Building your own
Ten years since he built his last computer. I used to build my own then, they became cheaper to just buy. Sure, you have to decrapify them some but they were just as good. Of course, now that I use laptops (of our 6 PCs, one is an old desktop we use basically as a backup and print server), I buy them instead of build.
September 25th, 2012 at 6:22 pm
Those are pretty much the reasons it’s been ten years since I last built one. It was cheaper and easier to just go buy one.
This time I wanted something more specialler. Ordered the parts yesterday, and most of them should be here today.
Except the case. That may take two weeks(!)
September 25th, 2012 at 6:34 pm
The only reason I built my current machine is that I won a $1000 processor in a drawing.
September 25th, 2012 at 7:18 pm
I am building a desktop for my upcoming, and more demanding, programming course. Being a broke ass college student, I am a bargain shopper. If you take your time and shop for deals you can build a wonderful computer for a very reasonable price. I also prefer AMD components, cheaper over all and with a moderate overclock can mostly keep up with a comparable Intel chipset.
September 25th, 2012 at 9:21 pm
I like to water cool and overclock so I build my own. Been running my current box the longest (4+ years). I only upgrade my core system (motherboard, memory, CPU) when I can get a significant increase in performance while overclocked.
No way I could go back to purchased PC, the performance just isn’t there for me. But I’m not your typical user either so I understand those that do buy instead of build. It is cheaper.
September 25th, 2012 at 10:08 pm
As a full time Tech and Server guy, I agree w/ Uncle. It’s cheaper to buy then build. You have to be picky, and buy business class not the home user/home office class. A home user buys a pc every 3-5yrs, they really don’t care about quality, just the cheapest crap that gets in the box. The business buying $10k or $1m+ of pcs demands much higher up times. The manufacture looses big bucks if he constantly has to go to the client site the next business day to repair (most business machines have onsite warranties). Unless you are a high end gamer look at the business machines.
September 26th, 2012 at 8:59 am
My last (and current) computer, I priced the components vs buying from Alienware, just before they admitted they were just a nameplate on a Dell. The best I could do on components was not worth the time it would have cost me to put it together, and I got a single-source warranty, to boot.
September 26th, 2012 at 10:04 am
AR’s are starting to get into this realm. Cheaper to buy than build. Of course…unlike in computers, 5 year old used AR parts in many cases work just as good as new parts. Thinking of quad rails, sights, lowers, etc. You can sometimes find great used parts are real bargain prices that can make building more cost effective.
September 26th, 2012 at 12:42 pm
I haven’t built one since 2000 or 2001. That was one screaming box, and it lasted a good 6 years with minor upgrades.
Bought my first store bought in 2007, for $200 more than the street price of the CPU, and just never went back. Now that I am only a laptop user (the 2007 computer hasn’t turned on this decade), of coarse I buy em complete.
September 26th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
I build one every few years, mainly because I want a gaming and work PC (for the occasions when I work at home), and it’s hard to find something that’s a “gaming PC” that isn’t an ugly-ass pack of extraneous chrome and LEDs, and generic “work PCs” don’t tend to awesome or upgradable for extra drives.
(Like the mediocre HP I got the last time we bought-rather-than-built workstations. Sure, it was fast enough. But no room for a second drive in any sane way…)
September 26th, 2012 at 4:13 pm
I buy laptops. I take in and repair desktops that have failed. It’s even cheaper, and keeps my skills reasonably up-to-date. Latest one was a real sweetheart that simply needed a new power supply.