Quote:
Originally Posted by Frosstbyte
This is kind of a threadjack, but I don't really think another thread with almost exactly the same title (though different content) was really worth it for anyone.
I am also in the market for a new computer, and I am very serious about wanting to build it myself. Those dells are pretty good deals, but damn if they don't look like a horse's ass, and, for as much as I use a computer, I feel like I should be able to muck about in one much more than I can now.
Does anyone have any advice on where to go to learn how to do this or what I should expect?
|
I had a friend help me build my first PC so I can't really offer any cool websites or guides. What I will say is that building a PC is two parts: 1. choosing all of the components and making sure they're compatible with each other, and 2. plugging it all up and hoping it works.
Yes, I said hoping it works because when you're ordering custom parts from a reseller there is a small (but substantial) chance a part will arrive DOA (dead on arrival). If a part you order does arrive DOA you can return it but expect a major headache when building the PC until you figure out which part is dead. For example: you order all the parts, you put it together, press the power button and it turns on but the screen is black. So, is your motherboard set to onboard video and you're trying to use a videocard? Is the motherboard PCI-E slot bad and you get no video signal? Is the videocard bad because you get no signal? Is the CPU bad so the PC won't even boot properly? Is the memory bad causing the system to not boot? Is the monitor bad? The cable bad? Your power supply not giving the videocard enough power?
I don't mean to scare you but this is the type of stuff you deal with when building a custom PC so don't be surprised if an event like this happens. The good thing is that there is lots of knowledge about custom PCs on the Internet. The TFP could help you put the PC together even as long as you had Internet access while building it.
The pros of building a PC: picking out the parts is fun if you know what you're looking for, putting it together and having immense satisfaction that you completed a highly technical task yourself and it is working great, saving money (though not much nowadays) over a pre-built PC, the PC will look way cooler than a store-bought PC, you learn a lot about computer hardware, PC is way more upgradeable than a pre-built PC
The cons: parts may come DOA and take time and effort to replace, troubleshooting the PC after it is put together is troublesome depending on a multitude of problems that may arise, having to make sure that every component is compatible with each other
In the end I would recommend it if you haven't did it before but don't expect it to work perfectly (though it most definitely could, I've built approximately 50 custom PCs and about half go together first try without a hitch).