Custom Built PC
A custom built (or assembled) PC is a personal computer system that is assembled from components selected by the end-user; it may be assembled by the end user or a system builder. The advantage of custom assembly is that components can be selected to match the user's application. Manufacturer options of mass-market computers may not meet the particular requirements of an end user. Since a wide range of standardized low-cost interchangeable hardware is available, most custom built computer systems are IBM PC compatible or Wintel-type, though Macintosh, Amiga, and other types are also custom-built.
A system builder specializes in customized or special purpose systems, which cannot be obtained off-the-shelf from major manufacturers. Generally, a system builder obtains parts from distributors, wholesalers, Internet vendors, or small computer specialty stores. Internet vendors generally offer a wider selection than small computer parts stores, and normal electronics stores, which are catered towards pre-built PCs. System builders are often either computer gamers or individuals whose requirements can't be fulfilled by a practical cost efficient pre-built PC. A consumer is more likely to buy a pre-built computer than attempt to build a machine due to difficulty and the lack of a technical support team when problems arise. On the other hand, it is usually less expensive to build a PC than to buy a pre-built equivalent.
Famous quotes containing the words custom and/or built:
“In the west, Apollo and Dionysus strive for victory. Apollo makes the boundary lines that are civilization but that lead to convention, constraint, oppression. Dionysus is energy unbound, mad, callous, destructive, wasteful. Apollo is law, history, tradition, the dignity and safety of custom and form. Dionysus is the new, exhilarating but rude, sweeping all away to begin again. Apollo is a tyrant, Dionysus is a vandal.”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)
“In 1845 he built himself a small framed house on the shores of Walden Pond, and lived there two years alone, a life of labor and study. This action was quite native and fit for him. No one who knew him would tax him with affectation. He was more unlike his neighbors in his thought than in his action. As soon as he had exhausted himself that advantages of his solitude, he abandoned it.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)