Newbie Preliminary Question

[slipstream]

Greetings to one and all. I am awaitng repairs on my 7 month old Sony Vaio VGC RA840G computer. Somehow, it has managed to fry its rear fan, motherboard, E Drive and Hard Drive. Sony is taking care of this per warranty but I am going to lose those files that I have not recently backed up.

That is the reason that I have joined this forum. I want to build my own computer; for a couple reasons. First is to learn more about the guts of the beast. Thus, alaying my trepidation concerning laying hands on the inner workings of the case. Second is to build a computer that meets my needs more precisely. I do play adventure games and find the Sony Vaio, when it isn't smoking, to be adequate. I also use photoshop and other photography software to enhance that photography which I don't do in a darkroom. This Sony came with Win XP MCE and a bundle of programs that are next to useless to me. I thought it was supposed to come with XP Pro.

So, my beginners question is this: How should I approach the learning process concerning the ins and outs of understanding computer building. To make this question more clear; how do I go about asking "intelligent" questions of this group. I have read the "stickies" and then read the forum questions and I see that many folks queries are way ahead of their knowledge. As with any endeavor I pursue I put learning and asking questions ahead of doing.

Any ref. material would be appreciated. I will continue to read the posts and answers on this and other sites. It will take some time to understand compatibility issues and nomenclature but, I will keep researching and hope that some will steer me to the better info available. Have no idea what I want to include in a new build yet. Have to learn as I go. Thanks for any info.

[doctorgonzo]

First, check out the Build Your Own PC article here: http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/

Then, come and ask questions and don't worry about sounding intelligent. We are here to help.

[messiah34]

You can also look at ur local bookstore to find (MAXIMUM PC"S Dream MACHINE) explains everything from ordering to assembling. Also try extremetech.com and they also have a book you can find at local book store.

[flanzig1]

One of the first things to do is make a list of things you want to do on the PC.
Gaming: lite, moderate or heavy(video card is the deciding factor)
video or audio editing(amount of ram and CPU speed are dominent factors)
music: sound card,speaker quailty are important factors/size of HD if storing on computer/cd burner
office apps/internet browsing: little depand on computer

[slipstream]

Thanks for the responses. I am just starting to look at cases and have found good info on quality for cases and other components here. I would think that "light" gaming would refer to the adventure types that I play when I have time; Myst, Realms of Illusion, Alida etc. Correct? Heavy would be the internet shooters etc? Good forum.

[RJS2]

This has been posted before it has alot of helpful information.

http://www.pcguide.com/topic.html