Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 19. Building or Upgrading Systems
System Components
In these days of commodity parts and component pricing, building your own system from scratch is no
longer the daunting process it once was. Every component necessary to build a PC system is
available off the shelf at competitive pricing, and the system you build can use the same or even better
components than the top name-brand systems.
There are, however, some cautions to heed. The main thing to note is that you rarely save money when
building your own system; purchasing a complete system from a mail-order vendor or mass
merchandiser is almost always less expensive. The reason for this is simple: The larger OEMs buy
components in quantity and receive a much larger discount than you can by purchasing only one of a
particular item.
In addition, you might pay more for shipping if you purchase parts from multiple vendors, as
compared to the shipping and handling charge when you purchase a complete system. The cost rises
further if you encounter problems with any of the components and have to make additional calls or
pay for shipping charges to send improper or malfunctioning parts back for replacement. Also, many
companies charge restocking fees if you purchase something and then determine you don't need it or
can't use it.
If you purchase parts locally to avoid shipping charges, you typically must pay the additional state
sales tax as well as the higher prices usually associated with retail store sales.
Then there is the included software. Although I can sometimes come close in price to a commercial
system when building my own from scratch, the bundled software really adds value to the commercial
system. For example, an OEM copy of Windows costs roughly $140 or more, and it's double that for
a retail version. (Upgrade versions don't apply to new systems.) This is a legitimate expense you'll
have to include when building a new system from scratch.
Another operating system (OS)-related issue is Windows activation. When you purchase a system
from a major OEM with Windows preinstalled, that version is permanently preactivated via
something Microsoft calls System Locked Preinstallation (SLP), which relies on special code both in
Windows as well as in the motherboard BIOS of the system. This means you will never have to deal
with the activation hassle, even if you reload the system using the product recovery partition or discs.
When you build your own system, however, you have to activate Windows every time you install it,
and you may even have to reactivate it if you change too many devices in the system.
Note
Microsoft now offers a Personal Use License for System Builder license for Windows 8 that
for the first time explicitly permits an individual to install Windows on a homebuilt system, in
a virtual machine, or in a separate partition for multibooting. To learn more about other
changes in Windows 8 licensing, see “How the New Windows 8 License Terms Affect You,”
Besides the savings from the included OS, another contributing factor in the low cost of commercial
