Building a Computer - 1

CPU: AMD or Intel?

Both are the same, it's just two names. So pick out any one you like. Here we gonna choose AMD.

What speed your CPU should be?

These days, 1.5-2 Ghz is adequate for browsing the internet and typing documents in MS Word etc.

2-3 Ghz is suitable for playing relatively old and small games, and if you are using the computer pretty often, and running bigger programs than MS Word. If you plan to do things like edit videos, do animations, creating games, below 3Ghz is not quite enough. Because current programs like Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Flash CS3 eats much memory.

Above 3 Ghz is needed for playing much bigger and new games, for editing Photos and videos, doing 3D modeling etc.

CPU Socket

Socket has to match with the motherboard. Here we'll use a AM2 socket, so when buying the motherboard, you should make sure it's supporting AM2 sockets.

Cores?

You can choose a Single Core (1 processor) / Dual Core (2 processors) / Quad Core (4 processors) CPU. We'll use a Dual Core processor.

So, the CPU we're gonna use here is: AMD Athlon 64x2 2.0 Ghz Dual Core processor.