After years of paying too much for pre-built machines, I've decided to venture into the world of BUILDING my own. I'm pretty well-versed with most hardware but I don't know much about motherboards and POWER supplies. I don't really know what's required between the two, what makes one compatible with the other, et cetera. So, I have a two questions:

1. For future reference, where can I read up on these and learn more about them? Preferably in layman's terms, but more technical and detailed information would be great too.

2. I have a mobo and PSU picked out for the machine I want to build. I'm wondering if the two are compatible with each other. Here are the links to both:

PSU: Click here.
Mobo: Click here.

Thanks in advance for any help. I appreciate it!First off, what are you going to use the computer for? If it is going to be used for heavy gaming or video edditing then building your own is the way to go IMHO.  But if it is just for surfing the web and word processing, then you can't beat the price of a pre-built, especially when you add in the price of a operating system. I have crunched the numbers a few times myself and I can't even get close.

Most ATX power supplies will work with all ATX motherboards. The PS an MB you picked will work together just fine.

This is a good place to read up on computer hardware http://techreport.com/

The computer I'm building will be used for gaming mostly, which is part of why I want to build one myself. I've been using Dell computers for a long time, and as I'm sure you're aware, they just don't cut it for gaming. (or for much of anything else, aside from checking e-mail). I'll take a look at the link you gave me.

Thank you for the quick reply!How about www.tomshardware.com ?      Is that the sort of place you're looking for?


I would say to start with Tomshardware also. Good reviews and many tips.

That's exactly the KIND of info I'm looking for. Thanks, Willy and Spoiler.  Quote from: Shadowtech on April 04, 2008, 01:30:06 PM

That's exactly the kind of info I'm looking for.   ...