For my own reference, and in case someone else might be interested,
here are the basic specifications for a fairly simple system I built in Taos in
the spring of 2002.
I depended mostly on this site.:
http://arstechnica.com
and in particular
http://arstechnica.com/guide/system/index.html
Also worth checking out:
http://www.tomshardware.com
http://www.tweak3d.net/articles/quietpc/
For checking out prices:
http://shopper.cnet.com/
http://www.pricewatch.com/
http://www.resellerratings.com/
At the time, I was studying for the A+ Certification test. That complemented
my research into what to buy and how to to assemble it.
I ordered everything via the Internet and had it shipped to a rural
address near Taos, NM. This strategy pretty much worked. No one is
selling components in Taos, so I didn't have much choice unless I wanted to
drive to Santa Fe or beyond. But I also wanted to see how much trouble it
would be to use only a dialup connection, credit cards, delivery services, and
the Post Office.
I didn't have any serious problems. One glitch was with a credit
card company. They saw me spending a lot of money in short succession
and shut down the card as precaution, which caused one supplier not
to ship as soon as they might have. I did have to speak with the credit
card people and the the supplier on the telephone.
Another minor problem was that Fedex driver put a package on the
south porch, where I didn't expect it and therefore didn't see. So it sat
there for a couple of days before things got straightened out. This also
required a phone call.
I think the Internet prices are considerably better than those at big
retailers in larger cities, such as CompUSA. However, you have to pay for
shipping. I spent about $1250 (not including printer) and got a nice system,
I think.
In general, you will not save money by building your own system as opposed
to a factory-assembled system like Dell, Gateway, HP, and so on. It
definitely costs more. And you have to spend a good bit of time studying
and planning. But you will have a more serviceable system.
Note a couple of things:
- It was difficult for me to figure out what to buy, and where to buy it.
I probably spent a good week at it.
- At one point, after I bought everything, I saw an email somewhere
that warned about a clearance problem with the CPU cooling fan and
the motherboard. I went ahead and used it by bending some capacitors
aside, but it would have been better to have bought a different cooling
fan.
- I didn't buy Windows ($200-$300, perhaps, plus lots more for application
software). Instead I used Linux, which cost $19.95.
donated another $10 to the "Debian" organization. (Actually, it
should be called Gnu/Linux.) This, and all Gnu-Linux "distributions"
can be downloaded from the Internet for free. But that would be
very time-consuming with just a dail-up line. Hence I ordered
the seven-CDROM set. On the other hand, that's all you get: seven
CD-ROMs. The instructions are on the CDROM. There is no printed
instruction manual.
Anyway, here are my specs.
====================================================================
CPU fan/heatsink
SVC GC68 12.48
Hard drive
Maxtor 60GB Ultra ATA133
7200 rpm 103.99
Floppy drive
Mitsumi D359M3 10.95
DVD player
Pioneer DVD-106S 16x IDE 56.99
CD-RW
Sony 175E 24x10x40 IDE 78.99
(shipping for drives: $15.15)
Sound Card
Sound Blaster Live 5.1 32.00
Keyboard/Mouse
Keytronic E03601MSE PS2
with mouse 11.00
Video Card
ATI Xpert 98
VGA ATI OEM|RAGE MOBILITY 8MB
SDRA% 1 13.00
(shipping video, sound,keyboard
$14.64)
Operating system
Debian Gnu/Linux, 2.2.r6 19.95
Donation to SPI/Debian 10.00
(shipping $6.45)
Monitor
ViewSonic 19IN/18.OV
27MM 1600 x 1200 85HZ P95F 399.00
(shipping $25.45)
Case
Antec SX630 Mini Tower ATX w/
300W ATX12V PSU 74.50
Motherboard
EPoX EP-8KHA+ VIA KT266A Socket A
ATX w/ Audio 91.95
CPU
AMD Athlon Thunderbird K7 - 1.1GHz
Socket A CPU no fan (OEM) 75.00
RAM
2 256MB DDR266 PC2100 CL2.5 Unbuffered DIMM
(Lifetime Warranty) @$55.00 110.00
(shipping RAM, Case, CPU, $27.29)
Total 1099.80
Shipping 15.15
14.64
6.45
25.45
27.29
88.98
1188.69
Additional items
3Com 3C905B-TX Ethernet card 44.95
Debian "Woody" on CD approx. 20.00
1253.64