Hello Mudder!

I was planning to hit the library today and look for some awesome pc building books but was distracted by the copy of Stargate that awaited me. So I left the library with Stargate and am now at home reading websites again.

To start things off, I have no idea where to begin. What should I pick out first? The motherboard (hereafter called mobo) might be important due to sizing issues. I need to learn what that might entail. So MOBO 101 for me!

Motherboards do the heavy lifting in things like Computers. Imagine that! It is also known as the mainboard, sytem board, and in Apples, the logic board (don't ask me why Steve Jobs named it that. I don't know). Mobos as we know them really came about in the late 80's. Things were moved from the backplane onto the mobo. For instance, the Leading Edge we got in 1987 had everything separated. There was a graphics card, sound card, memory, etc. Nowadays, mobos are intergrated unless you want something smoking like graphics so Gears of War 2 can look awesome!

Modern mobos include, at a minimum:

• sockets (or slots) in which one or more microprocessors are installed
• slots into which the system's main memory is installed (typically in the form of DIMM modules containing DRAM chips)
• a chipset which forms an interface between the CPU's front-side bus, main memory, and peripheral buses
• non-volatile memory chips (usually Flash ROM in modern mobos) containing the system's firmware or BIOS
• a clock generator which produces the system clock signal to synchronize the various components
• slots for expansion cards (these interface to the system via the buses supported by the chipset)
• power connectors flickers, which receive electrical power from the computer power supply and distribute it to the CPU, chipset, main memory, and expansion cards.

Nowadays, there's likely to be heat sinks which look like fins sticking up. They disipate some of the heat so your mobo doesn't fry like bacon.

Form Factors size, shape and format of computer mobos, power supplies, cases, and add-on cards. ATX is the most popular one. Created by Intel in 1995. Typical size is 9.6x12" although some companies extend that to 10x12".

There's also the micro ATX (abbreviated mATX) . Its roughly 25% smaller and has lower power supply and expansion slots. Slots are nice especially when you want to set up a nice dual video rig.

I've decided to settle on ATX. It offers me the most flexibility in the long run. This means i can look for ATX cases. Not a shocker. But I wanted this step written down. So I can come back and go "Why the fuck am I getting this ATX thing?"

Next, I'll ruminate on the cases themselves!