To build or buy?

Question

I’m an amateur computer enthusiast and I’ve been planning out my new system for a few weeks. I’ve been looking up components, reading reviews, adjusting for my current and future needs and came up with this selection of parts and cost

BIOSTAR TForce 590 SLI Motherboard - $187.31
http://www.motherboards.org/reviews/motherboards/1679_2.html

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ AM2 – $303.00
http://www.antaresdigital.com/customer/product.php?productid=17475&cat=406&page=1

OCZ EL DDR2 PC2-6400 / 800 MHz / Enhanced Latency / Platinum XTC Edition / Dual Channel - $114.99
http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4797419?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

HIS Hightech H195PRF256DDN-R Radeon X1950PRO 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - $189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814161060&ATT=14-161-060&CMP=OTC-pr1c3watch

Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty - $129.99
http://www.acnt.com/product.asp?pf_id=SCCL046XFI

Case - $50 - $200

HP/COMPAQ - 800WATT HOT- PLUG REDUNDANT POWER SUPPLY FOR PROLIANT DL580 G2 (192147-001) - $110.00
https://www.serversupply.com/products/part_search/query.asp?q=192147-001&pw=Y

Western Digital
WD360GD 36.7GB SERIAL ATA 10000RPM 8MB BUFFER 5.2MS ENTERPRISE RAPTOR - $132.00
http://www.pcprogress.com/product.asp?m1=pw&pid=WD360GD

ST3750640AS-RK 750GB SATA
Seagate:
FRYS.com #: 4924331
•Serial ATA/300 Interface
•7200RPM
•16MB Buffer
•5 Year Warranty
•Retail Boxed Hard Drive (Installation Kit Included)
Regular Price:$399.99
http://shop1.outpost.com/product/4924331?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

O.S. $150.00 $200.00

Now looking at the cost involved I looked around and found some other pre built or built to order PC’s that look to give me about what I want for around the same cost with a warranty.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1487928&Tab=2&NoMapp=0

Which is the best way to go?

Answer 1

everything looks good except the redundant power supply because i'm not sure if those types will work with regular systems.

...one think to keep in mind though...intel has taken back the performance crown, so you could get more bang for buck buying a core 2 duo e6600 than if you buy that 5200+. just change motherboard and cpu...

for motherboard brands, i reccomend asus, abit, & gigabyte. i would stay away from the generic sounding brands like biostar or epox...

build is usually better than buy (except when you're trying to build under $750) because you can ENSURE high quality parts all around (you built it by yourself) whereas a bought computer generally uses generic parts.

Answer 2

AMD? Thou fool. You can get a quality Intel-compatible motherboard and a C2D E6300 for less cost and just overclock it to far above the performance you can get from the X2 5200+. The highest you can clock an X2 is about 3GHz, and you could get an E6300 close to that even with stock cooling as long as your mobo and ram are up to the task. And remember, Core 2 is much faster than A64 clock-for-clock.

Also, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty is kind of a waste. Name one program that uses its X-RAM. If you need the sound quality, you can get the lowest model X-Fi, and if you can live with less horsepower, you can get the Audigy for much less.

Answer 3

I would suggest you build your own system.

I am an AMD fan boy, but right now the only chip to buy is the Intel core 2 duo. AMD just doesn't currently have anything to really compete with that chip.

Motherboard would be the ASUS P5B-E.

The rest of your selections are good.

I would just add : for the video card try to get at least 512MB of video memory. 256MB today is just not enough.

Answer 4

I personally like the satisfaction of building it myself. I love my Raptor, it was money well spent. I have just one question for you though, why buy a SLI mobo and then pick an ATI graphics card? If you are planning on using SLI in the future you will need an nVidia card instead of the ATI. If not, why spend the extra money for SLI?

Answer 5

Your setup looks ok except for the mobo and PSU.
Biostar have some really nasty reviews. DFI and ASUS & Gigabyte have great mobos.
The PSU, maybe the most important part. I would go with a Enermax Noisetaker or similar.
http://www.newegg.com/

Answer 6

If you want a high-end, customizable, upgradeable PC, build it, if you only use it to check your e-mail, buy a cheap Dell. You do get more value for your money buying pre-built PCs with all the software already included however.

Answer 7

its always best to build your pc in my opinion because you know exactly what your getting for your money, and most stock pc's are hard to upgrade