Custom-buidling a computer
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innonimatu
the resident Cassandra
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In terms of number of components is trivial to put together a computer now. It's down to selecting motherboard, CPU, memory, case, storage, and power supply. Everything else is optional. Sound, network and graphics have all been moved to the motherboard (or, lately, processor) and there is usually little reason to get dedicated components.
In selecting which components to use you'll have to decide what you want first. A quiet computer? Low power consumption? High performance? High reliability? Or none of these?
In general, if you don't need anything extreme, don't go for it. It's not worth the extra cost. You probably don't need high CPU performance unless you were doing serious scientific calculation or some-such thing; you don't need a fanless, noiseless system, only one which does not make noticeable noise; you don't need terabytes of storage for personal use unless you're storing large quantities of videos (and if you are get cheap discs for that purpose); you don't need dedicated graphics (get a motherboard/processor with onboard graphics) unless you really want to play some types of cutting-edge games. Summing it up: you don't need to spend a lot of money.
It probably isn't worth the time to even worry about all this just for assembling your own computer, just buy an assembled one. As for reliability: it's costly. It has become cheaper to simply swap a cheap component or even an entire computer when it dies that to get a very reliable one in order to avoid having do swap it frequently. There is the inconvenience of doing such swaps, though.
If you do end up assembling your own computer the two things you want to be reliable are probably the motherboard (can be a pain to swap) and the power supply (by far the component that fails more often if you go for a cheap one).
I am custom building a computer. I just picked up all the necessary components. It is actually quite fast and cheap computer (cheap compared to what it would cost to buy one from the store). I put a little emphasis on making it quiet too, but I'm too busy to actually assemble it right now so I don't know how quiet it actually is. Anyway, custom building a computer can be a really good deal if you know what you're doing and you know what you want.
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Even if you are storing terabytes of video, I don't think cheap discs really make sense. You can pick up a 3 TB HDD for $160 shipped on Newegg. For the same $160 you can get 800 Amazon Basic DVDs with free Super Saver shipping, which is slightly more at 3.67 TB. But with cheap DVDs you can expect a certain amount to be coasters - so let's take a couple hundred GB off and say 3.5 TB of usable DVDs, at an optimistic 95% non-coaster rate. Is the extra 16.6% storage worth the increased time it'll take to swap out 800 DVDs? Probably not - you could probably make up the cost difference pretty quickly working at below minimum wage.
Add in that DVD sleeves will make up about 14.7% on top of the DVD price if you want them (probably good for organization), and you're looking at a measly 50 GB of extra storage for the same price, or a 1.6% bonus. Whenever hard drive prices next fall, they'll be on top. Related: I do still like math sometimes...
Hehehe is right that custom-building can be a good deal, but primarily if you're already looking medium to high end. At the low end, the possible savings are less.
"Low end" makes little sense to custom build unless you can re use old parts or you are using "low end" components in an otherwise niche machine, like a quiet but modestly powered HTPC.
innonimatu
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@Quintillus: sorry if I wasn't clear, I didn't meant DVDs! I meant hard disks, and by cheap I meant don't pay extra for thinks like "raid editions".
DVDs are certainly dead as a storage or backup medium. Fit only for distributing software physically and (occasionally). Too small, unreliable, and most computers either lack DVD drives of have them malfunction without the owner noticing because the damn things and so cheaply built and get so little use.
DVDs are certainly dead as a storage or backup medium. Fit only for distributing software physically and (occasionally). Too small, unreliable, and most computers either lack DVD drives of have them malfunction without the owner noticing because the damn things and so cheaply built and get so little use.
GoodGame
Red, White, & Blue, baby!
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How about Blu-Ray?
Occasional standardization issues with USBs, and USB paranoia among IT people makes me think DVDs and even CDs will still continue.
I'd still get a terabyte HDD for a home-build, but I still port my DVD drive over because: 1. they're dirt cheap, 2. sometimes there are situations when I can only transfer data between systems by disk (no USB, no internet connection), and 3. USB drives are also dirt cheap but tend to break (nowhere near as often as disks become coasters, but neither is perfect).
Occasional standardization issues with USBs, and USB paranoia among IT people makes me think DVDs and even CDs will still continue.
I'd still get a terabyte HDD for a home-build, but I still port my DVD drive over because: 1. they're dirt cheap, 2. sometimes there are situations when I can only transfer data between systems by disk (no USB, no internet connection), and 3. USB drives are also dirt cheap but tend to break (nowhere near as often as disks become coasters, but neither is perfect).
Well, I'll be getting a blu-ray combo usb drive.
I don't see DVDs/CDs being at all relevant if IT is paranoid about USB, they'll be doing all their management over LAN and won't allow either USB or CD/DVD use.
2. I don't have any of those situations.
3. All my important stuff is stored on NAS drives in either a parity or mirrored configuration, and then the entire setup is mirrored to an offline, offsite backup.
I don't see DVDs/CDs being at all relevant if IT is paranoid about USB, they'll be doing all their management over LAN and won't allow either USB or CD/DVD use.
2. I don't have any of those situations.
3. All my important stuff is stored on NAS drives in either a parity or mirrored configuration, and then the entire setup is mirrored to an offline, offsite backup.
Integral
Can't you hear it?
innonimatu
the resident Cassandra
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Blu-ray still suffers from the same old problems from the CD age: physically large disks (and that problem is becoming more important as computers are made smaller), mechanical readers which very often turn out to be unreliable; and a need to remain compatible (keep a stable data format) for many years (which means that capacity doesn't accompany the increases in hard disks).
I'm surprised it even got some sales.
USB paranoia is well justified: a USB drive (or any other USB device) can actually be just about anything, and gets installed automatically by default on all modern operating systems. In can, for example, pretend to be a keyboard and send commands to the operating system, which will be run in the context of the user of the main console. USB devices from unreliable sources should be avoided.
Thorgalaeg
Deity
I have always built my own PCs since Commodore Amiga times. Dont believe anything you heard about problems with custom-built PCs, in fact it is easier to get crappy components in a pre-built PC since in many cases you get downgraded components or simply have not idea about what are you buying indeed, while building it yourself allows to choose every single piece at detail and full knowledge. That is particularly true today when you have easy access to unlimited reviews and info on any component at internet.
Mounting the PC is not difficult at all either since today component are made to be easily home-mounted. You can build a powerful machine at the price of a low-end pre-built PC. Also i see you live in USA, there you have access to humongous online shops as newegg where you can find any imaginable component at very reasonable prices.
In any case i recommend you to read, read lots of reviews and info in the net, look for other people custom PC specs (for some reason people love to post his PC specs) and look for consensus and finally post your own projected PC in some forums (here for instance) before buying the components to be sure you are not doing anything fundamentally wrong (for instance using a not powerful enough PS or mounting a SLI system in an inadequate Mobo...)
Take care though, if you like it too much PC building can become a expensive addiction .
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Ahhh... that makes sense.
I think it still makes sense to toss a DVD drive in a new computer, though. Chances are you've got old DVDs, and DVD drives are cheap - I think I paid $16 shipped for mine, and I don't think you'll find an external one cheaper than that. And every so often it can be useful to be able to burn an optical disk - operating system installs, rescue CDs, and perhaps more depending on your use case. I still burn audio CDs for my car since I don't have a compatible mp3 player.
utgotye
Warlord
Agreed. The cost is minimal and the convenience is still well beyond that cost. Realistically it would only take a couple uses for it to pay for itself, especially if you're in a bind or pressed for time.
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