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Building Your Own Computer
by
Jack Mann
Everyone needs to build his own computer at least once in his lifetime. When you buy one off the shelf, all put together and
ready to go, it somehow lacks that personal touch. There is always junk added you don’t want and
things missing that you do want. With all this in mind, I decided to build my own by ordering the parts separately and putting it together. After all, how
hard can it be? You just plug cards in slots and turn it on. Instructions come with each part so it should be like baking a cake
- and look at the money I’ll save.
Yeah right!
They neglect to tell you that card A will not work in Motherboard B if card C is in there too. And what’s this crap about
drivers? What the heck is a driver? It seems that some cards don’t include the software necessary for them to work so you
have to go to a web site and download the appropriate drivers. Of course there
are 10,000 drivers to choose from and they all look alike. Even if you are lucky enough to know the number of the driver you need, rest assured, that one will not be there.
After a week of downloading drivers, plugging and unplugging cards and wires, I now have a $3000.00 monstrosity with no
sound, every time I click on a file with my mouse, the darn thing reboots and the computer never heard of a Hewlett Packard
printer.
I finally have to call in reinforcements. The local computer guy comes over and spends the next four hours trying to straighten
out the mess I have made. After paying him $40.00 per hour to fix everything, I finally have a computer that does what it is
supposed to do. Wait a minute! What are those black blotches on the monitor screen? I make a quick call to the guy I bought it
from and he tells me to put it back in the box and send it back. Then he will send me a new replacement for no charge. No
charge my foot. Do you know what it cost to ship a hundred pounds of monitor? Not only that, but I have to go dig the box
and packing foam out of the dumpster so I can ship it. Now I am sitting here looking at a computer with no monitor that cost
over $3000.00. It will take over a week to get the new one back. It’s a good thing I haven’t given my old Compaq away yet
or I wouldn’t even be able to write this.
Just for grins I went to a local computer store the other day to see just how much I have saved by my little venture and I
discover they will build a computer to your own specifications and don’t even charge you for putting it together. After doing a
little math I find that not only did I not save any money but I have $500.00 more in mine than they would have charged for
exactly the same thing, and it is guaranteed to work.
If you have ever had the desire to build your own computer, forget it. Unless you know a lot more than I do about it, there is a
better way.
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