OT: Buying vs. building your own computer

Renegade 13 · #1 July 27th, 2005, 12:27 PM

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 · #2 July 27th, 2005, 12:53 PM

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 · #3 July 27th, 2005, 01:07 PM

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 · #4 July 27th, 2005, 02:05 PM

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 · #5 July 27th, 2005, 02:15 PM

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 · #6 July 27th, 2005, 02:58 PM

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 · #7 July 27th, 2005, 03:02 PM

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

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

Fyron · #8 July 27th, 2005, 03:16 PM

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.

Renegade 13 · #9 July 29th, 2005, 11:30 AM

Beware, I'll probably be asking a lot of questions!

rdouglass · #10 July 29th, 2005, 02:03 PM

Just my $.02

For my home computers, I've built them myself for years and saved a lot shopping around. Just be sure you're buying compatible parts. It really is not that difficult anymore, at least not the way it used to be.

I've always found good deals (lots of rebates and stuff) on parts, 'barebones' machines, refurbs, and accessories at TigerDirect.com and they have a lot of stuff there to assit in putting it together. Been having very good luck with them for years.