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.
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hi looks like i found the right website
i’m looking at building a gaming computer i know a tad about parts but have never built one myself before suggestions plz?
these are the specs i’m considering
CPU: intel duo core 2 3.16 GHZ E8500out
MOTHERBOARD: unknown i don’t know much about these although i like gigabyte but don;t know if this is best
RAM 2GB kingston
HDD 500GB again don;t know what brand is best
GRAPHICS GXT285 or GXT275
DVD BURNER any will do nothing fancy
CASE Gigabyte sumo 1429 or similar as long as it is cool and quite
is there anything else i need any suggestion will be great
Well take a look a the mobo I used. I used it for my first build and i have no problems at all. It took me about 2 hours to build my pc. An hour of it was just unpacking and looking at the parts in aww :). I hope this helps.
my system specs are Intel quad quore 2.33GHz, EVGA nForce 780 sli MOBO, EVGA 9800GTX GPU hybrid, 750 Hard Drive by seatgate, 8 gigs of 2×2 (meaning 2gigs a stick) of Corsair DDR2 RAM. PSU is CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V SLI ready, 22x SAMSUNG DVD burner, APEVIA X-Plorer Black Steel ATX Mid Tower and a 19″ lcd monitor.
More RAM dude! Prices are dropping.
i saw a good tutorial here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sm4H-Hl6p4I
Hi Friends,
Great website!!!
I’m debating if I should buy a Studio XPS Desktop:
CPU: Intel Core i7-920 (8MB L3 Cache, 2.66GHz)
OS: Vista Home Premium, 64bit
MON: 23″ Dell S2309W Full HD widescreen
DVD: 16x CD/DVD burner
MEM: 6GB Tri-Channel DDR3 SDRAM @1066MHz - 6DIMMs
HD: 640GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB cache
VIDEO: ATI Radeon HD 3450 256MB
SOUND: Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio
The price is $1099 with free shipping.
Right around my budget
Usage:
1. I want to use it to burn MP3s, DVDs, and VCDs. Hoping to burn to multiple DVD burners at the same time, not sure if it’s possible. Currently using Nero 8 to burn.
2. On occasions, I want to combine videos from different DVDs, so I’ve bought Adobe Photoshop & Premiere Elements 7 to do this. So, video editing or DVD compilation is also important. I was unhappy with Nero 8 compiling a DVD.
3. Don’t play video games at all.
4. I also want to use this computer for web development, like using .Net, Flex 3, and Microsoft SQL Express (but I have a computer from work this, not that important)
I having asked Dell to see if I can add another DVD burner to that PC and burn two DVDs at the same time.
Any suggestion would be greatly appreciated.
BTW, the mp3s and videos are all legit. I get them for free and we give them out for free, so no worries.
Thanks,
Will
How did you find such a screaming deal? Monitor and all that for just over a grand! I was just on that site and couldn’t build it for that much…
[...] Another good place to discuss/see topics of hardware and building PC’s http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/ step by step instructions on how to build a PC http://www.overclock.net/ Hardware discussion and [...]
Hi Friends,
It’s me again.
I’ve decided to built a computer.
Here’s my requirement.
I do limited video editing using Premiere Elements 7 and Nero 8.
I burn DVDs and MP3s all day long, all legit :).
I like to burn 8 to 10 DVDs at the time.
Can someone help me choose the right case, motherboard, cpu, memory, cooling system, power supply, etc.
I’ll start with a 1TB hard drive.
I did some research and found a case that supports up to 10 external drives.
A motherboard supporting 6 and 8 SATA ports.
I wonder if I should buy a motherboard with 7 SATA ports (ie. MSI X58 Pro LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX) and connect the rest with PCI adapters.
My budget is about $800 to $1000. Is it possible?
I’m new to building PCs, but it sounds interesting.
All suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Will
Hey Will, your budget looked very similar to mine, in fact what you were planning on buying and using was similar to mine. I ended up spending over that, partly becuase with the i7 processor, the customer is forced to upgrade to the x58 mobo, ddr3, with those three it absorbs most of the cost. I decided to build my own computer because my brother insisted it would be best, that is what I ended up doing. Spending $1200. But for what i spent i have A LOT of computer, more then i will need, but like all the other forums read, you order what you want and build it the way you want it to be.
Hi Lance,
That’s good to know. You mind posting your components? I just want to make sure I know all the components before buying and building.
Thanks for the response.
Will
I started out with a $1000 budget but I am going over a little. I am still buying parts but here is the system I am building.
Cooler master HAF932 full tower case got it on sale at http://www.microcenter.com $139.00
Gigabyte GA-MA-M790-UD4P Mother board $139.00 New Egg. Found it cheaper at superbiiz.com around $120.00
AMD Phenom 955 Black 3.2 $245 New egg
Corsair TX750 $109 New egg
ATI 4870 1 gig Toxic about $170
8 Gigs DDR3 1333 G Skill or OCD or Corsair undecided around $150
Cooler Master V8 CPU cooler $63
Western Digital 640 GD Black $74.00
Windows Vista Home Premium 64 Bit OEM $99 New Egg
Norton Internet Security 2009 OEM $22
About $1191
Not bad I hope this will be current for a little while till newer better, faster comes out. This is my first build so well see how everything goes.
PHIL ur build seems fine except for ur case u shouldnt spend of 125 for ur case unless u find it worth it.
Phil,
Have you ever checked out Tigerdirect.com ? I have been using them for a while and the prices are good, alot are better than newegg, but thats up to you. Just thought I would pass along another place to shop.
Hi,
Please give me your opinion of this build.
I’ll mostly use it for video editing and dvd/mp3 burning.
Case - Ultra M923 ATX Black Full Tower Case - $99.98
Mobo - MSI X58 Platinum SLI LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail - $197.99
CPU - Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail - $279.99
Memory - OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage … - Retail - $79.99
Graphics - PNY VCG951024GXEB GeForce 9500 GT 1GB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail - $54.99
HD - HITACHI 1TB 3.5″ SATA 3.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive - OEM - $74.99
PSU - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail - $89.99
CPU Cooler - OCZ OCZ Vendetta 92mm Ball CPU Cooler - Retail - $34.99
Optical - LITE-ON 22X DVD Burner Black SATA Model iHAS122-04 - OEM - $21.99 x 7
Eventually I’ll buy a pci to sata card to add 3 more dvd burner.
Please me some comments/feedbacks.
Thanks,
Will
I’ve got an almost identical parts list for the machine I’m looking to build. One suggestion I have is to go with a fast boot drive like a WD VelociRaptor and keep your data on a separate drive. That way the OS doesn’t compete with your video editing activity.
Sup, give the dude more RAM and probably a 1.5 TB hard drive. His graphics card doesn’t have to be that good if he isn’t going to play games. (though the card is last gen.)
[...] Here is a massive article on assembling your own PC: http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/ [...]
Hi guys, i just have a quick question: Is the i7 worth the price for it?
how does this sound for a PC build? I dont know much about these things. LIke do all these parts work together? How do I know if they fit in the case?
• PC Case - RAIDMAX SMILODON Extreme Black ATX-612WEB
• Floppy Disk Drive
• Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS
• CD-ROM Drive - LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache IDE 22X DVD±R DVD Burner - OEM
• Processor - Intel Core 2 Quad Q8200
• Processor Cooling Fan - ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink
• Motherboard - ASUS P5Q-E LGA 775 Intel P45 ATX Intel Motherboard
• Memory Modules - Kingston HyperX 2GB 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
• Power Supply - Tuniq Ripper PSU-RIP1000W-BK 1000W
• Video Card - SAPPHIRE 100258-1GHDMI Radeon HD 4850
No floppy disk drive
Depending on his OS, he may need it. Might as well get the floppy drive. You can get one for five bucks and it’s worth it if you need it.
Hey, I am looking to build a computer but I don’t know if what I’m looking for will fit my budget…
Specs:
8gb ram
intel core i7 extreme
1tb internal hdd
1gb video card(9600-9800,hd)
any kind of case
hd audio card
hdmi in/out
bd/dvd dl, dvd, cd burner, of course separate burners(? not req., a possibility)
1,000-1,500…is it possible?
How will you be using the computer? Games? Everyday e-mail? Business? There are wide price ranges on all of the components you need. It would be better to look up prices from New Egg, Tiger Direct or Buy.com to get a feel for the costs.
ill use it everyday more than likely…video editing and slight video gaming
hey i need a hand i dont know what motherboard will handle all this stuff i plan on putting in my new pc
any ideas on one would be helpful:
cpu: amd athlon II x2 250
ram 4gb kit ddr3 1600 G.Skill Trident
hdd: will depend on motherboard but atleast 500 gig
case: lian li pc-7fb case (means motherboard has to be
gpu/vga: 896mb gtx 260 gigabyte (motherboard must have a dual width pci express slot or just two)
psu: A-Power P.L 1200w T-F
cpu cooler: Noctua NH-C12P
system: Windows 7 RC
hey i need help finding a motherboard for a new pc im building, im not sure what one would be compatible with all the hardware ive bought for it, any ideas on what one i should get would be a major help. it has to be atx and must have either a dual width pci express slot or just two slots together.
heres my hardware:
pcu: amd athlon II x2 250 3.32ghz
ram: 4gb kit ddr3 1600 G.Skill-Trident
case: Lian Li PC-7FB case
psu: A-Power P.L 1200w T-F
vga/gpu: gigabyte geforce 896mb GTX260
system: Win 7 Ultimate RC
cpu cooler: Noctua NH-C12P
still need to pick up hdd and a dvd burner but that all matters on what ports ill have left on the motherboard.
I am wondering what you all would use. i am looking to build a gaming computer. games like call of duty4 & 5. war rock. basically all fps. and some rpgs like WoW. also will be used for burning dvd’s and photo shop and movie editing<<< only occasionally.
budget around 800-1000 dollars
somewhere down the line I plan on accumilating all the stuff I need but it seems day by day prices go up or down a new componate hits the market . Does anyone know where I can find what hardware it would take to set up for win 7 I’m bypassing Vista altogether. I’m talking about Mobo, videocards, RAM ,HDDs etc. I’m a non gamer but a compulsive tweaker so I would like to start with the bare minimum.
im considering building my own computer. i only have a very basic idea of the size of the computer i want, but i wanted to see if anyone here had any ideas for what parts and brands i should use. im trying to make a gaming computer (if it makes a difference)
ram: at least 12gb
hard drive: between 100gb to 200gb, not sure on speed
video card: an nvidia but i don’t know which one is the best becuase they have like 5 types now
motherboard: something that can hold at least 12gb ram and 500gb to 1tb space for future upgrades
processor: pentium, but again i don’t know what type to get, but ive heard of the i7
i don’t need and sort of special stuff like blue ray player or anything but i would like to know if it is possible to get the liquid coolant for an homemade computer. if so, is it worth it? sorry i don’t have any clearer ideas, but any advice would help a ton
I have a question i’m going to build my own Computer. I found some stuff online i want to know if its okay or not that good.
PC Case-RAIDMAX SMILODON ATX-612WBP Black 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB Computer Case With 500W Power Supply 89.99
DVD Drive- LG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 22X DVD-R 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner 24.99
Hard Drive- Western Digital Caviar Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive 74.99
Processor- Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 Wolfdale 2.8GHz 3MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor 119.99
Fan- ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 64 Pro 92mm CPU Cooler 29.98
Motherboard- ECS BLACK SERIES GF8200A (V1.0) AM2+/AM3 NVIDIA GeForce 8200 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard 79.99
RAM- G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ
Video Card- HIS H465FS512P Radeon HD 4650 512MB 128-bit DDR2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card 54.99
Any comments or suggestions?