09-17-2003, 09:19 AM
would building my own be cheaper/better or a pre-made one or maybe even a custom made one?
It's quite reasonable to build a better 'puter than any of the name-brands. It will also cost more.
Margins on 'puters are very slim. The big boys will cut costs anywhere they can. If it ain't listed in the specifications, it probably won't have it. Back in the days when L2 cache was on the motherboard, Dell made a lot of machines that were performance dogs. The average buyer had no idea of what L2 cache was, or what it did, and dell never listed it in the specs. At a time when 64k of L2 was a minimum, and 256k was reasonable, the Dell machines had zero. They DID have the sockets for the cache chips, and I wound up doing a LOT of upgrades on them.
Labour on 'puter assembly is also cheap. The "custom made" machines are often assembled by kids. If you know what you're doing, you can probably do a better job of assembly than the folks putting together the no-name machines.
As for what you use: Asus is always the safest bet on motherboards. Best quality, best support. Some other manufacturers may have a performance edge at one time or another, but Asus is easily the best long-term investment.
Noise: Sound Blaster, period. Go as high as you want, even the Audigy2 is now available in OEM for under Can$100, if that's too much go with an Audigy or Live.
Video: the ATI line-up is pretty easy to understand. The various nVidea chipset cards can be confusing to figure what is what. If you are up to doing the research, though, they can give a performance edge over the cheaper ATIs.
Everything else (RAM, HD, CD, etc.) can be pretty basic (512meg RAM, 120gig Seagate or WD drive, Sony or comparable CDRW or DVD). Whatever is left in your budget after that and incidentals (you DO have a case? :)goes for CPU.
-rcv-
It's quite reasonable to build a better 'puter than any of the name-brands. It will also cost more.
Margins on 'puters are very slim. The big boys will cut costs anywhere they can. If it ain't listed in the specifications, it probably won't have it. Back in the days when L2 cache was on the motherboard, Dell made a lot of machines that were performance dogs. The average buyer had no idea of what L2 cache was, or what it did, and dell never listed it in the specs. At a time when 64k of L2 was a minimum, and 256k was reasonable, the Dell machines had zero. They DID have the sockets for the cache chips, and I wound up doing a LOT of upgrades on them.
Labour on 'puter assembly is also cheap. The "custom made" machines are often assembled by kids. If you know what you're doing, you can probably do a better job of assembly than the folks putting together the no-name machines.
As for what you use: Asus is always the safest bet on motherboards. Best quality, best support. Some other manufacturers may have a performance edge at one time or another, but Asus is easily the best long-term investment.
Noise: Sound Blaster, period. Go as high as you want, even the Audigy2 is now available in OEM for under Can$100, if that's too much go with an Audigy or Live.
Video: the ATI line-up is pretty easy to understand. The various nVidea chipset cards can be confusing to figure what is what. If you are up to doing the research, though, they can give a performance edge over the cheaper ATIs.
Everything else (RAM, HD, CD, etc.) can be pretty basic (512meg RAM, 120gig Seagate or WD drive, Sony or comparable CDRW or DVD). Whatever is left in your budget after that and incidentals (you DO have a case? :)goes for CPU.
-rcv-