Features - QOTW: Do you self-build or buy built?

[Lord Midas]

Self build isn't so bad, unless it's from scratch.

A full build is equal pleasure and pain. I often wish it is all over half way through. Though once done I do feel a sense of pride at my úber rig. Though nowadays, with a fully customised system, it's more often than not a simple component change. Seeing as most of the system is still perfectly fine. My next build will simply be an i7, mobo and memory. The gfx, hdds, psu, etc are still perfectly fine.

As to the question. If I could afford a full system up front, I'd probably just buy a complete system from one of the top game system builders.

[crossy]

I go self build nowadays as it's way cheaper and far more reliable. Prebuilt manufacturers tend to have the worst PSUs and motherboards that always seem to fail in the first year.

Downside, of course, being that you can't use the "what idiot spec'd that component?!" excuse if the PC fails.

On the upside, I've found forums, (like, cough, cough, Hexus), to be better sources of information than any manufacturers help line.

Guess the bottom line is that if you have the courage to go self-build then you will - it's not rocket science, and (thankfully) it's not as if you need more than a basic knowledge, and a good internet connection, to be able to "have a go".

On the other hand, folks who just want a PC the same way that they want a washing machine, tv, etc will continue to buy a pre-built box.

[davesom555]

Self build! It's actually fun - I enjoy the configuring and planning of what to get. When you get to build it, then it's a decent challenge to get everything set up nicely - cable management, cooling etc...

[J3FFW1SH]

Self build always, I actually just built a new rig: Asus Sabertooth 990FX, AMD FX-8120 OC @ 4GHz, 16GB of Crucial Tactical, AMD HD-7970, Vertex 4. Been running for 3 days and it hasnt skipped a beat.

[TGWTHF]

building a PC yourself is always cheaper than having people make it for you, at least, that is what i have found, I recently built my own PC and to have a store or an online company build the same one for m, it would cost between £500 and £600 more than the £700 that it actually cost me, thats with an i5 3570k processor and a AMD Radeon HD 6950 graphics card and 16GBs of RAM

[wtfitskeagan]

Self building is a passionate thing. When your friends come over and their jaw drops, you have a sense of pride. "Yeah, I built it". Whenever you put your own blood sweat and tears into ANYTHING, it makes the item so much more valuable (and yes, I've put blood into 1 build, wasn't pretty). I'll never buy a pre-built computer.

[kellen32]

i do half and half by that i mean i select the components i want and get someone else to build but after that i put any other parts in after

[csgohan4]

No, I don't OC. I've had (off the top of my head), 1 dead PSU, 2 damaged CPUs (both Intel, one was brand new), 2 sets of bust RAM, 1 dodgy motherboard, 1 set of incompatible RAM and as always a few dodgy hard drives. One graphics card failed on me as well.

I spent 8 months I think without a desktop at one point, sending bits to and from Scan endlessly.

The other side of doing self builds is the ability to trouble shoot and knowing where the problems is. If you have gone ready built all the while, you will not know what needs fixing and rely on and be at the mercy of customer services who may require you post back a heavy Build at your own cost to and fro. This will take time, while if you had a spare PSU or ram lying around your problem is fixed quickly.

To date I'd had 2 PSU die, 6 sets of ram die and a motherboard that went to electronic heaven. but I knew what was wrong and quickly got on the case. At the end of the day you still need to rma a pre built system, but not knowing what's wrong could cost you in the long run.

[simonpreston]

I self built my first PC and done it ever since. Whenever I build a new machine, I usually end up salvaging various parts from the old one; usually hard drives, optical drives and gfx cards. Next machine I build will get all those mentioned from my current machine, plus the case and heatsink (will probably invest in a new PSU too). So for me, buying in the new components makes sense versus buying one outright.

I also built a second machine for dirt cheap by finding bargains on ebay and spare parts. I built a fully functioning system for about £30.

[dangel]

Self, why the heck would I want someone else to have all the fun?

In fact, I probably water cool just because.

[bobharvey]

Selfbuild.
Get a more up to date machine for the same money, & no m$ tax.

[dangel]

Selfbuild.
Get a more up to date machine for the same money, & no m$ tax.

Warning: it's 2012

[adarshgurjar]

A self built is better, it gives us satisfaction, proud ! And the best feeling when the building is done, and it work perfectly in one go

[jackjack]

For me Building a full PC (from zero-finish) is a passion. Juz Lov it

[raspute]

it's fun as hell but it is definitely an enthusiast thing

[tentaclemonster]

It's definitely better to self build, but I waste so much time agonising over parts and prices that it can take weeks