hi guys i am saving up for a new computer and was thinking about buying each component separately but i was wondering how do you know if a certain piece of hardware works with another piece of hardware? for instance could i just go out and buy a graphics card which fits into a pci e 2 slot and hope that it works with all my other components or can i just install drivers so that it will work?

sometimes graphics cards have issues with other pieces of hardware but its not by-design. Do a search on forums for your chosen setup and see if anyone has any problems. Its pretty rare but it does happen and it happened to me.

Make sure you get the correct ram / processor for your motherboard. Get a good power supply aswell. Make sure you have enough connections for everything you want.

usually if it fits into the slot you're fine really, or that's been my experience when i've built mine. sometimes you dont even need the slot, with a pci-ide converter (which had to be put through another adapter to angle it at 90deg to veer away from my gfx card!) i salvaged two hard drives instead of buying new sata ones etc...total cost for that maneuvre a tenner

The most finicky piece of hardware you buy will be the motherboard. Almost all hardware incompatibilities will find the mobo at the root. Start by finding a motherboard that has all the features that you want, and then searching around the internet to find out if there are any known issues with it. That's usually a good way to make everything play nice together.

Quote: Original post by HelplessFool
The most finicky piece of hardware you buy will be the motherboard. Almost all hardware incompatibilities will find the mobo at the root. Start by finding a motherboard that has all the features that you want, and then searching around the internet to find out if there are any known issues with it. That's usually a good way to make everything play nice together.

QFT. There is debate on what the best mainboard manu. is but Asus is my favorite. Stay away from PC-Chips, Bioware, etc.

Also, don't skimp on the power supply. Get a good one. By that I mean be prepared to spend 70-80USD+ on one. Antec has good PSUs at decent prices. Also, make sure you get a PSU with enough connectors and have enough length. Also enough wattage. Google for guides on how to calculate how much wattage you need in a PSU. If you aren't sure, you can never have too much... just because it's an 800W PSU doesn't meant it uses 800W if it doesn't need it.

EDIT: Oh, and you may want to get a nice case. If you get a good one it'll last for years. I'm on my fourth computer in the same case so far. Nice cases are, well, nice. They generally have slide-out HD trays, mainboard trays, etc.