Buy one or build one?

Question

I want to get a new top of the line computer. What should I do, should I buy one from the store, customize one online, or buy the parts and build it myself? Which one would be cheaper? Would the risk of messing up the components worth the money I save.

so, some of you say its cheaper to build yourself, some say its more expensive. which one is it?

Answer 1

Building is easy, getting all the bits to work together is the hard bit.....lol.
But if you want a one off custom job, building is cheaper, else buy one.

Answer 2

No question- for a top of the line computer, you're going to get a better machine for less money if you buy each component seperately and build it yourself- assuming that you shopp around for the best deals. The best site is to buy your components is:

www.newegg.com

Other sites worth looking at are:

www.tigerdirect.com
www.directron.com
www.zipzoomfly.com

If you want the cheapest machine possible, then go get a pre-made system. But keep in mind that those dirt-cheap $300 systems are cheap for a reason- they're usually outdated components that have been sitting unsold on the shelves for more than a year, and the retailer just wants to get rid of them. These machines will not be a top of the line system.

If you want to price out a custom made system, try this site:

www.buyxg.com

Their prices are pretty fair, but again I've found that by shopping around, I can get a better price by purchasing each component seperately.

Answer 3

Building can be very cheap if you have the time and are willing to go to yard sales and such to find computers that people are wanting to get rid of, then scavenge parts from them to build yours. You could save yourself some money on optical drives and floppy drives anyway. Get a basic case with a 400 watt+ power supply, and spent the bulk of your money on "Guts" and not on "Fluff". Get a Asus motherboard and a dual-core processor (These are the most expensive parts), a good video card, a SATA hard drive (2ND most expensive part), 2GB of RAM, an operating system of your choice (The 3rd most expensive part), and you'll have a nice box.


http://secure.newegg.com/NewVersion/Shopping/shoppingcart.asp?submit=view


Like I said, scavenge your optical drives, and you'll have a "kick-butt" system for under a $1000! Go to the library and get a book on building computers. You won't mess up the components, if your careful and don't get in a big hurry. Ground yourself during assembly and the risk of messing up components goes way down.

Answer 4

Well the best thing to do would be buy the parts and build it yourself, unfortunately this is also the most expensive way to do it. So if you have the money, buy the parts yourself, if you want to save some money and get a good computer also, customize one online. Trust me.

Answer 5

a high end computer needs to be custom built, but it doesnt come cheap, a good case without power supply costs as much as a low end computer. I use Intel motherboards D945PVS is my latest it supports all LGA 775 procesors from celeron to P4 to Pentium D, it does not support Extreme Edition processors but few people buy those as they cost is soo much. A western digital Raptor SATA hdd, 2 gb of 667 mhz memory, a decent video card and you have a good machine

Answer 6

Honestly with my experience it used to be cheaper to build a computer on your own, but nowadays with the mass production of computers causing severe drops in the computer industry prices, Your best option would be to buy one.
Andrew

Answer 7

Better buy one that is packaged. Believe me, cost is a little cheaper than you getting parts and trying to assemble.

Answer 8

i have built with there help it coud be cheaper to do it yourself if you have a clue