David Risley is the founder of PCMech.com. He is the brains, the thinker, the writer, the nerd.It is increasingly popular to build your own computer. In most cases, it saves money, and it guarantees you get what you want. It also assures you avoid proprietary designs many companies use to keep you coming to them for new parts. Best of all, having built the system yourself, you become very familiar with that system and with computers in general.
People from all walks of life today build their own PCs. Executives, engineers, students, housewives, they all do it today. But, at the same time, pre-built PCs have come down in price quite a bit. Today, one is left to wonder whether it is best to build a PC yourself or to simply buy one off the shelf. I’ll address that here.
If you are a real PC enthusiast, this question may be a non-issue. The answer may be as obvious as the color of the sky. This is predictable, of course. When one builds their own PC, they are able to not only understand their PC better because they built it, but they are able to choose each component that goes into their PC. There is really something to be said for choosing your own components, and I’ll go into that further below. There is also a certain sense of satisfaction with having built a PC. One spends a few hours (or less for those more familiar with the process) to put the thing together. Then comes the moment of truth when one hits the power switch for the first time. If it works on the first try, its beer time!
But, besides the joy of it, is it worth it? Is it a practical use of your time? Will it really save you money? The answer to that question today has become a bit gray. A few years ago, the answer was obvious. Pre-built PCs were typically built from OEM, cheap components. The performance was average to simply awful. The choice was obvious: If you wanted a decent PC, you better build it. Today, the line has blurred. Where many off-the-shelf PCs today still use cheaper components in an effort to save money, there are more pre-built PCs today which do use quality hardware and whose performance ranks up there with the best of them.
Let us look at some of the key areas of interest in this:
Component Selection
Most commercial PC buyers (except for the ones who build higher end models) do not make a big deal of which components they use. They will, of course, tell you the specs of the system, but often do not elaborate on the brands of the equipment they use. Most lower to average priced pre-built PCs use more or less generic hardware. It gets the job done, but what you get is what you get. Upgrading can be a problem for this reason. In contrast, building your own PC means you can handpick all components in your system. You can ensure you get good, name brand hardware which will have proper manufacturer support and driver support. Most importantly, you can ensure you get hardware that will perform. One aspect of pre-built is that compatibility issues are taken care of by the manufacturer, but there is a tradeoff made in that guarantee.
Price
In general, you can get more bang for your buck building your own PC. In many cases, you will find equally priced and comparable PCs, where one is pre-built and one would be homebuilt. You can buy PCs cheaper than you can build them, but when you consider the hardware choices within, the price is offset in favor of homebuilt. One thing to consider here is the value of your time. If you are a very busy person where time is money, then you most likely want to buy a pre-built PC. If you don’t mind taking the time, though, you can do better doing it yourself.
Support
Available support is a key concern for do-it-yourselfers. When you build it yourself, there is nowhere to take the PC for service. You can’t say “Here, make this work.” On the other hand, pre-built machines typically do come with manufacturer support. But, support is anything but consistent. Some manufacturers have questionable records on support whereas some are quite good at it. Having support for your PC is no guarantee of having a problem-free user experience, and it is certainly no guarantee that they will take responsibility for your PC if it doesn’t work. The good news for do-it-yourselfers is that the community of people who do this kind of thing themselves is increasing. There is a lot of data on the internet, and community sources for assistance. I’m compelled to mention our own forums where a community of thousands is available to help you out on your PC.
Warranty
On pre-built PCs, there is typically a warranty on the whole system, and in many instances, you are offered an extended service plan at the time of purchase. Home built PCs do not have full system warranties, of course, but if you buy good name brand hardware, most of the components will themselves have warranties. So, really, either way, you can be covered here.
Software
Pre-built PCs often come with much software on it, most importantly the operating system itself. The actual price of the software is pretty good, because manufacturers get great deals on this software because they buy in bulk. On the flip side, though, these PCs sometimes come with too much software, meaning garbage that you do not want and just clutters the hard drive and bugs you to buy stuff. It can be quite annoying. On homebuilt PCs, you might pay a little more for the software per unit, but you will get what you want and only what you want, plus you can set it up how you want.
In general, I’m a big fan of the homebuilt PC. I’ve never used a PC I didn’t build myself. I think its a huge money saver. In my case, I built it myself, and then as technology progressed, I incrementally upgraded the machine. This saves a lot of money in the long run, because with a pre-built commercial machine, once it goes out of date, you pretty much need to start anew with a new PC.
Rich Menga, a native New Englander residing in Tampa Bay Florida, 
2/17/2008 12:07 am
Who wrote this particular article, David Risley or Rich Menga? I am going to use this site as a source for a descriptive paper I am writing on building a PC.
Thanks
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2/18/2008 8:57 pm
Your article is very easy to read! How could everyone be building their own computers though? Housewives? I get lost in all the techical jargon and I wouldn’t even attempt it. But I guess if you like working on that kind of stuff then it must be really cool.
Is it not complicated though? It seems to me, a non techi guy, that buying a computer off the shelf is the only way to go.
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rob reply on March 27, 2008 3:33 pm:
hey chris i see what your sayin about buying a pc of the shelf but i made one of my own pc’s and im a ‘non techi guy’ and it worked out fine for me
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Java reply on May 9, 2008 3:45 pm:
If you can turn a screwdriver, and preform a web search you can build a pc. You don’t have to be a techie - don’t fear the hardware.
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2/21/2008 9:16 pm
Thanx for this guide. im no pro, but im experianced. this site has helped me brush up before i go headfirst into the job. cheers guys
this site proves, its easier than people think
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2/24/2008 4:52 am
Awesome. Is there a PDF format somewhere where I could download?
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3/6/2008 1:27 am
Yeah it is a good article. If not building by ownselves, it would atleast help them take a decision on their components while they are trying to buy a customized PC online.
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3/31/2008 2:17 am
Thanks. For some of you who are unsure, do what I did. I purchased a $300 computer (with casing, motherboard, dvd-rom drive, power unit and cables) and, bit by bit, made it suitable for gaming. I now have the confidence to build my own computer! (And I will have to, as this motherboard doesn’t have SATA and PCI-e). Good luck to you all!
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3/31/2008 6:02 pm
I bought my first computer in ‘95, and have had 2 more of them since. while this an average of 1 computer every 4 1/2 years, the total cost of the 3 has been over $10,000, and average cost of $770. per year. Prices have sure come down to date!
The problem however, is that each computer became obsolete within the first year; slow processors, insufficient RAM, dated video cards, etc. The bottom line is that I was unhappy with my computers performance 90 % of the ownership period!
Keeping up with ever-increasing sophistication and demand of current software is a real challenge if you cannot upgrade your unit as time goes by.
My 3 machines (an IBM and 2 Dells) were not upgrade friendly, and those components that I could buy, were largely proprietary to those companies, and the costs were excessive.
Recently, I upgraded my Dell Dimension 8200 (2002) with additional RAM, larger hard drives, and a USB 2.0 PCI card. But the motherboard presents the greatest roadblock in that I cannot increase processing speed nor insert a state-of-the-art video card (no PCIe x16 capacity). I can’t upgrade to Vista (even if I wanted to).
It seems I spend more the half of my time in front of my computer waiting for Norton updating something (what a processor hog), or some other program doing it’s thing. Multi-tasking? what’s that!
While new computers are advertised for considerably less than a grand, by the time you add a hot video card, an audio card, an office suite, addition RAM, optical drives and so on, you’re well over $2,000.
It’s like buying a car; good base prices, but they get you on the upgrades!
What’s the solution? I think building your own is the answer. While I’m no techical junkie, I think it would allow me to configure my computer with what I want, quality components and capacity, and most importantly, the ability to upgrade as time goes by.
Just as importantly, it would be fun to do (with the right advice on compatibility of components).
With the constant improvements in technology, it might be a “sucker’s game” to try and keep up-to-date, however, a self-built unit may give me a fighting chance.
For what it’s worth….Bill D from the great white north.
drawback
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4/8/2008 4:28 pm
Great article and I do agree, if you know what you’re doing you can certainly build a terrific PC on your own. The trick is knowing what you’re doing!
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4/9/2008 5:44 pm
My video card still unable to work, i’ve already reinstall it but seems it does not respond.
please help me out
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4/17/2008 8:33 am
I’m an IT Pro who has just bought a PC for the 2nd time but is on his 3rd PC. My first one was bought in ‘97 I think it was a Intel P200 with an impressive 32MB RAM but I defo rem it cos £1500! That was in College, my 2nd PC I made myself in 2001 and upgraded components as and when necesary (such as the motherboard when it got fried by a lightning storm which sent a shock up the modem and fried the board. Seriously.) However, now, in 2008 this PC (AMD Athlon 1.4Ghz, 1GB DDR RAM, 64MB Graphics and 2 HD’s, 40GB and 200GB) is dying again whilst being used by my younger Sis in her final Uni yr. I could troubleshoot it but she doesn’t have time for me to do so due to deadlines and to be honest, it’s crawling along and needs replacing (I formatted just recently), or rebulding with Ubuntu which I will do eventually. I looked into building my own again but time is my major issue. Building is easy but troubleshooting can be a pain, it used to be a joy but not now! Also, I priced up a dual-core PC that came to about £520 (not built just the components) and specced up a similar Dell Inspiron 531 at £420ish inc del. I have now ordered this (due to arrive today) and can honestly say it should serve me fine for a good 4-5 yrs, all we do is E-Mail/Office (OpenOffice now, no more spending for the sake of it!) etc no gaming. (Apart from Mega Drive/Genesis emulators!) I even bought the 4 yr hardware support as it was £89. One hard disk and one graphics card (the two components most commonly replaced on my PC) would come to this amount so I thought why not?
Although there is defo a greater amount of control and yeah, satisfaction, building your own PC (I had to get Vista which I’m not taken with at all the couple times I’ve used it, maybe it will grow on me) but price-wise and practically speaking (seriously, do you REALLLY need a quad-core?!) the balance has definitely shifted towards off-the-shelf.
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4/25/2008 10:23 am
If you’re into games at all, you’d better learn how to build your own machine. Otherwise, you’re going to be spending at least $2000 into a pre-built configuration capable of handling the graphics and processor requirements of the latest games. I’m in the middle of completing my second build (first one about 6 years ago). Now I’m building a dual core AMD 3.2 MHz with 4Gb RAM and a 320Mb video card. This should be good for at least 3-4 years. If you can believe this - Guitar Hero 3 is what drove me to build this latest machine. I currently have a 2.1GHz HP and I can’t run Guitar Hero!
In my opinion, the biggest advantage of building it yourself as opposed to buying a compete rig is not having all of the extra BS pre-loaded software. This stuff ends up being such a drain on the machine that it seems like you’re only getting about half of what the machine is really capable of.
If you’re really intimidated about building one entirely from scratch, try looking at a barebones system. You can order the case, power supply, motherboard, and CPU. From there you can add the video card, RAM, hard drives and optical drives (these are all fairly straight forward). This can save you a lot of money, get you the components you want and still have the most difficult assembly done by a professional. My latest machine is going to cost me about $650 by the time I’m done. To order something comparable from Dell or HP or anyone else would have cost me over $2000 - easily. The key is patience and research. Take your time, shop around for a least a couple weeks before you buy anything and read, read, read.
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4/26/2008 12:57 am
I have owned a computer shop that specializes in either repairs or custom builds since 1990. Computers are soooo much easier to build now than 10 years ago. Almost everything is plug and play. The trick is getting the best parts for the best price that will do the job as intended, and be upgradeable in the future.
You can still find copies of Windows XP (Home or Pro) if you know where to look. As a professional, let me set you straight on Vista -It sucks!!!!
I have found, on average, a custom (home) built computer with the same specs, runs anywhere from 25-50% faster than a factory job. Most manufacturers don’t really care about true performance. They are selling “specs”. I mean, an XP machine with 256 RAM? Really now!!!
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4/29/2008 8:35 pm
I can’t find out which ribbon cords go where!
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5/4/2008 1:56 am
So i just decided to build a PC vs a website like cyberpowerpc. I was freaking out just reading the reviews. However, this seems like it will be a daunting task. Firstly, where are some good places to get parts? And find out what parts I actually need? And does this describe how to add cooling systems?
Essentially, I am worried about getting parts that won’t jive, and having my whole system bogged down by one component. Maybe there are some good websites that will help review your choices? Thanks for any help.
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5/4/2008 8:44 pm
I used to build and sell custom computers in a retail location. But with the big names selling computers for the cost of the operating system I couldn’t compete with the average consumers budget. I still build custom systems but usually only for avid or should I say rabid gamers. I wish more people could realize the value that comes with a locally built custom computer. Thanks for the great article.
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5/6/2008 1:16 pm
I have built several computers mostly were for my grand children they were little and didn`t need the best so did it cheaply for them. Now of course they are grown and most have notebooks or lap tops. I have built my own computer have had it since 2002 works perfectly yet I use it for lots of things but not heavy into the games have upgraded a few things . Because of things I want to do think I will be building a new one with all the higher speeds.
Someone mentioned a housewife couldn`t do this I am a grandmother and just turned 75. So anyone with any kind of tech ability can do it.
Off course if this one that I intend to build lasts as long as the one I had before may be my last as I will be 81 or so when it wears out.
What I like about building my own is I can replace any part without having to go to the company that sold the computer. No one will ever know the money I saved my children by building the grand kids theres as I also was able to fix them when they screwed up.
Also must thank the PCMech forums they were a big help .
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5/11/2008 10:04 pm
If you cannot afford the latest processor, it is not a big deal. There is a premium for speed. Always buy the most advanced motherboard available. It is easier to upgrade a processor than to swap out a motherboard, processor and RAM. When buying technology look at “price breaks” for your best bang for the buck. A 2.9Ghz processor may cost $125 but a 3.0Ghz may cost $299. Not much change in speed vs. a huge change in price. That is true in hard drives as well, but not so much as in cases. Also look for your best buys using as site like Pricewatch.com
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5/14/2008 10:31 am
Building your own is definitely a personal choice and there are advantages and disadvantages to the process. It all depends on what you want, what you’re willing to learn, how much time you have and are you willing to be your own tech support. Every time I get an error message “talk to your administrator” I have to remember … that’s me. When several years ago I paid $70 to have a $90 cpu installed, I decided I could do it myself from that point on. But that’s just me.
Since then I’ve built, maintained, and upgraded ten for my family and I couldn’t be more pleased. But then I like diagnosing and solving problems; again that’s just me. To me a computer is as much a toy as a tool. I’ve built ten systems, but I’ve also broken as many as if not more.
Now days there really isn’t much, if any, cost savings in building your own. Truthfully, whole systems can be bought for less than the total cost of component parts to build one. But I’m convinced the quality of parts in a home built PC can be very high whereas for that same money I believe the “store bought” units to be of lesser quality. But then, most computers seem to last about three years before people want “better”. And that’s fine, today most computers are throw away anyway it seems.
I drive a mint condition 1999 Ford F-150 pickup with 190,000 miles. I like things to last and I have no problem learning how to make that happen. But again, that’s just me.
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