Building the Perfect PC

by Robert Bruce Thompson, Barbara Fritchman Thompson, Jerry Pournelle (Foreword)

This popular Build-It-Yourself (BIY) PC book covers everything you want to know about building your own system: Planning and picking out the right components, step-by-step instructions for assembling your perfect PC, and an insightful discussion of why you'd want to do it in the first place. Most big brand computers from HP, Dell and others use lower-quality components so they can meet their aggressive pricing targets. But component manufacturers also make high-quality parts that you can either purchase directly, or obtain through distributors and resellers. Consumers and corporations alike are opting to build rather than buy PCs to ensure high quality and compatibility.

The new edition of Building the Perfect PC shows you how to construct a variety of top-flight systems with the latest technology, including AMD Socket AM-2 and Intel Core 2 processors, that are Vista- and Linux-ready. The book includes several new options, including: A Budget PC you can build for approximately $350 that offers performance and reliability similar to that of mainstream systems A full-blown media-center system that runs Linux and MythTV or Windows MCE with multiple tuners and HDTV supportA fire-breathing high-performance gaming systemA fast, low-power, low-heat, low-noise, Small Form Factor system (the size of a shoe box)A low-cost SOHO (small office, home office) server system with a 2 terabyte (2,000 GB) disk subsystem that's suitable for a residential environment rather than a server closet

Regardless of your technical experience, Building the Perfect PC will guide you through the entire process of building or upgrading your own computer. You'll use the latest top-quality components, including Intel's Core 2 Duo and AMD's Athlon X2 CPUs. And you'll know exactly what's under the hood and how to fix or upgrade your PC, should that become necessary. Not only is the process fun, but the result is often less expensive and always better quality and far more satisfying than anything you could buy off the shelf.

Genres: Nonfiction, Computers, Reference

402 pages, Paperback

First published August 26, 2004

About the author

Robert Bruce Thompson was an accomplished author and scientist, publishing books on computers and the sciences. He built and sold science kits in support of home school education throughout the United States.

Reviews

[Suible]

I've read this in preparation of building a PC. Good information about computer parts - where to spend money, where to save it - depending on what kind of computer you want and how things fit together, or fail to fit together.

There are lots of details about how to do various steps, many with photos.

The negative side is inherent in explaining how to do anything very complicated - there are a lot of steps and the variables are so many that it is just not possible to cover everything.

I do feel better prepared after reading 4-5 chapters and I do plan to go over the information piece by piece as I build my first computer. And, if that one works out well - will possibly consult it with future builds. The reason I'm less enthusiastic about consulting it in the future is just the nature of the topic - technology changes, what is a high-end build becomes mainstream and what is a cheap, cheap build becomes . . . well, ancient.

Still, the book was a good one for me to read - stretched my techie knowledge to a more acceptable level.

[Fernando Chavez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Building the perfect PC - A good alternative to how much you want to spend on a specific system. The book list's different used PC's today in homes,offices,server's etc. every PC described in the book gives clear instruction's on the building of the specific system. In the beginning the
book gives you a brief summary of what part's to buy and for what price range. overall the book is based on instruction's step by step & get you in building your dream PC when the time & money is right.

I learned from this book - that making a PC is not be difficult because that's how the whitebox system brands cheaply insert non-branded part's in there product's and therefore decreases it's dependably on the life of the system.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully thorough and well-organized handbook, and possibly the best book to have in hand before starting to build a computer, especially for a novice. Best hands-on computer book I've seen in nearly 30 years of messing with the things.

[Bryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now longer will I be a slave to Dell. I'm building my own PCs and I can't imagine a better guide.