http://www.acer.co.th/product/aspir... Hello this is my computer right there, i really like computers and want to learn a lot about them and how to build a custom made one. But i seem to lack a lot of knowledge. For example all i know about my computer is that its motherboard is Intel Pentium 4, it has 256 MB PC2100/2700 DDR-SDRAM expandable to 2 GB( does that mean if i go to a shop and tell them i want 1 GB ram DDr-sdram they will give me a compatible one, and what is the PC2100/2700?) i have no idea what voltage my PSU supports (which i would like to know) and dont know what PCI slots are used for , and same for AGP. For example Pci slots for video cards, or agp for video cards or both? what slot do the newest video cards use PCI slots , PCI express, AGP ? Im sorry for asking too much but i really am curious and hope one day i can fix my own computer, build a computer, or have a lot of knowledge about them like you guys do. afaasdvsd

"motherboard is Intel Pentium 4" Your cpu is Intel Pentium 4, not the motherboard. You also listed your operating system as Intel Pentium 4. I would advise you to learn a lot more first and maybe do more basic things, like put in a new video card or hard drive, before you build your own custom made computer. There are many websites which give information and videos. Here is one: www.kitchentablecomputers.com/index.htm Of course, nothing replaces the experience of actually building the computer.

If you hang around here long enough, you'll pick up some computing knowledge alright. Now, whether you'll go as far as building machines for yourself & others is another thing though. Computing knowledge is dynamic & you gotta stay abreast of things, it is not unusual for what you learn to become obsolete or less relevant within a few years. Jabbering Idiots: Everywhere You Look!

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Assuming you have the space, you might want to pick up some older PCs--P2, P3--to experiment with. They should be cheap from garage sales, flea markets, goodwill, etc. That way when you ruin something (and eventually you will) it'll be no big loss.

Computer power supplies for ATX or MATX mboards, the form factor (mboard overall standard size and general layout) most people have in a desktop or tower computer, put out the same voltages. Most mboards that are not server mboards use a PS that is wired to power connectors a standard way that can be used with most mboards, and the box it is in is most often a standard PS/2 size. It's the capacity of the PS that varies - the total amount of watts. Your computer PS capacity is not obvious on the Acer web site pages you linked to, but you can probably see that capacity printed on it's label inside the case. I've been told by experts you don't ever need a PS capacity for a mboard that has no PCI-E slots like yours of more than 350 watts, assuming it's a decent PS model. If yours is 300 watts that's probably OK too - if it's less than that, that's a little on the lean side, but probably would cause problems only if you want to add as many components to your system as you can get inside the case. If you are still using the onboard (built into the mboard) video you can install a PCI or AGP video card instead on this mboard. An AGP video card will perform much better than a PCI one, and probably both will perform better than your onboard video. Only the AGP slot supports an AGP card - a PCI video card should work in any PCI slot. Even a cheap 4X or 4X/8X AGP card would probably yield a noticable improvement in your video. When you use onboard video, in most cases part of the ram you have in your ram slots is shared with that video, that shared portion is not available for data in Windows, and in all cases doing that greatly reduces the max. bandwidth (max burst data transfer speed) the ram can achieve - it can halve it. If you use any video card instead, in most cases the onboard video is automatically disabled, and all settings in the bios to do with sharing ram with the onboard video are ignored, by the computer's bios, the full amount of ram is available for data in Windows, and your ram can then run at the max bandwidth it is capable of on your mboard - you notice the most difference when the system has more demands being made on it. Note that sometimes if you try to use a PCI video card on a mboard that has a dedicated AGP (or PCI-E video, X8 or X16, probably) slot, the onboard video may NOT be automatically disabled if the PCI card is the only video card, and the PCI card and the onboard video will clash, even if you can somehow navigate through the jumbled video to turn off the onboard video display adapter in Device Manager, or if you un-install the onboard display adapter there just before you install the PCI video card (e.g. Gigabyte 7ZMMH). Installing ram yourself is easy if you follow a few simple rules. There are probably directions for how how to do that in the user manual for your system, or if not, on the Acer web site. You have two ram slots, and if the ram came with the system there is probably a single 256mb ram module in one of them. You can install any combination of sizes of compatible modules of up to a 1gb module per slot. You can look up which ram will work in your mboard for sure (is compatible) by using your system make and model on many ram manufacturer's and major ram distributor's web sites. 256mb total ram is just a little more than it takes for XP to run as it should - it doesn't take many additional programs running to slow down Windows, and if you use onboard video, something less than 256mb is available to Windows for data. Many people get by fine with 512mb of ram total, and very few need more than 2gb for any more demanding program or game they have. .... You may also have the option of installing a faster cpu in your mboard, but you would probably have to buy a used one on the web. However, that's likely to be a cheap option for this mboard. Most brand name desktop system builders do not make the mboards in their systems - they are supplied to them by major mboard manufacturers. They have the brand name system's bios version on them, but they may be identical to a mboard maker's retail model except for the bios version, or an OEM only version that are very similar to a mboard maker's retail version but there may be no support for the model on the mboard maker's web site - support is only available for it from the brand name builder's web site, if at all. When you open up the case, you may be able to find obvious printing in larger characters, often between the slots or near the center of the mboard, that is the mboard model - the brand of mboard may or may not be obvious. In the case of Acer systems, it is often an AOpen ( short for Acer Open) mboard model - made by a different part of the huge Acer group of companies - support is often availble for the mboard model on the Aopen web sites. If you can determine which make and model of mboard you have, if it is the same as a retail model, usually except for the bios version, there are usually lists of cpus you can use in the model that are known to work in your model on the mboard manufacturer's web site.

Thank you a lot for the information. I have learned a lot about video cards and rams, which are simply easy, but i dont know a lot about mboard and CPus and dont feel safe playing with them. So i will probably have an expert teach me. Thank you all for your replies. afaasdvsd