Minimum amount of components?

[Zalazaar]

Hi! I was wondering what the bare minimum amount of components I need for a working computer is. As far as I can figure, I need a motherboard, a CPU, some RAM, a drive, and a PSU. Are there any other components that are 100% necessary? I am asking because I am buying my PC components gradually, and I want to know how soon I can have a functioning desktop up.

[LUUD18]

• PSU
• Mobo
• Processor
• Ram

You can use an USB to boot from.

[Anghammarad]

A mainboard that can make use of cpu integrated graphics, some ram, the cpu, a drive, and a psu. For a case... yes I would suggest a case for system component health sake.

[saberlight]

exept for the screen, keyboard and mouse, you got everything. a case would be good, but you can salvage an old one prety easily if your are really tight on money.

however, be sure to buy components with a good upgrade path, because if you go with something too old or too cheap you won't be able to upgrade.

[KuJoe]

Not all CPUs and motherboards will have an IGP so you might need a video card depending on the motherboard/CPU you go with.

[LUUD18]

As for the case: Just buy a plate of wood and screw everything to it.

[Bananasplit_00]

motherboard, CPU, RAM, PSU and any kind of storage like a HDD, SSD or USB drive will work. case isnt needed, GPU isnt needed, harddrive isnt needed, but they are all nice to have

[Zando_]

CPU

Mobo

RAM

PSU

Cheap HDD

Maybe a case?

 

And you should be good. 

[mariushm]

Some processors have somewhat basic graphics cards (perfect for browsing the net and watching movies but not so great for playing games) built inside them. More powerful processors often lack the integrated graphics so you'd have to buy separate graphics cards.

 

Some motherboards allow you to power them using an external "laptop adapter" style power supply .. for example see Asrock q1900DC-ITX  or Asrock N3150DC-ITX  (this one even comes with one of those power adapters in the box) - note that such motherboards have cpu soldered onto the motherboard and can't be replaced and they're powerful enough for browsing and watching movies but even with separate graphics card, you'd barely be able to play games at 1080p

 

A hard drive or a SSD are kind of a must ... in theory you can boot into an operating system like let's say Ubuntu directly from a CD/DVD and browse the internet if the operating system is smart enough to detect the network card and the other components automatically. You could also boot an operating system from an USB stick, but it would be really slow, in general not worth it.

You can buy some old <500GB mechanical drive for less than 10-20$

Memory is required ... in the past some motherboards used to come with 1 or 2 GB of memory soldered onto them and one or two slots for extension, but now this practice is gone on regular pc motherboards.

 

A case is not really required, if you're careful you can just put the motherboard inside a cardboard box and punch some holes for ventilation and put a fan to push air through the cardboard box and you have a case.

 

So basically you pretty much need only motherboard and cpu and graphics card and memory and power supply.  Graphics card could be in cpu and cpu could be soldered to motherboard in the case of some motherboards (like the ones I linked above)

 

 

[Zalazaar]

Thanks for all the responses! I already have a case (Corsair Carbide 400C), and I am getting "budget high-end" internal components. I am just not gonna get enough money to buy all of it at the same time, so I figured that I'd buy the essentials for desktop use first and then things like a GPU and extra storage.

[LogicalDrm]

Laptop should do it. Does soldered mobos count as one