Saturday, December 20, 2008

Reason why you may want a Custom PC

By Dan Ashton

Custom built PCs - what's the point? One problem with store-bought, off-the-shelf computers is they are well-rounded, average machines built for general use. That may not seem like a problem, and for people just needing a small home office, it isn't. But for people using their computers for very specific purposes, store-bought general use computers are often just not good enough.

Whether you purchase a custom PC,or build your own, you have the opportunity to have something unique. You also have the chance to have a computer that, despite being tailored to your specifications, should actually cost you less in the long run than the ones you get from the big national stores. This is because you have the ability to upgrade various parts over time, whilst keeping the same core PC. There are an endless amount of people who would be better suited by a custom computer. Here's just a few:

Gaming is huge sector of the computer industry. The limits of performance are continually being stretched with each new release, and the only way to cope with this is with a PC that has been custom built for this purpose. Superior specifications are required to run the games, and gamers often go for a cool PC case which lights up or glows to add to the gaming experience.

The priorities for a gaming PC are speed and graphics. With the advent of online gaming, the last thing you want is to fall behind your online competitors because yoru PC can't keep up. With a computer that has been built specifically for this purpose, you have the ability to upgrade various parts (such as the graphics card) without having to purchase a new PC.

Fancy the idea of becoming the hottest new DJ or music producer? The possibilities are almost endless for what you can achieve on your own computer, but only if it is built to be capable of doing what you need it to. Obviously sound is a priority, with a top of the range sound card and fancy speakers, but you will also need a high specification processor, particluarly if you are mixing different tracks.

Whether as a hobby or a profession, video editing can now be done from the comfort of your own home. With the advancement of digital technology both the camera's used for recording and the software used for editing, the results that you can achieve can rival what was only previously achievable with extremely high specification (and huge cost) systems. This still means that you need the correct memory and capability to run the software, but this is a lot more achievable and affordable than ever thought possible.

First of all, get a fast motherboard containing a powerful processor and all the memory you can, or your video rendering times will be only slightly faster than a turtle with arthritis. You don't need the most powerful video card on the market-go one step down instead. It will be a little less powerful and a lot less expensive. Finally... storage. Unrendered movie files are measured in gigabytes, not megabytes. Add to that the size of raw footage, and hard drive space becomes crucial. You'll want at least a 500 GB hard drive, especially when working on multiple video projects simultaneously. Finally, get a fast DVD-RW for burning your movies to disc.

The situations whereby a custom built PC is not just a "nice to have" but a necessity are varied, and the above are just three of those.

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