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.
Hey, im thinking of constructing my own PC from scratch, never done it before but i am considering so as i now have an increasing knowledge of them. Looking at a budget of $900 give or take $100, any help would be greatly appreciated.
im looking to make a laptop or computer that runs starcraft 2 mainly
im looking to make a laptop or computer that runs starcraft 2 mainly
Hello guys,
I am thinking of building a PC mostly for everyday use, programming and some occasional gaming. Here are the components I am thinking of getting. Please I need some feedback.
CPU: Intel i7 860
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3
Case with cooling system: NZXT M59-001BK M59 Gaming Mid Tower Case – ATX, mATX, Baby AT, Black.
Power supply: Antec EarthWatts EA-500D Green 500W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
NOTE should exceed what is required by the video card. Antec or Enermax
Graphics/video card: HIS H577FK1GD Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ Eyefinity Network card
Sound card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card
Optical drive: Sony Optiarc Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DDU1678A – OEM
RAM: Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model KHX1333C7D3K2/4GX newegg.ca
Hard drive: Seagate Barracuda LP 2TB 3.5″ SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Thanks guys
Guys ineed some help, i ant a computer that plays WoW and that has very good graphics, i need it to hold all of my expansions. I can only spend about $1000 . So please post some suggestions i need some help for it. Because ive got a computer upstairs it had WoW but if you look at the graphics……… you will wanna just crap on it.So please post some suggestions =D have a good day. Or night.
Very useful!
Great guide, I'm tired of paying high prices in pc shops for hardware that lacks everything I really need. But there simply isn't much choice in most places so I'm hoping to put together my own this year. I'm planning to use my new easy saver rewards card to help acquire at least some of the parts.
Something good for Video editing
fast powerful and alot of memory
I'm using things like Photoshop-Elements8, Adobe CS5 Productions Premium and Adobe CS5 Design Premium
i think all in one pcs suits these games like WoW u can check what i wrote about them at this page ..
http://www.all-in-one-pc.ucoz.com/
Thanks for a great article
I did a custom PC build early this year for my gaming rig and it worked out to save me a couple of £100 but now I want more so its going to cost me more cash again but still a huge savings from the start
My PC is about £1500 worth but could of easily cost me around £2000 – £2500 if I didnt build it myself.
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I am going to acquire a PC, thou I can’t seem to Know where to start, I wish to buy every part separately online (I’ll have someone to guide me while putting them together (I can probably do it as I know how, but I cant afford any miss happen))
I’m almost positive these features I need it to possess are going to cut some slack on each other so please take this into consideration as for each component must cut none or as little slack on each other for maximum quality and performance as a 1500 budget holds up, maybe 1600 (Try to keep it under the 1500).
-Heavy gaming off and online
-PS2 emulator (Can PS2 online-only video-games be carried as such, the emulator way?).
-High performance PC games.
-On-line RPGs.
(I will also need a PS2 joystick lookalike)
(I also like to play vintage games* through vintage console emulators, kind of a hobby. I like to think
they have certain flair to them…)
*I don’t believe this to be relevant, just thought I should say it.
(For character you know …Kind of lol …More like nervous
giggling)
-Heavy* (*Is it?) internet usage
(A thoroughly thought recommendation about a very good and improving modem (as for my current connection
is about 2mb only) would be most accepted. This is not be taken in to consideration within the budget
since it will be bought separately.)
-Daily multiple torrent downloads.
-Simultaneous mild surfing (* E-mail, * forum posting, * You Tube (and alike), * picture picking,
* Google, * Yahoo answers, * short & small downloads, * extensive
research, * chatting, * etc.)
*and/or
-Non-simultaneous* online gaming
*Except for RPG online games in which case there should be light
surfing, mostly co-related extended research.
-Listen to pristine*-sounding music
*As much and as a clever budget rationing permits.
(Please feel thoroughly free to also recommend the best speaker set for the sound-card of your
choosing as for it will also take part on this budget.)
-Heavy & extensive high-quality video playing
(As before feel thoroughly free to recommend a fitting monitor according to your chosen
recommendations as for it also will be taken from the budget)
I’ll need to install both Windows and Linux so take this in to consideration, I’ll have the torrent related downloads and most of the downloads with Linux, Windows is mainly for the gaming or as I see fit, thou I do not have a clear idea about which OP system use for each way of gaming (Through emulation, online RPG, for-PC only games) to obtain maximum results (I would really appreciate any recommendations).
I will need a large hard drive, although besides that I most certainly need an external hard drive of about 1TB minimum for storage, it’s imperative for it to stand the torrent to be constantly accessing it to upload as for most external hard drives this large are solely for storage.
Keyboard, mouse and joystick (PS2 lookalike) cordless, a (fast high quality) web-cam may not be cordless (are there cordless web-cams? and If so, accessible?)
Most certainly thankful
DrFaustusXI A.K.A (X)(X)(X) XI Hans- (-sen & -seme)
nice
pas mal mais même temps c’est du boulot http://www.pcmech.com/byopc/ alors que ça : http://www.interpretation-des-reves.com/ non
i used to have a really excelent pc but one of my mates accidentally smashed it. i bought a new one, but frankly it’s total crap. it hardly works and takes at least 7 hours to download the smallest things. i was using one of my discs to install my security stuff (no questions. i’ve had my systems hacked more times than i can count) and it had a major blowout. i know it’s not the discs cause i’ve been using them for years. my cousin told me to just build my own pc. i need something with good graphics, ideal for schoolwork and just regular facebook and email. it also has to be fast cause i’m not one to waste time. i’m not on a tight budget, but it would be nice if it only went up to £500. any suggestions of where to buy all the stuff? and where should i find directions on how to build it?
thnx
You will want a fast processor, a fairly good graphics card, 2 GB of RAM… Those are the biggies here. Depending on how much music we are talking about here, you will probably want a hard drive with about 160-250 GB of memory or so–a lot of space, but not much compared to, say, actual music production.
Generally speaking, computers meant to run a lot of apps at once should have more RAM, and computers meant to run one powerful app should have more CPU speed.
You should be able to build a rig like this for, oh, about 700 or so; but being a Linux user myself, that does not include the cost of a Windows software installation.
For $1300 I went for a laptop. Not any kind of laptop but the best one at this moment that amount of money can buy. It is an Acer Aspire with Intel i7 720QM, 6MB L3 Cache, 8GB DDR3 1333mhz, 500GB HDD, NVIDIA 330GT 1GB dedicated memory with a 15.6″ HD display. It also came with NTI multimedia suite, including recovery cd/dvd burning software, Windows7 Home edition, PC Health Advisor, various diagnostic tools and many more.
why not go for 1 tb of hard drive hes got 1200 it cost liek 60
I also want to learn to build my OWN computer. Pity I’m highly unknowledgeable in this respect.
Spelling has nothing to do with your intellectual capability, however I’m pretty sure being a douche-bag would affect your income.
im trying to build a pc for music recording. needs a great audio card and lots of harddrive space. can i get some reccomendations for the audio card as well as the rest of the components?
when i build my own computer i had 3 partitions, now filled with xp and vista. i use only win7. how do i remove vista and xp?
I enjoyed the writing..keep sharing.
nice guide, it is what i am looking for.
Their are some nice online store which provide a custom computer building service, such as:http://www.ewiz.com/system_index.php
and your suggestion is good for beginers, just update!
riley suck your mother we wont build you a computer not at all so by cheap head freak