In Response to Do-It-Yourself Article

[Guest]

I do know one PC manufacturer that overclocks the CPU and the graphic card. The name is <A HREF="http://www.alinenware.com" target="_new">Alienware</A>. While this PC manufacturer seems little known, it has racked up more than a few awards from some publications that actually reviews its machines.

To overclock the graphic card, Alienware would even use integrated cooling solution to make sure the graphic card does not overheat.

 

[Kodiak]

Alienware, Hypersonic, Falcon NW, VooDoo, etc... all can OC if the customer wants it... they make customized machines mostly though, they're not in the same league as DELL, IBM, Compaq, HP etc, which is what I think he was getting et...

personally, I was *HUGELY* dissapointed by the article... it doesn't help me with anything... shooting two pictures of the cooler doesn't tell me how to install it properly without breaking the core, or how to apply the goo properly, or which compond is better etc etc
same for RAM and other components... seriously, what have we learned from this article? The only possible worth is the recommendation for the quality components, but that is in the here & now realm, and will be invalid two weeks down the road when new stuff comes up, while some good instructions on how to actually, physically setup your system without breaking anything would have been useful for a long, long time... the article isn't worth the read, even though there isn't that much to actually read... so dissapointed...

 

[Guest]

I, actually liked the article. I am a complete newbie when it comes to building a PC, so to me it was very instructive. But still I agree that it could have been more detailed, especially in some parts where I felt there was little explanation. For example, there was little info below the photos and some photos didn't look like they were taken carefully and they looked confusing.

 

[bdaley]

I thought the article must have been aimed at newbies. Anyone who's ever built a PC would already know this stuff. And we already know you can get a better system for the money by building it yourself...that's why we build 'em!

"There's no such thing as gravity, the Earth just sucks"

 

[lbianch]

Yeah, but if you pick anybody off the street and ask them what some computer companies are, he/she wouldn't say Alienware or any of the other companies that will overclock for you. Odds are Compaq, Gateway, Dell, Hewlett Packard would be the most common.

I really liked that case. Why didn't he tell us it was the In-Win S500? (I have it, BTW).

 

[cove3]

Couple of things would be of interest: 1. What would an identical system cost from a vendor. The % or amount saved would give a good idea of how much savings. The hour or two assembly doesn't count the time to gather up the components. Other hidden costs are the risk of failure, no support, no warranty, etc. If one only saves a few hundred bucks, maybe it's not worth the trouble
2. Why wouldn't one buy the mother board already populated with the appropriate cpu and memory. Price
Watch seems to list them that way and it would simplify the assembly, unless the savings say otherwise

 

[walkr]

If you buy all your parts from a retail store, it would be cheaper to buy as a custom pc already assembled and get three year Warranty

 

[cellbiogeek]

I think newbies would benefit from knowing that there is much more to setting up a system on the A7V than what was included in the article. They're the ones who need to be told to check forums etc. about bios set-up, driver and bios updates, where to plug in their ATA 100 HD and with which connector, where to put the PCI cards, and how NOT to melt or break their CPU. Sure, none of this is any big deal but I think the inexperieced might like to know the full extent of setting up a system BEFORE laying down the cash.

At the molecular level I'm realy quite busy.

 

[Guest]

you are missing out the fun of making the PC yourself, also the warrantly is on individual parts so you don't lose it you just have to strip the faulty parts out. Oh and did I mention the fact that your 3yr warranty is void if you open the case and add some more RAM or a new graphics card....

Think about the advantages of having warranty on individual parts instead of the complete thing

M

one of the first UK T-Bird users....

 

[bdaley]

Sure, not enough info. for someone who has never built a PC, but nothing new for someone who has. It's really only the most basic information about putting together a PC.

It seems to me that Tom's point was that you can get more for your money by building it yourself. But of course experienced PC builders already know that. The only people who this would be news to are newbies.



"There's no such thing as gravity, the Earth just sucks"

 

[Kodiak]

>> not enough info. for someone who has never built a PC,
>>but nothing new for someone who has

exactly --> so who is the article useful for?
Somebody who hasn't built a computer before and doesn't yet know how to, can only get in trouble by following the article -- its not an encompassing "how-to", more of a high-level overview...
and the real experts can only yawn at it...

so no target audience is visible...

 

[Atman]

I enjoyed the article, I suppose. It surely wasn't meant for the advanced and more likely for the new user. Besides that, I'm sure they could have been as technical as anyone would like, but wanted/needed to keep the article below 100 pages. It was very generalized, and to be quite honest, bored me. I am curious, though, where do you find 256MB of Premium PC-133 RAM for $83 (or whatever it was)???
I just checked crucial and 256MB PC-133 delivered costs $135...quite a difference. I'm not a fan of generic RAM...I know there are differing opinions on that...mine is DON'T use it. Oh well....there's my two cents worth or you can just give me a penny for my thoughts and return the change.

Have a Good One,

Atman

 

[Guest]

personally i enjoyed the article but will agree with Kodiak that the article was not indepth enough for the average newbie. also i have to point out a major price difference to the pre assembled pc's and that is bundled software which can add several hundred dollars to the pricetag.