Build system from scratch?

[dfallin at kc.rr.com]

Well.... that is sad news.  Yes, after reading more on the zdnet site I
noticed that they seemed to give 4 stars to everything.

I have built every computer that I have used for the past 10 years, but it
gets hard keeping up with every type of MotherBoard, CPU, Video Card,
etc....  especially if you only build a new system every 1.5 - 2 years.
So.........

I am thinking that I will maybe let this list guide me on this new system.
I will post my configuration and then everyone can tell me what they like
or dont like about the configuration or their experience with any
particular piece of Hardware.  This might end up being informative for
everyone.

Let me know what you all think of that proposal?  Are you even interested
in seeing such a post?

Daryl

On Thu, 17 Jan 2002, Jonathan Hutchins wrote:

> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Daryl [mailto:dfallin at kc.rr.com]
>
> > Ok..  well looks like I need another PC and I am trying to
> > decide if I am going to build my own or try and buy a system from
> > Dell/Compaq or somebody since things are so cheap.
>
>
> If you buy from a national company like those, you'll pay for brand name,
> reputation, and a national service network, along with a globbing bundle of
> everything Microsoft took money to endorse.
>
> Scratch-building can be interesting and fun, but by the time you pay
> shipping on everything, then cross your fingers and hope that all the
> components integrate well, you may not have saved much money and you won't
> have saved time.  Often even components that have individually received very
> good reviews will, when put together, not perform as well as they might
> given other choices.
>
> That said, there's a good deal of satisfaction to be had in the process.
> One of the few independent sites that reviews components as assembled,
> integrated systems is www.thedukeofurl.org which, sadly, will be shutting
> down soon.  They used to do regular system guides that offered a low-end,
> mid-range, and power-user system (and sometimes a multi-processor system as
> well).  Their latest is from October, but still worth reading:
> http://www.thedukeofurl.org/reviews/misc/linuxguide13
>
> I wouldn't trust reviews from CNet and ZDnet - they are heavily influenced
> by advertising revenue, and never saw a piece of hardware they didn't like.
> Tom's Hardware got bought out by one of 'em a while back and is no longer
> independent either.
>