Build It. Fix It. Own It A Beginner's Guide to Building and Upgrading a PC
, by McFedries, Paul
- ISBN: 9780789738271 | 0789738279
- Cover: Paperback
- Copyright: 5/19/2008
Finally a PC building and repair book that offers easy to follow advice!
Paul McFedriesis a full-time technical writer and passionate computer tinkerer. He is the author of more than 70 computer books that have sold more than three million copies worldwide. His recent titles include the Sams Publishing books Windows Vista Unleashed and Windows Home Server Unleashed and the Que Publishing books Networking with Windows Vista; Formulas and Functions with Microsoft Excel 2007; Tricks of the Microsoft Office 2007 Gurus; and Microsoft Access 2007 Forms, Reports, and Queries. Paul also is the proprietor of Word Spy (www.wordspy.com), a website devoted to tracking new words and phrases as they enter the English language.
| Introduction | |
| Getting to Know Your PC | |
| The Barebones: The Motherboard, Case, and Power Supply | |
| Mobo Mojo: Understanding the Motherboard | |
| A Tour of a Typical Motherboard | |
| Understanding Expansion Slot Types | |
| Sizing Up Motherboard Form Factors | |
| Buying a Motherboard | |
| The Case Is Your Base | |
| Buttons, Bezels, and Bays: A Case Parts List | |
| That's About the Size of It: Case Form Factors | |
| Case Designs: From Boring to Beautiful | |
| Going with the Flow: Case Fans | |
| Buying a Case | |
| Power to the PC: The Power Supply Unit | |
| Getting to Know the Power Supply | |
| Buying a Power Supply | |
| From Here | |
| The Brains: The Central Processing Unit | |
| Intel or AMD?Clocks, Cores, and More: Understanding CPU Specs | |
| The Processor Family | |
| The Processor Cores | |
| The Processor Name | |
| The Processor Clock Speed | |
| The Processor Socket | |
| The Processor Bus Speed | |
| The Processor L2 Cache Size | |
| The Processor Manufacturing Process | |
| The Processor Core Type | |
| The Processor Market: What's Available | |
| Keeping It Cool: Fans and Heatsinks | |
| Buying a CPU | |
| From Here | |
| The Work Area: Memory | |
| What Is RAM? | |
| Combining Memory Chips Into Memory Modules | |
| DDR, DIMM, and More: Understanding Memory Specs | |
| The Memory Module Standard | |
| The Memory Type and Speed | |
| Dual Channel Mode | |
| The Memory Module Capacity | |
| The Memory Latency and Timings | |
| The Memory Module Configuration and Pins | |
| Windows and RAM: The 4GB Conundrum | |
| Buying Memory | |
| From Here | |
| Hard Drives and Other Storage Devices | |
| Drive Time: How a Hard Drive Works | |
| Capacity, Cache, and More: Understanding Hard Drive Specs | |
| The Hard Drive Interface and Throughput | |
| The Hard Drive Form Factor | |
| The Hard Drive Capacity | |
| The Hard Drive Speed | |
| The Hard Drive Cache | |
| The Hard Drive Seek Time | |
| Buying a Hard Drive | |
| Disc Driving: Choosing an Optical Drive | |
| The Data's the Things: Optical Disc Capacities | |
| A Tour of Optical Drive Types | |
| Speed Is All: Understanding Optical Drive Speeds | |
| Buying an Optical Drive | |
| More Storage Devices | |
| From Here | |
| Eyes to See and Ears to Hear: Video and Audio Hardware | |
| Assessing Your Video Card Needs | |
| GPU, GDDR, SLI, and More: Understanding Video Card Specs | |
| The GPU Chipset | |
| Video Memory | |
| Dual-GPU Support | |
| Video Card Connectors | |
| Buying a Video Card | |
| Bits, Channels, and More: Understanding Sound Card Specs | |
| The Sampling Frequency | |
| The Sample Depth | |
| The Number of Channels | |
| Sound Card Connectors | |
| Buying a Sound Card | |
| From Here | |
| Getting Connected: Networking Hardware | |
| Getting Wired: Understanding Ethernet Networks | |
| 10BASE-T | |
| 100BASE-T (Fast Ethernet) | |
| 1000BASE-T (Gigabit Ethernet) | |
| Beyond Gigabit Ethernet | |
| Learning about Network Interface Cards | |
| The Wired Connection: Network Cables | |
| Twisted-Pair Cable | |
| Crossover Cable | |
| A Connection Point for Your Network: The Switch | |
| Adding the Internet into the Mix with a Router | |
| Understanding IP Addresses | |
| The Router and Dynamic IP Addressing | |
| The Router as Firewall | |
| The Router as Switch | |
| A Buyer's Guide to Ethernet Hardware | |
| Purchasing a NIC | |
| Purchasing Cables | |
| Purchasing a Switch | |
| Purchasing a Router | |
| Going Wireless: Understanding Wi-Fi Networks | |
| Understanding Wi-Fi | |
| Understanding Wireless Hot Spots | |
| Learning About Wireless NICs | |
| Putting It All Together with a Wireless Access Point | |
| Expanding Your Wi-Fi Empire with a Wireless Range Extender | |
| A Buyer's Guide to Wireless Networking Hardware | |
| Purchasing a Wireless | |
| Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved. |
What is included with this book?
The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.
The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.
Please wait while the item is added to your bag...
×
Digital License
You are licensing a digital product for a set duration. Durations are set forth in the product description, with "Lifetime" typically meaning five (5) years of online access and permanent download to a supported device. All licenses are non-transferable.
More details can be found here.