Mike Riley - Build an Awesome PC, 2014 Edition: Easy Steps to Construct the Machine You Need

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This book is dedicated to my brother Frank, who a long time ago in a galaxy known as the Milky Way introduced me to science fiction, CP/M, and DOS.

Writing a book is hard work, even when the subject being written about is so much fun. In addition to distilling the critical essence of the topic into effective sentences and paragraphs, there remains a long list of tasks that need to be done before a book is ready for its readership. Without the assistance of skilled editors, artisans, and technical reviewers, this book could have remained on my bucket list until said bucket was kicked.

Fortunately, I got by with plenty of help from my friends. I first wish to thank Jackie Carter, the books development editor. Weve had a wonderfully productive working relationship since my first book for Pragmatic, and I look forward to many more books with her keeping me focused and cheering for me at the finish line.

Many thanks also to my friends who reviewed the technical aspects and helped to greatly clarify the instruction in the book. Henry Thomas assisted even before I typed the first sentence, validating my choice of hardware to promote in the book. He was also there after the last sentence was entered, reminding me to highlight and enhance certain portions. May you build long and prosper, sir. The other people who helped shape and refine this book with their awesome comments and suggestions include Cristina Zamora, Eric Bruno, Corey Butler, Mike Bengtson, Glenn Ferrell, John Cairns, Jeff Horn, Sven Davies, Jon Kurz, and Ankoor Shah. This book has surpassed my own high-bar expectations as a result of their insightful and ever-helpful comments and recommendations. And thanks to David Kelly and all the other designers, copy editors, and production folks at The Pragmatic Bookshelf for polishing this book into a gem.

Thanks to my artistically gifted daughter Marielle for rendering the image you see on the computer monitor shown on the cover. Thanks also to my son Mitchell for giving an enthusiastic thumbs-up after stress-testing the final PC build with his selection of the most cutting-edge and graphically demanding games today. And thanks to my wife Marinette for allowing me to turn the awesome PC audio up to eleven (for testing purposes, I swear) and once again allowing me to trade family time for book-writing time.