What Is a Barebone Computer?

According to the current specifications of barebones products, it can be roughly said that it is a machine with a motherboard, and the motherboard integrates the basic display, sound system and commonly used interfaces. To form a computer, other accessories need to be purchased separately. For example, you need to buy CPU, memory, hard disk, monitor, speakers, optical drive and so on. At present, the barebones on the market has both PC and server models. It is obvious that ordinary barebones have angelic looks.

Barebone

According to the current specifications of barebones products, this can be roughly

The only reason for the birth of barebones is to reduce the cost risk for computer manufacturers.

Advantages of barebones

Initially, barebones was tailored for OEM customers or branded machines, and its original design was

Pick your favorite shape

Now that the decision has been made to buy a barebones, the form factor must not be sloppy. Today's barebones systems are becoming more and more family-oriented. In addition to the general size of a third of an ordinary ATX case, the design is more and more like a desktop speaker. At the same time, most products use the appearance design similar to Apple Computer, beautiful metal case with harmonious color matching, no wonder people will love.

2. Pay attention to the chipset and processor

Barebones generally do not have a processor, so pay attention to the combination of motherboard chipset and processor. Generally speaking, I recommend that you buy a barebones product based on Intel processors, so that it can be used with a quieter cooling fan to make our barebones more like a quiet home appliance.

3. Understand the difference between motherboard chipset

For barebones, the main factor determining its price is the motherboard chipset. For example, the same chipset that supports Pentium4, the price of Intel chipset and SIS chipset is much different. Even if it is the same Intel chipset, I845 and I865 will cause the price of the barebone system to be nearly 1,000 yuan. Therefore, it is recommended that friends who are planning to purchase a barebones system make up lessons before setting off, even if it is a temporary ambition.

4. Consider interfaces as needed

One of the great advantages of the barebones system is that it has excellent multimedia functions, and "excellent multimedia functions" are largely reflected in the interface. Although some barebones are cheap and excellent in appearance, they can only provide some mainstream interfaces such as USB, audio output, etc., then such barebones can only be an ultra-small PC. In addition to the true quasi-systems that should meet USB, IEEE1394, audio output, and video output, the dual VGA output and optical fiber input / input commonly used in multimedia are also required.

5. Balance heat dissipation and quietness

Since the barebones uses a small chassis, the heat dissipation of the CPU, motherboard and power supply must be considered. In addition to the ordinary fan design, some of the current cooling technology used in the barebones system also adopts the heat pipe cooling technology used in notebook computers. When combined with the direct-blown chassis fan, it can provide satisfactory cooling effects (see Figure 07). As shown).

Barebone

Another issue worth noting is that both heat dissipation and quietness must have both. You can't buy a computer with good heat dissipation and noisy, and you can't ignore heat dissipation in pursuit of quietness. Of course, users must test the machine in person when buying. Give your own barebones to your satisfaction.

6. Reasonable requirements for scalability

One of the major shortcomings of barebones is poor scalability, but adhering to the "have the best" view, you should pay attention to the scalability of barebones when buying. The main aspects include:

What kind of processor, memory, hard disk, optical drive or even keyboard and mouse does the barebones support? (Some overly compact barebones can't even use normal 3.5-inch hard drives and 5.25-inch optical drives. Only smaller laptop hard drives can be used. This makes the entire system more expensive).

There are several memory slots and several PCI slots on the motherboard of the barebones system. Can the internal space of the chassis accommodate a full-size PCI board? Memory slots and PCI slots can help us upgrade the performance of the barebones, of course, the better.

Does the barebones system have a separate AGP slot? The display function has always been the most dissatisfied part of the performance of many DIYer alignment systems. If the barebones has a separate AGP slot, then you can replace a better graphics card. However, the author here reminds the users who are planning to upgrade the graphics card for the barebones system. Pay attention to the power supply of the barebones system. Generally, the barebones system will provide 200W power. Of course, it is enough if it does not use independent AGP graphics cards. If you want to use a discrete graphics card, you must pay attention to whether your power supply supports it.