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Alex Rosolowsky

Why I Decided to Build A Computer, and The Knowledge I Gained
- By Alex Rosolowsky

After dealing with Alienware's tech support (or lack thereof) for three years in high school, I had finally had enough. I was sick of rebuilding a computer I needed for daily use that I had paid for an extended warranty on, and I had grown tired of hearing the words "reformat the hard drive and reinstall windows" every time I called for a hardware problem. Taking my knowledge from nine years of Computers & Kids summer camp, as well as a year's experience as a counselor, combined with the abilities I had gained rebuilding my Alienware PC, I decided to attempt something I hadn't done before: I was going to build my own PC.

I knew what I wanted before I even began building the machine. It had to run Microsoft Windows ME and Linux with a dual-boot configuration. It had to have a RAID-1 array (something that would prove to delay the machine's completion for over a year,) and it had to have a yellow Chassis. After repeatedly losing my data from the Alienware PC I had become paranoid about backing everything up, and also knew that I wanted an Iomega ZIP750 drive, and two optical drives. I did some research on building vs. buying a PC, and purchased a book from my local bookstore to help me get started, then I began a project that's still not quite finished.

Although I had initially started researching this machine in 2003, I didn't begin to actually build it until January 2004. I knew I wanted a chassis just like the one on my Alienware PC, except I had never purchased a PC chassis before, nor did I know who made such a case. I only had a number, stamped into the door for the chassis to go by which read "DX-01." I typed "DX-01" into Google, and began my search. After refining my search multiple times I hit upon two companies that made a similar case � Chieftech and Antec � one of which branded their cases DX-01: I had found my case at a website named Directron.com! Admittedly I looked around at other yellow cases, and eventually settled on the AMX-01YLD by Chieftech, which featured a reportedly superior design for cooling and was made out of Aluminum. I decided to purchase this case, and through a friend, purchased several other parts I needed.

From January to June I would finish my homework and then go into the basement where I had two tables and all of my parts, a cold water pipe to ground myself on, and a nonmagnetic screwdriver. As I assembled the machine, occasionally referring to the book I had purchased, I learned several things such as how to set jumpers, how to cable a case for maximum airflow, and how to install a motherboard which was something I had never done before.

I'll never forget how happy I was when I had finally installed the motherboard, power supply, RAM, and my then-new Intel 3.2Ghz hyper-threaded Pentium 4. When I was finally finished building the machine, I called up my friend to have him look it over and make sure I hadn't done anything wrong; it turns out I had. A few of the jumpers weren't set properly but after a quick change in jumpers and a defective IDE cable I was almost good to go. My Mitsumi Floppy Drive and Iomega ZIP drives were both defective. I called Iomega and exchanged the ZIP drive for a working one, and then I bought a new floppy drive off of my friend for $20, which was the going rate at the time.

With everything finally in place as far as hardware goes, I was finally ready to install the operating systems. By this time I was enraged since Alienware had my machine back in their repair depot once again. Part of what was driving me was pure anger and the desire to build a better computer than Alienware, and so it was probably a good thing considering that it didn't take long to get Windows ME running. The RAID configuration was fine, and Windows ME was working perfectly. Then there was Linux. I tried multiple versions of Linux, complete with updated drivers, none of which would recognize my motherboard's integrated RAID card. This was annoying, and finally, to attempt to speed up the repair, I sent the machine to my friend's shop. It sat there from April 30th, 2005 until July 24th, 2006 at which point Ubuntu Linux was installed and RAID drivers were recompiled to work with my new computer.

So now I have a working machine with just one problem: somewhere along the line, someone didn't read the big note written in red that warned of an aluminum chassis which was easily scratched and dented. My machine was returned functional, but with multiple scratches and a dent on the top. I was infuriated, I had just spent roughly three years building this thing and now the case was damaged. I decided I'd start looking for a replacement. The first place I went to was Directron.com, but unfortunately the case is no longer in stock. I'm still looking for a replacement, and I won't consider the computer complete until I have an undamaged yellow aluminum chassis, with a side-fan and no side window, made by Chieftech or one of the companies that re-brands Chieftec cases such as Antec.

While it's still a work in progress, I have learned a lot from building a PC from scratch. One thing I learned was aluminum chassis are fragile, and someone needs to make titanium chassis. Another thing I learned was that it's probably a good idea to check every jumper before installing drives. I also learned that building a PC can be fun and rewarding, and when people ask me "Where did you get that awesome computer?" I can simply respond that I built it myself.

The most enjoyable thing about building a computer was that I learned a lot more about hardware than I had previously known. While I had rebuilt my Alienware computer multiple times by moving PCI cards around at the advice of tech support, and updating perpetually DOA Pioneer DVD-ROM drives, I had never touched a motherboard or CPU until I built a computer. I had never used Linux before, but I wanted to learn how it works, and now I have a machine witch which to do so. I always enjoyed learning about computers, and currently have nine of them, not all of which are connected or are fully functional, and will have no fewer than ten in 2007. I would definitely consider this a learning experience, as well as a hobby. The first computer I ever used was an Apple II in Kindergarten, followed by a Dell my family bought, and over the years I grew to enjoy computers and the software aspect, including programming, but I never really dealt with the hardware before. I only began to enjoy the hardware aspect of computers after building one, and it's an experience I'll never forget.

When I decided to build a computer rather than buy one it was out of frustration with past purchases. However, from this frustration came knowledge and an experience I wouldn't trade for any store-bought computer. From the first time I installed the motherboard, to the first time I pressed the power button and watched my machine and its blue LED case fans roar to life, I enjoyed every moment of designing and building a custom computer.

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