Is it worth building PC yourself nowadays?

[shadowflame]

Was wondering what you guys think? Should i try and built PC myself by ordering all components and building it up or is it cheaper and better quality to buy premade PCs?
I will mostly use this computer for WoW and other goog games such as COD 4, Bioshock etc..
Aiming for about $1500 price range..

If any of you recently built a PC i would like to see what components you have and links to each component if can. Also total amount you paid for all.. Thanks

[inspyron]

for 1500, you could get a real nasty computer. buy the parts yourself and put it together, thats the best way. i like sites like ibuypower.com and newegg.com personally.

[Cyrant]

ibuypower is really iffy, don't buy from them.


But ordering all the parts from newegg and putting them together is a great way to save money. My machine can run CoD 4 on all high (except for shadows) and has also ran Bioshock on all highs... of course WoW as well.

The best part is it cost 800$ to put together almost a year ago, and that was counting the OS. For $1500 you could build a great PC.

edit: what I have (forgot prices, but they've changed)


Intel 2 Duo core 1.8ghz
Nvida 660i motherboard
2GB DDR2
360GB HD
Nvida Geforce 7900GS
Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio
550W Thermaltank PSU


The X-Fi I did get later. I plan on upgrading it this summer as well with a new processor and video card. Will probably cost me a few hundred bucks for a huge upgrade.

[Windywoo]

No sorry its a myth that you save money by building your machine yourself. If you want to upgrade some parts and do it slowly then you can save some money doing it that way, but you won't save money if you want a whole new machine.

But building it yourself has other benefits like you really get to understand how your pc works, and you feel like you have achieved something when it boots and you install wow and it all goes smoothly.

[crankmonkey]

I wouldn’t say it’s a myth, but half true

If you’re going to just get an average or ok comp for a sub 1000 or so, then yes its better to buy a pre made one. However if your going to get a really kick ass computer then I would say it is cheaper for you to make it yourself from buying the components separately.


Also I would stay way from ibuypower, something about getting something good can't be true, or however that saying goes ^^

[TheSuperSnow]

No sorry its a myth that you save money by building your machine yourself. If you want to upgrade some parts and do it slowly then you can save some money doing it that way, but you won't save money if you want a whole new machine.

I have to disagree. I'll just outright say it: You're wrong. I will guarantee you that if you find any machine on the market that's been assembled professionally and sold to the end consumer via retail, you will find yourself saving a lot of money by buying the EXACT SAME components online and building the computer yourself.

Even if you buy directly from the company (ie - Dell), I'd be hard pressed to find a computer that's more expensive to build yourself. And don't even get me started on those custom gaming computer companies (ie - Falcon Northwest), they aren't even in the scope of this argument (they're that ridiculously expensive). Sure, you can find some great deals that APPEAR to be cheaper than something you can get by just buying all the components separately and building yourself, but in almost all cases, you're paying extra for components that honestly don't deserve to be in a high end computer in addition to the cost of assembly.

Building your own computer gives you complete control over what you want your computer to be. The one and ONLY drawback in my opinion is that without proper research (and even with it) you'll sometimes get shafted by the quality of some components, namely the motherboard. The great thing about buying computers from Dell, HP, Compaq, etc are that they're pretty much guaranteed to work. They test their builds before they put them into production so they know what the problems are and they do a pretty good job of fixing them or avoiding them with different parts through massive testing.

Falcon Northwest does a similar thing with their computers. They typically don't allow any parts into their inventory for custom builds until they've tested them to make sure they work properly with their systems. This way, they can avoid lots of trouble by weeding out problematic system configurations before the customer has to find out why their beastly $3000 machine can't run a game with hardware sound or some other silly problem.

In my experience, if a computer costs X amount of dollars from a company, I can build a computer that has the same components, and in most instances better, for 3/4ths the cost.

[Diatribe]

For 1500$ (and without the monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, just the case and all the goodies on the inside), anyone that does their research can build a freakin' NICE computer for that. Every 3-4 years I start to do a 100% re-build of my entire computer setup. I'll spend up to 300$ a month and slowly put together a new computer. Sure, I might spend more money than if I just bought it from a pre-built place like Dell or HP or whatever, but I built it my way, under my terms and with the parts I WANTED, not what was offered by the manufacturer.

In the end, if you know what you're doing, build it on your own. You'll be happier in the long run.

[Celestiya]

No sorry its a myth that you save money by building your machine yourself. If you want to upgrade some parts and do it slowly then you can save some money doing it that way, but you won't save money if you want a whole new machine.

But building it yourself has other benefits like you really get to understand how your pc works, and you feel like you have achieved something when it boots and you install wow and it all goes smoothly.

In the area I live in, it seems to be a better option to build a PC myself.

Building a PC from the ground up is definitely the most cost-effective, and customization friendly option you can take when looking at new computers. The only reason why I would tell you not to do it, is if you have absolutely no idea what individual pieces of hardware are, and are intimated by the thought. Even then though, its easy enough to find a comprehensive guide online that shows you step by step how to do things.

With that said though, newegg.com generally has the best prices/service from what I have found. You can get a real monster of a machine for $1500, and I doubt you'll even spend that much if you're just wanting to max out WoW.

A good place to start looking at a parts list would be this thread:http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=139863
The community is incredibly helpful, and the post just got updated with a new parts list as of March 27th.

Good luck with your new build!

[Diatribe]

You are completely full of shit. DO NOT post things when you have no earthly idea what you are talking about.

Building a PC from the ground up is definitely the most cost-effective, and customization friendly option you can take when looking at new computers. The only reason why I would tell you not to do it, is if you have absolutely no idea what individual pieces of hardware are, and are intimated by the thought. Even then though, its easy enough to find a comprehensive guide online that shows you step by step how to do things.

With that said though, newegg.com generally has the best prices/service from what I have found. You can get a real monster of a machine for $1500, and I doubt you'll even spend that much if you're just wanting to max out WoW.

A good place to start looking at a parts list would be this thread:http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=139863
The community is incredibly helpful, and the post just got updated with a new parts list as of March 27th.

Good luck with your new build!

I wouldn't say that it's always the most cost effective way of doing things, because most folks don't look long enough for the best deals (often times buying OEM parts from an odd ball "Fly by Night" online store).

Personally, I'll buy retail products. I prefer the feeling of security of some kind of manufacturer's warrenty in place (even if I never have to use it). Sure, I'll pay a little bit more, but ah well. In the end, I got what I wanted, didn't pay an outrageous price you see from Falcon Northwest or whatnot.

[oxxo]

If you're building a gaming computer yes.
If you're going for a Office/Internet/IM computer no.

I don't build/upgrade friends computers unless they want to play games on it also. I find them a better deal at Dell for the cheap ones.

[Windywoo]

I stand by my post. Maybe prices are different where you are, but any time I have looked at building my own, the price is always the same if not more than an equivalent PC that I could buy preassembled.

I would go as far as saying you're full of shit.

[mrfinch]

You are completely full of shit. DO NOT post things when you have no earthly idea what you are talking about.

With the market saturated with computers of all brands these days, sometimes it actually is cheaper to buy a base-unit from a shop and fine tune it with extra memory and what not.


However, there really is no need for the hostility in your reply now is there =)

[yazaka]

I stand by my post. Maybe prices are different where you are, but any time I have looked at building my own, the price is always the same if not more than an equivalent PC that I could buy preassembled.

I would go as far as saying you're full of shit.

Then you must be looking at the wrong components mate. Try getting the good ones instead of the mainstream ones.

[Celestiya]

I kind of put my foot in my mouth with my last post. First off, let me apolgize to Windywoo for my brash outlash.

Secondly, from my experiences at least, I have found that prices tend to be better when I price out a machine with individual parts. While some have pointed out, this is not always the case, it definitely is more often than not when I go to look for my personal builds. Also, I feel like even if I did get within the same price range as a major competitor's computer, I have the customization option of the brands I like, (BFG, Intel, Nvidia, etc.)

And as far as warranties go, I know what you mean by having a "peace of mind" with a warranty from say, Dell or HP, but having each individual part under their own warranty when you buy each piece generally tends to give a better coverage overall, without hiking up the price for an extended warranty or whatnot.

Again, I apologize for my first post, and hope that I cleared up some of the things I was saying before.

[Bisley]

I stand by my post. Maybe prices are different where you are, but any time I have looked at building my own, the price is always the same if not more than an equivalent PC that I could buy preassembled.

I would go as far as saying you're full of shit.

I built my computer almost a year ago, for 2000$. i could rebuild it for 1250$ or so today. The exact replica on dell would be to get one of their XPS systems in the 3000$ range.

if you go to best buy and buy an 8600gt for 300$ it costs more to build your own. if you go to any reputable online retailer and get an 8800gt for 200$ its a much better deal. (on dell, the 8800gt is 250$ MORE than an ATI 2400)

Which resorts to:
if you want to do research and enjoy this kind of stuff, you can find lots of places to save money.
if you dont mind spending the extra cash or dont want to study what all the millions of random numbers mean and look into benchmarks to see what performs better for a better price... might just wanna get a dell, they will run WoW just fine.

[Caeruleas]

Odds are that if you're asking which is a better deal, you're better off buying a one built by someone else. $1500 can get you a pretty decent rig from someone else, but for someone who knows what and where to shop, the same $1500 can build something pretty beastly on your own.

If your budget is greater than $800-900, I can guarantee that buying building it on your own will eek out more bang for your buck. Anything below that and manufactures will be able to build computers at that level of performance in bulk, cheaper than what you can build on your own.

- - - - -

On cheaper computers...

If you're looking for a box that you can use to check your e-mail, woot.com always has half-decent refurb bundles that will do just fine for a dirt-cheap price. Those are indeed a better deal for what they're meant to do.

While computers bundled with monitors look attractively cheap, bundled monitors are often not as good as one you buy separately. Seeing that the monitor is the thing that you actually stare at hours and hours on end, investing in a decent monitor is well worth the money (and the good ones don't even cost much more nowadays).

[Skabrona]

There are a few things to consider when making the debate on DIY vs Brand computers that I don't see here.

MOST IMPORTANT - How much does the person building the computer know about doing it? Sure some of us tech geeks profess to know it all, but that really doesn't help joe schmoe who just wants to play wow and cod4. Do you feel comfortable installing the parts? The OS? Will you know how to troubleshoot it if something goes wrong? If the answer to any of those is "NO" go with a Brand name computer.

Things to keep in mind when building your DIY rig:
- Need to order an Operating System.
- Need to make sure that your parts are compatible with each other.
- Need to take the time to put together the PC.
- Make sure you have ALL the parts (Case, Mobo, Ram, CPU, Cooling system, Video Card, Sound Card, Network Card, Power Supply, Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, Monitor, Accessories).
- You will probably end up spending a lot on shipping (maybe taxes too).
- Warranties are all manufacturer, so you need to keep all the receipts, and none of them will be the same length of time.

Benefits to buying a Brand computer:
- EVERYTHING needed is included. Registered OS, keyboard, mouse, etc.
- Works out of the box. **usually**
- Tech Support for the product, including warranty.
- Shipping is all at once, and usually for free with a lot of systems.

I have went both routes, and I like both options. Many times you can make a better PC for cheaper DIY. But what usually screws you in the end is the lack of component capability ("Oh man, my RAM doesn't show up in my mobo, but they are both top brands!!" - has happened to me before). The serious flaw to Brand computers though, is that you cannot upgrade them easily (without voiding the warranty), and you have to wait for Tech Support. If you have enough money to get a bunch of diagnostics tools, than it would be easier to go the DIY route.

In the end, if you want to take the time to build your own machine, it can be very rewarding and easy to upgrade. If you don't want the hassle, there are a lot of Brand machines out there that will get the job done. It really depends on your budget and what you want to get out of it... Because everyone knows there is a sense of pride in building your own PC. Much like a car. But if you don't want the hassle, get a Brand. Its easy, and they work really well.

[Cyrant]

I understand what you're saying, Skab. However its very easy to:


A. Find a person to help you picking out parts. I'm sure there are many people online that'd gladly make a setup for you for $1500.
B. Pay a person a bit to help build it for you. This is still a cheaper option than buying it from dell generally.



Now it is true that if you want a general offce/work machine, buying from dell would be easier. The other thing is, as you said, sometimes you can run into technical problems. Knowing someone who is good at this can help, but it can be a bit of a hassle.



For the most part however I'd say that if a person is comfortable with doing it it can be a very rewarding experience, plus can help save you some good money. My PC that I got for $800 a year ago would probably cost around $1200 at least back then. The problem is that a lot of sites don't really cater to exactly what you might want.



Another option is to buy a decent PC for a brand name machine (dell or something) and instead just upgrade its video card. Usually companies really screw you on them, if you get a basic dual core (or quad, honestly) and then throw a good card in it its a good money saver. Just make sure it has a decent enough PSU.



I've rambled on a bit.. I can always help you with a setup if you want.

[Mascotte]

If you have the knowledge of building an entire system from scratch, or have someone who can do that for you i would go with buying individual parts. However there is a diffrence between knowing how to add a vid cart to a system and knowing how to construct an entire pc.
Main problem i have with buying complete systems is that most of the time they arent complete.
Your allways working with standard configs etc, wich may take a while to adjust to your personall likeings.
If you do aim at buying an entire system i would suggest to buy one at your local hardware store rather then buying an system online, Its so much easier to be able to go to the place where you bought it then having to wait for a webshop to procces your problems and deal with them in a way that solves them.

One thing to keep in mind tho, wich has been suggested in this topic, buying an entire system and then adding parts can very well mean you loose your warranty instantly. I had to deal with severall company's that used these terms of agreement on buying systems wich in generall is an discussion that you'll allways loose.
Dell (Hell o/) had this pollicy a while ago on certain "out of the box" systems, so if you do plan to buy an system and upgrade that make sure you get to know your warranty restrictions.

All typo's are copyrighted due to not having coffee yet this morning.

[chaud]

Buying an awful $300 desktop with monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, printer from dell is cheaper, sure. But if you are building something that is actually decent then building is cheaper than buying, provided you shop online.