Epinions Computers Q&A Week 5: Building Your Own Computer
Apr 25 '01 (Updated Aug 04 '01)
The Bottom Line It's possible to build a top-of-the-line system for $2000--and for the right person, that's an absolute steal.
They say one of the best ways to learn is from other people's experiences, and that's no exception when it comes to computers. One of the best examples is the long standing tradition of PC "Q&A's" in computer magazines and websites, where readers submit their various questions on computer topics in hopes of getting their question (and, more importantly, the answer) published. Who knows how many hours I've saved by reading these Q&A's, and avoiding the same pitfalls that other computer users have already been victimized by?
With that in mind, I've created an email address at "computers_qa@yahoo.com" where you can send any computer-related questions you may have, and I'll "publish" the answers to the best questions. I will also respond via email to all questions received, even if they don't end up appearing in the actual Q&A.
I also promise to make each Q&A as educational as possible--not just to the people asking the question, but to everyone reading it as well. My goal is to make this a series of editorials about the topics you're interested in, not just the ones I want to write about.
As far as what makes a good question, basically any question relating to computers is fair game. As readers of my prior epinions can probably tell, my main areas of interest deal in upgrading advice, hardware buying advice, CPU's, system optimization, and troubleshooting, although of course questions needn't be limited to these topics. Feel free to check prior Q&A's for examples of good topics.
This week I'm trying something a bit different--instead of posting the Q&A in the Learning Computer Skills category (which remains inexplicably listed under the "Books" category), this week's is posted in How to Build Your Own Computer From Scratch. That's because this week's Q&A features only one particular question, submitted by Epinions newcomer fbliss. Don't worry--unlike some have speculated, the Q&A series has not been facing a massive shortage of questions (although the Inbox HAS been completely dry for this past week...) Instead, I've decided to make this question (and topic) the focus of this week's editorial. The rest of the currently-unpublished questions will be posted next week.
Again, please send all questions to computers_qa@yahoo.com and also let me know, if your question makes the next Q&A, whether you would like your Epinions member name published or if you'd rather stay anonymous.
This Week's Questions
What kind of system can I build for less than $2500?
Submitted by fbliss
Q: I just bought into the whole gimmick, got a Pentium 4 1.3 ghz, 256 megs RDRAM from Dell and now I'm ready to throw it out the window! I don't even have it yet and I'm dreading it! Man, the computer alone came to $2568, not including the digital camera. The place I work at is lending me the cash interest-free, but a small consolation when I just realized that I could've spent, oh, $500-$1000 less if I knew what I was doing before I bought this thing. Mebbe I can send it back before it gets shipped! So, my question for you is this:
For $2500 or under, what is the best system I can put together, with comparable speed, in the bang-for-your-buck department? My setup looks like this:
-256 megs PC800 Rambus RDRAM (should've gone with a Pentium III and SDRAM, right?)
-40 gig 7200 rpm Ultra ATA hard drive
-16x max variable DVD drive
-12/8/32x CD-RW
-17" Sony Trinitron monitor (.24-.25AG)
-32 meg DDR ATI Radeon video card
-USB keyboard/mouse (another gimmick in my book)
-v.90/56k telephony modem
-Soundblaster Live! Value soundcard
-base Harmon/Kardon speakers
-3Com HomeConnect 10MB phoneline PCI NIC
-(Free) printer (Lexmark Z22- if its free, it MUST be GREAT! note the sarcasm)
Tell me how much I could have saved for a comparable system, if I had the knowledge to put one together on my own or to buy into an AMD. How much more system could I have gotten for that same $2500? I'm leery of compatibility issues when putting together patchwork systems, but with guidance I would give it a try.
A: You're right that you could have saved quite a bit by either buying an AMD Athlon based system, custom-building your own system, or both, but depending on your needs I wouldn't necessarily say you've made the wrong choice. As much as I personally enjoy piecing together my own PC with parts I've carefully selected, knowing that I've purchased every single component for the lowest possible cost and maximum possible performance, there's definitely something to be said for the luxury of the pre-built PC with 24-hour tech support and on-site service. It's a luxury that I've never had, personally :-).
However, if you are definitely A) Looking to buy a PC in the $2500 range and B) Are willing to take on the challenge of putting together your own PC, here's a price breakdown to give you an idea of what it would have cost.
Note that all these prices were found using simple searches at www.pricewatch.com and www.mysimon.com. If you're not familiar with those sites, they're both "price search engines", a.k.a. "shopping bots", which find the best prices of any merchant listed in their system. It's the quickest and easiest way to get prices on any given component, although there's certainly better (and more time consuming) ways for those looking to do the research (see my article on Building a PC For Gamers for some examples).
Anyway, here goes. I tried to make this as similiar as possible to the system you ordered:
UPDATED 7-29-01: In the three months since this article was first written, prices of almost all computer hardware have continued to drop at an unprecedented rate. It's interesting how much the system configuration originally described below still holds up as a "top-of-the-line" PC today, but the prices are now pretty outdated. I've updated the prices for all the components as of today, and the processor recommendation is now a 1.4 ghz Athlon instead of the 1.33 Athlon when this article was first posted. All other parts remain the same.
1.4 ghz Athlon w/266 mhz FSB: $160
Not only does the 1.4 ghz Athlon have a higher clock-speed than the 1.3 ghz Pentium 4 in your system, but it actually performs on par with fastest 1.8 ghz P4's in most tests, despite costing about ONE FOURTH as much! And since the AMD's "pricing structure" has the fastest Athlons for only a small premium over the slower ones (ex. the Athlon 900 only costs about $100 less than the 1.4 ghz), it only makes sense to buy the fastest Athlon currently available.
Epox 8K7A+ Motherboard with onboard RAID: $139
To go with the 1.4 ghz 266 mhz FSB Athlon (there's also a version which has a 200 mhz FSB) you'd want the best DDR motherboard you can find. There's several good ones right now, but I'd suggest the Epox 8K7A+, which is considered by many to be the best all-around DDR board currently available. Not only does it use the AMD 761 chipset which is a good deal faster than the competing ALI Magik and VIA KT266 chipsets, but it also has onboard RAID (to have multiple hard drives working simultaneously) and it has the best overclocking features of the current DDR boards.
Those overclocking features come in handy considering the latest Athlon's typically overclock in the 1.6 - 1.8 ghz range, regardless of their official "rated" speeds. I'm using an older 1 ghz Athlon in my home system, and it's been running beautifully at 1391, mhz which is the highest my motherboard will allow (when I upgrade my motherboard eventually I'll try 1.5 or 1.6 ghz).
(NOTE: As Epinions member Vplite pointed out, my prior motherboard recommendation, the AOpen AK73-1394, is actually an SDR motherboard, not DDR, so I've updated this article accordingly. I apologize for any confusion)
256 mb DDR PC2100 $41.39
It's really an incredible time to buy memory right now, with even the fastest DDR PC2100 RAM selling for about 15 cents per megabyte--a ridiculous ONE TENTH of what plain old PC100 RAM was selling for just one year ago. And I actually got this price quote from Crucial.com, no less--the best source for the highest quality name-brand RAM (they're actually subsidiary of Micron, one of the world's leading memory manufacturers). Buying DDR RAM is also a great way to save compared to buying a P4-based system, which can use only Rambus RDRAM. In this case, 256 megs of RDRAM would cost about three times as much.
PC Power & Cooling Mid-ATX Case w/Turbo-Cool 350 watt power supply: $150
PC Power & Cooling is known for producing some of the best high-end PC equipment like coolers, cases, power supplies, etc. and $150 is a good price for a high-quality case & power supply combo, which can often last for many years (and complete system upgrades).
40 GB Deskstar 60GXP $135
For the last 6 months the IBM Deskstar 75 GXP has been the fastest IDE hard drive available (see my review for details), and its successor, the strangely named 60GXP, is even faster--despite being about the same cost. Pretty incredible deal, if you ask me, considering that it's not much more expensive than much-slower drives from other brands.
Now the rest of these parts are exactly the same as the Dell you ordered, or are the closest match:
SB Live 5.1: $50
Pioneer DVD-115 16x/40x DVD Drive: $50
17" Sony Trinitron: $325
Plextor PlexWriter 12X10X32 CD-RW Drive: $140
Radeon DDR AGP 32MB Video Card $125
US Robotics Hardware 56k modem: $60
3COM Etherlink 10/100 PCI Network Interface Card: $50
Z22 Color Jetprinter $70
Intellimouse Optical $40
Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite USB $35
Harman Kardon 2.1 speakers ~$100
Total: $1520
NOTE: Three months ago, the total cost was $1950
Of course, none of these costs factor in shipping, which can either be one of the biggest expenses or, depending on how much time you're willing to spend, almost negligible. When I bought all the components for my latest system, I took advantage of every possible free shipping offer I could, every single step of the way. I even managed to get free next-day shipping on my 17-inch monitor by ordering through Staples.com! Altogether, my shipping costs averaged to only a few dollars per component, which I easily made up for by paying zero sales tax on almost all the components. Of course, if you're not careful it's easy to spend upwards of $300 in shipping alone when building your system.
Naturally, if you were to simply buy each component from the cheapest vendor possible, you could easily order from a dozen different merchants and break the bank on shipping alone. Buying from just a single vendor is also pointless, since the cost for any given part can vary dramatically from one store to the next. Generally speaking, the key is to order from as few vendors as possible, and as many low-cost-shipping vendors as possible, while minimizing your overall costs.
I also haven't factored in the cost of an operating system, since it can vary so dramatically depending on your choice of OS and your prior OS ownership. One could theoretically go with the free Linux OS, or spend hundreds of dollars on a Windows XP full license. Most likely is that you already own a Win98 disc, OR if you have owned any Microsoft OS in the past you can qualify for upgrade versions of their OS'es (for example, the upgrade Windows ME can be found for $30-40).
For this system, even after allocating a pretty generous $200 for shipping and OS expenses, you still have $750 to go before reaching your $2500 limit. With that extra $750, you could easily upgrade to the THX-Certified Klipsch Promedia 4.1 speakers (the best 4.1's money can buy) for an additional $150, and the Geforce 3 64 MB DDR graphics card for an additional $200, also the best money can buy. Heck, you'll even have enough to upgrade to a 17-inch LCD display if your really want to go all-out.
With those "upgrades", you're basically looking at a top-of-the-line system, with the best (or almost best), CPU, RAM, motherboard, graphics card, hard drive, DVD drive, CD-RW drive, and speakers you can possibly find. And you still haven't cracked the $2000 barrier. So are you drooling at the mouth yet? :-)
Of course, like I said at the beginning of this email, it's easy to become blinded to the drawbacks of the do-it-yourself route once you start realizing the incredible cost savings. When people start fantasizing about their dream PC, I doubt many people imagine their video card dying on them before they've even finished assembling the entire system, or getting screwed over by some two-bit computer shop who won't send you all the parts you ordered. Also keep in mind that not only do you have go through the process of ordering and assembling all the components, but you'll also have that many companies to deal with if anything goes wrong.
Anyway, I hope you found this all useful, and let me know what you end up doing with that new Dell. Whatever you end up deciding, I wouldn't worry about it too much since that system should last you at least a few years before you need to invest in a new one. Who knows; with the rate that software-requirements have been increasing over the past year, (i.e. almost none) that new PC might end up lasting you indefinitely :-).
Good luck,
-vicwang
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Epinions.com ID:
vicwang
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Member: Vic Wang
Location: Texas
Reviews written: 45
Trusted by: 216 members
About Me:
Systems Analyst and all-around computer guru who's always keeping up with the latest technology.
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