Is custom build really better way than retail PCs?

[gtr247]

I want to hear from those who have been building many custom PCs as to whether customs PCs are a better bet than retail PCs assembled by corporate manufacturers in terms of reliability and quality. I can only speak from building one custm PC but, it has given me the MOST problems compared to the retail PCs I've used. Within 24 months of custom building a PC with "quality" components, I've had the PSU die on me, and HDD going unrecoverable one day without much warning. I've never had such problems with any of the retail PCs (In fact I've abused them quite a bit without much care but they kept on working.). What's puzzling is that the components from the custom PC was supposed to be the "high quality" ones, and I know they are because I've looked inside say a Hewlett-Packard PC and it looked like the components from the 70's (granted it was an economy model), and cheap. It could be just a bad luck of the draw out of the gate for me, but I'm not sure if custom builds are really that much better in quality and reliability just because they cost more, not to mention that corporate manufacturers have quality controlled assembly lines with all sorts of check-points before they are shipped out to be sold. So I want to hear from veteran custom builders on the experience of which way is the better, safer way to keep the PC running for a long time. The extra cost of replacing the PSU and HDD just isn't a good compromise for me to consider custom building as a good alternative, but if my case was an isolated thing, then I want to continue building custom PC in the future since I like the freedom it provides in choosing parts and the clean-canvas HDD I get in installing software from the scratch without clutter. Any comments regarding the matter are appreciated.

[tempus]

I think it comes down to using high quality components and having the ability to put them all together. Granted companies like Dell and HP have economy of scale on their side and can produce PC's very cheaply. A custom build will always cost more but this is offset with the satisfaction seeing your build up and running. Also faulty components have warranty's that are usually honored.

[mikeL]

I like to think that a personal built system is much better than a corporate built, because I choose the components I want, from any place I want, and the gratification of putting the computer together, and watching come to life. There is always going to be problems with electronic components, some parts will last forever, and some might only last an hour, that's the nature of the beast.

The computer I'm using know was in the process of being built about 9 months prior to ordering the first component, I do a lot of research, read tons of reviews, and jot down notes even before I buy anything.

Sure I could get on the phone and call, or go online with anyone of the big computer retailers, and place my order, and have my brand new company built computer within a week. Is it what I really wanted ? probably not. Will it do what I want it to do ? most likely. Will I have a sense of accomplishment ? no.

As for the quality control aspect, I would like to know how many components get swapped out during a company build, I seen some company built computers that have "slipped" by the quality control people, and should not have left the shipping dept.

On a custom built computer I'm the quality control, I can run software to burn in memory, check the hard drive integrity. I also dislike anything proprietary, and I really dislike those recovery disks, and recovery partitions. For what I would pay for a company built computer, I should at least get a actual operating system CD.

Just my 2¢

Mike

[glc]

Any PSU and any hard drive can fail. Those are the two highest failure rate components in a PC. Careful assembly techniques are just as important as the component quality. You do have to confirm the quality of components - what you *think* is a quality PSU may not be that good - and may be too small to do the job reliably. Hard drives are just a crapshoot - doesn't matter what brand they are. I've seen just as many failed hard drives in name brand boxes as customs.