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The quality and price of a component are often linked when comparing one brand's component to another brand's component of the same specs. Make a judgment call based upon the brand's reputation, the quality of their support (RMA process), and online reviews. Do not settle for a component of sub-par reliability just to save a few dollars. The biggest differences in price come from each component's level of technology. For example, Core 2 Duo verses Core 2 Quad.
The legal retail Windows version for a custom machine may be more expensive than the pre-installed OS you get in the computer from the shop. An alternative to this is to qualify to purchase and activate an OEM version of the software. You can find OEM versions of Windows on most online retailers. You will need to purchase a "permanent component" (hard drive, motherboard, processor) to qualify for this type of license. It will usually cost under half as much as a retail license, at the expense of after-sale support from Microsoft. However, some argue that this is not a problem given the large scale support available from an online search.
Choosing your own sound card and video card will enhance computer performance by a small degree by relieving the CPU (Central Processing Unit)of work on graphics with the video card's GPU and the sound card's sound chip.
Floppy disks are obsolete. When you build a powerful machine the last thing you need is another heat source. Get a flash drive, they are smaller and they fit into your USB port. Most MP3-players and iPods can be configured into flash drives and still play music.
If you still insist on using the floppy drive interface, floppy emulators exist where you can store floppy disk images on a flash drive and select them and the emulator will load them as if the image was a real floppy. This might take some practice to use them effectively.
The legal retail Windows version for a custom machine may be more expensive than the pre-installed OS you get in the computer from the shop. An alternative to this is to qualify to purchase and activate an OEM version of the software. You can find OEM versions of Windows on most online retailers. You will need to purchase a "permanent component" (hard drive, motherboard, processor) to qualify for this type of license. It will usually cost under half as much as a retail license, at the expense of after-sale support from Microsoft. However, some argue that this is not a problem given the large scale support available from an online search.
Choosing your own sound card and video card will enhance computer performance by a small degree by relieving the CPU (Central Processing Unit)of work on graphics with the video card's GPU and the sound card's sound chip.
Floppy disks are obsolete. When you build a powerful machine the last thing you need is another heat source. Get a flash drive, they are smaller and they fit into your USB port. Most MP3-players and iPods can be configured into flash drives and still play music.
If you still insist on using the floppy drive interface, floppy emulators exist where you can store floppy disk images on a flash drive and select them and the emulator will load them as if the image was a real floppy. This might take some practice to use them effectively.