Maximum PC Guide to Building a Dream PC (Maximum PC Guide To...)

Rating:
Summary: Building or not, useful for evaluating hardware
Review: I'm not a hardware guy, so when I wanted to build a maxed-out PC I didn't have a clear idea of what to look for. Using this book together with Scott Mueller's 'Upgrading and Repairing PCs, 15th Anniversary Edition', I was able to quickly prepare myself to evaluate what was on the market.

I did a lot of searching for reviews, especially by users, of all the products recommended and I found that the book was spot on. Tip: CNet is particularly useful for user reviews, but particularly worthless for editor reviews.

For anyone not up-to-date on product lines, I'd recommend going to manufacturer's pages, such as Intel, to compare models and capabilites, since this kind of information quickly becomes outdated. This helps to get a pretty clear notion of what the state of the art is and what you lose by backing off one step.

I ended up having the machine built in a package deal I found online where I could configure all my own options. Everything I wanted was available, and the amount I would have saved by doing my own build and, almost more importantly, burn-in, was not worth it. I can't imagine being more satisfied with the results. Dell and Gateway are dead to me now.


Rating:
Summary: good assemblage instructions
Review: Tinkerers rule! At least, you had better believe this, if you want to benefit from this book. Smith is talking to hands on hobbyists, which want truly unique machines. Often heavily souped up. The pages of the book are in colour, which helps show even motherboards and videocards as pretty. Candidly, those of you who think this is impossible should pass on this book.

The text goes through the basics of each type of component, for virtually all the types that can go into a computer. As already mentioned, motherboards and videocards. But also power supplies, memory, monitors etc.

It is important to note that the photos are not just of isolated items. Several series of photos show clearly how to install a component. The colour photo sequences are well done. More useful than traditional black and white sketches that vendors might supply. These are common because vendors have slim margins, and more elaborate colour diagrams are costly. So the book tries to address this gap, amongst the issues it addresses.