When I was much younger I remember being interested in computers. When I pushed a key, I always wondered what happened inside. Were there little tiny people inside doing all of these things? As I read books I became even more interested in computers and learned exactly how they work.
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At fifteen years old, my dad and I thought it was time to get a new computer. Computer books and I had become good friends for many hours a day the previous summer. Having that friendship, I told my dad I knew I could build a computer. We went to a store in Irving, which carries everything you need to build a computer. Inside we found an ATX case that holds all of the components, provides power, and keeps them from getting wet or damaged. The next thing we had to buy was the motherboard. That is one of the most important parts of the computer. That is what connects all of the components together to form a reliable system. Using electrical paths it provides a medium for carrying the signals or data to other parts of the computer so they can "talk- to each other. We talked it over and bought a PA-2013 motherboard made by FIC. It had one AGP for the video, one ISA, and five PCI slots for connecting components. It can hold up to 768 megabytes of SDRAM, and has a processor speed up to 333 MHz. An AMD K6-III 333 processor was also added to our cart. That is the CPU (central processing unit), which does all of the calculations and is known as the brain of the computer. The CPU gets extremely hot and will literally melt unless you get a fan to cool it, so thinking wisely, we got one of those. If you want to be able to use your computer at all you have to buy RAM (random access memory). That speeds up your computer by taking programs and loading them into a super fast piece of silicon. Another item you have to buy is a video card, which obviously allows you to see graphics on the monitor. You want to make sure you buy a video card that fits the AGP slot since that what it is designed for.