The PC is an extremely versatile tool that can assist us in both our personal and professional lives in a countless number of ways.

It's extreme adaptability is, in part, due to the nature of its construction. Over many years, PC electronics industries have strived to agree on certain 'standards', enabling them to develop a wide range of devices and applications that are 'PC compatible' - that is, that can be fitted / connected / installed to a PC with the minimum of effort.

Throughout this section, we will study the key components you will need to build a basic PC.

To help you decide what to buy, check the product brochures of the leading PC suppliers and also do a search for some hardware reviews on the Internet. These will give you an idea of what is available and what would be considered a 'reasonable' specification PC.

There would be little point in building your own PC cheaply, for example using an old processor and motherboard, and then finding that it was very slow or even incapable of meeting your requirements.

Once these components are completely assembled and connected correctly, you have created what is fundamentally a PC.