it. This is important because without this hackers could use virus’s to hack and gain access to your computer network and if you’re a business all of your files will be able to be read and information can be taken by the hacker. Anti-Virus is very important when you have a business because it keeps your network secure and safe.

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Norton Small Business AntiVirus - £69.99 for 5 devices

http://uk.norton.com/small-business

AVG AntiVirus Business Edition - £23 per computer

http://www.avg.com/gb-en/antivirus-business-edition

Permanent Storage

Working Memory(RAM)

Processor Output Devices

Input Devices

Von Neumann Architecture – Communication across a computer system

This diagram shows the communication that happens between the computer parts when the computer is working. The input devices send the information to the Processor which then either stores the information in the working memory for quick and easy access or it stores it in the permanent storage for access at a later date. Finally it displays all of this information on the output devices.

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