Rolling Your Own PC: Easier Said Than Done? (Pt. 1)
by Mitch Stone, the Accidental Expert
As regular readers of this column know, I’m basically a Mac guy. When I buy a new computer, I’m used to having it easy. Very easy.
Yanking the computer out of the box is about all the heavy lifting I expect from my purchase. The insane squeak of shattering Styrofoam packing is all the pain and anguish I want to endure. My idea of roughing it is bending over and sticking the plug into the outlet.
It turns out, PC geeks have a special sneer reserved for people like me. As their lips curl, they tell me I’m wasting my money.
For years, I’ve heard these wire-heads claim that they build their own wicked-fast Windows PCs for, like, a buck and a quarter. Well, not quite, but at a huge savings over buying it from a manufacturer, like HP or Dell, let alone, Apple. I’ve always wondered if what they say is true — that anyone could cobble together a very nice Windows PC on the extremely cheap, with an emphasis on “anyone.”
So in the interests of science, I’m about to test their claims. I’m going to roll my own PC, and I’m going to do it right here, for all to witness.
First, I have to say, being reasonably technical, I’m probably not the best example of the “anyone” in the geek’s formula. Heck, I wrote COBOL programs on punch cards, back in the days when the Wholly Mammoth roamed the earth. In fact, I had one as a roommate in college.
The point being, I’m not likely to be daunted by a few wires and circuit boards, if only because I’ve always maintained my own computers, and think nothing of reaching in and yanking something out. Flange A into Slot B, I understand.
But I’d never attempted anything quite like this, and it wasn’t long before I realized I was wading into some deep, deep water. Hold that thought — we’ll come back to it.
I began this exercise by specifying a middle-range system from Dell. With the objective of keeping the cost under a grand, I selected a Dimension 4600, with a 2.8 Ghz Pentium 4 processor running Windows XP Home Edition, an 80 Gb hard drive, CD-RW/DVD combo drive, 512Mb of RAM and an ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card, keyboard, optical mouse and speakers. Dell’s total bill rang up to $979.00.
Now, the fun part — duplicating this system, as nearly as possible, with stock parts.
Hardly knowing where to begin, I dove into one of my favorite online discussion boards, where the geekly gather. As expected, no shortage of advice was forthcoming. Immediately, I was told to ditch the Pentium 4. I’d get better value out of an AMD Athlon processor. Thankfully, all agreed on this point.
Where to buy? My online buddies directed me to Newegg.com, a PC hobbyist’s paradise. They stock, well, everything — and this is where the trouble began. It was as though I’d been subjected to the full Chinese restaurant menu scenario: Three from Column A, eight from Column B. But this time, I was actually in China.
Motherboards, cases, processors. Barton cores. Chipsets. What dialect is this, anyway? After several hours struggling to remain afloat, I turned to my lifeguards on the chat board. They narrowed down my choices, but of course squabbled among themselves a little, like all good hobbyists will, just to keep things interesting.
Based on their advice, my system will include an AMD Athlon XP 2800+ processor, an Antec mid-tower case with a 350 watt power supply, and accessories closely matching the benchmark Dell. It looks like it will cost me $835.00, give or take.
This is where I turn the tables on my readers, especially the PC hobbyists out there. Should I build this system, or have I made some terrible mistakes? I’m about to lay down some serious plastic, so before I do, drop me a line and let me know what you think.
Next time: If I build it, will it run?
07 June 2004 |
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