This computer build will be more on the high end because I tend to use computers
for a little of everything instead of just focusing on one thing. If I were to present this to
an employer who wanted a high end PC it would be near exact to this unless they
demanded specific things. With high end though comes a higher costs which is a factor
because I feel if you don’t have a limit you may spend more then you really need to.
Unless you are rich this is always a factor to keep in mind. With a limit and wanting a
high end computer I may have to cut corners or go with cheaper products in certain areas
so it really becomes a balancing act on what to choose, and what you already have. I will
be going with Windows XP as my main OS for this system as I feel I won’t have to
worry about any incompatibility issues and I’m used to working with it and can say it is
really good.
I never really have a main purpose for a system as I tend to use them for
everything, whether it is gaming, internet, work, music, video, editing
pictures/audio/video. Needless to say I usually give them quite a bit of a workout. I do
think this time I want to add a nicer sound card instead of an onboard because of better
sound quality if the budget allows it. I will probably stick with one graphics card and not
go SLI right now (but keep this is an optional upgrade later on) This will cause me some
headaches trying to choose good hardware with a budget however I am confident in
doing so. I am just one of those people that tend to sit there and say, “well I may want to
do this later on so I should make sure this part is good and that part” It’s all about having
options and making it good to run for a few years.
I figure I will set a budget at about $3000 for this computer. This makes it
difficult in having the ultimate PC but it is very doable. Why do I set a limit? Well
because if you don’t then you may just spend more money then you really need to like I
stated above. Also, unless you’re rich you are always going to have a budget on what
you can purchase so it is a good idea to have this practice now. Granted I don’t always
stick to the budget but those are in extreme headache cases. I have learned though that I
can easily build a great PC for a lot less money then companies try to pawn off on you.
(And we know they aren’t always using the high prices parts and brands)
Here is a listing of the hardware and such that I will be purchasing for this system.
I found all products at newegg.com and since they are quick and reputable, I would stick
them to make these purchases. I will include the price of each and the total (there are no
taxes for me). Since I will be getting them all at the same place, I will just add them all
together in a cart and get the complete shipping cost for all products together.
-Motherboard - MSI P6N SLI Platinum:
$139.99
-CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6850:
$289.99
-Case - Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS:
$164.99
-PSU - Thermaltake Toughpower W0128RU:
$149.99
-Ram - CORSAIR XMS2 DOMINATOR 2GB x 2:
$308.00
-HDD - Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD:
$184.99
-Video Card - BFG Tech GeForce 8800GTS:
$425.99
-Sound Card - Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty:
$174.99
-Optical Drive - Pioneer DVR-112D DVD +/- R/RW:
$29.99
-Floppy Drive - NEC Black 1.44MB 3.5" FD1231H-302:
$6.99
-Monitor - SAMSUNG 206BW Black WS 20”:
$269.99
-Mouse - Razer Copperhead Tempest Blue:
$55.99
-Keyboard - Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard:
$68.99
-WiFi card - LINKSYS WMP54GS IEEE 802.11b/g PCI: $59.99
-OS – Microsoft Windows XP PRO with SP2:
$286.99
Total of $2617.86
UPS 3 Day Shipping: $57.43
The MSI P6N SLI Platinum Motherboard:
This motherboard is feature filled and has good specs such as the following:
-An LGA 775 Socket
-Support for Quad Core, Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Duo.
-FSB speeds of 1333/1066MHz
-Hyper-threading support (which is not needed in my case)
-The North Bridge has an Nvidia nFORCE 650i SLI chip
-The South Bridge has an Nvidia nFORCE 430i chip
-4 Ram 240 pin slots. Support for Dual channel and up to 8GB running DDR2 800.
-Two PCI express X16 slots for SLI technology and one PCI express x1 slot.
-3 normal PCI slots
-2 PATA connections and 4 SATA connections
-Onboard audio using Realtek ALC888 HD with 8 channels (this won’t be used) No
onboard video thank god.
-Onboard LAN chip using REALTEK with speeds of 10/100/1000 Mbps.
-The normal 2 PS/2, 1 LPT ports and 4 USB 2.0 ports
-This is an ATX form factor Motherboard with a 24 pin ATX connector.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130081
I chose this motherboard as I knew I wanted to go with an Intel processor and this
supports quite a few of them. I also used an MSI motherboard in my last desktop and it
worked great so I wanted to stick with what worked for me. Reviews were good for this
motherboard and it has the speed, it may be a bit lacking in the over clocking but that
shouldn’t be needed (always a yin and yang to everything) The FSB is fast and will
match the speeds of the processor I was looking at. The onboard audio won’t be used this
time but they seem to come with about every motherboard and no onboard video is great
because I never use them. Including support for floppy, PATA and SATA connections is
a plus for me as I plan to use them all. It gives me great ability to upgrade the RAM also
through out its use because of the 8GB that it supports (More Ram always good) I also
needed something that supports SLI because I would like to go in that direction at some
point and don’t want to have much headaches in doing so and this supports it with 2 X16
slots. Overall with having the onboard LAN and the normal USB connections and
options in case of future upgrading, I made the right choice.
The next choice was to find the right CPU for me to use on this in which case I
chose the Intel Core 2 duo E6850:
A picture was hard to find on this but it said it was it. This CPU has the following
features:
-An LGA 775 Socket to fit in my motherboard
-It is a Dual core processor that runs at 3.0GHz
-The FSB runs at 1333 MHz and matches up with the motherboard.
-2 Cache levels: L1 is 32KB + 32KB and L2 is 4M shared.
-65nm tech which is great!
-64-bit support
-Virtualization technology support.
-MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3 and EM64T Multimedia instructions
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115028
I chose this CPU for a few different reasons. After trying out core 2 duo in my
laptop I really enjoy the way it works. I wanted to stick with this trend and the quad
cores seem relatively new and expensive yet. I figure I would save some money going
this route. The reviews mentioned how this CPU Is blazing fast right out of the box
(thankfully it includes the heatsink and fan) I always like to hear blazing fast! The FSB
runs at 1333 MHZ which works perfect for my motherboard and no bottlenecks should
occur. Having 2 cache levels is good enough for me and they are sufficient enough. It
runs rather fast for a core at 3.0 GHz which is the area I was looking for. I wanted to
stick with Intel as they have mostly been my own personal choice when it comes to
processors. (I just never got into the AMD scene) Never had any problems with Intel and
this seemed like the perfect match! It’s fast, it’s got great reviews, and it’s not overly
expensive and works just fine in my motherboard. This computer is going to be
smoking! (Hopefully not literally)
The next step I took was to look for a proper case before getting into much else.
This step can really happen anywhere really but I figured I knew I wanted a big case with
lots of room and air flow and some style. I went with the Thermaltake Armor Series
VA8003BWS:
This case has the following features:
-ATX/BTX Full Tower
-Side Panel Window
-Micro ATX, ATX, Extend ATX, BTX compatibility
-10 external 5.25” drive bays
-2 external 3.5” drive bays
-6 internal 3.5” drive bays
-7 expansion slots
-Front USB, Audio, and Firewire ports
-2 90mm fans, 2 120mm fans, and 1 250mm side panel fan.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133021&Tpk=Thermal
take%2bArmor%2bSeries%2bVA8003BWS
This case kind of stood out to me. I saw some awesome looking cases with killer
designs but they were really pricey. This had a cheap yet good design factor going for it.
I like to have different type of cases instead of the normal looking things. I like the side
panel with the 250mm fan on it which will easily help keep the system cooled down.
Considering it comes with another four fans is always a plus (2 of which have blue
LEDS) This case is big, which I wanted because I like to have lots of room inside to
work with and for future upgrades not to mention more room for airflow. All the drive
bays in the front are a bit overkill but it isn’t too bad. With adding two optical drives (1
for now) and a floppy drive and having to use the sound card external unit connected to
the front bay, it all works out and will look nice. The blue LEDS are attracting to me
(what can I say, I like colors) It has been said that it has a very nice air flow and will keep
everything cooled down. Having 6 internal 3.5” bays is nice for adding lots of hard
drives! The front USB and Firewire ports are always a nice extra option to have just for
the fun of it. All in all, I think this will work just fine.
Next up I needed a power supply for the case as it does not include one. Looking
around I figured I would find a PSU in the 600-700 watt range for this PC. I found one
from the same company that made the case which is the Thermaltake Toughpower
W0128RU:
This PSU has the following specs:
-ATX12V/EPS12V
-650W maximum power
-1 14cm fan
-Active PFC
-20+4 pin Main Connector
-1 12V 4+4 Connector
-6 Sata plugs
-1 floppy plug
-7 peripheral connectors
-2 6pin PCI-E connectors
-Support for SLI
-Up to 85% Efficiency
-Mean Time Before Failures – 120,000 hours
-Dual Core CPU ready
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153040&Tpk=Thermal
take%2bToughpower%2bW0128RU
I was happy they offered some good PSU choices. I always liked to match the
PSU with the case brand if possible. This has a maximum of 650 watts and should be fine
with this computer build and should do just as well with some future upgrades too. It has
a lot of connectors on it so it will cover what I’m looking to do such as molex, SATA,
and PCI express. The MTBF is good enough for me and the SLI support is just peachy
for a future option. The main connector and 12V will work in the motherboard so we
should all be set with this PSU.
So now it was time to find some RAM to put in this bad boy. CORSAIR XMS2
DOMINATOR 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual
Channel Kit Desktop Memory:
-240 Pin DDR2 SDRAM
-Speed is DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
-CAS latency is 4
-Capacity 2GB (2 X 1)
-Timing 4-4-4-12
-2.1V
-Dual path Heat Xchange, EPP, and SLI certified
-Dual Channel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145168&Tpk=XMS2%
2bDOMINATOR%2b2GB
I am sticking with Corsair ram because they are highly rated and plus I used them
before in my desktop and now in my laptop. I never ran into any problems with them and
they performed well. With these though, I want to pick up 4 sticks so we’ll have a total
of 4GB. They are 240pin which will fit the motherboard and rated at DDR2 800 which
matches the motherboards speed. They are dual channel and also SLI certified which
would furthermore cause us no problem with adding SLI later. There are of course more
expensive models with better over clocking and lower latency but all in all I think these
will perform quite well for our system in the price range. Now it was onto the HDD.
The Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD:
This HDD has the following specs:
-3.5” Form factor
-Serial ATA150 Connection
-A capacity of 150GB
-10,000 RPM
-16MB Cache
-Average seek time of 4.6ms and an average write time of 5.2ms with a 2.99ms average latency
-1.2 Million hours MTBF
-NCQ
-1.5Gb/s data transfer rate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136012
I decided to stick with Western Digital like I usually do and went with the Raptor.
I have a Raptor in my other desktop (much small in capacity) and it performed amazingly
well! From experience I chose to get another Raptor with more capacity. Never ran into
any serious problems with Western Digital and feel comfortable going with them again.
This is of course an SATA drive and I would be using that as my motherboard supports
it. I like the fact that it gives you the option to use a molex or SATA power connection.
This drive will be my main OS drive which will run the OS, programs, and games. The
150GB capacity is good enough for that usage for me. Eventually I would like to add on a
secondary hard drive for backup uses and such as that is kind of my signature. I like the
cache size on this drive and the fact that it is 10,000 RPM is a lot faster then the average
7200 RPM drives out there. All in all this is a great pick and from experience, it will
perform well.
Next up was the Video card and I wanted to stay with Nvidia. My choice came
down to the BFG Tech GeForce 8800GTS:
It contains the following:
-Nvidia Chipset
-PCI express x16 interface
-Geforce 8800 GTS GPU
-Core clock speed of 580MHz
-640MB onboard GDD3 memory
-Memory clock at 1700MHz
-320-bit memory interface
-Support for DirectX 10 and OpenGL 2.0
-2 DVI ports, HDTV/SVIDEO TV out
-SLI support
-Max Resolution of 2650x1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143092
Does this thing just not look like a beast? It screams power! I just love the look
of this card! I knew I wanted to go with Nvidia again and having heard that BFG makes
good products I wanted to give them a try. This card supports SLI which is a big part of
choosing it so later on it would be able to go SLI! It uses the x16 PCI express slot so it
will fit just fine. The 8800 GPU is great and with support for DirectX 10 I would like to
think that I am set for the future. The 640MB onboard GDD3 is quite a lot and I don’t
think there will be any problems with this for a long time. Having DVI ports (which
seem to be the new age VGA ports) and options for HDTV and Svideo TV outputs really
adds to this card. With an onboard fan and heatsink to keep it cooled, it should be plenty
good. I am very happy with this card, it is a bit pricey but all the good graphics cards
are. Should be no problem handling games including Crysis.
It was time to find a sound card for this system and I wanted to get more extreme
then just using the onboard so I went with the Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty
Champion Series:
-X-FI audio Chip
-7.1 Channels
-192 KHz sample rate
-24 bit digital audio
-Line In
-Line out = Front, Rear, Center, Subwoofer, Rear Center
-SPDIF In = Optical and Coaxial
-SPDIF out = Optical and Coaxial
-Mic In
-Midi/Joystick
-Headphone Jack
-CD/AUX
-PCI interface
-External Box adapter and Remote Control
-Gaming Mode
-EAX Advanced HD
-X-Fi Crystalizer
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829102014&Tpk=Creative
%2b70SB046A00003%2bPlatinum
This sound card seems to have everything! The features sound great and all the
ports make me happy. I love the fact that it has an external box that can sit in the front
drive bay which has tons of jacks and ports with easier access then having to get behind
the computer all the time. It is a PCI card so it will be fine in my motherboard. The
remote control is a neat add on for it, I would probably end up using it! 7.1 Channels is
great although I don’t have a 7.1 surround sound system, it still is a nice option for the
future. It seems to have very clear sound output and reading up on the X-FI Crystalizer
makes it sound amazing. Seeing as I listen to music and mp3’s so much, that would be a
great feature to have. It can also turn stereo music and movies into surround sound which
I would love to try out. I am excited about this sound card!
Next up was to find a good reader/burner for all uses. I went with the Pioneer
112D DVD+/-R:
-E-IDE/ATAPI
-2MB Cache
-Writes DVD+R/RW/DL, DVD-R/RW/DL, CD-R/RW
-Reads DVD-ROM/CD-ROM
-Maximum write speeds: +/- DVDR 18X, DVD+RW 8X, DVD-RW 6X, DVD+/- DL --10X, CD-R 40x, CD-RW 32X.
-Maximum Read Speeds: DVDROM 16x, CDROM 40X
-5” form factor
-Black Panel
-Loading tray mechanism
-Quiet Drive Technology
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129007
I have used Pioneer burners for the past 5 years I believe and they had worked
rather well for me. Usually rated well and performance is good. I stuck with the formula
and went with the 112D. I was thinking of getting a blu-ray burner but they are pretty
expensive right now. This drive has nearly everything, reading and writing nearly all the
kind of optical discs available. I burn CD’s, I burn DVD’s, I burn Dual layers so it works
out for me. The read and write speeds are normal and are good enough for me. Ratings
were good on this and it uses the older E-IDE/ATAPI interface which is fine for me as
my mother can handle that and I kind of like to split the optical and hard drives apart a
bit. The quiet drive technology is a nice feature although I think the cache may be a bit
small but with burn proof technology these days, it doesn’t really matter. Overall,
secondary optical drive can be added at some point but this will work fine and is not
expensive.
Next up I decided to go old school and add a floppy drive. The NEC Black
1.44MB 3.5"FD1231H-302 is the model I chose for this. What can I really say about
this? It’s a floppy drive!! I chose this just because I always like to have a floppy drive
installed just in case. I guess I still haven’t completely moved on from them yet. It’s a
cheap option to have installed so why not? It is black with a 3.5” form factor. What is
more to say about a floppy drive?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16821152005&Tpk=FD1231
H-302
Now it was time to search for a monitor. It had to be LCD and widescreen is a
plus now, I found the SAMSUNG 206BW Black WS 20”:
-20” Widescreen
-Maximum and Recommended Resolution 1680x1050
-Viewing angle: 160°(H) / 160°(V)
-Pixel Pitch: .258mm
-16.7 Million Display colors
-300 cd/m2 brightness
-Contrast Ratio 800:1 (Dynamic of 3000:1)
-2ms Response time
-WSXGA+ Display Type
-D-sub and DVI-D connections
-Dimensions 18.7”x15.6”x8.6”
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001095&Tpk=SAMSU
NG%2b206BW%2bBlack%2bWS%2b20%25e2%2580%259d
I went with Samsung because they are a pretty popular name and I feel confident
with them in the monitor department. I have a 40” LCD HDTV from them and its
amazing which made me feel more confident in choosing this. Good reviews, great
specs, and very good pricing. Having widescreen is becoming a must and a standard and
with a 20 inch screen, this will be perfect. The response rate is only 2ms which is very
good and I bet ghosting will be no issue with this. The contrast ratio is not bad and
should provide enough for great colors. Two connection options are good to have and
should work just fine. I’m real happy that I found this monitor with its sleek black design
as it should provide a beautiful display for this computer.
Now it was time to search for a mouse and I ended up finding the Razer
Copperhead:
-Wired USB mouse
-Laser tracking
-7 Buttons / 1 wheel
-Blue light display
-2000 maximum DPI
-1000Hz ultrapolling with 1ms response time
-32KB onboard memory
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826153003
I got one of these with my laptop only in green color. I love the feel and response
of it which is why I wanted to get one for this. I went with the tempest blue color to
match the desktop a bit more. I don’t mind wired USB because then I don’t have to
worry about changing batteries all the time. Laser tracking is always great and I wouldn’t
want to go back to the older kind. The maximum dpi is very good and causes the mouse
sensitivity to be spot on. I like the onboard memory and the fact that you can upgrade the
firmware on this is just neat. The buttons can be programmed to what you want and the
fact that is has buttons on it are nice options. It is a very nice mouse which is great for
gaming and fine for normal use.
Now for the keyboard, a Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard:
-USB keyboard
-Standard design style
-Detachable palm rest
-104 normal keys
-34 Function keys
-Gamepanel LCD
-Illuminated characters
-18 Programmable G Keys
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126179
This keyboard looks awesome! Coming from Logitech I would suspect a good
product as I have used them for quite awhile now in the mouse and keyboard department.
This keyboard has an interesting twist with an LCD game panel display built into it! That
is such a cool idea as it displays information about the game on the fly. The keys are can
be illuminated so you can see them when it is dark, nice! Having a detachable palm rest
is common and once again nice. This keyboard will rock the gaming and everyday
needs.
So the next item was to make sure I had something to connect to a Wireless router
as this is common now. So I went with the LINKSYS WMP54GS:
-802.11b/g
-Date rates up to 54Mbps
-64bit and 128bit WEP and WPA Security
-32bit PCI interface
-2.4GHz Frequency Band
-Speedbooster technology
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833124139&Tpk=LINKS
YS%2bWMP54GS%2bIEEE%2b802.11b%252fg%2bPCI
I already had used one of these to go along with my Linksys wireless router. It
worked great for me and I never had any problem with it. Speedbooster technology is
nice to have and I could tell the boost in performance and overall signal quality. The PCI
interface would be fine in the motherboard and it should be no problem setting it up. I
like having the WIFI and LAN available on the PC and I just love using WIFI now. It is
so convenient. Now it is time to check out the OS.
Microsoft Windows XP Professional:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16837116195
Windows XP is the most used OS out there currently and has been around since
2001. It comes in many different flavors like full or upgrade, home or professional, 32bit
and 64bit and even a media center edition! It’s a combination of the strengths and power
from Windows 2000 and the features from Windows 98 and ME. With a very sleek
design, ease of use, and compatibility, it is a great OS.
I chose this Windows XP Professional Full because it isn’t lacking anything like
the home versions. Also for this being a “fresh” computer, it was important to get the
full/clean install instead of the upgrade which would have been pointless. Always must
make sure what you are purchasing! I have used Windows XP Pro for a few years now
on a daily basis and really it is a good OS. I stuck with it because Vista is simply just not
at the point of being trustworthy and it is incompatible with many things yet. I feel
Windows XP is very stable and all of the components for this new PC are compatible
with it. The only problem I see is that we aren’t able to take advantage of DirectX 10 as
that can only be used in Vista. XP can use up to Direct X 9.c I believe, which is still fine
and with our graphics card we will be rocking. I have no doubt at some point we will be
switching to Vista, in fact I’m sure it will be a must at some point. When that time comes
we will be ready with DirectX 10, but for now we are absolutely fine with Windows XP
and DirectX 9. Other then that, this comes with Service Pack 2 already including and
recent updates (Depending on when the disc was produced) and our system easily
meeting the system requirements, it will be fine.
I haven’t usually strayed away from Windows which is what made me choose to
stay with this trend. I know how to use Windows, I am comfortable using windows.
When it comes to applications and games, there is a good chance it will use windows.
XP has been out long enough to be updated and stabilized as Service Pack 2 shows us.
What I mean by that is that you won’t run into many incompatibility issues and the
system won’t be crashing every 30 minutes. It has a feature called system restore which I
like because it’s always good to have some sort of backup and this allows you to go back
to a certain date before your computer went psycho and that is always a good thing.
Another thing I like is the support for the NTFS file system. I like NTFS and will use it
at all times possible due to its support for large files and general efficiency. I also like
XP for its design and ease of use to navigate around the system itself. Vista may look
prettier but not by much, XP is still solid. From playing games to burning CD’s, from
viewing pictures to surfing the net, from playing video to making a play list of mp3’s,
you can do it all on here.
-MSI P6N SLI Platinum Motherboard:
-Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3GHz CPU:
-Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Case:
-Thermaltake Tough Power W0128RU 650Watt PSU:
-Corsair XMS2 Dominator 2GB RAM(x2):
-Western Digital Raptor WD1500ADFD 150GB HDD:
-BFG Tech Geforce 8800GTS 640MB Video Card:
-Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Platinum Fatal1ty Champion:
-Pioneer DVR-112D DVD+/-R Optical Drive:
-NEC Black 1.44MB Internal Floppy Drive:
-Samsung 206BW 20” Widescreen LCD Monitor:
-Razer Copperhead Tempest Blue Mouse:
-Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard:
-Linksys WMP54GS IEEE 802.11b/g Wireless G Adapter:
-Microsoft Windows XP PRO SP2:
$144.99
$279.99
$169.99
$149.99
$308.00
$179.99
$425.99
$179.99
$29.99
$6.99
$269.99
$55.99
$68.99
$59.99
$286.99
Total of: $2617.86
UPS 3 Day shipping combined: $57.43
Grand Total: $2675.29
Project Summary:
I enjoyed this project and I had fun with it. I have built a few computers for
myself and other people but it has been 3 years since the last one I built. What I enjoyed
doing was going through and really taking a look at all the new technology out there right
now compared to my last build. It gave me a good idea on what kind of things I will be
adding to my new build far in advance before actually doing it. The people that I have
built computers for had never complained about the builds. Usually I will ask them
beforehand what they want to use it for and how much are they willing to spend, and then
I would spend some time researching to find best prices and best products.
This project in it self wasn’t completely tailored to an employer or specific person
besides me. My idea behind this is what would I want if I was going to put together a
higher end machine and what would I expect from a high end machine on a budget? If I
was presenting this to an employer this is what I would recommend. I did not include a
printer with this build as to save some money. I myself don’t usually use printers at all
anymore and I haven’t had my own for years until about two or three weeks ago when I
decided to buy a scanner for the fun of it and it happens to be that printer/scanner combos
are quite popular and available everywhere! I consider scanners, USB drives, webcams,
SD cards etc. extra items. Stuff you buy for your computer after you actually get your
computer. I figured if someone wanted those then they would simply go out and buy
them as they usually aren’t too difficult to choose from.
I think this project is a cool final and it helped refresh things that we learned from
the course. If I didn’t know any of this stuff beforehand, I would have been lost doing it
without this course. It taught a lot of fundamentals and such and definitely gets you
ready to do so. This project shows if you learned anything because you can’t do this
without either knowing it or reading all of that. I learned new stuff myself and it actually
helped me look out for more details on things. This project itself has got me really
wanting to build a computer right now! In fact this build is quite nice and I can bet the
real thing will be similar to this.
I didn’t spend the complete budget and still have money left which is a great
feeling! It means I was expecting to pay a lot more and ended up building a beast with
less. Obviously there are much better components out there at higher prices but I am
very satisfied. So my own extra money I saved could go for stuff like an extra HDD or
an extra optical, maybe a USB stick or that second graphics card to complete the SLI
right now. It is all about options!