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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Wow. It looks like a lot of folks out there can’t stand Dell. I discovered the Dell Optiplex SX270 on ebay a couple of years ago and I use one, both my sons have one, and they’ve worked pretty well, although they WILL overheat if you don’t keep them well ventilated. Of course, I’m not a hard-core gamer or anything like that so I probably don’t tax the system to any degree at all. All I really use mine for is to maintain a couple of websites, process digital photos (using photoshop) and customize sound effects for theatrical productions (using Cool Edit Pro). My SX270, even with only 512mg of RAM and an Intel Celeron processor (2.66 GHz) has handled these tasks well, although I did install 2.25 gb of RAM playing around one afternoon and I am about to upgrade to 2 gb of RAM just for the heck of it. My older son and I are about to embark upon a project of building our own computer just for fun and this looks like a pretty good site to get us started. I’m not a techie in the least but my son has had some computer hardware classes in high school so he can probably bluff us through the process. Anyway, it seems like a good father-son project to embark upon and maybe we’ll learn something in the process. But, just for laughs, if there are some computer snobs out there who want to gig me for liking the Optiplex SX270 (which a lot of people seem to hate), then go for it. I’m a beer snob who loves stouts and ales and if you drink Bud then you are probably a candy ass (LOL). Happy New Year to all and I wish you all great computing.
Dale said:
although I did install 2.25 gb of RAM playing around one afternoon and I am about to upgrade to 2 gb of RAM just for the heck of it.
I don’t quite understand this operation. Do you mean that you are adding a total of 4.25 GB RAM? Will your operating system be able to utilize that much RAM?
YOU CAN USE AS MUCH RAM AS YOU WANT THE PC WILL UTILIZE ANY AMOUNT AS LONG AS THE MAIN BOARD WILL SUPPORT IT ITS JUST THE OS WILL NOT REGISTER IT ALL BUT THE PC WILL USE IT ALL BUT U REALLY DONT NEED THAT MUCH 3 IS MORE THEN ENOUGH 4 IS AS HIGH AS I WOULD GO ANYTHING ELSE IS A WASTE
CAUSE U DONT ACTULLY USE THAT MUCH RAM IT IS THE CPU THAT ALLOWS U TO RUN FASTER THE BIGGER THE CPU THE FASTER AND SMOTHER THE PC WILL RUN
I should have said 1.25 gb of RAM. It was a typo. I deserve to get pasted for that one.
stouts and ales?
no says I- Guiness and Turbodog -everything else is crap!
i am just starting back to college,my one class is intro to computer, and i have to write a 1-2 page paper how how to build my own computer and all that is needed to maek it work for what i am needing it to work for.
These are a few of the thing that i have to answer and also that i have to decripe what i need in a computer, i would be using it to surf the web, write papers, for music, and as well as photos and movie
If you were going to buy a computer today that was going to be used for surfing the Internet and working with Microsoft Office Applications, how much of each of the following would you recommend?
RAM ________GB
Processor Speed ________Gigahertz
Hard Disk Space ________GB
Pages COM-18 through COM-20 of the text discuss various types of software. Which types do you think will be most helpful in your career? Please state the reasons why you feel that way? Which applications are you most interested in learning about in this course?
If you were going to buy a notebook computer today that was going to be used for online gaming, how much of each of the following would you recommend?
RAM ________GB
Processor Speed ________Gigahertz
Hard Disk Space ________GB
[...] of during the assembly process. Obviously, Step One is to acquire all necessary parts. edit: http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/ Also: http://computer.howstuffworks.com/build-a-computer.htm And: [...]
I started building computers around 2000. I had a computer parts dealer walk me through the process over the phone from Houston. My parts are better quality than those out of a prebuilt. If I have a problem, I fix it myself or take it to a local shop if the problem is too difficult for me to solve. Money I have. I have to rely on “tips” a lot of the time. It is really a lot of fun building them. I’ve started my own business.
Hey!
I am a great game junkie and hardware guy.
Some comments here seem to be out of date. 2008/9 and you are talking bout 340MB video cards?! Man, now you can have 2 GB G-Card, couple of TB’s HDD and buy AMD Phenom 2 x4 for ,,a fiver” and overlock it using ,,plastic” ice for cooling. Should go up to nice 4,5 – 5 GHz.
Equip yourselves with AMD motherboard AM2+/AM3, 4-6 GB RAM and 600W electricity supply and here goes kick-ass 21st century, shelf-beating computer capable of playing ANYTHING for next say three years with no need of updating.
Now my first computer was somewhere in nineties. It was basically for todays standards ridicioulus. 400MHz, 16MB ram, no g-card at all. Nothing special.
My second was configured for me. Way better.
Now Im looking forward to building my own one but estimated costs fly so high that as a teenager I dont have a clue how to get hold of this kind of money.
Still better than off-the-shelf computer giving me less for more.
Deal with pre-made Pc’s is, that you get plenty (not enough though) space on HDD, some RAM, PLENTY other features, SOMe G-card (but only some), Not decent core (usually intel, which is the worst choice for price consious) and you pay really decent money for it. Whereas with building you own one you can do it for less and make it with STYLE. Sculpt and shape your case as you like, give it nitro coling (doing -200 celsius degrees – hell cool), overlock everything as you wish (no limits – cept youll have to pay for any damage
).
Make your own to be satisfied. If you are rich lazy-ass buy off the shelf.
How long does it take to build a custom pc if i was to put a lot of time into it
The actual build time is not too bad… from unpacking all the goodies to updating drivers might be 4 hours?? It depends on how often you stop and read the instructions… The real time involved can be in the deciding process. I’m waiting for the parts to arrive so I can start my third complete build (built my first PC in 2002 and the machine is still solid as a rock, it’s just not as fast as a new processor will allow) and it may sound funny, but the component that took the most time to select was the case… not the most important part, but the part I have to look at every day…
What is your build?
When you say “build your own PC” does that mean you purchase all the pieces and somebody else puts it together for you i.e a computer tech? If not would it be worth doing it that way as well?
please i want to know some of the authors of computer engineering test books
thanks i need than urgently.
I presume you mean “text” books. try searching the web for:
computer engineering text book authors.
my advice… my first cpu was in 98… after a little mucking in bios (i just wanted to boot from cd geez) it stoped working… it wasn’t worth anything… so i took it all apart… and found…
1. 2 perfectly good opticaal disk readers…
2. A working audio card (still have cd)
3.a VERY small amount of ram… (udgrade?)
i took these parts and new stuff, and built a cpu with by friend.
I am 11 and am hoping to build my own PC, later this year. As you might expect I do not have a lot of money, but am hoping to build a ‘basic’ PC and upgrade it maybe next year. Is this the right option or is it better to go for the full blown PC I want it to be? I am not a gamer but a bit of a memory hog as I program my own applications. Any help would be much appreciated.
Thanks, love the site
That sounds like a very mature way to go about it Elliot. Too many people want to buy things on credit in order to ‘have it today’. What a mess that type of thinking has gotten us into…
Buy what you can and upgrade when you can afford it.
HeyElliot Im 11 and building a pc too, I have a MAX budget of 500 and thats padding the numbers. Unfortunately, I am a gamer so I need more than a basic pc. But, I was just surfing looking for sites about my decisions, and Im glad too see someone else with little experience like me is building their own pc as well.
I have a question which may be silly to those of you who are experienced in building your own PCs. When you buy the various components of the computer, does the ribbons and wiring come with them or are these separate purchases. Also, how do you measure the case for space to insert the motherboard?
Retail parts usually come with cables. OEM parts usually do not. Plus certain retail parts come with the necessary driver disc, such as a video card. OEM parts are less expensive though. As far as the case is concerned, you need to know what “form factor” it can hold. Motherboards come it different form factors:
ATX (12.0″x9.6″ on average); Micro ATX (9.6″x9.6″ on average); Mini ATX (6.7″x6.7″ on average)
The form factor on a case relate to its type IE: ATX full tower; ATX mid tower; Micro ATX mid tower; Micro ATX mini tower, etc. Just match these two together and the motherboard will fit. Most full tower and some mid tower cases will hold ATX, Micro ATX, and Mini ATX motherboards, while Mini tower will only hold a Micro ATX.
I hope this helps
Thanks for the information, Erv. I will probably opt for the ATX size as I want to put in a 3.5 drive.
How would it be if i wanna build my own 13,1 or 13,3 inches notebook?
I have no experience
if you have a complete answer send it to this address,
Thanks everybody
glide.thierry@hotmail.com
You might try http://www.newegg.com and in the search box type in laptop barebone. That would be a good starting point.
I personally have not attempted to build a laptop myself, but if I was going to try, this would be where I would start.
I was actually considering which of these to do, Build a computer from scartch or buy a new one. With this help, I think I might go for the DIY selection.
Thanks x
i find your article very helpful, informative and updated and it’s everything i need to understand and be equipped to build with confidence my own PC.
Please send me on my e-mail address any information and uPdates i could avail for the maintenance and updating of my PC.
THank you and God Bless!
Ariel San Diego
Can you provide more information on this?
[...] Here is a massive article on assembling your own PC: http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/ [...]
I admit starting out I didn’t know squat about PCs, I thought Compaq was the cream of the crop, a friend told me computers are like cars they will all get you there . Four years ago I went to the local mom and pop computer store with a list of what I was going to do with it . It cost me $700 bucks. Since then I have taken this thing apart and put it back together a million times. The only original part that’s left is the motherboard. I once had a frequent shutdown problem it seemed to be a software thing within 5 minutes I had found out it was a hardware problem a short in a molex I had recently installed .Yeah I have learned a lot . My next PC is already in my head . I like those open air chassis, if I can find the buttons and switches I’ll build that too. BTW now I’m helping my friends now with their PC woes.
Dell computers are fine for the average user, until something goes wrong. Then you see their ugly side. The three year tech support is like any extended warranty comforting but generally useless. The support staff polite but incompetent. Here is a short story.
My RAID1 array had a continuous ‘Degraded Mirror’ message at boot and an occasional ‘RAID Array Failure’ message. I had a few spare hours one day and decided that it was time to take advantage and get it fixed. I called Dell support. Over the course of about an hour or so I worked my way through several layers of answering the same questions to a succession of “techs” and finally got through to someone presented to me as a ‘RAID Specialist’.
From the outset I told her it was a minor issue, my computer was working fine otherwise and the last thing I want to do is wipe the drive. She agreed and asserted that that would be completely unnecessary. Long story short she crashed the drive and I lost MS Office 2007 Pro, Photoshop – both purchased from Dell and factory installed, along with a slew of other 3P programs that I have installed.
Despite the fact that it was Dell who wiped my drive they have refused to replace the MS Office suite – disks they say I got but I know I never did. I had the Photoshop disk used it to reinstall and find it is not the same program but a bare bone piece of relative junk.
Over 36 hours on the phone later I am still screwed by Dell. Note to self: Never buy software from computer manufacturers. Never go near Dell again. They are incompetent, unethical thieves who supply image but not substance. From now on it BYO for me.
she probably couldn’t speak english. you know, supposedly they now charge an addition $12.95 if you want to speak to a rep in the US. companies like dell should stop sending OUR jobs overseas so they can sell junk computers for pennies.
I have a friend that bought a “top of the line” Dell, and after a year or so it totally crashed. He couldn’t get anything to show up on his desk top except the wallpaper. When we tried to get the Task Manager to come up it wanted the Administrator PW. Well, with it being built by Dell, we didn’t know what this was. He called them up to see if they could fix it. Like you said, DVL, he went through a mountain of talking to various “techs”, one of them finally told him it was a virus and it was not “covered” under warranty and, Dell would not fix it. Luckily, I found a way in through his wife’s user screen and found it had a ghost drive setup. This drive was only half the size as the main HDD and was full. It had been setup at the factory to back up every change made to the computer. I went to his last back up file, got the computer back up and running, and was able to scan for viruses which he didn’t have any major ones. I then deleted some of these backup files and set it up to only back up once a week. That way it wouldn’t fill up so fast. So much for a warranty service. I told him next time he needs a new computer, let me know, and we’ll build one ourselves.
Same thing happened to my wifes computer. Dell xps 210, which we spent 2200 bucks on including a 3 year warranty. They told us it was a virus and wasn’t covered, but for 230 bucks, they had a dept that would fix it. We spent the extra money, which was foolish, and it still didn’t work. Then they refused to refund our money, so I called our bank and they got our money back for us. Come to find out, the hard drive had crashed on us. So much for the deel so called experts. I won’t buy from them ever again, especially since you cannot get an american on the phone. So I say, let the foreigners buy and service their own chinese made junk.
[...] Here is a massive article on assembling your own PC: http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/ [...]
I am a retiree and would like to build my own computer. I play the odd game though not a gamer. Like to download music, movies and copy pictures of my grandchildren. I get on the media opinion lines a lot and write letters. My spouse would like a system for she is into sewing , quilting and all the womens stuff a program she wants is expensive and takes a lot of memory. I have started out buying myself mid-tower coolermaster centurion +plus 854 with a coolermaster 460 watt psu. I look at motherboards and cpu’s is mind bogling. With this info. could anyone direct me to a good motherboard and cpu I would be looking at and where I could find more info. on building. Would much appreciate the help.
Hey all, I need some help. I poked around on newegg for a while looking for parts. I want to build a computational computer. It will have linux (likely Fedora) and graphics aren’t really important. I just wanted something w/ quad core (so I can run simulations to specific cores and have 4 going at once).
Here are the parts I have… can you tell me if they’d work together and if there is something i’m missing:
HEC 6AR6BB2F Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case X-Power 585W Power Supply – Retail
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK
AMD Phenom II X4 940 Deneb 3.0GHz Socket AM2+ 125W Quad-Core Black Edition Processor Model HDZ940XCGIBOX
BIOSTAR TA790GX XE AM2+/AM2 AMD 790GX HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
All these parts come to $398 on newegg (thank you combo deals!) Also, suggestions on a cheap, but functional dvd writer for this compy.
Hey Joshua you might as well get back to Newegg thats where I’m seeing a nice variety of DVD burners. I see that Biostar supporting AMD I got my eye on the same processor with a Asus mobo. (a combo deal) That $398 is just about what I scrape off my tax return this year towards my new machine.
I’m looking for a barebones tower with a motherboard already attached where all i have to do is install the hardware. I have just realized my interest in computers and intend on going to school and making a career out of it eventually. I need a HDMI slot for my HDTV (no plans on buying a monitor), and many usb ports, I am also a gamer (consoles mostly, but I do have a few games for PC) so i need a good motherboard to run the full gambit. I just need someone to point me in the right direction (leave a link).
Thanks
I was raised around computers since I was a kid, lost the faith around 15, and now I’m building my own CPUs like crazy. But like many others here, I have all my own hardware (high quality) (200 GB hard drive, a Radeon video card, great sound card, all the fixins and software to boot). What I’m looking for is a nice low price case with a great motherboard to run XP Professional and Office. I’ll try the newegg site, but can anyone point me to where I can find a decent case w/ motherboard. I repair and build CPU’s but don’t have much for myself.
If anyone can help, I’d really appreciate it! Thanks!
Phoenyxation@gmail.com
Try my favorite Tiger Direct .Tiger have a wide selection of barebones kits. Personally I’m getting away from the standard PC case and going into open air chassis because of my fat hands and I like to tinker a lot. I’m a retired shade tree auto mechanic/ DIY carpenter just getting into computers I know nuts and bolts but software is a mystery. Oh and Tiger has a fast delivery and liberal return policy .
Thanks a million! I checked out the site, and they have INCREDIBLE deals on backbones! I really appreciate this site! To all those building your CPU’s: Kudos!
I’l probably be back with more questions, but this site and TigerDirect really helped a lot.
Thanks again,
Phoenyxation
I agree! Tigerdirect.com is a fantastic site and their delivery is fast!
What you should realize also is that barebones systems aren’t partially put together for you. (at least from my experience)
You will generally get the exact parts that are listed in the barebones kit, but in separate boxes as if they were pulled of the retail shelf. Actually, this is good, because you plan to game online. You will become more acquainted with the mechanics of your PC. (and what components you will want to upgrade later with)
Installing a motherboard isn’t hard at all. Especially if you’ve got the right form factor. Building a PC, in my humble opinion, has become very “plug and play.” However, it still requires some attention to detail.
Best of Luck on you build!
Wow I didnt know that, I assume the barebones kit would be put together for you. Still barebones is a good way to get compatible components right now there’s is a great deal at Tiger for $399 . Awhile back I acccidently purchase 2 SATA drives when I needed IDE Tiger made the returns so easy by promptly crediting my account .
Yes, Tiger does have assembled Barebone computers.
Click: ‘Barebones’ then ‘assembled’
I’m totally new to this and would appreciate any advice i can get. I was thinking of building a custom computer with the following parts. Any tips would be appreciated. Here is the machine…
CPU:
1. Intel Core 2 Quad- Socket 775- $229
Motherboard
1. Asus P5Q Motherboard- Socket 775- $119
Ram
1. Kingston PC6400- 800Mhz- $49
Graphics Card
1. BFG GeForce 9600 GT OC Video Card- 512Mb- PCI Express 2.0- $69
Case
1. Apevia X-Cruiser ATX Black Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side- $69
Power Supply
1. Apevia / 500-Watt / ATX / Dual 80mm LED Fan- $40
DVD-Burner
1. Samsung SE-S084B DVD Burner- $69
Hard Drive
1. Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS Hard Drive- SATA- 500GB- 7200rpm- $59
Hey Mike! Your list sounds like my dream CPU! I’m trying to build one like yours with the clear side. Good thing is you have several components from the same brand which helps them to compatible with each other. As regards the motherboards, as long as your motherboard fits the criteria for what you want your CPU to do, you’re fine. You have a great CPU list there. I gotta ask: Where did you find the Apevia Black Mid-Tower Case with Clear Side? I’m looking for something like that but you found it at a GREAT price!
Thanks for all your comments phoenyxation. I really appreciate all the help. In response to your question i found it at Tiger Direct. THanks Again!!!