I tell most people who want to buy a PC to build it themselves. Of course, I often forget that these people aren’t equipped with the knowledge I have. There is still hope, however. Building a PC is really quite easy, and could be learned in no time. If these people really want to have a solid PC they must consider buying parts and putting it together themselves.
Prebuilt PCs have these issues:
- No choice of OS, it’s already installed (and included in the price)
- Hardware is cheap wherever possible, this includes the power supply, the cooling system, and the motherboard.
- Upgrades are difficult, most of the time they must be done through the manufacturer, power supplies are weak, so upgrading any one component might cause an instability.
- Generally, there are not many options for tweaking in the Bios.
- The cases are cheap, they provide very bad cooling.
Now a homebuilt PC has no issues, so long as the right components are purchased.
- Choice of OS whether this be Linux, Windows, or Hackintosh
- Complete control of what goes into the PC.
- Upgrades are easy, almost anything on Newegg will work on your PC, so long as it’s supported by your motherboard (which you picked out yourself)
- Many tweaks are located in the Bios, so long as you selected a decent motherboard.
- Assembling your own PC may actually be cheaper than the pre-built PCs.
- Home built PCs are generally more stable.
- You can use some older components on newer builds.
- Fixing hardware related problems is much easier.
My first PC, which I built when I was about 11 years old, had a lot of crap components and was very similar to a pre-built PC. It took me awhile to find the quality components I really wanted.
This is where computer enthusiast forums come in handy. If you visit extremeoverclocking.com or XtremeSystems.org they will be happy to help you select the right components. There are stickies noting the better hardware out there. I could also help you with a build if you want, just post in the forums.
I had many issues with powersupplies failing on me until I spent the money for a Corsair 520HX, and I haven’t had an issue since. My PC is rock solid even overclocked, I have no problems leaving it on for days, and it still be completely responsive. Prime95 is also a great test to see if your PC is running stable, my guess is that most pre-built PCs would really struggle with that kind of program.
Using websites like Slickdeals.net or similar is also a great way to save money on your build, you just have to watch for deals on good components. If I would have bought everything from my build directly from Newegg.com I would have spent $200 more than I did being thrifty on my last build. I say it’s completely worth it, but it’s up to you to see if you want to put the time into it.
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Tags: computer, home built pc, pre-built pc, technology
I can’t recall when was the last time I bought a pre-built (or here we call it, built-up) PCs
Yes, I prefer home-made, or self-made, because I can specify the techies stuff and the price can be pretty much lower than what the shops are offering. But I don’t do overclocking, yet. But still, if I had the opportunity, I wouldn’t hesitate on doing that.
I like that “Share and Enjoy” buttons, can you tell me how to make it?
Thanks.
The “Share and Enjoy” buttons are from a wordpress plugin called Sociable. You can get it from the wordpress site and put it in your wp-content/plugins folder
Overclocking isn’t really that difficult, maybe you should do some reading over at extremeoverclocking.com Main thing to worry about is cooling and stability testing. It’s fun though.
The biggest obstacle to building your own rig, in my opinion, is the power supply. Figuring what motherboard to get for your choice of processor is easy and all graphics cards are PCI Express these days anyway. Getting a case long enough for your graphic card is a little iffy if you like a small case, but not that hard.
Power supplies are a different matter entirely. Go to two different websites that let you calculate your power needs by putting in all the components you’re going to put into it, and they each will give you wildly differing numbers.
Then you need to worry about whether the PSU performs as specified, how much power it can push on each rail, and even if it has enough cables with the right physical plugs that work right with your choice of components. I’ve heard way too many horror stories of people who’d bought a PSU and found that it only had a 4-pin plug when their motherboard needed an 8-pin one or whatever. This is one thing that I wish can be standardized a bit more.
The Corsair 520W HX is a great poewrsupply, it feeds my computer without an issue. I think it’s about the best power supply you can buy. It has even been known to be able to handle overclocked and SLI’d configurations. I have not had to touch the power supply for my last 2 builds. It is a very quiet, nice power supply.
There are power supply guides in the forums I mentioned in this article. I agree that the power supply is one of the most crucial components to a build.
alright, I’m going for that Sociable, you’ve mentioned. Thanks for sharing, once again