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The three most important components of a pc

I

imported_lamer

Member
I heard it's

CPU, Motherboard, RAM (in no particular order)

Is that true? I've also heard a power supply is important and a really good video card would be nice.

a.) what type of ram should I get? They have lik ddr 4400 or something... is that the best?
b.) what motherboards take 4400 RAM? what is the average top speed?
c.) What would you recommend for overclocking plans in the future?
 
Uh, how do you define important?

My list would be:

1) Power Supply
2) Case
3) CPU

If the first two won't cut it, your system pretty much won't work altogether.
 
Well, we can only pick three....

Cases are important because cooling and ventilation is important to PC performance. If you have poor ventilation, and thus cooling, your system will be unstable, possibly heat lock, or worse, fry something. Same if you have a shoddy PSU. Excessive voltage variation could blow something out, although that's usually not the problem. The problem with PSUs is that the cheap ones tend not to put out enough power, resulting in system instability, crashes, etc.

A good motherboard is important, but really, when it comes to PCs, all components are important. How the whole package comes together defines your experience, so buy the best you can in each area. I recommend much research and question asking before attempting a BIY.
 
Depends on what you mean by importance. I'd go with motherboard, CPU, video card, memory, case, in that order (motherboard being the most important).

-fs
 
I wanted to know specifically which brand of case you'd recommend if you think it's very important.

I don't know how much to spend on a video card... I like games, but can I afford a $300-400 video card? I also wanted to get a decent sound card.
 
All of the following tend to produce good cases:

Antec
Cooler Master
Thermaltake
Lian-Li
Chieftec

The Lian Li cases can be pricey. For the best deals, check out Cooler Master, Antec, and Thermaltake.

A couple good video cards if you don't want to spend a ton of cash:

Nvidia 6600GT
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro
 
uh -- I think monitor is the most important as that is what you look at ALL the time -- what's the point of the 6800gt's when you have a sh!t box 17"crt that's fuzzy?
2nd would be PSU as many wierd problems can arise from this much undervalued component
3rd would be ram as in just about every app -- the more ram the better
 
cases aren't all that important.... you can buy a cheapo one (not pws) and still mod it all up yourself (drills holes, fans, etc)

but you can't make your own CPU, Vid Card, or Memory
 
The brand of the PSU is very important, rather than just looking at the wattage. For example I am running my system with a 350w enermax, which is much better than a generic, or low quality 500w psu. PC power and cooling, ozc, antec, enermax, and fortron are some good name brand PSU's. I lost a $180 motheboard by trusting it to a generic 400w psu. A 400-480w name brand PSU, would be a good choice. Anything more than PC3200 ddr, is specificly for overclocking. And with a lot of ram also is more expensive due to tighter timings, which in most cases makes very little noticable differance over say corsair value ram. I am using Kingmax PC4000 for oveclocking my system, because it will run at the same speed as my oveclocked front side bus(250mhz fsb ram at 500mhz). A case with good cooling is also very important, because if you don't have good airflow and good cooling, it can cause things to overheat. Motherboards are more a matter of preferance, as they can have differant features, and some are better overclockers, so it depends on what you plan to do with it. Video card again is a matter of preferance, depending on what you want to do with your system. If you play more demanding games, and want to run at the highest possible settings and resolution, you'll need a better video card, than if you would want to run at a lower resolution, or dont' need to use the highest settings. CPU as well, try to get the best bang for the buck, as sometimes the step up to the next CPU, will cost a lot more, but not make much of a differance. Also, if you plan to overclock, you will probably want to get a better heatsink and fan for your CPU, such as the Thermalright SP-94, and a good fan, as your cpu will put out more heat when it's overclocked.
 
Three components: Keyboard, CPU, monitor. Mouse optional for Windows.

Folks still call the entire case that sits under the monitor (they really call that the screen) or on the floor the CPU. :roll:

Cheers!
 
there really are no "3" most important parts because your weakest component is always going to be your bottle neck, but it really depends on what you need. if you are stretched and are asking on what you can skimp on i would say case, moniter, keyboard/mouse, sound (use integrated), and video card. if you have the money and it is for you i would definitely get a decent case because it really sucks when you have kill it with a dremel to get parts to fit or spent hours trying to get everything in there. if you game then you are goina to want a decent moniter and a good video card especially with how cheap decent crts are theses days. if you are looking for an idea of where to start with components. i would suggest an antec case/psu, an a64 with nforce3 mobo (754 if your on a budget), 1 or 2x 512 pc3200 value ram, seagate hard drive (if your mobo has sata get it since you are going to see less pata support on future mobos),and an ati 9800pro 256bit 128meg or any nvidia gf6 if you have the money.
 
Originally posted by: Insomniak
Well, we can only pick three....

Cases are important because cooling and ventilation is important to PC performance. If you have poor ventilation, and thus cooling, your system will be unstable, possibly heat lock, or worse, fry something. Same if you have a shoddy PSU. Excessive voltage variation could blow something out, although that's usually not the problem. The problem with PSUs is that the cheap ones tend not to put out enough power, resulting in system instability, crashes, etc.

A good motherboard is important, but really, when it comes to PCs, all components are important. How the whole package comes together defines your experience, so buy the best you can in each area. I recommend much research and question asking before attempting a BIY.
Click to expand...

Yep..but Id say mobo, psu/case, then ram/hd.
 
RAM
VIDEO
CPU

Why is the PSU so important? to yall. Yes it is good to get a quality one but its the number one thing to spend money on? I think not. I personally spent about $96 on my last power supply but if I'm on a budget there are other options out there for much cheaper and still high quality.

To me its more like I have a sweet system so I might as well have it powered by a high quality PSU its not I have a sweet PSU I might as well have a quality system.
 
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