Building vs. Buying.

C

CDdude55

Gawd
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Jan 4, 2007
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Would you rather build a PC or buy a PC? For me, i would go with build because i love putting a good computer together just for the fun and having a stable good computer at the end.:)

Move this to PC gaming and hardware please.
 
uhhh build because buy tends to be a lot more expensive and you don't get the sense of satisfaction that you would from putting it together yourself
 
It depends on the situation..
My kids get my hand me downs, except the one that has a job and buys/builds her own stuff.. Those are all custom built by my daughter or I.. My wife however, does not game, well, except Bejeweled, so her pc and lappy are low to low mid range store bought..

It is not really much cheaper to build yourself at the low end... The price advantage, usually, really becomes apparent when you get into the highmid, and high end range..
 
I'd rather build. Prices are usually cheaper, it's easier to upgrade, and it's fun!
 
If you're going to buy and not planning on spending over $2500 do yourself a favor and just buy a console

Buying a PC for gaming opposed to building is a complete waste of money. It is hardly about being much cheaper(while it is) but the fact that you can completely customize your PC and actually use high quality parts. If you buy a $2000 "gaming pc" chances are it has a pretty piss poor budget to mid range graphics card, some massive harddrive, 2gb of cheap ram, and a flashy processor.
 
I'd like to buy if I got the same quality parts etc for the same or a lower price than what I would pay.

That's not the case so I build :)
 
{ROW}Apocalypse said:
Real computers are built, not bought.
Click to expand...

All computers are both, built and bought.. :p

Unless theft was involved.. :D

Some folks lack the time, skill, or patience to build there own, and like being able to call Dell, Gateway, or whoever for support..
 
MrBojangels said:
If you're going to buy and not planning on spending over $2500 do yourself a favor and just buy a console

Buying a PC for gaming opposed to building is a complete waste of money. It is hardly about being much cheaper(while it is) but the fact that you can completely customize your PC and actually use high quality parts. If you buy a $2000 "gaming pc" chances are it has a pretty piss poor budget to mid range graphics card, some massive harddrive, 2gb of cheap ram, and a flashy processor.
Click to expand...


How does someone manage to spend up to 2500 dollars? For that matter here is a PC with NOT crappy parts for 2000 dollars from newegg.

E6600 - 309 dollars
High end intel MB - 200 dollars
2 GB ram - 200 dollars
Raptor 150 - 240 dollars
DVD burner - 30 dollars
Sound blaster XFi extreme gamer - 80 dollars
antec p180 case - 130 dollars
Antec True Power Trio TP3-550 - 100 dollars
evga 8800 GTS 640 - 360 dollars
logitech G15 and G5 - 105 dollars
Creative Inspire P7800 7.1 Speaker - 66 dollars
19 inch LCD - 190 dollars

But who seriously does not already have half of these parts already anyways? I could easily lower the price from 2000 to 1200 using mid range parts and it would still rock as a gaming PC.
 
Obviously if you're a [H] member - you're going to build a PC. People who don't know shit about PC's just call Dell and get generic parts in a nice box sent to them because they know nothing about PC's.
 
Carloswill said:
Obviously if you're a [H] member - you're going to build a PC. People who don't know shit about PC's just call Dell and get generic parts in a nice box sent to them because they know nothing about PC's.
Click to expand...

Well there are a few [H] members here who have bought customized PCs from a boutique rather than build it themselves.
 
If you're not comfortable with your PC building skills, get a premade box and the tech support that comes along with it (and the inflated price tag). If you're not afraid to get your hands dirty and maybe fry a part or two during the learning process, building is the way to go. YOU get to pick the parts, everything (generally) is individually upgradeable, and you'll likely save a few pennies along the way.
 
MrBojangels said:
If you're going to buy and not planning on spending over $2500 do yourself a favor and just buy a console

Buying a PC for gaming opposed to building is a complete waste of money. It is hardly about being much cheaper(while it is) but the fact that you can completely customize your PC and actually use high quality parts. If you buy a $2000 "gaming pc" chances are it has a pretty piss poor budget to mid range graphics card, some massive harddrive, 2gb of cheap ram, and a flashy processor.
Click to expand...

I can think of 5-6 builders off the top of my head that would put together a nice machine with solid components for that price. Not as good as you could make yourself, but within a few hundred bucks, and for many people saving the time of building, troubleshooting on your own, and warranty of the entire box together.

Not every prebuilt is an HP or Emachines.

I happened to build myself, and it saved me about 250 bucks - 500 depending on where I priced out a similar machine. For some people that difference is worth the time alone, let alone the hassle and warranty.
 
You can't beat some of dell's low budget deals. If you have specific needs, then build it. If you don't have any special needs (no gaming/no overclocking/etc), then buy off-the-shelf. Personally, I've always built my own systems.
 
There's only one problem with building...

Once you build and boot up your own custom PC and that smug look of satisfaction crosses your face, you won't be able to stop. At that very point too much is never enough, whatever you have can always be made better. Be ready to devote a percentage of your yearly salary to this purpose, this passion,... this addiction...






 
Dark Prodigy said:
There's only one problem with building...

Once you build and boot up your own custom PC and that smug look of satisfaction crosses your face, you won't be able to stop. At that very point too much is never enough, whatever you have can always be made better. Be ready to devote a percentage of your yearly salary to this purpose, this passion,... this addiction...

Click to expand...

QFT. Its why this community exists today, lol.
 
Crucible1001 said:
How does someone manage to spend up to 2500 dollars? For that matter here is a PC with NOT crappy parts for 2000 dollars from newegg.

E6600 - 309 dollars
High end intel MB - 200 dollars
2 GB ram - 200 dollars
Raptor 150 - 240 dollars
DVD burner - 30 dollars
Sound blaster XFi extreme gamer - 80 dollars
antec p180 case - 130 dollars
Antec True Power Trio TP3-550 - 100 dollars
evga 8800 GTS 640 - 360 dollars
logitech G15 and G5 - 105 dollars
Creative Inspire P7800 7.1 Speaker - 66 dollars
19 inch LCD - 190 dollars

But who seriously does not already have half of these parts already anyways? I could easily lower the price from 2000 to 1200 using mid range parts and it would still rock as a gaming PC.
Click to expand...

I was talking about $2500 on a pre-built, I said unless you're going to buy and not spend over $2500 just get a console, building is a different story.

Building isn't hard....I built my first system when I was 13.
 
My last two shuttles i built. Now im buying a Maingear.Maybe im getting lazy, dont know, but this time around i'm treating myself and having someone else build it.
 
built the last two. Now im treating myself and buying from Maingear...Yes i could build, but i just dont want to.
 
It depends on the circumstance.

For my own desktop machines, I always build my own. Places such as Newegg, Directron, etc., have a vast array of things that I can order, at cheaper prices, and I can always go to eBay to see what's available from reputable sellers.

In the end, I can put together a machine that will have far superior performance, and be constructed of supeior parts, compared to buying one from Dell / Gateway / Micron.

If I don't need something for gaming purposes (work PC's), then I'll just build from less expensive components, or even buy used components from eBay.


For laptops, I really don't have much of a choice, but to buy them. Since I don't do any gaming on laptops, something like an older IBM Thinkpad works just fine for grunt work. Microsoft Word doesn't care if I have the latest Core2 Duo CPU or a 1.4 GHz Celeron-M. Really.


For others? That depends on their technical expertise. If they're willing to do their own upgrade work on the system, then I'll build one for that person. However, if someone has that much technical expertise, then he'll probably build one himself anyways.

If they don't have the tech knowledge, then I'll go one of two ways:

1) If they are willing to accept that I'm not going to come running to answer every darn question that they have, and if they realize that what they buy is as-is, then I'll build one for them. There's a difference between asking a quick question that takes me 10 seconds to answer, versus asking me to re-assemble their computer (for free) after their 12 year old decided to rip it apart...

2) If they can't accept those terms, then I'll tell them to go to Dell, or some other company that gives them 24/7/365 tech help.
 
Build. No question.

The money goes exactly where I want it, I save money by re-using parts from the old machine (floppy, CD, HD, video, etc...)

And most importantly...

NO CRAPWARE preinstalled!
 
I'd prefer to build in most cases, however if you're looking to build a real budget box, sub $500, you're likely best just buying a prebuilt.

$0.02

zv
 
Build definitely. I have picky aesthetics about brands and configurations when I build a computer. Like I tend to go with a slower processor for a higher GPU (as long as the CPU wont bottleneck, I dont care). I tend to add too much ram too. :p

I remember back in the day I had 768mb of ram in my computer and it was CRAZY. People thought I was nuts. haha.

Its kind of like buying a new car and picking EXACTLY what goes into it. Isnt that kind of what an ethusiast is?
 
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