Building a PC Isn't Hard

[kwall at kurtwerks.com]

...or expensive.

This is what I learned this weekend. Last week, I killed my desktop
system while cleaning it. Or so I presume, in that it worked /before/
the cleaning and didn't work /after/ the cleaning. Evidently, the
nicotine-encrusted dust and cobwebs were holding the thing together.

So, one trip to Fry's and two trips to MicroCenter later, I had a new
system. As it turns out, not all ATX form factor motherboards are the
same. :-\  Fry's provided all the components except for the case -- I
planned to re-use my existing case, an ATX mini-tower. However, it was
too short to hold the motherboard; I concluded that the tower was not,
in fact, an ATX cse. The two trips to MicroCenter were necessary to get a
case to hold the motherboard. The mini-tower ATX case bought on the first
trip was returned on the second trip for a mid-tower ATX case. The only
other hitch was my keyboard deciding to die the second time I powered
up the system -- that cost me 15 minutes' swearing and thinking I'
broken my brand new motherboard until I decided to try the Mac keyboard
I use with my Mini. Worked like a charm.

Next time I need a new computer, I'll build it.

Kurt
-- 
You can't judge a book by the way it wears its hair.