| Product: |
How to Build the Perfect Computer |
| Date: |
04/10/01 (57 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: control, can save money, satisfaction
Disadvantages: requires research, labor-intensive
Building your own computer will save you money... Wrong. It's a common myth and in most cases isn't true. Perhaps a more accurate adage would be: Building your own computer /can/ save you money. Let me show you how.
PC retailers, (Tiny, Packard Bell, Compaq etc.) buy components in massive quantities, thus they recieve discount and pass on these cost-cuts on a per-system basis by retailing PCs at a cheaper cost than if those components had been purchased on an individual basis. This is very common business practice, in fact it is the basis of contemporary business practice. So why is it always assumed that building your own PC (whereby you do buy those components individually) is actually cheaper? I guess it's because of the negative press of the large technology companies such as Microsoft, people simply assume they are being taken for a ride by these companies and that if they could control the process themselves they could do it for far cheaper. Of course, the retailers do charge a percentage, we wouldn't expect otherwise - they have to make money after all. But if you buy components individually remember that those component manufacturers are also charging a percentage, and it's much higher than the one they charge to bulk-buying retailers. All in all, if you build a system from scratch it will probably cost you exactly the same as if you bought an identical system from a high-street retailer. However, you probably already own a computer. Unless you're reading this in an internet cafe or on a friend's computer then you almost /definitely/ own a computer. Despite the common perception that computer technology advances faster than anyone can keep up with, many parts of the computer you have now are still perfectly adequate - the floppy-drive, CD- or DVD-ROM, possibly even the hard-drive and graphics card. The route I suggest is that you make use of those perfectly adequate parts and simply add them to a base-system that you buil
d yourself. This way you can put together a top-of-the-range piece of equipment for a fraction of the price. I know, I did it. I'm writing this review on a 1.2 gig Athlon running on a Front Side Bus at 266 mhz with 256 MB of DDR RAM. How much did this cost me? A mere fraction over £300. To buy this system from a high-street retailer would cost over £1000.
Building your own computer is too complicated for the layperson... Wrong. At least as long as that lay person is willing to do a bit of research. Building a computer /is/ complicated, don't get me wrong. But only in so far as learning what parts work with what other parts. Actually assembling the computer is fairly easy.
I'm not going to go into great detail here about the hardware that is currently available and all the options for putting it together, there are far more effective resources available than a simple text based opinion forum like Dooyoo (such as www.sharkyextreme.com) - I simply want to give you the information that will allow you to evaluate whether or not you think it is worth your while putting your own system together. So what other benefits are inherent in assembling a computer manually? After all it must be quite a labor-intensive option? Well, it's true, putting an entire computer together, even when re-using parts, can be quite a job. But it is incredibly satisfying. With the common idea that computer's are incomprehensible to the average human, knowing that you yourself have built one is certainly something; but apart from the sense of childish superiority (nothing wrong with that!) there is the most important thing of all to consider: CONTROL. For a serious computer user this is all important - you want to know /exactly/ what your computer is made up of, that way you can string the best performance possible out of it. Those of you using retail computers... do you even know what make your motherboard is? let alone the speed of the FSB or the CAS latencec
y of your RAM? When you put together your own machine you choose exactly what you want, negating any future worries about compatibility issues because of unknown devices. You are also able to avoid the notorious 'filler' components that PC retailers are wont to include. Never again will you be lumbered with an onboard AGP chip that seriously inhibits your graphics upgradeability.
So... to summarise, if you already have a computer which you can cannibalise for parts and are willing to conduct a bit of research into current computer technology trends and compatability you are in a perfect position to put together a top-of-the range system for a bargain basement price. Go ahead and do it. I did, and I haven't looked back.
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