Should you build your own or buy a pre built PC?

[LFCJohnSmith]

What are the pro's and cons of building your own and buying pre built systems? I would have thought that a major advantage of buying a pre built machine is that you will get more for your money because of economies of scale. What would you advise?

 

[H4x3r]

build for certain, you get so much more for the money that it's not even funny. Not only that the parts are much more reliable and all have separate warranty for RMA purposes.Its easy to upgrade since it's not all manufacturer specific. Also it's fun! you take a certain pride in any machine you build, it becomes yours and you get a great sense of accomplishment when everything turns on and works so great

I can't really think of any cons for building your own outside of the time it takes (which really isn't that bad) but the cons for the OEM machines are that they are much more expensive, it's often hard to upgrade them because of the how they are designed...and they are of much lesser quality

 

[wafflehammer]

pros and cons of building

pros- experience, fun, cheaper, more bang for buck, parts you want(you can get some good spec'd prebuilts..but most come with crap ram/motherboard/psu)

cons- none that are bad...DOA parts can be annoying..but can happen with pre-builts too, pre-builts sometimes come with stuff like monitors/printers (still usually cheaper to go self-built+monitor)


there is no reason to buy pre-built anymore..go ahead n build it's fun. If you're interested just ask around..people here will tell you parts and give tips

 

[james.wired]

^ Completely agree. My first build was really fun and I was surprised at how easy it really is. You will never get out of a pre built then what you can from a self built. They, sometimes, use one good piece of hardware as the selling point and surround it with a bunch of crap hardware. Built your own and everyone here can help you with any questions

 

[H4x3r]

not only that...you can overclock custom built's to work even faster.....like my i7 which retails for $247usd runs at 2.66ghz stock........i've got it overclocked to 4.0ghz......if you look at the i7 965 it retails for $1000 and runs at 3.0ghz......so i've essentially quadrupled my bang-for-buck (as far as the cpu goes) you can't do this with pre-built systems because they have their bios locked

 

[Eayes]

Not to hijack but is there a resource that is considered best for helping with the actual build. I'm order my parts today for my first build.

 

[H4x3r]

meaning putting it together?

 

[LFCJohnSmith]

Not to hijack but is there a resource that is considered best for helping with the actual build. I'm order my parts today for my first build.

explain more?

But thanks for the advice guys, I am not planning on buying or building a new pc yet as I have just upgraded my old pc with new ram and cpu but when I do get around to building my own you will be the first people i come too.

 

[Eayes]

meaning putting it together?

Yes sorry I wasn't more clear. Putting it together and getting it up and running.

 

[H4x3r]

i don't know of any definative guide out there, it's pretty simple...just follow the instructions for putting the motherboard in the case...then you should know where everything goes ram/gpu/ect.. the only thing you might need help on is the connectors for the front IO pannel on your case....but your motherboard manual will have that information. for the power cords everything is specific..so you can't put the wrong cord in the wrong place