did you build or buy your pc?

Yeh likewise OC - I can't really build a MacBook

 

I always build my own desktops and laptops. You simply cant get the same customizations in an OEM system. Then again my "customizations" aren't the norm for most OEM manufacturers rolleyes.

 

That would be me the first time I put one together. I had "help" from my then-boyfriend and ended up learning for myself. It was easier. rolleyes

 

It isYou buy five or six parts plug them all together they will only fit in one place if you get stuck read he motherboard manual they are basically a 'how to build a computer' anyway,even detailed how to guides ain't much more than 10 pages long.

http://www.buildyourown.org.uk/

 

Actually, I was wondering about that myself. Thanks for raising this question, Laura.

 

That is the hardest part technology is constantly changing and without doing a little reading on PC terms it is possible to get parts that wont work together but if you get the parts from a decent store they will tell you if the parts wont work together "I wanna build this with these parts." You'll either get a " Thats a goods combination." or "Actually what you need is this this and this." But this should be the motivation for you to build your own the fact that you have checked around and found all the best parts for the cheapest price it really is just one big shop,everyone likes shopping for toys don't they?

 

A basic comp., maybe about $500. A good one, maybe double that, or more. Depends on how many free parts you can cadge, lol!

 

1 Short answer: Done both.
2 Long answer: Bought my first 2. The 2nd one is the one I am using now. Done some upgrading on it to squeeze a little more life out of it. My 3rd comp I hope to scrape up enough money to custom build a decent one. I was thinking duel core and I hope to get a mobo with the smaller die so that I can future proof my comp. Going to be tough though because as I understand it the processors cost.:cry

 

im 15 and ive built 2 (so far) trying to get more money to but parts to make a nice gaming comp

 

go to dell or look up a good rephurbished ( or how ever u spell it ) or check your newspaper sometime small bissnesses have comps on sale

 

Have done both. Most of my PC's I built, then I bought a Desknote which is a laptop that has PC gear, like processor, memory and hard drive, so is faster than laptops with mobile gear. I loved that one, but it got old, so had to build another, and now the last two, I bought from HP. They came with two gigs of memory, upgradable to four or more, which I did, dual processors, and lots of hard drive space. The only problem with them is they came with onboard video, but as I do not game it's not a problem.

Building a good working computer is not really less expensive than just buying one - you are just able to choose the brands of what goes in. I tend to like Pioneer optical drives, so that is why I built.

 

The reason I bought the last two was that I got excellent prices on both.

 

I built one almost a year ago now for about that price, and it still runs circles around the average machine.

 

Thats it if you want a $500 computer get a Dell you cant build a decent one for that price they can get extremely cheap parts but if you put the research and shopping in you can build one for the money your talking about that will out spec a Dell or similar for the same price a year later.

I wouldn't go as far and say Dell rip you off its just that your money goes somewhere else,it goes into the quality parts you buy and not all the extras.

 

Pretty decent. A 22" monitor costs about 200-250, drives are like $20, hard drives are probably two for $200, memory is cheap if you buy from tiger direct or companies like that. The case is not expensive, which leaves all that money to spend on a motherboard and processors. For $1000 to $1500 you can build probably twice the computer that Dell would sell you and it would not be proprietary.

 

For a thousand dollars, you can build a machine that'll run any game currently released, including Crysis. Or do great videos. Or run Photoshop perfectly.

If you don't want a gaming machine, you can do it for under $400, since you won't need a powerful video card.

 

My girlfriend's computer was built by someone else until about 2 years ago when she bought a new motherboard, CPU, memory, and case. She wanted to know how to build one so I showed her. I know it's not that hard to do since I've loved doing that for a long time now.

I think I put that one together within 45 minutes or so since it was new technology to me. I hadn't built one since the onboard sound, network, etc. At least we got a MB that didn't have onboard video.

Even though it can or cannot be cheaper to build, but at least you know what you put in the computer. That's my positive advantage to building my own.

 

Lets make things interesting. What can you build that is "double" the computer that Dell sells for the same price? Remember to stay in the same price range (1000-1500).

 

I can do it, but then I cheat, and reuse as many parts as I can. Some things, like motherboard, CPU and RAM, may not be practical (but then, sometimes it is), but a lot of stuff doesn't change very fast, such as the case and floppies.

I wouldn't even try a new build from scratch unless I had to.

 

Agreed. Once I built my first computer, all the other ones that I built for myself personally consisted of new, and reused parts. Optical drives, monitors, keyboards, mice, cases, power supplies and hard drives, can all be carried over. The most common upgrade pattern for me has been Processor/Memory/Motherboard at one time, then a video card the next a few months down the line. More hard drives are added or replaced as needed and I'm still using my 470W Thermaltake PSU from my first build. Once you get that first computer out of the way, upgrading becomes more fun since you can put your money into the good stuff! I'm due for a video card, but ever since I got my 360 I've been spending most of my gaming time on that so I might forgo that upgrade for now.

 

The keyword there is currently released because I do want a gaming machine. I was trying to budget my money so that each part I bought did not cost more than 300. Still this is the math I got for my shopping list: 250 for the case, 300 for the mobo, 300 for the cpu and another 300 for the graphics card. I think theres a good nvidia 8800 in that price range. I am hoping to recycle some of the parts from this comp and upgrade them later. Still that's like $1,150 and I am hoping it does not go up to $1,500 by the time I am done. BTW I was trying to future proof my comp and provide a good upgrade path. That is why I want to spend so much.

 

250.00 for the case? That's a waste of money. I've never paid more than 30.00 for a case, and I've never had any sort of heat problems with them.

And if you don't need a gaming machine you can get it much cheaper.

 

depends on what you want.

I have no problems buying a Lian-Li all aluminum case for $200 US or more. They look great and they last forever.

 

So how exactly are you supposed to build a gaming machine for unknown games that will be released at some unknown point in the future? :confused :confused

 

And I went the other way. I have built for a long time, and I got a super deal on this new one, so I bought it. The only complaint I would be able to voice on this HP Pavilion is the onboard video, except I don't game, and it works just great for photo editing, so I can't really voice that as a complaint.

Here is what $400 + taxes got me:

AMD Athlon 64X2 4200
2 Gigs Ram
250 GB SATA Hard Drive @ 7200 RPM
Dual layer lightscribe DVD/CD Burner
Seven card slots to handle up to nine variations of memory card
10/100 networking onboard (firmware enhanceable to 1000 or 'n')
XP Media Center preloaded
Lots of USB2 and Firewire slots
New Keyboard
New Mouse
19" Widescreen LCD monitor (gave it to my wife for her box)

Added 2Gigs of Ram so I could give 512 Mb to the onboard video and still have enough left to do my photo editing with Photoshop CS2, Premier Elements and Illustrator.

It is slower at a single task than my Desknote which has a Pentium IV 2.8Ghz processor, but is dual layer so I can multi task quicker (not much). It surprised me how well it works for a Factory box, though. Unless I can think of a good reason, I probably won't spend the time to build my own again, but I will still add to whatever with optical and hard drives and ram, maybe upgraded processors, but to build my own again with all the resultant BS associated - probably not. And with all the USB slots (yeah, I know - everybody has lots of those now, but I need at least four), I can plug in all the accessories I used with the Desknote, which gave me two more Hard Drives in external enclosures and another DVD burner in an external. This is about as close to supercomputer as I will ever probably go. AND if I ever decide I need better video, I have slots available for the two of the newest out at this time, and lots of PCI for other things. Once again, it is not even close to a gaming computer, but it does what I need done in spades.

 

Overbuild and pay out the nose. Thats the only way to do it.

 

I would need to build a shopping list which would take me some time (and I have not done it lately as I have not built one lately), but I would think you could double Dell's offering on the same dollar level, seeing as they charge very highly for extra RAM or faster processors than they habitually put in. I said I bought my last one, but I was not looking for state of the art processors and motherboards. This is the major expense in building your own computer, right? Pretty much everything else is dirt cheap aside from a video card if you game. The motherboard that Dell or the HP I bought can be had elsewhere for probably $100 to $150 and they are getting $300 for them most times untill they are pretty obsolete, and they they throw them in the $400 machines and sell three million of them making $7 per. You cannot game with them. I was not looking for a computer when I got this last one - I just stumbled onto it and the price was right. If you want a gaming machine from Dell, HP, or any of the others, you won't get it for $1500, but probably $2500 to $3000, but you can build it for $1500. I will not argue that you can build an el cheapo for less than they can sell one, but if you want a lot, you can get that lot cheaper if you build it. Now, if you can settle for a laptop, I don't think you can build a home computer for much less than what you can get a laptop for right now. They are virtually giving them away.

 

Well, I still offer my challenge.

 

Built it, around the year 1999

Price for that time, about 1.000 US$
Computer Case-------High Tower
CPU-----------------------Intel Pentium 4, 1600 MHz
Motherboard Name-----Asus P4S333
Memory------------------256 MB Ram x2(one broke)
Hard Drive---------------Maxtor 120 GB Ide(broke)
Video Card------------GF4 TI4200 64MB DDR AGPx4 TV In/Out(caused bsod)
Sound Card--------------Integrated
CD-ROM Drive-----------E-IDE CD-ROM 52X/AKH
CD-RW Drive-------------LITE-ON LTR-40125S 40x/12x/48x
Floppy---------------------3.5"
Modem--------------------K56(broke)
Printer---------------------Canon BJC-4300
Operating System------Windows XP Professional OEM CD-Rom



Wrenchman

 

Processor: http://3btech.net/inco2quq6210.html 319.99
Motherboard: http://3btech.net/abawin97mowc.html 219.99
RAM: http://3btech.net/pc8bu202240p.html 219.96
SATA Opticals: http://3btech.net/lilhseatasin.html 99.98
SATA Hard Drive: http://3btech.net/seataiis30we5.html 179.99
Video Card: http://3btech.net/evge8864pcie.html 399.99
Case Combo: http://3btech.net/atl8blandsia.html 63.00
---$1500 Cut off---
Total Cost: $1502.90

(Be it noted, that the overage is because the final component includes, Case, Speakers, Keyboard, and Mouse.)

Adding other components:
Monitor: http://3btech.net/bllgl224wilc.html 419.00
Sound Card: http://3btech.net/auhiqu6chsup.html 14.99

Final Total: 1936.89 sans OS.

Of course, I didn't shop around at all, so some choices, like the video card and Sound Card might be had cheaper for a better model.

 

Slightly upgraded, for the same price, sans the OS, which must be factored in too.

Definately not double the computer, for the same price

 

I had post problems. That's two CD drives, and eight gigs of RAM, which is the max the mobo will handle. You could cut to a single stick of RAM, and one optical, and have the cash for the OS.

Those are also SATA CD drives, though I didn't notice that the cheaper dell was a quad core.

 

but definately not twice the computer

Plus, I can price a similar system, sans SATA optical or 8gb ram (3gb instead) for under 1300.

So, you really are on par with DIY, price wise. Dell isnt the cheapest out there, either. When those coupons come up, things get really cheap.

 

Intel® Core™2 Q6600 Quad-Core (8MB L2 cache,2.4GHz,1066FSB)

Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium with Digital Cable Support

3GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz - 4 DIMMs

500GB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache

Dual Drives: 48x Combo + 16x DVD+/-RW w/ dbl layer write capable

No Monitor


512MB Nvidia GeForce 8800 GT

Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio


Dell USB Keyboard

Dell Optical USB Mouse


No Floppy Drive or Media Reader Included

56K PCI Data Fax Modem



1269.00

 

Case and PSU included I didnt price out a DIY, that is Dell.

Generally speaking, the best value is a combo of DIY and OEM. The more customization comes from DIY, and you chose the brands.

Dont knock OEM totally on quality, many use ASUS parts. That and being that the majority of people go OEM, and don't have issues.

I'm just trying to give an unbiased view. Sure, I love DIY. I havent bought an OEM desktop in years. But I do recognize that as time goes on, DIY becomes more, and more expensive. Now OEMs are starting to do it cheaper.

 

Especially when you consider that most people that DIY don't get rid of the old computer, they build an all new one. That means that you now have to shell out another $200 for a copy of XP or Vista on top of the $1500 you just spent on parts.

 

Agreed.

 

Why do you think I knock OEM? I've had two ASUS mobo's. One lasted less than twelve hours, manufacturing defect. The second never worked for me period, and I had to resell it.

The biggest problem, is that XP fails to recognize that it's been put into another computer, even if you've done a complete rebuild. 98 and ME were capable of realizing that there was new hardware, as opposed to just more.

 

It has nothing to do with hardware recognition. It has to do with drivers for hard disk controllers, and hardware abstraction layers. Neither can be changed on the fly.

 

Sounds like a hardware problem to me. But I don't want to argue. But a fresh install works better anyway. That's a good reason for a window's partition.

 

You are welcome to PM me if you want to further why its not so much a hardware problem

 

Well I was trying to make this to only case I ever needed. It was ment to be an investment.