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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So I know next to nothing about the inner workings of a pc but I like to think I am smart enough to figure it out with a little help so here is my situation. I have an old slow laptop and have been looking at a new one for ages and nothing I have seen off the shelf has fit the script. What I want is pretty basic alot of memory for music, speed and a DVD or possibly blu Ray player. Thank you in advance to anyone who responds
Blu-Ray is being updated with newer version & hardware with-in a year so its not worth getting.
After Searching several sites, this is the best bang for your buck right now:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9353353&type=product&id=1218090329155
I am looking to build a pc not buy one and I am leaning toward a desktop because I work from home and have plenty of space for one
not even close. I can get pre built machines off many other sites like cyberpowerpc.com that will blow that garbage away. best buy = throwing your money out the window.
Scott ,
Your absolutely correct ! Just like throwing money out the window! DON`T DO” WORST BUY “AKA BEST BUY.uuuuuuggggghhhhhh.there as bad as insurance co.or car salesmen .
Hey is this a compatible build? also is fairly fast?
Tigerdirect:
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 – $39.99
Floppy: Ultra ULT40366 3.5″ Floppy Drive with Multi Card Reader $29.98
NewEgg:
Mobo: PC Chips A15G $49.99
Case: Rosewill R5601 $49.99
PSU: Rosewill Stallion Series RD450-2-DB $39.99
RAM: WINTEC AMPX $22.99
HDD: Western Digital Caviar SE $34.99
DVD: LITE-ON DVD-ROM Drive iHDP118-08 $19.99
get intel 4 the processer n mother board get a dp35dp mother board its basic n good n easy 2 install and get a 3.0 doul processer (e8400) but u will need a new cpu coller because the one it comes w is crap. get a 9800gtx+ graphics card and it comes w call of duty 4 4 free. to get the video card to run great u need 2 get a power supply that has over 500 wats that = to 24 amps. on new egg the processer is 170 motherboard 120 and vid card 130 but u might as well get somethin good so later on u wont need 2 upgrade. if u need any help message me at georgeman10967@comcast.net
“Hey, buy this and this and this, and make your PC $500 more expensive. It’s all the same things, but it performs better!”
He’s obviously looking for a cheap custom build… You’re trying to get him to buy overly expensive and way overperforming items for what he probably needs.
heyy i’m not telin no one 2 buy anything i’m just trin 2 help him out n y would u buld a cheap pc when you will need 2 upgrade it so u might as well get somethin good so it will last i think he wants somethin more then somethin that can handle dig dug
Hey chris please help me you seem like you are good with computers I am planning on building my own PC I want to make it a gaming 1 but I have no idea what all I need so please email me at RJSilk@gmail.com and tell me what I need if possible I want to order all the pieces off the same site.
Thanks.
Robin
omg what is wrong with you? here is the major rule everyone! should follow.
1. if the computer you are buying is less than $500 then buy it
2. if the computer you are buying is more than $500 then build it
of course this can vary a little and use common sense but for the most part this rule works
You’ll definitely need to upgrade that PSU. Any PSU under $80 can not possibly be reliable. The PSU is probably the most important part of this computer if you want it to last.
why would you ever want a floppy drive? can you even still buy floppy disks? get a dvd burner at least
I still have a floppy and play astroeids,I go back to comodore 64 systems ,re: these are old but still fun,My Systems i rebuild evry 5-6 years and it IS getting harder to find mobo`s that have IDE `s for them as the newer mobos only have 1 slot for an IDE now what do you think they have 1 slot for an IDE for ?Because the manufacturer knows there are still alot of floppy users like myself,By the way my floppy is the 2.44MB type try to replace that.almost immpossible.Happy PCin
Good article, but there’s one gloss-over however.
Re Software/OS, one can install an opensource OS such as Ubuntu and save having to pay window tax to King William of Redmond! This surely results in quite some saving, and could make the world a better place.
Hi guys I have a question for you. I was wondering if there was a way i could Burn 2 DVD at once. My old PC i had years ago couldnt do. Maybe because it was some crap i bought from Best Buy p4 processor with little to memory. Well now i built my own pc and since I store a lot of movies I was thinking about buying my second burner and another hard drive. I think i may pull off the double burn with out lag if I have each DVD being riped/burnt to seperate hard drives. Will this work with out lag or damage? I have 8 gigs of ramm, a 2.33 quad processor, EVGA 132-CK-NF78-A1 LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard, 750 power supply, 9800 evga gpu,. Think it can work or is there another way?
any ideas on how to build your own PC server for internet games? I think that’ll be a lot more usefull then building a personal pc unless you want to run something extreme. but I don’t know how exactly to go about it, I have no real size limitation, just want it reliable, I’m thinking I would probably run Linux if they offer a OS like that for servers, but yeah, I’m not talking about google or anything, just enough to run a game that could accomadate maybe up to 40 ppl at a time (could probably spend some of the time in a power outage working on it) , I know internet speed will probably become an issue, but I think that setting up the “server” before would be better then getting the internet speed I want first and then know that I have to pay the bill, but still have no way to pay it (Worst Case Scenario-probably). I would like step by step instructions for that, then once I learn pc programming I could probably get a team and make the game or whatever, haven’t really figured out any uses for one besides hosting e-mail or game “server” (idk what exactly to call it), there has to be more uses then that it would be a good thing to have on a website someplace,
just sad I haven’t found that website yet lol
Builder a server itself isn’t that complicated but if you actually want to host web space / emails or games from internet users it’s going to cost you. You can’t regularly hook up a home-made server to your existing internet connection without crappy bandwidth issues to a non-dedicated line. A call to your ISP to let them know you have a server and see what rates they’re going to charge you is pretty much the first step.
So if you wanted to shell out X dollars per month hosting without charging your users for a password or some heavy banner advertisements, thanks for the free play. Just keep in time that home made servers can be finicky, SOBS, and need maintenance from time to time. So be prepared to troubleshoot and internal or TCP/IP problems that will surely crop up after a little while if not immediately.
Most people build home servers for the purpose of dumping their networks into them either as backup or just another storage area where they can more quickly share between all connected computers/gadgets in the home, particularly home entertainment centers.
Well I was actually planning on programming my own game, but idk anything about programming at the moment so I think I’ll be looking for some programmer to help me with either java C/C++, maybe even the new java fx but yeah, I’ll need a reliable connection, wasn’t going to make a game for money though so I really don’t care if the connection is slow just has to be reliable, I know that best buy had a hp with 6 RAM and 640 hard drive for $600 dollars if anybody wants a really high performer and has the money I’d check that out. yeah, I am going to take a computer class out to my local career center so that class should help me a bit on the hardware, just need someone that knows java se or something like that.
I think I just found a link to it on this site lol
i am looking to build my first desktop, and i have no idea where to start. i am familiar with how to actully put it together, but as far as equipment goes, i don’t know what is compatible. like what processors and graphics cards work with what mother boards or does it not matter?
Jake,
There are some good sites about building if you spend some time looking. Anyway, for the mother board and CPU you will want dual core or better. I suggest dual core because it is fully utilized by some games where quad is not utilized by any games. Then you need to get a mother board to match it. You need to check three things for sure. 1. The cpu socket type (LGA 775, LGA 1366 intel and AM2, AM2+, AM3 for AMD) matches the sockect type supported by the motherboard. 2. You want to make sure the board will fit in you case. The most common form factors are ATX and miniATX, but there are others like BTX out there. Your best bet is to look for a case that supports both ATX and miniATX. If worst came to worst you could always drill a hole but thats what you want to avoid. (Tip..there are brass looking nuts that come with the board, they are spacers and are very import so don’t forget to install them)
3. You want to check your FSB or Front side bus. Your CPU, mobo, and RAM will all have a FSB listed. Your new rig will only run as fast as the smallest FSB. So if your CPU and mobo are 1333mhz FSB and you get ram that is 800Mhz, then your system will only be as fast as an 800MHz set up. All the speed will bottle neck at the ram. You don’t need to match all three just be aware of it. I run a 1333Mhz mobo, 1666 CPU and 1060 Ram for an example so I’m at 1066MHz tops for data transfer speeds. GPU you will want Nvidia on an intel and ATI on an AMD just because they are better supported on by their own chipset or north bridge. For Ram check the mother boards QVL or qualified vendors list. IT should be in the mobo manual on the manufacturers website as a pdf file. Power supply should be at least 550Watts or better depending on which GPU you will buy. They require a PCIeX16 slot and there own power rail from the PSU. The newer GPU’s even require two power rails. Your minimum wattage will be what the CPU consumes plus the GPU and then add 50 watts. Don’t go cheap on the PSU it is really import and a bad one will cause system faults that may take months to figure out it’s the PSU and not the computer. Hard drive should be 7200 RPM and SATA at a minimum. CD/DVD roms are up to you, look for higher cache 32Mb units. Good luck and try http://www.newegg.com they have really good deals along with customer ratings and comments so you can get an idea if a part may have an issue with another peice of hardware etc.
I read your suggestions and I am in the same category as Jake. If you had the time could you put together a list of components? I know this might be a lot but compatibility is important (I am told) and I would hate to spend the money and find I blew it on matching up things. I will print out your suggestions. Obviously needs lots of research to make it all match.
could i use the cd dvd and media drives, from an old computer or any other parts from an hp?
i am thinking of building my own pc, but i need help. i dont want anything too expensive, or cheap and crappy, i want something i can use for watching DVDs, downloading movies, music and probably and a good memory space. e-mail me at portuguese_eabboy@hotmail.com thanks
Hey Guys,
Im Thinking Of Upgrading My Dell Dimension 5150 would the following be compatible
Antec Trio TP3 650w
ASUS Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 PCI-Express
Crucial DDR2 PC5300 4GB KIT
Intel Core™ 2 Duo E8500 3.16GHz, Socket LGA775
would all that be compatible with the dell 5150 mobo?
Thanks
tell me plz how can i start making my pc
Im very new to the whole buildin a computer but im lookin to spend between 4-500$ on a gaming computer, im not a complete idiot when it comes to computers but am looking to find some deals on hardware and also reliable hardware at that. If anyone has any helpful hint, sites and any other tid bits of info please email me at mikefbombkelly@hotmail.com, writing to me on this website might not prove useful seeing as I often only check my email. Thanks.
I wouldn’t recommend building your own PC. If you do ANYTHING wrong, you’ll end up frying your motherboard and possibly CPU. If you’ve ever tried debugging software, imagine there is a $300 dollar penatly every time you mess up and you have to wait 4 days to try again (get new parts).
That is why you practice on your old computers so you can get good enough to build a new one. If you keep frying your parts, try grounding yourself.
DEAR SIR,
I HAVE BUILT MY OWN PC AND GOT THE SOFTWARE DONE IN A SHOP.WHEN I GO TO BRUNET .IT ASKS FOR MY USER NAME AND MY PASSWORD.I TYPE THESE IN AND IT SAYS ERROR.I GO BACK AND TYPE AGAIN AND AGAIN IT SAYS ERROR.I GO TO MY OFFICE AND I GET CONNECTED.BRUNET SAYS THE LINE IS OK .WHAT COULD BE WRONG WITH MY COMPUTOR.I CAN ACCESS THE WEB AND INTERNET BUT NOT MY MAILS AT HOME BUT IN THE OFFICE I CAN ACCESSS MY MAILS AND IN ALL OTHER COMPUTORS.TELL ME WHY.
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hello I need some help. I am in the process of building a computer, but i am not sure of which parts to get exactly. I am going to be doing some video editing, and i will be storing a lot of music and movies on it, along with burning dvds and cds. So far, i have an ATX mid tower. i was gonna wait to buy it until i knew all the parts i was gong to get, but the website was switching owners so i was able to get the $60 case with a 400w psu for about $17. so i jumped on it. other than that, i think im going to get an AMD phenom II 3.1GHz callisto cpu. if anyone could give me some tips about which mobo, memory, and HD to get, i would greatly appreciate it. and also which cd/dvd drives to get, cause the whole cd/dvd-r+w-rw+rw+-rw+-r x24 burner litescribe whatever confuses the hell out of me. THANK YOU for any help.
P.S The psu that came with the case is an LIC 400BTX…..is it ok for my kind of setup? i wont be doing any gaming or extreme overclocking, so i wont need too much power….right?
Wait a second….. i just realized i have a btx psu in an atx case…what the hell? isnt that a completely different case type?
yeah BTX and ATX are completely different form factors…how the hell did you pull that one off haha
Hey, i would like to build a home computer good for gaming but not too pricey But still good quality Could someone help me with a list of Products to suit my needs i do not know much about computers so i would like someone to help me. thanks Botsmails@gmail.com email the help to me.
Hi I have built a
computer in england (American products) and I didn’t need to set up my net becase the provider did, Now I’m back in the states and I can’t get the right network connection for my cable net, Im clueless and all I have to research on I my iPhone, Please help
Go to the library (local) there in most cases you can use there desktops to do your research on your PC
I really hope you can be more help to me than the last few people on the forums I’ve spoken with-they were all very rude to me and did not specify what I needed to do. Here is my problem:I had a laptop that worked awesome, regardless of what others would say..I’m a simmer, so I had all my Sims 2 games and Sims 3 installed at once and had no problems until suddenly one day these crazy static bars kept coming across my screen, it was nuts! I showed my fiance and he said the repairs would probably cost more than the laptop itself, so we put it away for future repairs and went out and bought a desktop pc-an emachine. Here’s my system info:——————
I’ve searched and searched and all the info on the barebones kits look like Greek to me! lol What I want is to purchase a barebones kit (and anything else I may need) that will make it so that I don’t have to ever worry that my computer cannot meet the requirements for Sims games again. Can you please give me some advice? Do you know of just the right barebone kit for me and just how much I’m looking at spending? I have so many questions it’s making my head spin..I just have no clue where to start, and I feel really hopeless. All I want is to enjoy this game that I paid hard-earned money for with no issues!! Please help?
System Information
——————
Time of this report: 10/8/2009, 09:16:15
Machine name: EMACHINE-98E05C
Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090206-1234)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: eMachines
System Model: EL1300G
BIOS: )Phoenix – Award WorkstationBIOS v6.00PG
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) Processor 2650e , MMX, 3DNow, ~1.6GHz
Memory: 894MB RAM
Page File: 750MB used, 1417MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode
Today I went to the site Canyourunit, and the scan basically told me that my RAM and CPU speed were not up to the requirements to play Sims 3. I was so upset I wanted to cry! The games themselves are very expensive for one, and the computer already cost us around $300. I went to a forum for help, the people there said that also my graphics card isn’t good enough. They suggested that I buy a barebone kit from Newegg or TigerDirect online. But I have no idea at all which one to buy!!! I have no clue if the barebone kit must be compatible with my computer or what! I was also told I’ll need a new cooler and power supply. If you need me to, I can give you my full dxdiag as well as the system requirements for Sims 3..The first expansion pack for Sims 3 will be out in November and I’m praying I can figure all this out by then and be ready to play my games.
Heya i was interested in building my own PC i know how most computer parts work and the wiring and everything else involved etc etc , but was curious is somone could show me a current low-end set up for all the parts i would need ..im trying to shoot under the 500 range but ideally ide love anything around 300. I wouldnt be using this pc for games , just simply surfing the net at a fast speed and listening to music prob around 100+ gb of hard drive and 2gb+ of ram thanks email me if you want also too please at arpok_24@hotmail.com thanks
Okay so my family has a laptop that is more for business purposes. I got The Sims 3 and it won’t work. Now i’m trying to build my own computer. My mom is telling me to get one at Best Buy, but i’m not sure. I want to build a computer that will be able to play my Sims 2 and Sims 3 games with good graphics, not the crappy default graphics. I’ve been looking at computer parts for over a year now, and i would appreciate it if someone could offer any advice.
Requirements for Sims 3: Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista SP1
CPU for XP: 2.0 GHz P4 processor, Vista: 2.4 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
RAM: XP: 1 GB; Vista: 1.5 GB
Hard Drive: 6.1 GB with at least 1 GB of additional space
Video: DirectX 9.0c compatible (Nvidia GeForce 6100 and 7100 are not supported)
If you want to build a cheap effective desktop. (Cheap here)
Go to a web site like geeks.com, tigerderict, or even amazon
find a tower with a power supply.(though you will have to replace the power supply with in a year
Buy a wolfdale e5200 core dual 65 dollars (later you can bsel mod to a 3.3mhz)
look at the compatible motherboard size m-atx or atx those are sizes atx being the largest
And compatible to dual cores.
Asus and foxconns are pretty reliable. You want a 4 connection memory supply (4 memory banks)
Buy 2-4 gigs of 1gig ram average $15-$20 a gig when bought in packs ddr2 most likely
A nice graphics card not to expensive like a 4600 series ati.(around 50-60)
And a hard drive of your choice.(coast around 50-200 dollars depends on size.)
And a dvd player or dvd burner(their pretty cheap now a days 30-40 dollars.
and for you don’t have and snags
also buy
a 120 mm($10)
fan 80 mm fan ($10)
if heatsink isn’t included with cpu (wolfdale) a heat sink for 775 socket ($15-$20)
2-3 molex adapter $2 a piece
maybe a few sata cables just in case $1-$5 a piece
IF Thats TO Much TO START TRY A BARE BONES GET THEN JUST ADD HARD DRIVE AND VIDEO CARD
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5234560&CatId=31
Chuck Norris doesnt teabag people, he potato-sacks them.