How to build a computer Part #1 – Choosing a processor

Whether you’re a novice user or not, building a computer can be a daunting task. More so in the present day as more competition is about than ever before, and major price wars are seen between them constantly. We are compiling a set of guides to assist in your buying decisions so that you can make the most educated choice when buying your components to build your computer.

This may be the first computer you are looking to build, or may be that you’ve been out of the loop for a while and you’re unsure as to what’s “hot” at the moment.

The first component that we’ll be looking at is the Processor or CPU. CPU stands for Central Processing Unit and is essentially the brain of a computer. Without it, your system will do very little apart from be a dust collector, though with it the possibilities are endless. First we start with a little history lesson, which involves AMD and Intel. AMD and Intel are both respective manufacturers of processors and have been for a very long time, though both have been able to hold their own in the market place.

AMD have always been regards as the brand to go for if you want bang for buck, whilst Intel always gave the better performance, but for a large outlay of cash. Consumers believed that AMD were better for Gaming whilst Intel were king of rendering, but today is a much different time and things have changed since then. Whilst Intel do generally offer better rendering, that’s basing the top flagship models against each other, of which a bit of a cash difference is present.

Processors come in a choice of two flavours; OEM and Retail. Whilst OEM gives a better bang for buck, it also gives you just the processor, and nothing more and generally only comes with a 1 year warranty. Retail however offers a stock heatsink and fan as well as an extended warranty in comparison but of course costs a bit more money. This is a buying decision left up to you as a personal preference as to if you want to save money or want to play it safe. Personally we’d save the money and spend it on a better CPU cooler as the stock can get very noisy and doesn’t work that efficiently.