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Still worth it to build your own system?
So I am at that point where I want to upgrade my computer. I have $1500~$2000 that I can spend on a nice system that will last me for the next 3~4 years. The monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset and speakers are already purchased. The only things I need now are a case, motherboard, ram, cpu, graphics card, power supply and sometype of cooling (heatsinks/water).
I have built my own systems over the years but with work and family keeping me busy I just don't keep track of what's hot and what's not. I find it overwhelming to sit down and try to figure out what to buy, which items I need got the best reviews, where to buy it from, etc...
So my question is this? Is it still worth it to build your own computer? I look at some of the premade systems you can buy and they look nice but I'm not sure if I am really getting a good deal. I also have concerns of bloat ware added to these premades or if they used quality parts. Maybe I'm just over thinking things....
What do you guys think? Build my own or buy a premade? Either way I could use some help and your recommendations on what to get (quality) and where I can get it from (good pricing).
Thanks in advance for your help.
Corber
Comments
If you know what you're doing, build your own.
I'm not a hardware expert, but I do now enough to understand that not every part goes well with every other, heh and that if you know what you're doing - sure go for it. If you don't, you might end up giving yourself more trouble than it's worth.
It is ALWAYS better to build your own...and it is ALWAYS better to buy from a company that lets you choose every aspect of the system you want than it is to buy a prebuilt.
With $1500-2000 you can put together a monster on your own if you shop around for each piece.
Quizzical who posts on here frequently, or at least used to, knows more than you or i even need to know about hardware specs. i suspect he's obsessed or an engineer, or both
either way, i think it is most certainly worth rolling your own. i'm by no means an expert, but i can build myself a nice box, excluding OS, for 600USD or less, depending on sales and what it needs to do. obviously more money can be a good thing, but if you're on a budget, DIY is the way to go.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
This. With quizzicals help I just built a smoking fast budget system for a friend for $560 (inc shipping)
A8, 8 gigs ram, ssd.
Yes, It's still worth it to build your own system. No doubt Quiz will be along shortly to give you the lay of the land. What he may ask are the specs of the hardare you've already purchased such as hard drive, whether or not you already have a SSD etc...
Most importantly, do not go out and purchase a prebuilt from bestbuy lol.
I've been happy with the advice and builds I've gotten from Hardware Revolution.
http://www.hardware-revolution.com/computer-systems/gaming-pc/
littlemonkey
Thanks everyone.
If Quizzical comes on I will pick his brain. I have seen his posts in the past and the guy knows what he is talking about.
Corber
For you, yes, it's worth it to build your own system. There are several reasons why people might not want to.
1) Some people simply can't. If you can't read (and therefore, can't read the directions and follow them), or can't operate a screwdriver (e.g., Parkinson's, or both arms amputated), or simply don't get concepts along the lines of putting a square peg in a square hole and a round peg in a round hole rather than the other way around, then you wouldn't be able to build your own. In that case, you should not only pay someone else to build one, but also pay someone else to come plug it in for you, since you won't be able to do that, either.
2) Some people have lots of money, but not much time. If you make $1 million per year, the couple of hours that it takes to order and assemble parts is rather expensive to you. In that case, you'd likely be better off paying a boutique vendor like Puget Systems $3000 to build a computer that you could get for $2000 if you built it yourself, to save the time it would take and have someone you can ask for help.
3) If you have extreme reliability demands, it's too risky to build your own. Think of a computer that runs important medical machinery, for example. If it crashes and the hospital can't fix or replace it until the next day, then people could die. For uses where 99.9% uptime just isn't good enough, it can be worth paying several times as much for enterprise-grade equipment that comes with a service contract that credibly promises that the vendor will get right on it immediately if you have problems.
Are you in any of those categories? I doubt it. Given enough time, I might be able to think of others that are more outlandish yet. But really, you should build your own.
-----
$1500 excluding peripherals is about the maximum that it makes sense to spend on a single-monitor gaming rig. That's enough to get you high end parts all around, and spending more is kind of silly unless you have unusual needs. On your budget, you might want to get a UPS if you don't already have one, or multiple monitors.
Always, ALWAYS build your own system. Otherwise, you are throwing money in the garbage can.
On a related note, I used to always go to Newegg for new parts. Now, Amazon.com is usually cheaper.
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Hello Quizzical and thanks for your helpful insight.
On a $1500~$2000 (a little more or less is fine) budget can you please give me the names of the components that will work well together. I would like the system to last me a good 3 years. Here is the list of items I need.
Motherboard:
CPU:
Graphics Card:
Memory:
Hard Drive:
Power Supply:
Case:
Cooling (Air or Water)
Thermal Paste:
Sound Card (not sure if these are really needed anymore):
Please add anything else I may have missed.
Thank you in advance Quizzical,
Corber
You didn't mention an OS license, an optical drive, or a solid state drive, though likely for different reasons. If you've already got an old optical drive that you'd reuse from a previous computer, then you can, though that is an internal hardware component. Optical drives haven't changed much in years, but they're very cheap now.
I'm guessing that the reason you didn't mention a solid state drive is that you aren't aware of them. SSDs bring the biggest instantaneous jump in computer performance that I've seen in my lifetime, so they're a huge deal. Whenever your computer makes you wait (e.g., loading programs, zoning in games, or even slight delays between when you click on something and the computer does it), if it's not downloading something big from the Internet, it's probably waiting on your hard drive. With an SSD, you wouldn't have to wait nearly as long, and sometimes wouldn't have to wait a noticeable time at all.
As for an OS license, you can't just reuse the OS license from an old computer unless you have a full retail version, which is pretty rare. It's not worth the headaches of going the pirated route either, especially on your budget. And Linux is fine for some purposes, but not really for gaming, so if you want Windows, you'll probably need to buy an OS license.
Do you have a surge protector? You certainly need one, but didn't list it as something you need to buy, nor as something you already have. If you have occasional power flashes or outages where you live, then getting a UPS (which also functions as a surge protector) to protect your hardware would also be a good idea. Computer hardware doesn't like unexpected changes in voltage.
As I see it, there are really only two good reasons to go for liquid cooling: you're going for a huge overclock (as opposed to a moderate overclock), or you think it would be fun to mess with liquid cooling. The latter is a perfectly legitimate reason, especially on your budget, but if all you want is for the processor to run cool and quiet, I'd go with air cooling. Speaking of which, are you looking to overclock the processor, and if so, do you want to go for a maximum overclock and risk frying things?
The only reason to buy your own thermal paste as opposed to going with whatever comes with the heatsink you get is if you're going for a severe overclock. The performance difference between one thermal paste and another is typically only a degree or two--and commonly amounts to a rounding error, so that it's hard to tell which is better.
If you're a serious audiophile with a $300 set of speakers, then maybe you want a discrete sound card. But the lower end discrete sound cards aren't necessarily any better than integrated sound, and integrated sound has gotten pretty good. My usual advice is to try the integrated sound first, and only if you decide that it's not good enough should you get a discrete sound card.
I am currently using Vista but will be going to Windows 7 don't worry about that in the price.
I have a surge protector.
Not sure about SSD. If you recommend SSD then I will get one.
Air cooling is fine. I tried overclocking back in the day but it was way to hard so I gave up on it. I think it is easier now but I don't really need to do it if the system is already fast enough.
I have surrond sound Klipsch speakers and currently have a dedicated sound card.
Hope that helps.
Corber
You can make a beast on wheels with 2k lol, that amount is usually in the prebuilt stores price ranges for a decent system.
I built this PC last year, my first build, had absolutely ZERO issues, never went to college, and wasn't very savvy even in high school, so there you go. You can do it! Gentle touches...gentle touches. Maybe in the old days of PC's it was harder to do, but almost everything just clicks into place, no real effort there, and most things dont fit into other things slots, so cant really bork that lol. The hardest part, for me, was hitting the motherboards manual to see where the tiny wires were plugged in.
1. Don't use SLI or X-fire, one mistake i made on this one. While it isn't a HUGE deal, it has been irritating sometimes when playing a game that only uses one card anyways.
2. Quizzay usually links all his builds, which makes it easy, but if you go looking for parts he recommends but doesnt link for some reason, make sure to get the EXACT model you need. Many things have like the same name, but the specs are vastly different, etc.
3. GET THE SSD lol. You have the cash for a nice one, which is what i'm waiting for. IT IS IMPERITAVE if you are making a gaming system. I'm just waiting for price to drop on them abit(new tech and all)
4. Whichever cooling you go with, make sure to check up on it after running the PC awhile, I did forget to hook up the outwards fan in my excitement, but nothing bad came of it.
Hope it helps ^^
EDIT: And of course, do some boot kissing in thanks to Quizzy, who's knowledge has helped way too many people here on this site, especially me!
Quizzy
The Deep Web is sca-ry.
You may want to consider going to a custom pc builder website, making a build there, putting that build in their forums and here for a part by part analysis.
Here are some general suggestions: Get a budget. How much are you going to spend is the most important part.
Get on newegg, its a website that sells parts, if your not from NA you wont buy from it but its customer reviews are priceless when selecting components. Use it to look for trending complaints rahter than random problems. How often does the manufatuer respond to complains might indicate good/bad customer service. Also newegg has 3 youtube videos that walk you through building your own computer. If youve never done it before some of it can look intimidating but its not.
Since im assuming this is for gaming youll largest expense should be the graphics card.
For CPU get an i5, you dont need multithreading and thats the only thing that seperates the i5 and i7 so save yourself roughly $100 and get the i5 then put that saved money towards a better graphics card.
Next pick a motherboard. Go with Asus or Gigabyte, you will need a 1155 socket z77 motherboard. Question with the mother board include how many bells and whistles you want and how many graphic cards and other crap will you be stuffing on it. Most people just need room for one graphics card, and the asus and gigabyte motherboards all come with a nice array of bells and whistles. Take note if the mother board has wierless internet intergrated or not, if not youll have to buy one seperate if your using wierless ect. Asus and gigabyte have great intergrated soundcards and you wont need to buy one. Also both asus and gigabyte have new BIOS layouts, for instance overclocking on a gigabyte mobo is as simple as selecting a pre set overclock setting in the bios.
One of the most vital components and often overlooked is the Power Supply Unit (PSU). This part has the ability to destroy all other parts in your system and is often the thing that fails when you skip and get a generic. Stick to Corsair, Antec, CoolerMaster and maybe seasonic. I think consensus is Corsair is the best brand for the price. What power rating will be set by your graphic cards power requierment with about 100 watts added to that number (your card needs 550 wats get a 650 watt psu for example). One thing to note: is the PSU modular? Modular means each wire can be removed, meaning if you need 5 connections you can only use 5 cords..non modular has all coordes hard wired...meaning youll need to stick all the wires you dont use somewhere. Modular = clean inside of your computer and easier install.
Now selecting the grapics card is tricky, it can be very expensive and they are catergorized with confusing numbers that makes it easy for people to think they are getting a good card but a card that cant run games for shit. I would suggest a nvidia gtx 570 as a budget but would recommend a gtx 670 if you have the money, uses less power and newest tech. not familair with ATI cards others can recommend, ATI is competative in th budget card department. Make sure your getting a gaming card, its easy to save money and get a non gaming card but youll be pissed when your new rig cant play any games on or near max settings.
The rest of the parts are more personal preference. Youll need 8 gigs of DDR3 ram, plenty of good brands. Youll need a hard drive. If your getting a SSD get a crucial M4 dont buy ANY SSD that uses a sandyforce controller. Get one thats around 120 gigs enough room for the OS and a game or two, then get a standard hard drive for storage.
Oh and a case. Get one that has good airflow and looks appealing. Cheaper cases are more flimsy. Dont get a small case, it might not fit your graphics card.
You also need an optical drive, so you can install windows. Up to you if you want a good one or a blue-ray or a dvd burner depends if youll use it.
If you do decide use a custom pc builder website do note with all of them its hit or miss on getting a broke system on delivery, it usually takes them a month to build it, and returning them for repairs could take several weeks and might not fix the issue. Many get one and never have an issue though.
Im sure ive forgotten something here but if you post how much you want to spend i could post, as could others, a system piece by piece for you.
Just for reference. Here is the build im about to buy. Under $2000 (not by much) but should run any game on max for years to come. Only thing i didnt add was a 200mm fan for the side.
I find it easier to make a build on a custom builder website so i dont miss components which is what i did here, then get the parts from newegg:
Come to the World of Magic Earth. http://dragona.sc.gameclub.com
Thanks for the input.
I think there is a slight misunderstanding however. I do know how to build a system, however I am out of touch when it comes to the latest and greatest components out there.
I am looking for some recommendations on what to buy for the $1500~$2000 budget I have. This site seems to always have good advice for people trying to build their next big system so I thought I would look to you for some help.
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I did spend last night looking at different systems and components but now I seem to be more confused then ever.
Corber
It's true building your own comp give you the best bang for your buck, but if you are looking for a great comp company that makes beastly comps let me suggest two: falcon northwest and cyberpower. In the last couple of years I've purchased rigs from both. My desktop is a falcon northwest and my laptop is cyberpower. With 2gs you could get a really nice rig from cyberpower. Falcon northwest is on the more expensive side but they are top quality. They are an all American company with customer Svc right here in the states. And cyberpower is the same deal. Never had a problem with any of my rigs and the falcon northwest is easily upgradable for future needs. Just my two cents based off my experiences. Good luck finding your comp.
I built two rigs one for me another for my kid & it was deinitely cheaper to do so, I made a small error in choice of motherboard which meant my SLI set-up wont actually work in SLI (stupid Gigabyte tech) but I'll fix that in a future upgrade & move to 2x full-speed PCIe slots on a mobo instead of the dumb 50% speed if running 2 cards mode my current board had (damn you small print).
I've built my own PC's for the past 15 years & find it a rewarding hobby, doesn't require any rocket-science either (at least until it goes wrong & most problems are straightforward to resolve).