Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
Designing the Perfect PC
A sign you'll see in many repair shops says, “Good. Cheap. Fast. Pick any two.”
That's also true of designing a PC. Every choice you make involves a trade-off,
and balancing those trade-offs is the key to designing a PC that's perfect for
your needs. Each project system chapter has a graphic that looks something
like this:
Price ✩✩✩✩✩
Reliability ✩✩✩✩✩
Size ✩✩✩✩✩
Noise level ✩✩✩✩✩
Expandability ✩✩✩✩✩
Processor performance ✩✩✩✩✩
Video performance ✩✩✩✩✩
Disk capacity/performance ✩✩✩✩✩
Ah, if it were only true. Reality, of course, is different. One can't put the high-
est priority on everything. Something has to give. As Frederick the Great said
of designing military defenses, “He who defends everything defends nothing.”
The same is true of designing a PC.
If you focus on these elements while designing your PC, you'll soon realize that
compromises are inevitable. If small size is essential, for example, you must
make compromises in expandability, and you may very well have to compro-
mise in other respects. The trick is to decide, before you start buying com-
ponents, which elements are essential, which are important, which would be
nice to have, and which can be ignored.
Once you have the priority of those elements firmly fixed in your mind, you
can make rational resource allocations and good purchasing decisions. It's
worth looking at each of these elements in a bit more detail:
Price
We put price first, because it's the 900-pound gorilla in system design. If
low price is essential, you'll be forced to make compromises in most or all
of the other elements. Simply put, high performance, reliability, low noise,
small size, and other desirable characteristics cost money. We suggest you
begin by establishing a ballpark price range for your new system and then
play “what-if” with the other elements. If you've set too low a price, it will
soon become clear that you'll need to spend more. On the other hand,
you may well find that you can get away with spending less and still get
everything you want in a system.
