<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML ><HEAD ><TITLE >The Unix Hardware Buyer HOWTO</TITLE ><META NAME="GENERATOR" CONTENT="Modular DocBook HTML Stylesheet Version 1.7"><LINK REL="NEXT" TITLE="Introduction" HREF="intro.html"></HEAD ><BODY CLASS="article" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#0000FF" VLINK="#840084" ALINK="#0000FF" ><DIV CLASS="ARTICLE" ><DIV CLASS="TITLEPAGE" ><H1 CLASS="title" ><A NAME="AEN2" ></A >The Unix Hardware Buyer HOWTO</H1 ><H3 CLASS="author" ><A NAME="AEN4" >Eric Raymond</A ></H3 ><DIV CLASS="affiliation" ><DIV CLASS="address" ><P CLASS="address" ><br> <TT CLASS="email" ><<A HREF="mailto:esr@thyrsus.com" >esr@thyrsus.com</A >></TT ><br> </P ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="revhistory" ><TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" ><TR ><TH ALIGN="LEFT" VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="3" ><B >Revision History</B ></TH ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 4.0</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2007-11-02</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: esr</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Major revisions by Jonathan Marsden on SATA, bus standards, DVDs and other topics, followed by a cleanup pass from me.</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 3.3</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2007-18-13</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: esr</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Updated for 2007 conditions. CRTs are dead. BTX is dead. CD-ROMs are competely generic now. USB modems are recommended.</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 3.2</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2004-10-28</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: esr</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Fix and remove bad links.</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 3.1</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2004-08-03</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: esr</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Sound cards don't matter any more.</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 3.0</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2004-02-21</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: esr</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Power-protection stuff moved to UPS HOWTO. DIMM memory is gone. Tape drives don't make sense any more. Lots of the theory from my "Ultimate Linux Box" articles now lives here.</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 2.4</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2003-02-22</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: esr</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >URL fixes.</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 2.3</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2002-08-06</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: esr</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Buying at the low end isn't a lose anymore. I recommend Athlons. Nuked the section on video standards, EDID takes care of all that now. Also removed the section on older memory types. And keyboards, as the "ergonomic" ones all vanished along with the 1990s carpal-tunnel scare.</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 2.2</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2002-08-05</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: esr</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >New section on DVD drives.</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 2.1</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2002-07-08</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: esr</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Corrected Kingston URL. Various small updates for the last year. This HOWTO is much more stable than it used to be.</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 2.0</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2001-08-09</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: esr</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Major update. Revisions based on Ultimate Linux Box experience. Caches are on-chip now. DDS4 tape drives are here. 486 machines, CD caddies, and most non-DDS backup technologies are gone.</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 1.1</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2001-06-13</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: esr</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Mid-2001 update.</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revision 1.0</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >2001-02-06</TD ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" >Revised by: esr</TD ></TR ><TR ><TD ALIGN="LEFT" COLSPAN="3" >Initial revision; but see the history in the introduction.</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ><DIV ><DIV CLASS="abstract" ><A NAME="AEN10" ></A ><P ></P ><P > This is your one-stop resource for information about how to buy and configure generic PC hardware for cheap, powerful Unix systems. </P ><P ></P ></DIV ></DIV ><HR></DIV ><DIV CLASS="TOC" ><DL ><DT ><B >Table of Contents</B ></DT ><DT >1. <A HREF="intro.html" >Introduction</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >1.1. <A HREF="intro.html#purpose" >Purpose of this document</A ></DT ><DT >1.2. <A HREF="intro.html#newversions" >New versions of this document</A ></DT ><DT >1.3. <A HREF="intro.html#feedback" >Feedback and corrections</A ></DT ><DT >1.4. <A HREF="intro.html#resources" >Related resources</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >2. <A HREF="overview.html" >Overview of the Market</A ></DT ><DT >3. <A HREF="basics.html" >Buying the Basics</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >3.1. <A HREF="basics.html#AEN122" >Things to Not Care About</A ></DT ><DT >3.2. <A HREF="basics.html#processor" >How To Pick Your Processor</A ></DT ><DT >3.3. <A HREF="basics.html#twospindles" >One Disk or Two?</A ></DT ><DT >3.4. <A HREF="basics.html#cases" >Getting Down to Cases</A ></DT ><DT >3.5. <A HREF="basics.html#power" >Power Supplies and Fans</A ></DT ><DT >3.6. <A HREF="basics.html#motherboards" >Motherboards</A ></DT ><DT >3.7. <A HREF="basics.html#AEN227" >Monitor and Video</A ></DT ><DT >3.8. <A HREF="basics.html#dvd" >DVD Drives</A ></DT ><DT >3.9. <A HREF="basics.html#sound" >Sound Cards and Speakers</A ></DT ><DT >3.10. <A HREF="basics.html#modems" >Modems</A ></DT ><DT >3.11. <A HREF="basics.html#printers" >Printers</A ></DT ><DT >3.12. <A HREF="basics.html#power_protection" >Power Protection</A ></DT ><DT >3.13. <A HREF="basics.html#rfi" >Radio Frequency Interference</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >4. <A HREF="optimize.html" >What To Optimize</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >4.1. <A HREF="optimize.html#AEN378" >First, add more memory</A ></DT ><DT >4.2. <A HREF="optimize.html#AEN381" >Bus and Disk speeds</A ></DT ><DT >4.3. <A HREF="optimize.html#diskwars" >Disk Wars: SATA vs. SCSI</A ></DT ><DT >4.4. <A HREF="optimize.html#iotune" >Tuning Your I/O Subsystem</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >5. <A HREF="economizing.html" >But What If I'm Economizing?</A ></DT ><DT >6. <A HREF="noise.html" >Noise Control and Heat Dissipation</A ></DT ><DT >7. <A HREF="laptops.html" >Special Considerations When Buying Laptops</A ></DT ><DT >8. <A HREF="howtobuy.html" >How to Buy</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >8.1. <A HREF="howtobuy.html#whentobuy" >When to Buy</A ></DT ><DT >8.2. <A HREF="howtobuy.html#wheretobuy" >Where to Buy</A ></DT ><DT >8.3. <A HREF="howtobuy.html#fairs" >Computer Fairs</A ></DT ><DT >8.4. <A HREF="howtobuy.html#mailorder" >Mail Order</A ></DT ><DT >8.5. <A HREF="howtobuy.html#superstores" >Computer Superstores</A ></DT ><DT >8.6. <A HREF="howtobuy.html#buying_tips" >Other Buying Tips</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >9. <A HREF="questions.html" >Questions You Should Always Ask Your Vendor</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >9.1. <A HREF="questions.html#warranty" >Minimum Warranty Provisions</A ></DT ><DT >9.2. <A HREF="questions.html#documention" >Documentation</A ></DT ><DT >9.3. <A HREF="questions.html#quality" >A System Quality Checklist</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >10. <A HREF="mailtips.html" >Things to Check when Buying</A ></DT ><DD ><DL ><DT >10.1. <A HREF="mailtips.html#tricks" >Tricks and Traps in Warranties</A ></DT ><DT >10.2. <A HREF="mailtips.html#mail_questions" >Special Questions to Ask Web/Mail-Order Vendors Before Buying</A ></DT ><DT >10.3. <A HREF="mailtips.html#payment" >Payment Method</A ></DT ><DT >10.4. <A HREF="mailtips.html#vendors" >Which Clone Vendors to Talk To</A ></DT ></DL ></DD ><DT >11. <A HREF="x777.html" >After You Take Delivery</A ></DT ><DT >12. <A HREF="software.html" >Software to go with your hardware</A ></DT ><DT >13. <A HREF="links.html" >Other Resources on Building Linux PCs</A ></DT ></DL ></DIV ></DIV ><DIV CLASS="NAVFOOTER" ><HR ALIGN="LEFT" WIDTH="100%"><TABLE SUMMARY="Footer navigation table" WIDTH="100%" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0" CELLSPACING="0" ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" > </TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" > </TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" ><A HREF="intro.html" ACCESSKEY="N" >Next</A ></TD ></TR ><TR ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" > </TD ><TD WIDTH="34%" ALIGN="center" VALIGN="top" > </TD ><TD WIDTH="33%" ALIGN="right" VALIGN="top" >Introduction</TD ></TR ></TABLE ></DIV ></BODY ></HTML >