Michael Dinowitz wrote: > Is it better to buy a complete system or to build it. I've got a quote of $1608 for >a 2ghz Dell with 512 ram and 80 gig hard, plus a 19 inch. It looks like a stacked >system but would there be a major savings if I bought all the parts and built it from >scratch? Shipping isn't an issue as Dell has free shipping now.
How much do you know about hardware? How much do you you value your own time? How well do you know what you want? If you go to a reputable vendor and check the price of equal components, how big is the difference? Personally, I build everything myself. No messing with Dell/IBM/Compaq all in one driver disks that don't tell anything about the hardware and then leave you out dry when you want to run Windows 2000 instead of Windows ME. When the different hardware pieces arrive I check whether they are complete with manual/drivers/warranty or I don't sign for them. That way, I always have everything I need. I also have a good mail-order company that gives a minimum of 3 years warranty on everything, so no problem there. For a run of the mill desktop: - cheapest Athlon or Celeron socket 478 processor (it is not the deciding factor in overall performance anymore) - 512 MB - motherboard with onboard IDE RAID - Matrox Millenium G550 videocard (never try to safe money on this) - 30+ GB HDD, with random seek time more important as size This will probably be cheaper as that Dell. So invest all the extra money in a 17" LCD instead of the 19" CRT or in extra harddisks so you can start to use the RAID or in more RAM. If you want something special, such as a dual Athlon server system (we got 2 now) with exactly this, this and that component (e.g. not all RAID cards are that well supported under *BSD), it is usually a lot cheaper to do it yourself, if it is available from a normal vendor at all. Be aware of the hidden cost: time and perhaps licenses. Just my $0.02 But most of all: it is fun to put a system together :) Jochem -- Boys like playing with their toys. ______________________________________________________________________ Structure your ColdFusion code with Fusebox. Get the official book at http://www.fusionauthority.com/bkinfo.cfm Archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/index.cfm?sidebar=lists
