OT: Buying vs. building your own computer

[Renegade 13]

You may have noticed from my other thread that I'm buying a new computer. What I'd like to know is if I should build it myself or buy it pre-assembled. If I build it, it'll probably save a significant amount of money, but I have no experience building them myself.

Is there any way a person like me who has never even seen a computer being assembled could build one? Are there any comprehensive, almost idiot-proof tutorials I could find to help me through it?

Any help would be great.

[Suicide Junkie]

The manual for the motherboard should take you through the steps of plugging in a CPU and wiring most things up. It'll have exact diagrams too.

For the most part, you shouldn't have any trouble, since everything has its own shape/size of connector.

[douglas]

Putting together a computer these days is actually pretty simple. Almost everything either has a very obvious place to go or is detailed in the motherboard manual.

[Iron Giant]

Its not rocket science. If you can work on anything with your hands (car, carpentry, etc) you could work on a PC.

Its just (like anything) the first time you probably want a friend to walk you through it.

The biggest thing to worry about is static electricity. Plant your feet, don't shuffle around while handling RAM or other components. Walking accross the carpet and picking up a piece of RAM and walking back can kill it.

[Caduceus]

I built a system from the ground up a few weeks with very little problem, aside from a defective DVD+R drive, which is away at the hospital getting fixed, everything is going well.

It depends on what you want. I mean, you can get a mid-range Dell, which will last you years or you can spend the time (and a little extra money) to get quality components and have the satisfaction of playing SEV on a computer you designed and built with your own hands.

[Ed Kolis]

A salesman at Micro Center told me it was actually cheaper to buy a prebuilt computer than build your own... and you know what? It is...

[Timstone]

Another tricky question.
Look at my answer in this thread.

Again, I don't mean anything bad with this.

[Fyron]

Ed Kolis said:
A salesman at Micro Center told me it was actually cheaper to buy a prebuilt computer than build your own... and you know what? It is...

If you are shopping at a retail store, sure. Retail always has screwey prices.

[Iron Giant]

Back when I was totally broke and trying to keep up with PC speeds I would look at the CompUSA ads every sunday and find parts on sale with rebates. A motherboard here, processor there and then a sale on RAM and I'd be able to swap my stuff into my old PC and keep it going. It can take a while to get all the parts together, but it can be done if you know what works with what.

[Electrum]

the last pre-built computer I bought ran Windows 3.1. I've built everything since then. Right now, it's hard to resist the attractive pricing on Dells, Gateways, etc. With the exception of the budget, bottom of the line units, the price is pretty comparable for what you get. The advantage of a build you own will be more apparent next year, when you want to upgrade something. Computer manufacturers have one objective, and that is make you buy another computer. To do this ,they severely limit the amount of ungradability their units have.
If you build your own, you can build for the future. For example, if you by a motherboard that can handle the latest, greatest generation of processors, even though you can put in a proccessor more reasonably priced, later, when pricing becomes attractive, a processor upgrade is possible, easy, and a lot cheaper than a whole new machine.
Another factor to consider is that many computer manufacturers are linking the software, including the OS to the hardware. If you decide to upgrade your motherboard, you may find that Windows will no longe work.