It’s very common today to read about custom designed computers for gaming. What about a custom designed computer for the average and above average user? This is not about building a computer from the ground up. I am talking about using well known brands and customizing the components to meet the specific needs of an individual. Even if you just use your computer to surf the web and do some light office applications you can safe money and get a better computer for less.
For some users speed and a large amount of memory might be the most important things to consider. Other users might want better graphics and sound quality. For others reliability and budget might be the biggest concerns. These days with so many different processors, hard drives, ram memory,graphic cards and batteries that it takes someone with special skills to put together the right components at the best price. Here at the computer doctor Boise I have been repairing and building computers for over twenty years.
Expand-ability is also an important part of any computer build. For this reason the processor we decide to use is the key component of the build. Other components can be changed but in most cases the processor is much more difficult to change without altering the system. Over the years I have found that the right combination of components will out perform a standard build while costing about 40 percent less. If a computer is shared within a family it might be a good idea to configure the components to have the ability to play light to medium games while also meeting business needs.
Here is an example of a computer the client and I decided to upgrade. It is a Dell optiplex 790 with an icore3 second generation processor. The stock computer had the icore 3 processor, 4gb ram and a 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive. We added 4bg ram ($40) for a total of 8bg. We replaced the old hard drive with a Sandisk 120GB SSD Plus. We loaded the operating system on the SSD drive taking up only 31GB of space. We set up the SSD to be the boot or (C) drive and we used his mechanical 320GB drive or(D)drive for the data. Because the C drive is the boot drive and where the operating system resides we got all the speed of the SSD and the storage goes to the D drive automatically. I had just set up a new HP desktop computer for another client. This computer had a fourth generation Intel icore 5 processor with 8GB ram and a 1 terabyte HD. The Dell with the modifications ran applications 35% faster than the new HP. The total cost for the Dell was $325 and the HP sold for $650. We later added a used graphics card to the Dell and tweaked the power settings. The client now has a total of $525 in the Dell with a nice graphics card that out performs the new HP in speed and graphics score.
So before you go down to some big box store and possibility be persuaded to spend more or get the wrong computer for your needs give me a call. Even if you just need some advise on which computer to buy we are here to help. Not everyone will want to take the time to plan on a custom build. Right now there are some real dogs being sold as great computers. Now I love dogs but not when I’m talking about computers.
Larry McCann Computer Doctor Boise