A barebone computer is a partially assembled platform or an unassembled kit of computer parts allowing more customization and lower costs than a retail computer system. They are available for

desktop computer A desktop computer (often abbreviated desktop) is a personal computer designed for regular use at a single location on or near a desk due to its size and power requirements. The most common configuration has a case that houses the power supply ...

, notebook (see barebook) and

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...

purposes, and in nearly any form factor. Manufacturers are also able to produce systems of a specialized or non-standard form factor, since the system is sold as a pre-built unit, with the

motherboard A motherboard (also called mainboard, main circuit board, mb, mboard, backplane board, base board, system board, logic board (only in Apple computers) or mobo) is the main printed circuit board (PCB) in general-purpose computers and other expand ...

and

power supply A power supply is an electrical device that supplies electric power to an electrical load. The main purpose of a power supply is to convert electric current from a source to the correct voltage, current, and frequency to power the load. As a r ...

already installed.

Components

Assembling a barebone computer by hand is usually less expensive than buying a pre-configured computer from a retailer, and may save time and labor compared with building a system from scratch. A typical barebone desktop system consists of a CPU, a

computer case A computer case, also known as a computer chassis, is the enclosure that contains most of the hardware of a personal computer. The components housed inside the case (such as the CPU, motherboard, memory, mass storage devices, power supply unit a ...

(or

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

), with a pre-fitted motherboard and power supply. If not already provided, the purchaser of such a platform only has to equip it with a

RAM Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to: Animals * A male sheep * Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish People * Ram (given name) * Ram (surname) * Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director * RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch * ...

, and optionally a

hard drive A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnet ...

(in some cases, an operating system is/can be installed to a lower-cost

flash drive A flash drive is a portable computer drive that uses flash memory. Flash drives are the larger memory modules consisting of a number of flash chips. A flash chip is used to read the contents of a single cell, but it can write entire block of cell ...

instead). Additional input/output devices may be required depending on their needs. Sometimes, it is necessary to install an operating system if the one built into the motherboard is deemed insufficient (or not present at all). An audio adapter or

network adapter A network interface controller (NIC, also known as a network interface card, network adapter, LAN adapter or physical network interface, and by similar terms) is a computer hardware component that connects a computer to a computer network. Ear ...

may be added but this is less common as recent motherboards often already contain capable solutions. Peripherals, such as a

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

mouse A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

and

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West ...

, almost always must be acquired separately. Barebone systems sometimes include a

graphics processor A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobi ...

, but rarely any mass storage media (hard drives),

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...

or other software. Sometimes PCs with everything a normal desktop PC has except

Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

operating systems are sold as a barebone computer, but may include

free software Free software or libre software is computer software distributed under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, and distribute it and any adapted versions. Free software is a matter of liberty, no ...

such as

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which ...

. Refurbished and used computers may also be repackaged as barebone computers, as many computers returned for refurbishing may have missing, broken, or obsolete parts such as hard drives and peripherals.

Upgrade limitations

Future upgradeability of a barebone system may be limited, especially the motherboard component, which may have less space for extra I/O devices and fewer memory and PCI card slots than desired. The motherboard may not be compatible with faster processors and memory than those originally purchased with the barebone system. Barebones may also have limit on the maximal processor

thermal design power The thermal design power (TDP), sometimes called thermal design point, is the maximum amount of heat generated by a computer chip or component (often a CPU, GPU or system on a chip) that the cooling system in a computer is designed to dissipate ...

(TDP) and not be able to support CPUs that would otherwise fit into the socket.

Manufacturers

The following companies currently manufacture barebone computers: *

Acer Inc. Acer Inc. ( ) is a Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics corporation specializing in advanced electronics technology, headquartered in Xizhi, New Taipei City. Its products include desktop PCs, laptop PCs ( clamshells, 2-in-1s, co ...

*Advantech * ASUSTeK Computer Inc. *

Biostar Biostar Microtech International Corp. () is a Taiwanese company which designs and manufactures computer hardware products such as motherboards, video cards, expansion cards, thermal grease, headphones, home theater PCs, remote controls, deskt ...

* Gigabyte Technology Co. Ltd. *

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...

Micro-Star International Micro-Star International Co., Ltd (MSI; ) is a Taiwanese multinational information technology corporation headquartered in New Taipei City, Taiwan. It designs, develops and provides computer hardware, related products and services, including l ...

(MSI) *

Shuttle Inc. Shuttle Inc. () ( TAIEX:2405) is a Taiwan-based manufacturer of motherboards, barebone computers, complete PC systems and monitors. Throughout the last 10 years, Shuttle has been one of the world's top 10 motherboard manufacturers, and gai ...

Supermicro Super Micro Computer, Inc., dba Supermicro, is an information technology company based in San Jose, California. It has manufacturing operations in the Silicon Valley, the Netherlands and at its Science and Technology Park in Taiwan. Founded on ...

(servers) *

Systemax Global Industrial Company, is a Port Washington, New York based company and is a provider of industrial and MRO (maintenance, repair, and operating supply) products through a system of branded e-Commerce websites and relationship marketers in North ...

/ Tiger Direct * ZOTAC

References

External links

AMD-based small form factor barebone systems which have been tested by AMD's validation labs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barebone Computer Classes of computers

Components

Upgrade limitations

Manufacturers

See also

References

External links