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My DIY Experiment

By Vincent Chang - on 27 Aug 2010, 11:32am

So my old PC was getting long in the tooth. A dual-core processor was good enough but for the next two to three years, a quad-core would have to be the minimum requirement. 

While deciding the PC configuration I wanted was simple enough, I was not too keen on assembling the whole setup myself. Been there, done that. Not only did that involve having someone to help me carry all the components from Sim Lim Square (SLS), I probably had to spend at least half an hour screwing in the components. So, what about getting the retailers at SLS to fix everything up for me? 

With that in mind, I walked into a PC retailer at SLS. It turned out that assembly was free, due to the fact that I bought almost all the components from them. However, the salesperson warned me that it would take some time as there was a queue, with two other PCs ahead of mine. He was certainly right about that.

It took roughly an hour and a half for my PC to be assembled. Prior to getting the phone call from the shop, I had already dropped by once to check on the progress. Nothing had been started then. Unfortunately, the tech guy doing the assembly was unable to give me any estimated completion time and since they had already removed the components from their boxes in advance, I couldn't even change my mind and bring everything home to DIY myself.

Excellent cable management makes it worth the wait.

The end result: a PC that worked fine with excellent cable management. Now I'm not saying I couldn't have done this myself, but I would probably have been less thorough in the cable management aspect. I still had to install Windows myself but the assembly was definitely excellent.

So, the next time you're thinking of ordering a custom PC at SLS, go during off-peak hours and you're likely to get your PC done in half the time it took for mine. But do your homework first and know what you're getting. As for me, I'm off to enjoy my new PC!

Sidenote: Turns out that the GTX 460, which I got and which is excellent value for everything else, is totally rubbish in the game I'm playing. The fix didn't seem to be forthcoming anytime soon so I switched to ATI instead.

Vincent Chang

Vincent Chang / Former Senior Tech Writer

Vincent has written enough about tech to know that he doesn't know enough about tech. But that's not keeping him from going jargon-heavy about processors and mobos. After all, "you can't stop the signal".

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