Custom Building a Computer

After store purchases of the last three computers and custom builds by local shops of two others, I have decided to try and assemble one on my own from individual purchased parts that I custom select to meet my own needs. I found the store-purchased, "brand name" computers (all three were Hewlett-Packard models) were in several ways unsatisfactory. First, they were loaded with unnecessary software that I didn't want and wouldn't use, some of which were either trials or "lite" versions anyway. Second, there were no original windows install discs included. The only way you could reinstall the basic OS software, should the need arise, was to use the HP "recovery" discs which would also reinstall all the applications that were deemed "necessary" by HP in the first place - the ones I had spent considerable time trying to eliminate previously. Blah! Furthermore, little technical information was provided about hardware details - no motherboard manuals, for instance. So this experience has led me to say I will never again buy a brand name from a store. There is a wealth of technical information on the internet concerning this subject. There are also multitudes of individual parts from many manufacturers, readily available from on-line retailers. And things like the motherboard actually come with tecnical manuals that detail the installation steps and procedures.

My current main desktop computer (HP Pavilion 8595C) is about nine years old. It's a pentium III, 733mhz unit that originally came with Windows 98SE and that later I upgraded to Windows XP, SP2. The time has now come to upgrade and I have decided to assemble one from individual parts by myself. This decision is also made easy since I have retail versions of both Windows XP, SP2 and Office 2007, so I won't have the problem in attempting to move OEM versions of those over to another computer. Both of these softwares were initially activated much more than 120 days ago, so I don't expect a problem during their reactivation with Microsoft. I intend to move my complete existing software installation, including the OS and all application softwares to the new computer using disk imaging software with a hardware independent restore feature. I am using Storage Craft's Shadow Protect Desktop software to perform that function.

This write-up documents my efforts in doing this.

I began by selecting a desktop computer case. I wanted a case of mid-tower size with four external full-size drive bays and one 3.5" external drive bay for a floppy drive. I decided on a Lian-Li, model PC-A6010B. While not the cheapest case available, it has a number of features that I liked. Both the sides and the top are removable for easy access and both the mother board and the power supply can be installed on slide out trays to make assembly and hook-up easier. Here's a photo with the top and sides removed and the motherboard tray slid partially out:

The case is all aluminum and is very nicely constructed. A top quality product in my opinion. Here's the motherboard tray wholly withdrawn. It will allow easy installation of the cpu and accessory cards out in the open and not down in a hole in the case:

Here's a side view without the motherboard tray:

And here's the opposite side:

Here's the front without the front bezel:

Pictured above also are two hard disk removable trays and a DVD burner. For the removable disk trays, I chose Startech model DRW150SATBK for my new SATA 320gb hard disks. The DVD burner is a Sony DRU-830A, which I had anyway. I have a black faceplate for it but hadn't installed it at the time the picture was taken. The case has two very large air circulation fans - one in the front in "push" configuration behind a neat dust filter shown above and one in the rear on the motherboard tray in "pull" configuration. I like the idea of the dust filter for air being drawn into the cabinet. My other computers do not have that feature. My wife's computer in particular is plagued with dust problems and requires cleanings quite often.

Here's a rear view:

For a motherboard I chose an ASUS model P5Q-E. It seems to be a mid-grade board with the features I want - e.g. not only USB2 but also Firewire built in. I selected an Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0 ghz CPU that is compatible with the socket on the motherboard. Here's what the motherboard looks like right out of the box:

Here's what the board looks like installed on the slideout tray:

The CPU and cooler is installed along with 3 gb of RAM and a video card. I chose an inexpensive video card, an ASUS model EAH3450 with 512 mb of on-board RAM. The slide out tray made access real easy for installing these components. Here's the whole thing slid back into the case:

Conveniently, the power supply slides in and out also. What a bunch of power cables!

I'm using SATA hard disks installed in easily removable disk caddies (slide out trays). These make it easy to swap hard disks without opening the computer case and without disconnecting/reconnecting any cables. The Startech trays and their holders fit nicely in a standard 5.25" drive bay. They are nicely constructed of aluminum.

All done! I had to use an adapter card (SIIG model JJ-P21111-S4) to obtain a parallel port for my older HP Laserjet printer. Parallel ports are not common on newer mother boards as most printers now connect via USB.

I was able to transfer all my software (Windows XP pro SP2 and applications) from the old computer to the new one using the HIR (hardware independent restore) feature of ShadowProtect Desktop version 3.3. This software alows imaging of disk partitions and restoring to different hardware while keeping all the original settings. It worked very well. I did have to re-activate Windows XP and MS Office 2007 programs with Microsoft though since they detected they were on completely different hardware. Since I was well over the 120 window since the original activation, I didn't have to call Microsoft. The activation process went smoothly via an on-line link.

I am also running both DOS and Windows 98SE on this computer using virtual machines with Microsoft Virtual PC 2004, a free download. The 98SE software and associated applications was also moved over to the virtual PC installation using ShadowProtect's image restore ability. The same software is now on all new hardware.

Rod NH
November 2008

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