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Build or Buy?
[Deleted User]
Posts: 31
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I need a new PC.
Is it better to build my own or just buy one ready made? Also, is it cheaper in the long run?
Has anyone here ever built their own computer?
Is it better to build my own or just buy one ready made? Also, is it cheaper in the long run?
Has anyone here ever built their own computer?
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It can be but it depends what you want from it. Getting a PC builder to put one together can be the better option for many due to warranty's, there being some support and the chance of your first build going slightly wrong when you put it together.
A PC you build yourself has the big advantage of you choosing the parts that go inside of it. There is not the product segmentation you get with most pre built machines. There is no bloatware (although the smaller PC brands like Novatech offer bloatware free PC's)
Also, is it cheaper in the long run?
Not necessarily, it could likely work out more costly. You will have to provide any support to yourself. If you buy a cheap power supply (avoid saving a £10 or £20 on something like a power supply and go with a good brand) and it breaks damaging a few other components in the process you will have to replace the other parts yourself.
Has anyone here ever built their own computer?
Yes I have built a few but only one for myself, since then I have had to make do with used PC's and Mac's.
I've been building my own ever since getting my first and only shop ought PC way back in the mists of time...about 1993!
I used to build, i used to run a student business building for others, made good money.
Buy.
You do not build one yourself in order to save money, you do it for knowledge and to get exactly the machine you want. You then keep it for a few short years and it gets out of date and you chuck it. It is definitely worth it for the experience.
Best to buy a branded one from a large store which also mends them. Get an op system licence.
Surely you don't chuck it - you upgrade it.
My computer is 20 years old!
Is that just the tower case you're talking about? If not, how on earth does that handle today's information rich internet?
I don't think any of it's original anymore - unless the CD/DVD audio cable is from my first one.
My first PC had DOS and Windows 3.1 on it would struggle to get on the net let alone do anything!
Far cheaper in my opinion but it depends on what you plan using it for and the spec you need. I know that a machine to similar spec would have cost me about £2k from a high street retailer yet the machine I built cost me just under £1400.
For your everyday home user that just uses a PC to do basic stuff then I guess you won't save much building your own, but a more advanced machine I'd only ever build myself.
PC's are so easy to build these days.
And i wouldnt consider PC's being classed as geeky now.
Takes less than a few hours to learn how to build a PC, then after you built one you realise how a game of jigsaw is more difficult.
The problem i find with pre-built machines is that they stick the lowest spec PSU in, so if you want to update, you need to get a decent PSU, also they can stick in low spec memory and hard drives.