custom computer vs "off the rack"

[Dozernut]

Re: custom computer vs \"off the rack\"

Yes they are supposed to work that way, but Murphy's law will step in. The last two hard drives we installed would not let us partition the hard drive, in fact it would do nothing. We had to go to another of our computers to format. They are supposed to work the way you described, but sometimes don't. I guess where I went wrong is word usage when I said "must".

 

[jmc]

Re: custom computer vs \"off the rack\"

Thanks, All, for the input. I admire you guys with the know-how and spheres to jump it and make your own. When a tractor part doesn't work, it's usually apparent what to do next. I don't feel anything like that with computers. Still, I'm going to look at the links you guys provided and check the newbie stuff. Good points about warranties too.

John

 

[RoyJackson]

Re: custom computer vs \"off the rack\"

"I admire you guys with the know-how and spheres to jump it and make your own"

Building a PC is pretty easy, actually.

Sometimes getting the software all to work can be a hassle.

It takes about an hour or so to get all the hardware installed (tip: the RAM should all be the same manufacturer...Kingston RAM works well with ASUS mother boards).

Back in the Win 3.1 and 95 days, you had to worry about DMA's and IRQ's...Win XP makes most of those type problems a non-issue.

 

[Soundguy]

Re: custom computer vs \"off the rack\"

I used to build my own PC's.. but nowadays.. you save very little money doing it that way. The last 4-5 PC's I've bought for home and office have been pre-configured 'box' systems.

The lower end systems do seem to come with chincy video cards.. usually intel graphic un-accelerators /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif.. step up a bit and you can get a halfway decent SIS card.. and step up again and get invidia or ATI card.. can't go wrong with either of those 2 chipsets. Look sfor systems with either 512 or 1 gig of memory already installed. Thos systems are designed for more than the casual home user, and generally have a better video card / processor installe dto make use of that extra ram..

Soundguy

Soundguy

 

[tjkadar]

Re: custom computer vs \"off the rack\"

I've always built my own computers. Had good luck with Asus and Abit motherboards. Had a lot of fun tweaking the machines and getting the most speed I could out of them. But, when our farm's horse shows started relying on the PC I went with a Dell.

I couldn't build my system for less then the Dell. Dell would make sure all the compenents played well together and the next day service is pretty nice.

The first thing I did when the computer got here was reformat the drive with a clean OS and start installing all of my own software. She's been a good machine so far.

 

[flwiii]

Re: custom computer vs \"off the rack\"

Most of the large 3D solid Modeling software packages, like Unigraphics etc. require video cards that very strictly support the Open GL standards. Most gammer cards support only the features that enhance gaming and the drivers are not specifically tuned completely for Open GL. That is why they are so picky. When my old employer switched to Unigraphics a few years ago, it would run sometimes on the lower priced video cards, but generally you would have nothing but problems, crashes and lockups. We ended up with high dollar IBM workstations with tons of RAM, and $1500 OpenGL video cards. No problems after that.