Programmers: Did you Build Your Computer?
I have assembled every computer I have owned aside from the two laptops and the Commodore 128.
It's cheaper to build your own (if you already have a monitor) and you get all the parts you want. I don't see why anyone wouldn't.
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Quote:Original post by Ainokea
It's cheaper to build your own (if you already have a monitor) and you get all the parts you want. I don't see why anyone wouldn't.
Some people fear that its going to be too complicated. In my opinion, they just haven't gathered the self confidence. I don't blame them for this. Society still projects the image that computers are obscenely complicated and geeky. Its simply a matter of realising that computers were meant to be assembled by humans, and that as a human, you have all the faculties to succeed in assembling one.
So far I've been reasonably careful. I've had a few mishaps (drop a screwdriver on a motherboard, install a PCI card in a computer thats still powered on by mistake, etc...). Yet, I consider myself reasonably careful, and I have never broken a single piece of hardware in like 7 years, in a total of 100+ hardware installations.
I just don't have the money and patience to buy an entire computer - so i end up putting in a new part every year. So, since the original purchase, it's a home-assembled pc.
It's more fun this way as well (when you get it to work that is, the problems until it boots up fine are the cause of many headaches [smile] )
It's more fun this way as well (when you get it to work that is, the problems until it boots up fine are the cause of many headaches [smile] )
Quote:Original post by Ainokea
It's cheaper to build your own (if you already have a monitor) and you get all the parts you want. I don't see why anyone wouldn't.
earlier I stated that my experience is that getting it built for you is cheaper than getting your own parts. I believe this mainly because stores essentially discount the price based on getting all these parts at once. I will try to make a spreadsheet (whatis cheaper to do) based on some disount/oem computer stores around here...
The computer I'm using now, the family computer (sigh), has "custom parts" in it, but that's as far as that goes. However, I will be buying / assembling a custom PC soon enough, so I'm fairly excited about that.
Well, I am an artist but, I suppose I qualify?
Well, I am an artist but, I suppose I qualify?
Quote:Original post by superdeveloperNot to mention things like "that £200 printer over there, yeah, we'll throw that in for free too, oh, have a DVD of useful software, and Windows" and so on. Plus, you're guaranteed to have hardware that works together nicely. What I'll do is buy a package PC which I know will be easy to upgrade, throw in new bits until it's not really possible or viable to continue doing so, then get a whole new system.
earlier I stated that my experience is that getting it built for you is cheaper than getting your own parts.
I built mine.
First, I stole the Athlon64 schematics from AMD. I then grew a silicon wafer in my basement, and cut a die out of it. I used a laser pointer to etch traces in it and doped it, resulting in a core. I bought some aluminum at home depot, and used it to create a head spreader and pins that would fit into socket 939.
I then proceeded in similar fashion to manufacture a VIA K8T890 north bridge, a Marvell Yukon Gigabit chip, and a few other misc. things. After picking up some sockets from Radio Shack and soldering the whole thing together, the main part was done.
I bought some RAM chips from Micon (cheap, especially due to the pending litigation) and soldered them to a custom PCB that is compatible with DDR400.
I have to admit though, that the graphics card was purchased in retail. It turns out that the schematics for the GeForce 6600 are much harder to steal.
First, I stole the Athlon64 schematics from AMD. I then grew a silicon wafer in my basement, and cut a die out of it. I used a laser pointer to etch traces in it and doped it, resulting in a core. I bought some aluminum at home depot, and used it to create a head spreader and pins that would fit into socket 939.
I then proceeded in similar fashion to manufacture a VIA K8T890 north bridge, a Marvell Yukon Gigabit chip, and a few other misc. things. After picking up some sockets from Radio Shack and soldering the whole thing together, the main part was done.
I bought some RAM chips from Micon (cheap, especially due to the pending litigation) and soldered them to a custom PCB that is compatible with DDR400.
I have to admit though, that the graphics card was purchased in retail. It turns out that the schematics for the GeForce 6600 are much harder to steal.
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