Building a PC from Components

Update: Obviously, the prices and specific parts are now very much out of date, but the general ideas remain the same.

This page gives some notes on how I built a PC from components purchased largely off of the net in January 2000. I wrote this up for some friends who were interested, and also for any other random Web people who might stumble upon it. No rocket science here, but perhaps a few notes of things that might not be obvious to people who haven't yet built a PC.

In January 2000, I wanted a Linux box as my home machine. My hardware requirements included a reasonably fast CPU, fast hard disk, 128MB RAM, 1600x1200 true color display, a CD-RW drive, and easy expandability.

After looking at various name-brand, not-so-name-brand, mail-order, and local-shop-assembled systems, I found that by assembling the system from components I could save $300 or more. I could also pick the optimal components for my needs, and be sure each piece was Linux-compatible.

I decided to base my system around the Abit BP6 dual-processor motherboard, since the 500MHz Celeron was reportedly almost as fast as the 500MHz Pentium III for most purposes, and I could buy two Celerons for about the same price as a single Pentium III. I further decided to get only one Celeron initially, and buy the second when I found I that my work was CPU-bound (by which time prices might have gone down). The BP6 also had the advantage of having a UDMA-66 hard drive controller on-board.

For the video board, I decided to go with a Matrox G200 AGP, which is still quite a nice board for 2D and light 3D, but is reduced in price now that the G400 models are out. I also very seriously considered a Voodoo3 2000 AGP, mainly for the stronger 3D, but the G200 is better for 2D and I found a lower price on the G200.

One of the hardest things to choose was the case, since I wanted something stylish or discreet. I spent hours comparing cases from dozens of vendors, before giving up and going with the plain but well-regarded InWin S500. I almost bought the interesting all-black SF860 case, which has a cute hydraulic sliding door over the drive bays, but I despaired of finding a CD-RW drive with a black bezel, and putting a putty-colored drive in a black case would be the height of gauche.

To give you a sample of the variety of components you need, here's an itemized list of all hardware I purchased, along with the vendors and prices (in USD). I mostly used Web-based resellers, but did pick up a few small items and one hard-to-find item (the CD-RW drive) at local merchants. Note that these reflect the best deals I could find mid-January 2000. (Of course, a week after ordering my 13GB drive, I found the 20GB model for almost the same price. A month or two later, RAM prices dropped by about a third. There's probably less a shortage of low-end CD-RW drives as you're reading this, too.)

• InWin S500 Midtower ATX case, 3 ext. 5.25", 2 ext. 3.5" 2 int. 3.5", 235W
  (TechStore $39.77 + $18.40 UPS Ground = $58.17)
• Abit BP6 Dual PPGA Socket-370 motherboard, UDMA-66, 2 ISA, 5 PCI, AGP 2X, 3 168-pin PC100 ECC, max. 1GB RAM. Retail version.
  (Essential Computing $120 + $14.25 UPS Ground + $3.60 insurance = $137.95)
• Intel Celeron 500 Retail version, with warranty and CPU fan and heat sink.
  (Egghead $135.99 + free UPS Ground = $135.99)
• 128MB PC100 SDRAM Generic RAM.
  (AccessMicro $126.95 + $20.85 UPS Ground = $147.80)
• IBM Deskstar 34GXP 13.5GB hard disk, UDMA-66, 7200rpm.
  (AccessMicro $148.98 + $9.85 UPS Ground = $158.83)
• HP 8200i CD-Writer Plus 4x4x24 CD-RW drive.
  (CompUSA $199.99 + $10 tax = $209.99)
• Teac 1.44MB 3.5" Floppy drive.
  (Egghead $17.99 + free UPS Ground = $17.99)
• Matrox Millenium G200 AGP Video card. 8MB SDRAM non-upgradeable OEM version.
  (AllStarShop $56 + $9.71 UPS Ground = $65.71)
• Ensoniq Audio PCI Sound card, uses ES1371 driver.
  (Egghead $24.99 + free UPS Ground = $24.99)
• NetGear FA310TX 10/100 Ethernet card, uses Tulip driver.
  (MicroCenter $21.95 + $1.98 tax = $23.05)
• Viewsonic E790 19" (18" viewable) monitor. 0.26mm dot pitch. 1600x1200 at 76Hz max resolution.
  (Egghead $348.99 + free UPS Ground = $348.99)
• Inland Pro Keyboard '98 Disposable 108-key keyboard.
  (MicroCenter $3.99 + $0.20 tax = $4.19)
• Kensington ValuMouse 3-Button Decent cheap mouse. Broken in box, but fixable.
  (MicroCenter $9.95 + $0.50 tax = $10.45)
• MidiLand MLi-130 Speaker System Big black 36W 2-way PC speaker pair. Clearance priced. Left unit kinda broken.
  (MicroCenter $9.95 + $0.50 tax = $10.45)

The last three items are passable, though I bought them as a temporary stopgap measure, with the intention to replace them with higher-quality components after moving house.

A few tips on shopping for components:

• If you're choosing components for a Linux box, it's helpful to have a list of supported hardware for whatever kernel or distribution you'll be using. The Red Hat Hardware Compatibility List for Intel/6.1 is one such beast.

• Use price-comparison services such as PriceWatch, CNet Shopper, and MySimon. Sometimes general-purpose Web keyword search engines turn up good prices when given product names as queries, too.

• Many of the Web resellers, especially those with the top hits in the price comparison engines, derive revenue from grossly-inflated 'shipping' charges (e.g., 400% markup on what UPS charges). Related to this, eCost.com advertises "free shipping," but late in the checkout process they slap you with substantial 'handling' charges. Last I checked, Dell doesn't even tell you the shipping costs on PCs ordered from their Web until after you have committed to the purchase. I had to call Dell up and pressure a sales rep into telling me the ballpark shipping costs, before he finally said "about $200" (no wonder they try so hard not to tell you). Egghead currently offers free UPS Ground shipping, and is a joy to deal with.

• I generally no longer order products off the Web unless the vendor indicates explicitly that the product is in-stock. Advertising low prices on products they don't have to sell seems to be another trick of vendors who want to attract hits through price-comparison services.

• Usually try to get the "retail" version of components, rather than the "OEM" version. The retail version often includes useful parts (e.g., CPU fan, cables), warranties, and documentation that are not included with OEM versions.

• Keep track of every order using a text file, and save screenshots or print-to-files of all of the Web pages that show product specs and ordering steps/confirmation.

• Time your components to arrive at roughly the same time, so that you can put them all together for testing promptly, and return any defective items under the vendor's DOA policy. This is unless you already have access to other components that can be used for testing purposes, of course.

• I actually spent a lot of time checking out the local vendors, but was generally dissatisfied, and used them only as a last resort. If you're in Cambridge, MA, USA, some vendors I looked at: PCs for Everyone (informative Web site, but long waits at their showroom, and they didn't have a floppy drive after I'd waited 30 minutes), MicroCenter (large superstore, mailorder generally has better prices, didn't have advertised CD-RW drives in stock, the three of the four things I bought there were somehow defective), BestBuy (very poor component selection, guards at the entryways), and CompUSA (smaller version of MicroCenter, guard at front door insists upon comparing every shopper's purchases to their receipt as they leave). So much for brick&mortar service.

Once your components have arrived, you just plug them all together. The only tools you'll probably need are a philips screwdriver and a needlenose (or small longnose) pliers. For my system, I plugged things together in the order described in the book that came with the BP6. The hardest parts were getting the motherboard properly fastened in, and getting all the poorly-labeled ATX cables connected correctly. Below is what the guts of my case looked like after most components were assembled (sans superimposed text labels, of course).

I'm happy with my PC, and the money I saved makes it easy to overlook any rough spots. It's also all Linux compatible, and very upgradeable on a per-component basis. However, if I were to consider my time investment at even a very modest industry wage rate, that adds a few thousand dollars to the system cost. There was also a 2-week lead time between when I ordered the system and when I was able to use it; purchasing a pre-assembled system could've cut the lead time to around a couple days. Of course, now that I have a better idea what I'm doing, I'll probably choose to build my next system from components, but in a fraction of the time my first one took.