Should I build my new computer or buy it out of the box?

The White Stig

Previously Known As SL63 AMG
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I am about to get a new computer and i was wondering what is cheaper getting one out of the box or buying the parts and putting toghter myself?
 
Getting a box is cheaper mostly, but getting components generally gets you a better pc (all components will be first rate, while box-pushers generally cut some corners to keep prices low) with larger choice. Decide what you find more important.
 
If you're building a home machine that you are going to use personally and for gaming, etc, build your own, its always better unless you're willing to pay a huge amount for a top-end brand.

If on the other hand you're building a mom-pop machine or basic email/internet box, a cheap dell is hard to beat.
 
i have never put pc parts toghter. All i ever did was change my ram chips. Is it hard to build a pc? are there internet guides? forums that can help?
 
It's pretty easy, all components come with manuals which also explain how to mount stuff, and the internet wouldn't be the internet if there weren't 3 gazillion howtos on the subject :)
 
ok so i guess i am building my next pc :)
 
ok so i guess i am building my next pc :)
Good, good.

And remember this important rule: if you aren't sure, ASK! Best to ask than break something. ;)

Oh, and also make sure you're grounded. It's bad when you fry your parts with static electricity. I prefer a wrist strap that has a wire running to my PC chassis. Works well.
 
Oh, and also make sure you're grounded. It's bad when you fry your parts with static electricity. I prefer a wrist strap that has a wire running to my PC chassis. Works well.

I always ground myself by touching the PC with one hand and a radiator of my central heating system with the other, and i try to always keep one hand touching the metal chassis of the case while working on the pc. It's basically the same.
 
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Another thing

Another thing

Another rule is...Dont force it...If you need to force it then go get a new one.

With the exception of ram chips/grapics card witch needs a bit og force but not a lot.
:mrgreen:
 
Yup, never force too much. The only place where you sometimes need quite a lot of force is to attach the cooler on the cpu.

I touch the radiator before I begin building a computer, and that's it. No need for fancy grounding strips and all. But it can be different when walking on carpet or wearing some types of fabric, maybe.

Oh, and RTFM. RTFM. RTFM. And again, RTFM. Internet guides are very good to get an idea of what you have to do, but for some steps you will have to use the manual since not every company builds their stuff in the same way...

And for the rest be very careful while buying your stuff so that you don't end up with an AGP card on a pci-e board or DDR for a DDR2 board or a custom cooler which doesn't fit your socket or a psu which doesn't have the right connectors for your graphics card and stuff like that.

In fact it comes down to reading a lot, a lot of reviews (which one has the best value/money (everything), which one overclocks the best (cpu, ram, graca), which one is the most reliable (hard disk), which one is the nicest (case), which one has the most working space (case), which one is the most stable (psu), which one is the most silent (cpu cooler), which one has the best features and connections (mainboard)) and so on. edit: also warranty is important, especially on hard disks.
It takes some time to get into it, but its very much worth it! It will save you a lot of money and you will learn a lot, and if something goes wrong, you'll be able to fix it yourself.
 
is there any good guide that can start me off?
 
I would tend to agree with what others have said - you'll get a better computer building it yourself so it's good you're going that route. But definitely research as much as you can beforehand to make sure that everything is compatible.
But they're easy to build and it's more fun. Plus you know what's in there - particularly useful if something does go wrong/you want to upgrade something.
As for not wearing wrist straps. I suppose you can run the risk of not shorting anything out by just touching a radiator. I used to. But about a year ago I started a job where I was basically working in a clean room lab. We were not allowed to work without grounding wrist straps and risked our jobs if we did try handling a board without one.
I now always wear my strap, and frankly given that you can now get a fairly good one for only a few pounds (here in the UK) with a long leash, there's no reason not to! At least this way you're running much much less risk of ruining something, and frankly I now think that anyone handling hundreds (if not thousands) of pounds worth of equipment who doesn't want to spend the few pounds on something that helps protect that equipment is being just a bit silly...

Just my 2p worth.
 
Yup, never force too much. The only place where you sometimes need quite a lot of force is to attach the cooler on the cpu.

I wanted to reply just that!!! Especially with the Intel boxed cooler for the 775...
I bended the mobo slightly. Was pretty worried about that, until I read on tomshardware.de somewhere that it happend to them as well at some point ;-)

My 2 ct. on a custom pc is: Think a lot! What exactly do you need it for, don't get carried away with the notion of having the best parts and be broke afterwards (I'm assuming you are on some kind of a budget since you asked if its cheaper to buy or
build)
Should it be silent, quite, or who cares about noise (if you're always sitting in front of it with your headphones on...)

Just a couple of tips: Buy dual-core, spend a little extra on a good mobo and psu, since they are most prone to failure, and you don't want that. No need to go extra carzy on RAM, if you don't wanna overclock the shit out of it, but don't go too cheap either. Personally I wouldn't recommend a soundcard atm, since the things with Vista aren't 100% in the clear (no EAX...), and it can always be added at a later point. For normal use + music todays onboard sound is fine, IMO...
 
I wanted to reply just that!!! Especially with the Intel boxed cooler for the 775...
I bended the mobo slightly. Was pretty worried about that, until I read on tomshardware.de somewhere that it happend to them as well at some point ;-)

I wouldn't call the amount a stock intel cooler bends your mobo slightly :) It bends the mobo by 3-4 mm, which i call A LOT :)
 
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I remember very well how worried I was that I had to put almost my entire force on the screwdriver to place a Socket A cooler on the board. And that was with a bare cpu core under it. Damn I was glad that thing booted all right :)
 
well i built my first PC a few months ago (i bet you're all sick of me telling you) and i enjoyed it. the idea behind it was to replace our out-of-the-box POS PC with a new, high end one, while keeping the cost down. and ?600 got me what you see below. some of the components were re-used from the old PC (like the DVD burner and GFX card), and i didn't get a new monitor, but it was bloody good for the price.

i (nearly) always make sure i'm grounded before i get stuck in. i have a wrist strap that connects to a plug (UK plugs have the earth pin) so that sorts that out.

SL63, i was a noob builder until about 6 months ago. i'm not sure where you come from, but if you are in the UK i can recommend this book from Maplin. i have it and it explained a lot about how things work. it also shows how to put it together and how to look after it - remember you won't have a guarantee with it as a whole, any problems you will need to fix yourself. good reason not to get in my situation... *stares at motherboard-less case at other end of room*

do you have any idea what you are looking for in your new PC? check this site out for a good deal on parts (UK again) >> OcUk

hope all this helps :)

Matt
 
If you want good parts and don't feel like building it yourself:
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/

You can customize everything and still get fairly good prices. Just start with a base model and work your way up.
 
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Guys, guys! Slow down, this is SL63 we're talking about here...oh, how easily you forget! :p
 
But he hasn't asked if he needs a sledgehammer or welding equipment to assemble the thing, so everything's fine for the moment.
 
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