[dba-Tech] Build vs. Buy a PC

Don Bozarth drboz at pacbell.net
Sat Oct 13 10:12:57 CDT 2007


In this day and age, you can buy one for far less than building one on your 
own.  However, building one allows you to choose exactly what you want, and 
it's a heck of a lot of fun.  Just built one here:

Asus P5K WS motherboard
Intel core 2 duo 3 Ghz
3 Gb RAM (dual channel 1333 FSB)
2 1x2 Raid 1 arrays.. one 300Gb, one 500Gb (all drives are SATA)
      (one drive from each array is accessible from the front panel - 
Kingwin Hot Swap shelves)
2 SATA cd/dvd R/W
Asus PCI Express x 16 Video card Nvidia GeForce 7300 based (I'm not a gamer)
The MB has 8 Channel hi def audio on board
The MB has dual Gigabit LAN controllers
The MB supports 12 USB 2.0 ports
The MB supports 2 IEEE 1394 ports
The MB supports 1 standard serial port
I added a PCI Express x 1 parallel port card
I have 2 unused PCI slots, 1 unused PCI Express x 1 slot, 1 unused PCIX x 1 
slot
Cooler Master Elite 330 Case

But it cost about twice what your dell is going for...

Don B.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dan Waters" <dwaters at usinternet.com>
To: "'Discussion of Hardware and Software issues'" 
<dba-tech at databaseadvisors.com>
Sent: Saturday, October 13, 2007 7:40 AM
Subject: [dba-Tech] Build vs. Buy a PC


>I need a faster desktop PC.
>
> Dell has what I would like for about $1140 (Optiplex).
>
> It would have:
>
> Intel Core 2 Duo 2.33 Ghz, 4Mb, VT, 1333Mhz FSB
> Windows XP Pro
> 2 Gb RAM
> 160 SATA HD (I only use 30 Gb now)
> 48X32 CDRW/DVD Combo - with Roxio Creator and Cyberlink Power DVD
> 256 Mb ATI Radeon 2400 XT, Dual Monitor DVI or VGA
> Data/FAX Modem (I need to fax some documents)
> Audio Card (I assume)
> 3 yr on-site warranty
> No Floppy disk
> No Accessories
> No extra software
>
> Could I build a similar system for a lower price or build a better system
> for about the same?  I would enjoy selecting components and assembling and
> I've ordered a book on how to do this, but if the answer is no then I 
> should
> just order this from Dell and get it faster.
>
>
> Thanks!
> Dan
>
> _______________________________________________
> dba-Tech mailing list
> dba-Tech at databaseadvisors.com
> http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/dba-tech
> Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com 




More information about the dba-Tech mailing list