Build Your Own PC Do-It-Yourself For Dummies
On July - 26 - 20105 COMMENTS
- ISBN13: 9780470196113
- Condition: New
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Product Description
If you’ve dreamed about having a customized multimedia PC or one tricked out for your favorite games, build your own and make your dreams come true! Build Your Own PC Do-It-Yourself For Dummies makes it easy. Not only is building your own PC a really rewarding project, it can also save you a nice chunk of cash. This step-by-step guide helps you decide what you need, teaches you what all those computer terms mean, and tells you exactly how to put the pieces … More >>
It’s a good book for dummies. If you’ve ever done any repairwork on your desktop pc, then you won’t learn much, but I’m sure you’ll learn something. It’s well written, save for the occasional very bad pun or joke. Everything is well explained.
Rating: 4 / 5
The book does cover the very basics, however I was looking for something that pretained to the newest products on the market, and how to assemble them !!!
Rating: 3 / 5
This book is the definition of mediocre.
I suppose I might have expected a little too much from a “For Dummies” book, but it does seem to suffer from an odd misunderstanding of audience. As another reviewer mentioned, entire pages are dedicated to things like plugging a device into a USB drive. If you’re the kind of person who can’t figure out which way the USB drive goes, building your own computer is never even going to occur to you.
Then, oddly enough, the sample computer he builds over the course of the book is a super high-end, top-of-the-line, extreme gaming computer. Huh? There’s even an entire chapter dedicated to modding your gaming computer with glow lights and paint jobs. Anyone who might ever even consider adding lighted fans and two video cards to their computer is not going to read about it in a “For Dummies” book. And if they did, they’d probably be pretty annoyed to discover that the instructions for “Configuring SLI for Multiple Video Cards” literally read, “Install the bridge cables between the two video cards. Reboot your computer.” Really? The one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work here- you should not spend equal page space explaining the really simple and the really complex things.
Meanwhile, the average reader who just wants to build a mid-range computer is left scratching his head, wondering if he really needs 4 GB of RAM.
On the plus side, the book gives a pretty good, basic overview of all the different components that go into a computer, and the specifications that define them. Unfortunately it doesn’t do this in a context that makes any sense, so you don’t come away with any insight on how to actually choose good, compatible components that suit your needs. While it’s a good start to understanding the inner workings of a computer, it doesn’t actually leave you in a position to pick up a screwdriver and start assembling your own computer from the ground up.
Rating: 3 / 5
This book is written for a true dummy, someone who doesn’t have a clue about computers. Two thirds of a chapter are devoted to installing a mouse and keyboard. It spends a page and a half explaining, in bullet points with enormous margins, how to install a microphone, including how to clip it to your shirt if it is a clip microphone, set it on the desk if it is a boom microphone, or peal of the protector and stick it to your computer if it is sticky microphone–”but not over an opening you might have to use.” I mean, this book was written for my mother. My mother is actually pretty smart, but she would never dream of building a computer. In fact, my mother would give me the same impressed look and words of encouragement whether I told her I was building a computer or building a space ship. I could start talking about installing a CPU or a plasma hyperdrive and she would give me a pat on the back and make a soup and sandwich for me while I worked on it–and have no idea why anyone would do such a thing. She has a hard enough time thinking of a reason to use a computer. Who on earth is going to want to build a computer, but not know how to attach the keyboard?
Not only is this book filled with huge margins and dumb instructions written for people who probably don’t really use computer much, it leaves out the answers I’m looking for. For instance, I bought a Corsair 800D case. It comes with six fan slots. There are only two chassis fan power connections and a CPU fan power connection on the motherboard. So, how do I connect the other fans. Or I wanted to know what determines the boot order of SATA drives. I’ll have to look the first question up on the web one day in the distant future when my computer actually needs six fans. The second one is a dumb question–the SATA connections are numbered and the the slot determines the boot order. But this is the kind of dumb question a person building a computer for the first time is going to ask–not whether to try to stick a boom microphone to their shirt or set it on the desk.
The one way this book might be useful is calling to mind that there are at least three types of microphones that one could shop for–but that is what browsing products and reviews on Amazon is for.
I never bother to send books that were mistakes back to Amazon. But I may send this one back because I don’t feel like it will sit on the bookshelf waiting to be referred to one day, or waiting to impress a visitor, or even that it would make a good gift–”here you go mom, two books, the first on is just in case you want to install a photon torpedo tube on your battle station and the second one in case you want to add some random access memory to your ATX mobo. And here’s a lump of coal to play with in case you get board with the books.” This book is such a waste of space that I want to throw it away. But I can’t bring myself to throw away a $20 book. So, Amazon, if I make it by a post office in the next 15 days or so–and happen to have the book, box, and mailing label all with me at the time–this book is going back.
This is the first and last time I will ever buy one of these books “For Dummies.”
Rating: 1 / 5
For anyone interested in building a PC, but hasn’t the slightest idea of where to begin, as I did, this book is an excellent resource. The book outlines in very basic, easy to understand terms what you need to know to put a custom PC together.
If you’re like me, and don’t know a lot about components for now, then you should be advised that this book cannot be your only resource. While the author will hit the major points to consider in choosing components, you will need to research more recent articles online to help you decide what to pick. Chambers lists sites you can check out for benchmarks and reviews for whatever piece you’re looking for, and they’re all good sources. And this is all because, of course, technology is constantly changing. What was top-notch when Chambers wrote the book has most likely been replaced by something much better.
If you’re interested in i7 processors, Chambers does talk about quad-core CPUs with hyperthreading. If you’re interested in overclocking, it’s in there too. He talks about SLI as well.
The only thing that comes to mind that is too recent to be in the book is Windows 7; you’ll just have to go to those outside sources I mentioned for that.
Rating: 5 / 5