Quote:Original post by westside_indie I've heard that it's better and cheaper to build your own computer. Is it true? If so, any good tutorials on building a computer? Thanks!
This used to be more true in the past. These days the cost is often negligable, especially if you don't skimp on the case and cooling that most modern PCs require.
For the more basic systems, it's not much cost difference between buying it from Dell. The more powerful computers get their prices jacked up higher, and then it's usually cheaper to do it on your own. No warranty though, so beware. Most of the parts I got had hardware warranties on them with the company, so if a part went bad, I could ship it back in.
I myself have built many computers, about 7 now, and know very well what I'm doing. It's best to start out messing around with an old, junked computer to get a feel for what you're doing. Take it all apart, put it all together, see if it turns on. I have had problems though, such as pins bending/falling off, equipment getting staticly shocked, so watch out, it can happen!
Good tutorial, it's what started me off a few years ago:
Who needs tutorials? Ever played the toddler shape matching game? You know, the ones with the wooden blocks that fit through holes? Just don't put the square thingy through the triangle and you'll be fine!
and hope smoke doesn't start pouring out of your system and envelope your living room in flames
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IMHO It doesn't matter whether you buy or build. The benefit of building is - you know what is in your computer. You can control the quality of the parts. Generally with an off the shelf PC they use cheaper parts - but they also include a warrenty.
Its not the same as it used to be. Back in the day I could build a PC for half of what you could buy it for - now its not like that.
The biggest benefit of building is the ability to upgrade. You can get a new CPU / RAM / MOBO for less than half of what it would cost for a new computer. And basically thats what you will be looking to replace if you buy a new one anyhow (unless you're going for a new video card too.)
If you want a cheap computer (i e, mid-grade parts, mid-grade performance, and below), buy one. You'll probably be able to find cheaper vendor-built machines than you can build yourself.
If you want a high-performance computer, then build one. The reason is that places like Dell start out cheap, but all the options you really want (faster CPU, larger hard drive, better graphics card) carry a huge mark-up -- that's where they make their money! Also, their higher-end systems (dual-core, etc) usually come bundled with useless junk you don't want, which also drives up their margins.
FWIW: Almost (over?) three years ago I built a 3.2 GHz Pentium IV with a Radeon 9700 Pro. That machine has held up extremely well, and is what I'm still posting this on (upgraded to a GeForce 6800 GT a year and a half ago). I'm now in the throes of building its replacement: An Athlon X2 4400+, GeForce 7800 GT, 2 GB of 2-3-2-5 RAM, and the crowning (and most expensive) part: Two 150 GB 10,000 rpm Raptor drives, in RAID-1 configuration. Yes, I'm shooting for sub-second link times :-) (For those who don't know: RAID-1 is usually faster than RAID 0 because it reduces seek latency. Throughput, which RAID-0 gives you, is seldom a problem with modern drives. Plus, with RAID-1, a drive dieing is not a catastrophe!)
Btw: I buy my parts from NewEgg, even though I live in California (and thus pay tax). They've always worked extremely well for me, and are always among the cheapest.
Quote:Original post by M2tM Who needs tutorials? Ever played the toddler shape matching game? You know, the ones with the wooden blocks that fit through holes? Just don't put the square thingy through the triangle and you'll be fine!
and hope smoke doesn't start pouring out of your system and envelope your living room in flames
He's right actually. It's really not that hard to do it. All the shapes and colors of the connectors match where you need to stick in the motherboard.
Quote:Original post by M2tM Who needs tutorials? Ever played the toddler shape matching game? You know, the ones with the wooden blocks that fit through holes? Just don't put the square thingy through the triangle and you'll be fine!
and hope smoke doesn't start pouring out of your system and envelope your living room in flames
Good point M2tM [grin], I believe you won't be a computer hardware 'professional' until you blow up at least one computer (I did).
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Quote:Original post by Morpheus011 It's always better to build your own box in my opinion. That way you get exactly what you want, and buying parts at a local store will usually cost far less then buying a complete system.
Well, not far less but less. Store I usually buy my parts charged €40 for assembling a custom designed system, on a price of €1500 or more for such a system that's peanuts.
I did the math last week on buying versus building and came out at €1450 (ex screen) to build one from scratch or €1700 (inc. screen) to buy a very similar system from Dell. A similar screen would cost me around €300 when purchased at that store. Dell would charge me €90 for shipping, I'd need something like €40 in gas and maintenance to the car to go pick up those parts. Total price difference: €0.
Only real benefit: you get to choose your own components which may be of higher quality, better optimised to work together, and/or slightly better performant for your chosen purpose than when going with a ready-built system.
Quote:Original post by Morpheus011 The overhead for a company like Dell or HP or whatever is going to be a lot more then that of a local parts store so you can get better prices.
Actually the overhead for that local store is quite high. Rental prices on property and warehousing are higher for them, and their staff is often more expensive too. Of course that's offset in part by the larger bureaucracy in larger companies, but overall expect the margin on sales for the highstreet shoppe to be lower than that for an internet retailer.
Good point M2tM [grin], I believe you won't be a computer hardware 'professional' until you blow up at least one computer (I did).
Hmm.. I am not so sure I can agree to that :) My first computer, an IBM with an Cyrix "586" CPU was the only computer I've actually bought. Each and every computer since I've assembled myself. My primary cause is that I really enjoy the scent of freshly-popped hardware boxes and that it is really fun to build.
Secondly, as someone else aready stated, you can maintain control of your components in another way compared to buyng a Dell, HP or Packard Bell. However, IF I was to buy an pre-assembled computer, I'd go with Dell without a 1/60s hesitation.
I have always built my own rigs because of the advantage in quality of components and price. But homebuilt custom rigs are getting more and more common which is leading the manufacturers to increase the retail price of individual components. 3 years ago there were no $500 graphics cards. I remember when the TI4600 was the best card out and it cost only $300. I believe that soon it will not be any cheaper to build your own rig. The quality factor will still be present though.
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