8 Reasons to Build Your Own PC

Building your own PC is as rewarding as ever. Fortunately, it still makes plenty of sense, too.

It's true that you can't beat the convenience of today's retail PCs. As consumer interest shifts to laptops and cell phones, desktop PC sales still carve out a substantial niche in the market. On paper, they look pretty good. These days, they're fully specified with quad-core CPUs, 6GB of DDR3 RAM, and large hard drives. Many of the lower-end models come with free PCIe slots, at least the ones in regular tower cases.

In theory, a gamer could go with a $600 Gateway, Dell, or HP configuration, and then add a better video card. That would be a perfectly fine PC for most folks. Even for gaming, it would work for a while, providing you kept the extra video card to a shorter, lower-end model that fits inside the case, and that isn't too demanding on the PSU.

Windows7 Media formats supported by default

File Type – File Name Extension(s) – Description


3GPP/3GPP2 Audio/Video
.3gp, .3gpp, .3g2, .3gp2
Allows delivery and playback of multimedia over 3G wireless networks.


ADTS Audio
.aac – Used for streaming audio content from media players or websites in Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) or MPEG-4 Audio formats.


AVCHD Video – .m2t, .m2ts, .mts – High-definition video container format used by many portable video recorders. It typically uses the H.264 video compression codec (also known as MPEG-4 AVC).


MP4 Video – .m4v, .mp4, .mp4v – This widely used high-definition video container format typically uses H.264 video compression.


MPEG-2 TS Video – .ts, .tts – A streaming format used to deliver synchronized digital audio and video; commonly used in European digital TV systems.


MPEG-4 Audio – .m4a – Also known as Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), this is the default format used by Apple’s iTunes software and online music store; files in this format that use Apple’s FairPlay copy protection are not supported, nor are those that use Apple Lossless Format.


QuickTime Movie – .mov – A container format used by many portable video cameras.

Microsoft Windows 7 Various Editions Description

Windows® 7 Enterprise
Enterprise is the business-focused SKU for managed environments, advanced data protection, networking and security needs. Enterprise will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.


Windows® 7 Ultimate
Ultimate is the no-compromise SKU for those who want all Windows features, including business.
Windows 7 Ultimate has the same features as the Enterprise Edition, but is licensed differently.
Ultimate will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.


Windows ® 7 Professional 
Professional is the business-focused SKU for small and lower mid-market companies and users who have networking, backup, and security needs and multiple PCs or servers.
Professional will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.


Windows® 7 Home Premium 
Home Premium is the standard consumer SKU, providing full functionality on the latest hardware and easy ways to connect. Home Premium features advanced graphics effects, support for touch-screen interfaces, and Media Center, among other features.
Home Premium will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.


Windows® 7 Home Basic 
Home Basic is a simple version of Windows 7. It offers a basic Windows interface andfeature list. Home Basic is meant for accessing the internet and running basic productivity applications.
This version of Windows is offered through OEM and retail channels in emergingmarkets only.
Home Basic will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.


Windows® 7 Starter 
This edition of Windows 7 is aimed at beginning computer users. It has the fewest features of the Windows 7 editions. Windows XP and Vista also had Starter Editions with significant limitations. Windows 7 Starter Edition will be available to OEMs worldwide.
This version of Windows is offered worldwide through OEMs only.
Starter will ship in a 32-bit version only.