http://www.pcmech.com/article/whats-the-best-advantage-of-building-a-pc/ Helping Normal People Get Their Geek On Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:43:08 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 http://www.pcmech.com/article/whats-the-best-advantage-of-building-a-pc/comment-page-1/#comment-23488 Graham Tue, 21 Apr 2009 18:57:22 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/whats-the-best-advantage-of-building-a-pc/#comment-23488 Completely true! Building my own 8 years ago is what got me started in the computer industry. The whole mystery to the computer is dissolved when you are having to assemble each individual part to the computer. I wish it would become standard practice for schools to develop this idea for every one of their students so that they wouldnt be as intimidated or scared when it comes to their systems. Completely true! Building my own 8 years ago is what got me started in the computer industry. The whole mystery to the computer is dissolved when you are having to assemble each individual part to the computer. I wish it would become standard practice for schools to develop this idea for every one of their students so that they wouldnt be as intimidated or scared when it comes to their systems.

]]> http://www.pcmech.com/article/whats-the-best-advantage-of-building-a-pc/comment-page-1/#comment-23254 Brendan Cogan Mon, 13 Apr 2009 12:00:57 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/whats-the-best-advantage-of-building-a-pc/#comment-23254 Rich was listing the parts that you can swap over from build to build cause they wont change too much, RAM and CPU change at quite a high rate, which is why you would upgrade them when things started to get a little too slow, keeping the mobo/case/etc Rich was listing the parts that you can swap over from build to build cause they wont change too much, RAM and CPU change at quite a high rate, which is why you would upgrade them when things started to get a little too slow, keeping the mobo/case/etc

]]> http://www.pcmech.com/article/whats-the-best-advantage-of-building-a-pc/comment-page-1/#comment-23192 David M Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:14:29 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/whats-the-best-advantage-of-building-a-pc/#comment-23192 Another big advantage is your computer is not this mysterious box that only people with special knowledge understand. When you build it yourself, fixing it is not a big deal. Another big advantage is your computer is not this mysterious box that only people with special knowledge understand. When you build it yourself, fixing it is not a big deal.

]]> http://www.pcmech.com/article/whats-the-best-advantage-of-building-a-pc/comment-page-1/#comment-23143 john Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:07:45 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/whats-the-best-advantage-of-building-a-pc/#comment-23143 Power Supply: You can invest heavily in a power supply as they change very rarely. You failed to mention cooling: you can invest heavily in cooling. I felt you put too much weight upon motherboard. In my experience the cpu and motherboard go hand-in-hand: it's been unusual that I change cpu without changing mobo; and although i can often delay upgrading the RAM for while, I typically choose not to. Storage becomes the least of my worries; RAID support being only concern there. In fact, when you build you own and reuse it for a while you soon discover that CPU/Mobo/RAM/Video are the only items still steadily changing and a "rebuild" is more often about your virtual OS than your physical hardware. Power Supply: You can invest heavily in a power supply as they change very rarely. You failed to mention cooling: you can invest heavily in cooling. I felt you put too much weight upon motherboard. In my experience the cpu and motherboard go hand-in-hand: it’s been unusual that I change cpu without changing mobo; and although i can often delay upgrading the RAM for while, I typically choose not to. Storage becomes the least of my worries; RAID support being only concern there. In fact, when you build you own and reuse it for a while you soon discover that CPU/Mobo/RAM/Video are the only items still steadily changing and a “rebuild” is more often about your virtual OS than your physical hardware.

]]> http://www.pcmech.com/article/whats-the-best-advantage-of-building-a-pc/comment-page-1/#comment-23091 Diamond JoesCasino Wed, 08 Apr 2009 04:23:38 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/whats-the-best-advantage-of-building-a-pc/#comment-23091 cool ideas but still you forgot about cpu and memory. but was a great beginners article! cool ideas but still you forgot about cpu and memory. but was a great beginners article!

]]> http://www.pcmech.com/article/whats-the-best-advantage-of-building-a-pc/comment-page-1/#comment-23080 Steve Stone Tue, 07 Apr 2009 14:01:51 +0000 http://www.pcmech.com/article/whats-the-best-advantage-of-building-a-pc/#comment-23080 True, you can save some money moving parts from your old to new computer project. I've always felt the big benefit to rolling your own PC is you are not buying a machine off the rack. You decide what should be inside, what compromises, if any, should be made in what areas, and what unique special needs must be addressed, rather than accept the mass marketed box. I like a beefy but quiet case that will last for a decade. I'm a ham radio operator and most of my radios can be computer controlled so I need more than the average amount of USB ports and have gear that still uses serial ports. It also has to be resistant to RF and not produce RF noise on my radios. It has to be powerful enough and contain the hardware needed for digital video and photo editing as well as audio editing. It also has to be unobtrusive so my wife doesn't take notice that I'm spending money on gear again. It also has to be easy to swap stuff in and out of the case, able to tolerate thunderstorms and power hits. True, you can save some money moving parts from your old to new computer project.
I’ve always felt the big benefit to rolling your own PC is you are not buying a machine off the rack. You decide what should be inside, what compromises, if any, should be made in what areas, and what unique special needs must be addressed, rather than accept the mass marketed box. I like a beefy but quiet case that will last for a decade. I’m a ham radio operator and most of my radios can be computer controlled so I need more than the average amount of USB ports and have gear that still uses serial ports. It also has to be resistant to RF and not produce RF noise on my radios. It has to be powerful enough and contain the hardware needed for digital video and photo editing as well as audio editing. It also has to be unobtrusive so my wife doesn’t take notice that I’m spending money on gear again. It also has to be easy to swap stuff in and out of the case, able to tolerate thunderstorms and power hits.

]]>