A Built From Scratch Computer Inquiry!!

[jonantice]

I do agree that if you want a sturdy computer you have to buy the parts, or get a Mac, but it will cost you more than a regular retail computer. People usually want a bargain so that's what they are given. Besides linux will run on anything (almost).

[fingal]

I do agree that if you want a sturdy computer you have to buy the parts, or get a Mac, but it will cost you more than a regular retail computer. People usually want a bargain so that's what they are given. Besides linux will run on anything (almost).

Hi - I think it might depend on how you measure the cost. I built mine about 3 years ago, and it was initially more expensive than a cheapo £300 PC (that's $570) but I haven't really added much to it. So over time the cost of maintaining it has been minimal. Also, add to that the fact that the OS was free and has no support costs.

Not sure how that pans out in monetary terms: especially when you consider my Linux magazine buying habits! If I was to build now - deliberately setting out to reduce my costs - I'm sure I could do it. In all honesty, I would probably spend a bit more just to make sure I got durable parts.

I think what I'm trying to say is ... It depends on what you want when you build your machine. You can go cheap or expensive, it's up to you. These days you can get a reasonable motherboard over here for £40=$76 .

[bigtomrodney]

I think the savings are for performance machines. If you want a cheap PC, go to a mass producing OEM. However if you want a dual-core Athlon 64 (AM2), 2GB of Ram and a good motherboard - well let's say it would cost you a lot more than the €520 that my local website are charging.

[cousinlucky]

Thanks BigTomRodney for seeing just where I am coming from!!
I hope I am not imposing upon your kindness too much. I already have two cheap and flimsy HP computers and my heart desires a quality machine. Like abandoning and old cheap Chevy for a new BMW 750.
Could you provide me with a complete list of all of the quality products you would put into a new computer irregardless of the prices of the components?

[bigtomrodney]

All of the sites I use generally offer preconfigure combinations of the base components. I would recommend looking at these recommendations as it means you don't have to worry about matching memory types with motherboards/processors. After that you can just pick

• a harddrive to suit your space needs/budget
• a dvd/cd writer combo (usually quite cheap)
• a case (big ones are good for airefloiw, and comfortable to work in)
• a graphics card
• a power supply(included with some cases

I mention graphics card for two reasons, none of which are gaming.

• Many custom motherboards don't have onboard graphics
• a graphics card removes overhead from your CPU, so your system will feel more responsive

I'm going to post a few links from the site I use, this won't be much use to most people as it's specific to my country but I hope it helps to give an idea. So here's what I'd use if I was builiding this week -

• Motherboard/CPU/RAM
• Case
• Graphics Card
• Power Supply
• Hard Drive
• DVD/CD Burner
• Hard Drive (SATA) Cable
• DVD Cable

I hope I haven't missed anything there. That's a pretty good system right there, obviously discounting a monitor/keyboard/mouse, but there's no need to upgrade them usually. You could probably find IDE cables a lot cheaper than that, I selected that one because it's round so they take up less space. A few extra fans usually help too. That system is also a dual core AMD machine and will be fast as hell.

That said they're just components off the top of my head, you may prefer to stick with an experts opinion - Preconfigured Bundle from the same site

When assembling there's not much to it, most cables only fit one place and the goal is to have every component plugged into the motherboard. Difficulties that you may see would be are using thermal paste on the CPU (it can get messy, and should be done with caution) and connecting up the external USB/headphone/microphone ports on any case. This is not difficult, but requires a little bit of concentration and certainly a need to read the motherboard manual.

[cousinlucky]

My Heartfelt Thanks To You, BigTomRodney!!

I know the pitfalls of wanting something I am not ready for; and how that desire is bad for my health. However it is also bad for my health to have to use this computer, online, when I do not wish to continue to do so.

I still compose letters using the Windows side of my computer. And even though it is just a bare bones cut down sliver of windows; it still sends microsoft on line notification through my printer program. Then microsoft scans my computer looking for a pirated copy of Windows. This just makes me personally uncomfortable. I wonder how many users of Windows realize how a Microsoft license agreement permits the never ending reporting of their computer usage to Microsoft.

Again my Thanks!!!

[fanfan1313]

Thought I might add that the best way to learn how to build a computer is to pick up an old one, take it apart and put it back together. That's exactly how I learned, and when your done, you have another computer! Linux distro's run great on old computers so you could have another useful computer...

Also prebuilt computers are not all junk. (I know i'm going to get yelled at for this) My 3 or 4 year old Dell has never hade any hardware problems, the performance is still good, and it's superquiet. The hardware seems high quality to me too (seagate hd, quiet fans...)

btw, no soldering involved, the only tool you'll need is a philips screwdriver

[cousinlucky]

I was at the Mall looking for a DVD and I took a moment to browse at the computers for sale; a bunch of them included six months of AOL. The thought of someone buying a computer already latched onto AOL was almost enough to make me vomit.

At any rate I just bought the book-Building the Perfect PC by Robert and Barbara Thompson. I do not know how long it is going to take me to digest it, but I know I'm never going to be buying another one of those junk machines from the retail stores.