Building the Perfect PC at Dominant Systems Book Store

Build a PC that will outperform any brand-name box on the market

Yes, even if you’re not a total geek you can build your own PC -- and we guarantee it’s worth the effort. You’ll discover that the quality is better and the cost is much lower than any comparable off-the-shelf PC you can buy. Design the custom computer you want, and have fun doing it.

Get high-quality PC hardware from local stores and online vendors
Plan your computer project with a complete checklist
Create the ideal PC that will run Windows 7 or Linux
Take advantage of the latest multi-core CPUs
Assemble, test, and configure your PC with ease
Build a PC that meets your needs and fits your budget

Written by hardware experts, this book delivers complete instructions for building your own dream machine with high-quality components, whether it’s a PC for general use, extreme gaming, a media center, or home server. Straightforward language, clear directions, and easy-to-follow illustrations make this guide a breeze for computer builders of any skill level, even those with no experience.

Building the Perfect PC presents six in-depth custom PC projects:

Mainstream PC -- Fast, flexible, quiet, and reliable at a reasonable price
Extreme System -- A wicked fast PC for video editing, gaming, and more
Media Center -- One PC to replace your TiVo, game console, DVD, and CD player
Home Server -- Ideal home network hub to store, share, and secure data
Appliance PC -- A tiny, quiet, inexpensive PC you can put anywhere
Budget System -- Reliable and highly functional at a low, low price

Customer Reviews & Comments
There are very few folks who know their subject as well as Robert Bruce Thompson. He has been keeping a web-log for several years now where he discusses many subjects, especially about is daily adventures with building computers, managing a home-network and diagnosing problems with them. Probably the single biggest reason that many people don't put together their own systems is the simple lack of knowledge on how to do it. This book provides a great introduction on how to do it. The best reason to do it for yourself is then you will have the piece of mind that you have quality parts in your system. Picking good hard drives, video cards, motherboards, means you are less likely to have a computer failure. Cheap parts are the major reason large corp. retailers put out a lot bad systems... they got some parts that were cheap, but that fail a lot. Thus, causing their customers a lot of headaches. Sure, you might get a dirt-cheap computer system, but you get what you pay for. The other best reason to build a system on your own is that you will learn something in the process. If you can build your own system you will start to be able to do your own tech support. You won't have to wait to get your system fixed: you'll have the knowledge to do it yourself. Better than the simple list of hardware (which since this is a physical book will be out of date very soon after publication) is the discussion on how to do it. The questions you need to ask yourself before picking hardware, etc. What do you want to do with the system? Do you want to play high-power games? Maybe you just want to surf the web and do some light word processing. The system can then be customized for you and you don't get one-size fits all system from some corp. retail giant. And don't forget about his web site. He keeps updated lists of recommended hardware on it, as well as details as to his adventures of computer-problem land. A lot of tips can be picked up there. A good way to keep abreast of the authors thoughts and opinions as to the state of the industry. Anything by Thompson is worthwhile.

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