Talk:How To Assemble A Desktop PC/Choosing the parts

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Page size
The article is currently at 35K. This might cause problems with older browser. I was wondering if we should even care about it and maybe split this up or scale this guide down.

is anyone against splitting it up? -CarbonUnit

How sould we split this up? - CarbonUnit


 * Perhaps move the "secondary components" and "peripherals" sections onto a new page? (The distinction between them is getting more blurry, because manufacturers of "secondary components" that go inside the case are starting to distribute the same functionality in a "peripheral" that plugs into USB or ethernet.) --DavidCary 16:32, 28 December 2005 (UTC)


 * I think it would make sense to split it. IMO, the question is how exactly should it be split up?  I'm thinking each of the major questions could be a subpage, with the list of necessary components linking to each of those subpages.  But that's just my opinion.  Or, choosing the parts, then acquiring the parts, then a description of what to look for in each.  Bpogi 00:13, 22 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I've begun copying individual sections to new subpages. Already finished with CPU; see How_To_Assemble_A_Desktop_PC/Choosing_the_parts/CPU. &mdash;Bpogi 03:20, 26 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Looks good so far.
 * Alas, it appears that the CPU section on this page is slowly diverging from the How_To_Assemble_A_Desktop_PC/Choosing_the_parts/CPU page.
 * In the name of Wiki:OnceAndOnlyOnce, I moved all the text from the CPU section of this page to that page.
 * Hopefully that leads to one page with all the best up-to-date information, rather than 2 pages that each have some up-to-date information and some obsolete information.
 * Even though that edit reduced this page from 101,730 bytes to 84,877 bytes, it still seems a bit long to me. What else can we split into a separate page?
 * --DavidCary (discuss • contribs) 18:37, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

On the other hand....
''On the other hand, somebody who is going to be playing the latest games on their new computer  is going to need a lot more graphics power. However, they may not want to spend much on computer  peripherals such as scanners, printers, or webcameras, because they have no interest in such devices. On the other hand, someone may want a computer that offers both office and gaming experiences, and in that case they should expect to spend additional money on peripheral devices, along with  high-powered internal components.''

Sounds wrong.


 * Then fix it! Every page has an edit button on it.Reub2000

Meta: Editing
Section editing seems *horribly* broken here; is there a known reason? --Baylink 00:57, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

Addressing low wage / adventurous teenager groups
You are nicely describing how to build a machine by assembling parts, however, this is likely to be out of the scope for a larger readership of this book. What about the not so unlikely case that one finds a machine on the street waiting to be collected for transport to a landfill site, free for grab, or one is donated one, that one is interested to understand better. This might also be appropriate to readers in the third world. If this proposal gets some backup, then I might start something in that direction. 139.30.161.225 14:59, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

Buying parts
I feel there should be a part on where to get parts. For example, buying parts online can be very cheap, but have problems of their own (such as rebate issues, shipping time, shipping cost, potentially limited warrenty, no way to test the part befroe you get it). Some online distributors which could be noted: www.pricewatch.com, www.newegg.com, www.tigerdirect.com, www.geeks.com.

--24.145.203.118 18:33, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

Places to get parts outside the USA
So far, *all* the online computer dealers I've seen only ship within the USA. And I live in Mexico. So, I'd really like some suggestions about what to do if you're not from the States. 201.128.248.147 02:00, 15 December 2005 (UTC)


 * Find a site that ships computer parts in/to Mexico and add it to the list of sites. -Bpogi 00:20, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Dual Core
Seeing how dual-core CPU setup is getting quite common these days, I suggest elaborating on that a bit in the CPU section, such as advantages and disadvantages and so forth.

4800dpi resolution
"For most purposes, a mid-range Inkjet Printer will be more than enough for most people, and you will generally want one that is capable of printing around 4800dpi"

Unless you want to print a bunch of photos, is 4800dpi really necessary? Most text and simple graphics are printed well below 1200dpi.


 * Even if you're printing photos, you don't really need 4800dpi. A 3x5" photo at 4800x1200 dpi, about the standard of a mid- to high-end inkjet = 86,400,000 = 86.4 MP.  But it does look better with 4800dpi.  --Bpogi 03:57, 22 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree that 1200dpi is more than adequate for text and simple graphics.
 * However, a "pixel" on screen requires more than one "dot" on paper to adequately reproduce. A digital color photograph that looks great at 72 pixels per inch on screen looks horrible when printed on paper at 72 dots per inch or even 300 dots per inch. --DavidCary (discuss • contribs) 17:51, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

dial up is "more than adequate"
Given the number of pages with graphics, ads or other features that any one using the web, even passively, is likely to use, I find the idea that dial up is "more than adequate" misleading. I feel it should be changed to just "adequate" to give the true level of quality offered by dial up. 122.49.141.104 (talk) 03:52, 15 August 2010 (UTC)
 * 1) As someone who was until recently using dial-up, it's not adequate at all for the web. Wikipedia pages will take up to half an hour to load. Dial-up can really only handle IRC and email (oh, and telnet).


 * Most of the stuff that's loaded is either images, flash ads, or excess CSS stuff. If you're still using a low-speed internet connection, you probably want to use a browser that supports hiding images/flash/css until you explicitly want to load them.  Oh, and none of the modern browsers make this an easy task to switch back and forth. --Sigma 7 (talk) 16:52, 15 August 2010 (UTC)

Language Usage
It seems to me that there is some very relaxed usage of language throughout this wikibook. I've slowly begun going through each section and changing the language to a more proper and concise format. It would be nice to have some help though as I'm sure to miss something. Certain sections seem as though they are written by an avid gamer and don't really reflect the general computer market. Please be careful about language use when editing, and make sure to use proper full sentences that get your point across clearly.


 * I'm helping. BTW, please sign comments.  --Bpogi 00:56, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Audience
There have been other discussions and comments in above topics about the target audience and what information should be included, so I'm just starting this topic for that purpose. Have at it. --Bpogi 21:52, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

I would bet pesos to pizza (the geek version of dollars to donuts) that most people who read this article are near the novice end of the spectrum. Tech professionals already know this stuff and would not go out of their way to look for a generic guide, although they might look for information specific to the hardware they are looking to install. Even power users, or people who think they are power users, are apt to just dive in and start playing with the parts. With that in mind, you should assume that the reader knows little to nothing about standard terminology, safety and compatibility concerns, etc. Peter B. Steiger, Cheyenne WY

Old systems
Mabey you should state at the beginnig whether this book will tell you how to assemble a system out of old parts.

The problem with that is that old parts can be too slow for modern OSes, unless you are running Linux. A lot of the parts in old PCs are incompatible with today's hardware and software.Microsoftwin108576 (discuss • contribs) 22:21, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

Motherboard Bandwidths
Motherboard bandwidths do not seem to be mentioned in this WikiBook. Sometimes there can be subtle issues in motherboard bandwidth, and it is important to check for them. An important example is the 780i, in which there is not truly enough northbridge-southbridge bandwidth to feed system RAM to its two PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots, nor is the interconnect bandwidth truly sufficient. Note: This does NOT mean the 780i motherboard is weak on bandwidth compared to the competition.

Windows vs Linux
Hello,

I feel this WikiBook is biased towards Windows, it says that Windows is a "perfect" solution for "every" need, whereas GNU/Linux based Systems are a "good" alternative, also mentioning "preform many of the same functions as Windows and features similar programs". The text In my humble opinion, neither is perfect and will ever be and maybe we should also mention that Linux/UNIX can do lots of things Windows CANNOT do, even for Joe Customer ( supports more/especially older hardware), is safer, has less virii and other malware, allows better multiuser usage ( ~/bin, ~/etc, etc.. etc.. ) and can have higher performance in a lot of situations, especially with lots of programs loaded and regarding program launch time.

We should also consider the "ranking" as well as the fact that some VERY obsolete systems are mentioned( even though we could mention FreeDOS as arguably the "best"/ most modern DOS ), whereas some other, maybe more pro-user oriented but still easy-to-use systems are not mentioned at all ( I think Solaris here, has very good support, even the free one is great + great application integration + good security/performance/updates/etc + easy installer) 84.161.35.36 (talk) 16:46, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Prices of parts
The part prices given in the text are useless to anyone outside of North America. Someone's added a link to XE, but manufacturers sell components in Australia (this also may be true in other areas) at a much higher price than amount in US$ and shipping. Perhaps a more comprehensive list of shops would be better. 182.239.140.221 (talk) 07:34, 22 August 2010 (UTC)


 * Prices within the United States are a moving target and are fairly useless even to American readers. They're of marginal usefulness for comparing relative prices between different types of hardware at an instant in time. &mdash;QuicksilverT @ 19:56, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

needs updating
this book appears to be at least 4 or 5 years out of date. I did some work on this page, but more remains. Aunva6 (discuss • contribs) 21:42, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

Split
Should this page be split into parts further? (As has been done for the CPU page?) --Mbrickn (discuss • contribs) 21:38, 17 August 2021 (UTC)