Thinking about building a computer...but is it worth it?

[Pete1210]

Re: Thinking about building a computer...but is it worth it?

I used to build my PC's from scratch, but now that they are so cheap it doesn't seem worth it. Also I don't game much anymore on the PC.

My newest PC is a Compaq SR5100NX I got last year from Microcenter for under $200. I added a Video card, upgraded the RAM and Power Supply (for the Video card) for about another $200, so my daughter can play Sims 3.

[pfunk880]

Re: Thinking about building a computer...but is it worth it?

I used to build my PC's from scratch, but now that they are so cheap it doesn't seem worth it. Also I don't game much anymore on the PC.

Yeah, I did build the PC I use as a DVR from scratch, but these days you don't save money like you used to (especially when you consider that your time is valuable). But one of the advantages is that it is definitely fun to do, and it's a learning experience as well. It also helps when doing upgrades or troubleshooting hardware problems in the future. You know exactly what's going on inside the box, because you put everything in there yourself.

[eDotd]

Re: Thinking about building a computer...but is it worth it?

Agreed. Even if you are not saving money when you build, the knowledge you gain from buidling/troubleshooting/researching is worth the time.

[totalownership]

Re: Thinking about building a computer...but is it worth it?

I used to build my PC's from scratch, but now that they are so cheap it doesn't seem worth it. Also I don't game much anymore on the PC.

So true.

Yeah, I did build the PC I use as a DVR from scratch, but these days you don't save money like you used to (especially when you consider that your time is valuable). But one of the advantages is that it is definitely fun to do, and it's a learning experience as well. It also helps when doing upgrades or troubleshooting hardware problems in the future. You know exactly what's going on inside the box, because you put everything in there yourself.

On the other hand thats true too.

Agreed. Even if you are not saving money when you build, the knowledge you gain from buidling/troubleshooting/researching is worth the time.

Yes. But all things considered it's probably a nice thing to do once or twice but after that it just isn't really worth it unless you want a specific build for something in particular.

Being that I run with Macs I don't even have the option to do that. Most I can do is swap some drives and upgrade memory and such but the OS beats all. ALL I SAY!!!

[Burns11]

Re: Thinking about building a computer...but is it worth it?

You can also select better parts and get better performance and greater reliability, but any more it's mostly about doing it as a hobby.

[mgoblue]

Re: Thinking about building a computer...but is it worth it?

So true.



On the other hand thats true too.



Yes. But all things considered it's probably a nice thing to do once or twice but after that it just isn't really worth it unless you want a specific build for something in particular.

Being that I run with Macs I don't even have the option to do that. Most I can do is swap some drives and upgrade memory and such but the OS beats all. ALL I SAY!!!

Yeah, it's cool to do a few times and then the novelty/fun/learning isn't worth the annoyances and time involved.

You can also select better parts and get better performance and greater reliability, but any more it's mostly about doing it as a hobby.

Yeah...you can get a better machine for sure, but you can also end up with a buggy one that is a bit tougher to support/debug. We ran into this at my last job, really sucked figuring out what part was failing when building a pc.