DIY or shop bought PC - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Bear · #1 07-11-2002, 05:54 PM

Considering how many bright folk we have here,I got to wondering whose running a home built system.I'm always amazed at folk who can strip an engine down to it's last nut and bolt,but mention adding some ram to their pc and they get worried.
For my sin's I built my own it's only an 800mhz amd system but suits me fine for the time being.Bear

TN-W124 Diesel · #2 07-11-2002, 07:03 PM

I built my own IBM Netfinity 7000, it was bare bones box when I got it.

Ashman · #3 07-11-2002, 07:39 PM

I always build my own systems.

That way I get exactly what I want.

I highly recommend Asus or Abit motherboards.

Processor is up to you.

Get the highest quality memory you can afford and as much of it as you can.

Get the largest fastest hard drive you can afford.

Get the best video card you can afford. I generally just get generic nvidia cards as they are cheap and I have never had a problem with them.

As far as dvd and cd burners most are perfectly fine.

Alon

ronald_m · #4 07-11-2002, 08:08 PM

I just built my Server save me alot of money. People think it's very complicated to build computer but it's easy as changing your oil.I'ts just playing Lego

jsmith · #5 07-11-2002, 08:20 PM

these days building a PC isn't as cut and dried as it was say, three years ago. there are a variety of different CPU architectures, bus speeds & memory issues. my current rig is home brewed - a 650 Mhz AMD Duron i am running at 800 Mhz (overclocked with a pencil - anyone know about that?). my carefully handpicked motherboard is an EPOX. with a fresh install of win98 it boots in 8 seconds. it's obsolete now, of course and my next one will probably take a while...

Ashman · #6 07-11-2002, 08:51 PM

Building a computer today is just as easy as before. as long as the memory will work in the board, and as long as the cpu is the right cpu for the board, its just a matter of plugging everything in. in the right place. and voila.

One other recommendation I have is get the most powerful powersupply you can. a minimum of 350 watts is what I recommend.

Ask me any questions you want. My friends don't call me nick burns for nothing.

Alon

ronald_m · #7 07-11-2002, 09:02 PM

Yup Epox is my choice also its fast ,has alot of option and its cheap compare to Asus my second choice for home pc is ECS very cheap and it works fine.

#8 07-11-2002, 11:22 PM

all of our computers are built by me other than our 2 laptops and 1 dell that was given to me.

mine
866 P3 133 fsb
Soyo sy-6vca mother board
1.5gig ram pc 133
1 100gig drive 1 82 gig drive
my old hp 2x2x32 burner (getting a new one in a few months)
Viper 770 32mb video card overclocked to 382mhz
10/100 network card

server
400mhz k6 amd
18.1 gig hard drive
256mb pc100
dsl modem
12x10x24 pacific digital cdrw
56x cd rom
zip driver
10/100 networkcard

storage computer
P2 350mhz 100 fsb
512mb mem
8.4 gig and a 9 gig
massive 8x cdrom
10/100

sisters
p2 233mhz 66 fsb
128mb mem
3gig drive
12x cd rom

Laptops
p3 450mhz and a p150mhz

dell
celeron 500mhz 7.4 drive
Not to fast around here but we have got a lot of em....

all on the dsl too

o ya out in the garage i have a 486 dx2 laptop

a zenith laptop (2 floppy drives one holds the os)

RG5384 · #9 07-12-2002, 02:34 AM

built mine over two years ago

amd athlon 550mhz
196mb ram
voodoo 2 video with a tv capture card
dvd player
soundblaster live
a really cool logitech fiber optic mouse

1mb L2 cache(forgot motherboard brand name, i know the model is the sd-11)

Ryan

jsmith · #10 07-12-2002, 07:39 AM

ashman,

i'm not arguing the ease of assembling a PC - just the choices you have to make. just memory alone - you have to know what bus speed you intend to run at, or even if your motherboard allows you to switch that around. in the old days, if you just decide on a chipset and get a generic MB you would be ok. nowadays there are a lot of gotchas if you make a decision based on that.

Trelinski · #11 07-12-2002, 08:54 AM

Another advantage in building your own, is that you will be able to upgrade later. Most of the name brand stuff cannot be upgraded due to proprietary designs.

I had a celeron 600 OC @ 900, but sold it a week ago(just chip and mobo), currently looking for a good deal on an Athlon XP 1800 and mobo, which seems to be the best bargain at the moment.

As far as motherboards are concerned, I use Abit exclusively.

#12 07-12-2002, 11:21 AM

Trelinski,
ther was a bare bones at the computer show with a AMD 1800 and 256mb in a mid size tower for $139 there are great deals out there.

Lebenz · #13 07-12-2002, 12:51 PM

Just to chime in, while building a computer is fairly easy, after about 20 years of being in the computer industry, and having built hundreds of computers I have long ago stopped doing it or recommend that my customers buy home built or no-name computers. The reason is simply that long term reliability on non name brand equipment is worse than Chrysler’s vehicles. When you diy you have no recourse for problems, little or no warranty, and an entire industry that has learned to blame the customer to avoid responsibility. All this aside, you save maybe $200 $300 by a diy vs. buying one, and when you buy one you actually get licensed software, a warranty, a recovery disk, the ability to get drivers and so on.

To debunk a couple of popular myths:

1) most “name” brand equipment can be upgraded inexpensively. Manufacturers don’t advertise this but most system boards are jumpered or controlled in CMOS to permit different processor/memory speeds within any production run. The bigger truth is that the core design changes every couple of years, at most, so even a so-called upgradeable component has a very limited upgrade path;

2) In the example provided by someone above of power supplies being more expensive you can get a Dell power supply for about $50. While more than the $20 you pay at your local clone store or by way of Computer shopper, it is still cheap for a plug in solution, guaranteed to work. Of course, in probably several thousand name brand computers I’ve worked with, less than 10 have needed power supplies. That should say something.

As just one example of why home built computers are a poor idea, take a straight edge to just about any clone box. Note the point where the stand offs mount are not absolutely straight. Over time the warpage in the box is imparted into the system board with the result of a guaranteed failure due to this warpage 1-2 years down the line. I could go on.

Again, there is nothing wrong with a diy computer but if you want long term reliability, DIY is not the way. On the other hand, if the computer is a toy and not mission critical a DIY box is fine. In this instance playing with the computer is part of the agenda.

To put the issue in a more familiar light, the reason(s) folks here drive a Mercedes rather than a kit car is because........

#14 07-12-2002, 01:29 PM

I disagree about the long term use. If you do it right they will last you just as long. I have my uncles 386 that he built and it still runs fine all of my computers have never had trouble that took more than an 10 min. to fix (never anyhard ware trouble).
My gateway system lasted less than 8 months before the first hard drive died (warrenty) and the second only lasted about 5 months. the monitor quit after 13 months and the board would take nothing but an intel chip. Very very poor quality espically for a 2k computer.

There tech help was garbage and there warrenty was void after I upgraded to 98. (becasue I did not buy it from them).
But these experinces are mine you may have had bad luck with DIY I have had bad luck with big name computers.

Ashman · #15 07-12-2002, 01:58 PM

The software legitamacy point is a very good point. You get fully licensed software with a manufactured system.

If you are like me, and like ot know what goes inside your system, home built is the obvious choice.

I built my system 6 years ago. What have I done to it since then. simple upgrades.

1. Changed out motherboard and processor for newer items.
2. Added an extra hard drive.
3. Upgraded to a faster CDRW drive.
4. Added a DVD Decoder card.
5. Upgraded to a better soundcard
6. Upgraded to a better video card
7. Added a DVD Drive.

These are all items I have been easily able to upgrade, to update the system, all of which cost me way less than buying a new Manufactured PC. My case is still same full tower case I had 6 years ago, my keyboard and mouse and monitor are the same.

All in all, I don't think these upgrades would have all been possible with a manufactured system, but most of them would be.

With that in mind, you can see upgrading a home built system that you know about every component in can be very easy.

When I had my computer business, we only bought Dell systems to use for business. We got 3 year warranties, and all the software to go with it.

For the home user, a good choice if you are not very computer literate is a manufactured system. For a person who likes to tinker, and upgrade, and mess around with their computer, the best bet is a home built system.

I love building my own PC's and enhancing/upgrading them every couple of years, with minimal effort or replacement costs.

I built all the computers in my fathers office 3 years ago, they are all still working 100%. all I have done recently is add some extra RAM.

I highly recommend manufactured systems because of all the points made about recovery disks, software, drivers, and warranty. If I was not so into building my own systems, I'd use a manufacturer system.

You can get great deals on building it yourself, but remember it takes some time to put it together and install software. That is where your extra cost for a manufacturer system comes in, they assemble it, install the software and set it up, and provide a warranty.

Either way you choose you can't go wrong. Just remember when hardware fails in a home built system, you have to deal direct witht he manufacturer of that specific hardware.

Here are a few sites with some great info.

www.tomshardware.com
www.bxboards.com
www.anandtech.com

for parts etc, you can go to www.pricewatch.com to search for great prices on hardware, but be cautious as not all places are legit.

I use a place often called www.pcstop.com they have a pretty decent selection, competitive pricing, and they have been dead reliable in my last several orders.

I have also used the following places...
www.paragoncomp.com
www.accubyte.com
www.pcmall.com

for open box items etc, try:
www.firesale.com
www.computergeeks.com

other sites:
www.computernerd.com

I have more I just can't think of them.

Alon