For a good year now, I have attempted to immerse myself in the world of building desktops (with the occasional foray into how a hackintosh works). Eventually, I plan to collect enough money to work on a project by myself and hopefully get a nice lovely little tower all set up and complete sometime this year. I know a good number of folks here have built desktops and potentially other things before, so I am curious about any experience or stories you would be willing to share, or perhaps advice for people in the future, or convincing some when it would be appropriate to build something over buying a pre-existing one, money-wise (in my personal case it would definitely be more economical if I were to build something myself). Any current builds you wish to share or you are working on, too. Specifications-sharing would be golden!
Although I personally have never built a computer before, I know my uncle has. He said it ended up costing him a lot, but he thought it was worth it in the long run. Since he is a gamer, he focused on making it so it could run as many games as it could. It is a windows XP computer, but it can play the Sims 3 with at least 4 expansion packs on it without it starting to lag too much. I think that is just completely neat. It is easy for him to fix it because he better understands computers now, where things are, what he needs to replace. If I had the money for it, I would definitely give it a go. But for now I will just listen to stories about it an be completely mesmerized.
I first started researching how to build a PC in 2008 or 2009 because mine was on its last legs. I ended up just picking up a pre-built desktop in 2010 because it was a good deal, but I really enjoyed building. I took classes where we did some test builds with old, broken parts, then eventually built some new machines. It's absolutely helped me to fix computers -- I know how to troubleshoot and solve most problems. It saves you a lot of money there, because tech support is often very costly, and you can potentially keep your computer longer by incrementally upgrading things like RAM. I've never built a desktop for myself (I bought a laptop in 2012 because I needed something portable), but now that I'm getting into video editing I've been looking at putting together a budget machine. On the subject of "who really needs to build a computer," for gamers, it's a no brainer. Alienware PCs are ridiculously overpriced -- you can build an equivalent system for at least 2/3 of the price. There are sites out there like Cyberpower and iBuyPower which will let you configure a machine and they'll build it for you, but there's of course going to be a labor mark up there. Building really isn't that tough -- if you can build LEGOs, you can build a PC. Even budget web-browsing machines can be occasionally built for less than what you'd pay in Best Buy for a comparable machine, especially if you're good at finding deals. If you are looking to build a PC but aren't really sure how to spec out a machine, PC Part Picker is an absolute godsend (even if you're experienced, it's great to stay organized). They have a huge archive of other users' builds, and guide you through picking each part. It won't list incompatible parts and will give you things like benchmarks and where you can get the part for the lowest price. It's phenomenal.
If you're building your first PC and don't know much about different parts, there's this guide, courtesy of /g/. It puts builds into tiers based on price, and has links to where you can buy the parts online for the lowest price available.
This playlist is pretty helpful, I've found, for either general use workstations, or rigs for a specific use, such as video editing, or gaming. As I suggested to Ben, think about where you're going to put it, and what you're going to need before you start. Purpose is key, I've found. And be prepared to break things.
^^ This right here is so very true. I've been an mmo player for years but in the end I'd always end up frying them. It took myself about two years to learn the ways of a computer. (taking it apart and just teaching myself the BASICS of what I fundamentally needed to operator my computer. ) And while I was in this learning process, I noticed Alienware. (which I thought was God on Speed back then) It had everything I needed to play games, stream and upload without a problem. But the pricing was outrageous and I def. don't have the credit for one. So anyways before I bore you, this is what I did. I just figured out what I personally needed for a computer. - More space - Best graphics card - RAM And you know what I did? Went to walmart.com and built one. >> Which exactly what I was looking for. It turned out to be a bit over $300 which was in my price range and way cheaper then a laptop. -w- Just research a bit on it, figure out what you need and use some of these tools and links and I think you'll build one soon and cheap faster then you know it. :3
I build/upgrade computers pretty often. This is my current build on my gaming desktop: Motherboard: Intel Z68 Express Processor: Intel core i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz (8 CPUs), ~ 3.4GHz Ram: 16 GB Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti Audio: High Definition 7.1 Channel Audio Power supply: RM 1000W (yes it's a hell of an overkill, typically 650-750 is the most you'll need) CPU Fan: Liquid Cooling Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) Computers are pretty easy to build, I would recommend getting a large case so you have more room to work with and so that it's easier to make upgrades to it instead of buying a new computer every few years.
