Ive never bought anything other than a laptop, I enjoy choosing my components and slapping them together.
Are there any advantages to buying a gaming PC, rather than building?
Im talking about mid-range PCs.
do you buy or build your gaming PC
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AmIdYfReAk
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Back in 2004, PC parts were very expensive so I ended up buying an MDG and it was only a decent gaming computer. I just upgraded and replaced parts in a span of 3 years until even the old case was gone and now it's as powerful as I need it to be 
Nowadays, if you know what you're doing, you'll get the best price and performance building it yourself.
It runs new games with ease and churns out great frames, but my next project is to make it a PCI-E system.
Nowadays, if you know what you're doing, you'll get the best price and performance building it yourself.
It runs new games with ease and churns out great frames, but my next project is to make it a PCI-E system.
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AmIdYfReAk
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i allways stuck to this, but after looking into it more and more you Dont actually save as much as you would like to think...Cyanex wrote:You'll get ripped off buying one. Cheaper to build it yourself.
When i built a compairable system from dell ( puke ) i saved ~$30 building it my self.
and as i look at it, a licence of windows, and 24/7 Tech support is worth $30.
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Grandpa Stu
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- Joined: Wed Nov 01, 2000 8:00 am
you could go either way to be honest
these days it's hard to say. if you wait for certain parts to go on sale you can build yourself a decent computer for cheap but it's not going to be the latest and greatest in any regard. at the same time dell has deals enough of the time where you can get a decent pre-built setup for about the same amount of money.
buying pre-built you get the advantage of customer support. i knew someone who built their own computer and the CPU started having issues. so he called intel support and they told him to try another cpu. yeah sure, like he's gonna have another bleeding edge cpu that he spent $$$$ on just lying around so he can troubleshoot with it in case his main one goes bad...well he got lucky and had a friend who happened to have a cpu that fit the same socket. well after calling back the support they told him it was probably a bad video card and to call the video card company. bottom line, if something goes bad in a computer you built yourself it'll be harder to get support.
though if you build your own computer you'll have a more intimate knowledge of your hardware which will allow you greate flexibility if you decide to upgrade individual components over time. oh, and if something goes bad you know it's usually a faulty piece of hardware or something you did yourself so it's a bit easier to self troubleshoot. whereas with a pre-built machine you have to go through a few more hoops to make sure it's not something like the pre-installed bloatware they come with that's causing problems.
but ultimately you should be buying a mac.
buying pre-built you get the advantage of customer support. i knew someone who built their own computer and the CPU started having issues. so he called intel support and they told him to try another cpu. yeah sure, like he's gonna have another bleeding edge cpu that he spent $$$$ on just lying around so he can troubleshoot with it in case his main one goes bad...well he got lucky and had a friend who happened to have a cpu that fit the same socket. well after calling back the support they told him it was probably a bad video card and to call the video card company. bottom line, if something goes bad in a computer you built yourself it'll be harder to get support.
though if you build your own computer you'll have a more intimate knowledge of your hardware which will allow you greate flexibility if you decide to upgrade individual components over time. oh, and if something goes bad you know it's usually a faulty piece of hardware or something you did yourself so it's a bit easier to self troubleshoot. whereas with a pre-built machine you have to go through a few more hoops to make sure it's not something like the pre-installed bloatware they come with that's causing problems.
but ultimately you should be buying a mac.
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AmIdYfReAk
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Re: you could go either way to be honest
Great closing note...Grandpa Stu wrote:but ultimately you should be buying a mac.
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Pooinyourmouth
- Posts: 609
- Joined: Mon Nov 22, 1999 8:00 am
Build. I started building years ago and it helped me learn a lot about computers.
There's also a degree of satisfaction when you build from scratch and like Amidy said when you build yourself you can choose exactly which parts to buy.
Whenever I get a new rig i also thoroughly research most of the key components by looking at reviews, customer comments, roadmap for future parts and so on. So with me a new PC will take a lot of planning.
But as mentioned, buying a pre-built pc gives you the comfort of customer support when parts go wrong which they can do...
Some companies are a bit stingy with their componenets. I remember years ago i bought a Dell that had no AGP slot in it, and some of the Dells at work have very, very limited upgradability because of some of the specialist interface types.
There's also a degree of satisfaction when you build from scratch and like Amidy said when you build yourself you can choose exactly which parts to buy.
Whenever I get a new rig i also thoroughly research most of the key components by looking at reviews, customer comments, roadmap for future parts and so on. So with me a new PC will take a lot of planning.
But as mentioned, buying a pre-built pc gives you the comfort of customer support when parts go wrong which they can do...
Some companies are a bit stingy with their componenets. I remember years ago i bought a Dell that had no AGP slot in it, and some of the Dells at work have very, very limited upgradability because of some of the specialist interface types.
that's kind of what's stopping me from building my next pc. i've built the last couple myself and after a bit of annoying tinkering they've both been fine - to the point where i don't even remember what's in them anymore.Whiskey 7 wrote:you built it and it works
i'll get a friend of a friend to make my next pc since no-one else has any complaints about the guy - saves me having to learn about all the new hardware in any detail and i'd rather give some technohippy their weed money than a retailer it's markup. will still have to know the basics, so i'll be noobing it up in t+t when etqw is released
i'll buy, but with the components i want at smaller local stores with ok prices.. after 10 years of building i don't enjoy building a rig anymore.. it became more an annoyance(sp?) , and at least over here a complete rig is alot cheaper than if you build by yourself, i'll saved ~200€ on my last rig.
at the end you get older, the money is there why even bother wasting youre time fidling around building one of someone else can do the work for you for sometimes even less money?! *shrug*
at the end you get older, the money is there why even bother wasting youre time fidling around building one of someone else can do the work for you for sometimes even less money?! *shrug*
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Don Carlos
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build.
it may be unfounded, but i never really trust hardware from PC manufacturers. they use proprietary/branded/OEM hardware, and they're always trying to cut corners to save money. they are usually not as expandable/upgradeable as one you build yourself, and often you don't know where the parts came from. add to that all kinds of shitty software, spyware, free trials, etc... and the hassle of buying a new computer doesn't seem to compare to the satisfaction of building one and getting it running the way you want it. IMHO.
it may be unfounded, but i never really trust hardware from PC manufacturers. they use proprietary/branded/OEM hardware, and they're always trying to cut corners to save money. they are usually not as expandable/upgradeable as one you build yourself, and often you don't know where the parts came from. add to that all kinds of shitty software, spyware, free trials, etc... and the hassle of buying a new computer doesn't seem to compare to the satisfaction of building one and getting it running the way you want it. IMHO.
The main reason that I build myself (expect from me enjoying it) is that it's impossible to find the combination of parts that I want. There is always something wrong with the pre-built boxes - either they use cheap memory, or the wrong brand of HDD, or a no-name PSU or the case itself is cheap and ugly. Building it myself ensures that I get exactly the components I want.
Last edited by Grudge on Wed Jun 13, 2007 1:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.