how many people here built there own comp
 

Topic ^

i have, and it's workin great.

nothing has gone wrong yet (well, i dont think i hooked up the hd and power lights on the front correctly, but who needs them?)

u have a shitload more room to operate with (i have a mid tower) and the glass side panel is super cool.

I've built several, and all I can say is DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!!

My first and current computers rock, but the middle one was a big pain in the ass...I know many people feel that Abit is awesome, but after my experiences, I'll pass from now on.

yup. I've been building my own since high school. It actually costs quite a bit more than simply getting a comparable system from Dell, but its the fun of choosing your own components, and bringing your own computer to life.

Being your own tech support is a bitch though....

I built mine about a month ago. I'll never buy a prebuilt again.

I always build my own except for laptiops :)

as dudemac said, I build everything with the exception of laptops. This generally amounts to about 100 systems a year including the ones I build for use at work. In my opinion there is no reason to buy when you can build if you know what you are doing.

As far as the costing more to build part, I have priced enough systems to be able to say with confidence that is not the case 95% of the time and never when you consider value.

built many.

touche'

You may have them in the right place, but turned around wrong. Try flipping them over. I often get the polarity wrong, and have to flop them around. Don't really need them, but it bugs the crap out of me to know that every LED is not burnin!

And yes, I build them all the time :)

I've built every computer I've ever owned plus many more with the exception the one Mac that I had.

been building my own for at least 8 years and counting

As for the price thing...I've found that Dell builds a better computer for $400 than I can. However, my $1200 system kicks the crap out of their $2800 system...it depends what you're shooting for, I guess.

I'm a builder.

Mac Addict™, so no.

Once I'm out of college and into the real world with a job, I plan to get some PC components, a good computer friend, and spend some time learning how to build my own... in a toaster!!

only 1 so far only cause i don't have enough money for another

I've built quite a few, used to run my own PC repair shop. Had to give it up thought, not enugh PC's in a small town to live on. :(

I have been building my own since I was in high School, and i'll never buy a prebuilt computer again.

I build my own. I just built the following for about $400:

Athlon XP 2200
ECS K7S5A
Lite-On CD-RW 52/24/52
GeForce 4 Ti4200
WD 60 GB 7200 rpm w/ 8MB cache

I've been building my own for 14 years now. My brother taught me how, took me to KGP (cookie to anyone who knows what that stands for) shows to buy parts.

Now he buys Dell/Gateway. I still build. Sometimes I wonder though...

My first computer was a gateway. The second one(the one I have now) I built myself and have had no problems with it. I learned how to build my own computer from fixing my old crappy gateway so damn much.

the secret to building a good machine is time.

buy the parts ONLY when they are on a dirt cheap sale (mail in rebates are your friend).

i try to buy cheap parts when they come on sale. i got my 52x48x52 pacific digital cdrw for $10 bucks after mail in rebates.

it's all about timing.

That's about the size of it. I've given up trying to build a better cheap system, but I'll never buy another premade one for myself again (with of course the laptop disclaimer).

I always build my own, not because of spite for Oems but because logically it works. I change parts in my computer every 3~4 weeks. this week it's a 9800, a couple of weeks its a new sound card, so logically I shouldn't buy a oem.

For my clients...tonight I just ordered my 13th dell this last 2 months for a client. Dell is the way I go.

$500 for a machine with a 15" lcd, and windowx xp home. You cannot beat that.

I have build oh around 80 computers i guess...... but 28 of them where in a 6 day period........

I build all of mine..I build at least 2 a month

build, although I've only built 2 and 1 wasn't for me

i guess i kinda built mine. You see, there are none I repeat NONE of the same parts in the computer as It had when I got it. Upgrades everything, not speck left. Harddrives, cpu, motherboard, case, everything. so I guess you could say I built it.

I built my most current machine and before that, did a lot of updating on my first system from Micron. As far as performance is concerned, building your own is the way to go for more bang for the buck. I still think that its good to get a "pre-built" system occasionally because you get a lot more software for your money than buying off the shelf.

Rebates are the key to the whole thing though.

Just built my first a few months back. Now it's time to upgrade just a little and take the extra parts and build another so I have two solid PC's. :D

homebuild all the way.

Ken Gordon Productions. Since 1980, Baby!

http://www.pcshow.com/

Choc. Chunk, please :)

/me raises his hand... ive built several computers... for myself, my family, and helped many friends build them and get them working...

I've built several computers also. I would never get a prebuilt computer, save for laptops. Sure, you can get a $500 Dell with a 15" LCD screen, but the components are peices of shit. I can build a better, higher quality computer for the same price, just no LCD. But that 15" LCD is gonna be a piece of shit just the same as the rest of the computer. I've also had to work on Dells and Compaqs and other locally store built computers, and I could not stand them. They cut every corner imaginable on those.

If I had more money to blow, I would be upgrading and building constantly, but sadly I have no money at all, and am stuck doing other peoples computers and rarely mine.

Mail in rebates aren't really my friend, sure the part is cheap in the long run, but you still have to dish out the cash in the first place and wait 6 - 8 weeks for your check from the company. In that 6 - 8 weeks, a new one has come out that's much better. :-P

I do. And there is no way im going to buy a premade one. (I build them for cash :D)

I pity anyone who would waste money on a pre-built piece of shit.

I have never and will never buy a pre-built system. You can always build your own cheaper and better, and if you can't, then you don't deserve to use a computer.

To show to the people saying you can't beat a cheap $500 Dell or whatever with a custom built machine, here's a little example for you

Comparing 2 systems, Dell Dimension 2350 vs Custom Built PC (hopefully this link works). The Dell is the $500 cheapo that people have been talking about, I'm assuming.

Processors -
Dell - Celeron 2.2ghz. Celerons are the cheapest of the cheap processors
Custom - AMD Athlon XP 2000. Rated at 1.67ghz, I don't know the numbers but I'm assuming it's just as good if not better than the Celeron

Memory -
Dell - 128 MBs (Currently with a free upgrade to 256, but that's only a limited thing.)
Custom - Crucial 512 MBs

Hard Drives -
Dell - 40 GB
Custom - Western Digital 40 GB. No difference really, no biggy.

Floppy -
Dell - None
Custom - Actually has one.

CD-ROM -
Dell - 48x Max
Custom - 52x32x52 Lite-On CDRW

Keyboard and Mouse -
Dell - Dell Cheapos
Custom - Microsoft Cheapos (The Microsoft are most likely higher quality, but it's basically a user preference thing.)

Monitor -
Dell - Currently comes with free upgrade to a 15" LCD or 19" CRT. Only limited time, and the LCD can only be a PoS which blurs every time something moves. The CRT may be of decent quality, though.
Custom - 17" cheap monitor, nothing special but will do the job just fine.

Video Card -
Dell - Integrated Intel Extreme 3D Graphics. Is Intel known for their graphics cards as being high quality?
Custom - Integrated GeForce 2. A much bigger name in the graphics world, and much better card.

Speakers -
Dell - Cheapos
Custom - 2.1 Creative Labs Speakers. (2 speakers + subwoofer)

Both also have basic integrated 10/100 LAN.

Also note the lack of Dell giving any information as to what brand of parts they use. The motherboard on the custom built is ASUS, one of the best names out there, and I've built 2 machines for people using this motherboard and it works perfectly. Onboard 5.1 Surround Sound if you want to upgrade the speakers, as well as easily being able to upgrade the video card. Both computers are at almost the exact same price (Actually the custom built is a couple bucks cheaper).

Please explain to me how the Dells are cheaper? Sure the Dell comes with cheapass software. XP Home, wannabe Office programs, big whoop. OH! The Dell comes with 6 months of free AOL!!!................ ugh

I've built dozens of computers for myself and others; including several water-cooling systems, among which is my vodka-cooled PC :D

the only note i noticed, is you not really looking over dells site ;) Dell uses intel motherboards. interesting comparison, but you obviously didn't research it much, even though i knew dell used intel motherboards, it took 10 seconds to find it out.

Let see..

To upgrade the CPU to a P4 2.2 its about $120

The LCD flat panel is a Samsung too, and an ultra sharp, though the lower end CRT they shop isn't trinitron most of the others are, its not blurry

The speakers are Altec Lansings which are not cheapos. not the best, but waaay better than the worst.

Its an intel integrated ethernet controller which are some of the best around.

The video controller can be replaced with a new card.

The dell can also be upgraded for free to a 19" CRT for free.

You missed this, 1 year warranty + 1 year "at home" service.

WordPerfect is one of the top rated word processors around.

Also your system doesn't come with any software, so the price goes up considerably to be a fair comparison, interesting it'll come out more than a processor upgrade for the dell ( and a floppy/cdrw )

There is your explanation, you cheaped out on the monitor, removed all the software, and no at home warranty, and you have to build it and set it up ;) for a valid comparison, you'd have to add those.

The monitor was cheap, I said that in my comparison. If I'm building it myself, I need no support, I am my own support and I can handle it just fine. Building it is also half the fun.

As for the software... it's cheap, you just have to.... know where to look....*walks away whistling...*

I build my own comp.

I wouldnt do it any other way, the problem is its a sickness. Im on a never ending quest to out do all my components.

Of course i built my own computer, why would i ever WANT to waste my money on somthing that will error prone, bs filled, and name branded.

I built mine and it's awesome. So much so that now my friends are asking me to build theirs, too. :D

Building your own box is the *only* way to fly. To get a Dell with the same level of equipment I put in my new custom rig, I would have had to pay half again as much, and I'd never be 100% certain that I had quality components (unless of course I VOIDED THE WARRANTY by opening the case).

Working as an ad hoc hardware monkey in the corporate world, I've seen one too many big-name desktops with no-name RAM or some atrocity like a Quantum Bigfoot "archival" hard drive to ever trust someone else to build my baby for me. :)

Lol good try kyp but want to beat this dell I just orderd.

699 for

p4 2.6c - (Yeah this is a pretty bad chip)
512 Megs of Micron (Who is crucial) pc3200 ram
40 gig Western Digital Harddrive (Which Dell uses with Seagate, and maxtor also)
Ati 9800 (hmmm)
Sound Blaster Audigy
48X CD-RW
4X NEC DVD +R
Windows XP Home
Keyboard Mouse Speakers
15" LCd or 17" Crt free
Free Shipping

And most importantly the fact that your client has a 24/7 tech support desk they can call if you are out or sick.

I think the Dell wins by a landslide.

So this interesting notion that dell uses crap....is interesting because they have direct contracts for the suppliers we buy from. Ati, 3com, Creative, Nvidia.

Oh also the lcds....they are perfect. I have a Dell 20" LCd and it's made by Samsung. The 1900fp is a rebadges Samsung 191t, the 1800FP is a high end Nec that is $200 lower then the nec model, the 1700fp is an nec also. I have never recieved a Dell LCD with a dead pixel aslo.

I think after spending $50,000 in building machines, and buying dells last year that all in all...Dell is the better dell.

When I built computers, I had to charge my client $50 just for the build time. Even then I wasn't able to supply them a warrenty I was satisfied with.

My systems ended up being $150 more then dells.

Tell you this, if any oem fan can build me a machine with the same specs (No bs athlon 2500+ because we know the 2.6c blows away the 3000+ in some score), ship it to my door within 3 days after I order it for free, offer me 24/7 tech support for my clients, and keep a record of all the orders I've placed the last 4 years. I'm game to trying you guys out.

Also with Dells the warrenty isn't voided if you upon up the case. Otherwise they would have those awful stickers that would say void if you peeled them.

EvilPoda - Proving why he's a rookie. :)

I am running my 3rd Custom built and its running great.

I recommend to build your own comp.. the parts are cheaper, you get warranty for each part, it's good to do heaps of research..and if it breaks up you can only blame yourself :\

building your own pc is a lot cheaper, better quality than some of the pre build (e-machine, compaq, hp etc.) and you can decide each single part in your computer.

Costs more? You must be getting your parts from the wrong place, then. ;]

My computer cost $4250 molly..trust me it's possible.

That's not with software either.

You good sir, are clearly a blithering idiot.

Not only will a 2500+ whip kick the shit out of a comparable CPU, it's easy as hell to overclock and thus gain better performance.

And...my God you're stupid, Dell's have Warranty Void stickers, I've seen them, I've cut them to get to the shitty internal workings that is a Dell.

And what the hell good is 24/7 tech support? If you can't troubleshoot your own problems, then you shouldn't be using a computer, let alone building your own.

And yahoo! Dell's come with all the software you'd ever need, making them an even better deal, right? No, for the love of God no, just download whatever software you need and you're set. Plus, you can avoid all of that crap that Dell adds on themselves.

FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8 biznatch

EDIT: And you should count yourself lucky that Kyp is sleeping, he'd tear you a new one after that post.

EDIT 2: And Crucial is some of the best RAM out there www.crucial.com

Hah! I'm not sleeping anymore!

Okay, just for starters, Dell may have 24/7 Tech Support, but the people giving the Tech Support are complete and total morons. I'm sorry, I've talked to some of them, and they know jack shit. They have their little book that they look up questions and read out the answers to or something, because how some of these people got a job working there with no knowledge of computers whatsoever is completely beyond me. Oh, they also have their nice little accents making it impossible to tell wtf they're saying. I think it's a requirment for it, that you have an accent that 95% of the people in the world can't understand.

I will admit that you did get a pretty good deal on that computer. The RADEON 9800 and DVD+R make it extremely hard to build an equal or better system for that price. Most of the parts on that are utter crap that could easily be beaten for the price, though.

I reiterate - I have worked on Dells, Compaqs, and other such prebuilt machines. They are the devil. I don't understand how they could do what they do and get away with it. Oh, I'm pretty sure Dell also doesn't use CPU fans anymore to cut down on noise... don't ever try to overclock, and all that fun stuff.

I may be able to build a comparable machine to that, but it's not worth my time right now. Maybe I'll give it a shot later on.

Just built my third machine and gave my kids my old one. I bet their machine is better than most adults.

let's not go into tech support that the prebuilt's offer.

they're so freaking shitty!


the guys tells you to do something, u email them back saying it didnt solve the problem.

another guy answers the email with the exact same thing.

they tell u to do the same shit 1000 times and after that, they tell u to take it to the nearest repair shop.

I wouldn't have it any other way.

Dont think Dell would provide equally good components to get a 1.1ghz AMD overclock on air :)

My last "Store Bought" computer was a Sony Vaio P2 266 MHz. That was in 1997. What a turd of a computer! Since then, I have gone through 4 computers that I put together myself. I have had almost no grief. I stick with good components. I used Abit with three of them, Asus on the current rig. Intel on the first two, AMD on the last two. I would NEVER buy a computer from Sony, Dell, Gateway, etc. Maybe from Alienware. Alienware is a customer of ours, and we get a vendor discount from them. I might have to see how much of a discount. lol.

Evilpoda I work for dell, I'm an onsite technician..... and when I see one of their warrenty void stickers...I will agree with you.
Being that their tech support ask you to open their computers, and work inside them. I'm sitting right now and wondering why I'm even arguing this with you.

Also why they hell would you want to overclock a oem computer? You build your own too do that, which in the beginning I mention (I build my own, but clients get Oems).

I have a 3.06 right now running at 3.6 and I built it myself cause I knew I was going to overclock. But my client who needs 24/7 uptime..I'm not going to risk anything that could make them go down.

Also crappy components...it was argued before that Dell uses an Intel board. That's true. Dell uses standard pc parts...that's true.

Tell me one crappy part in a Dell? Specifically. The powersupply? The are standard as of the 45XX+ lines. The motherboard...hmm they are Intel 865/875 chipset boards now.

Also 24/7 tech support can be crappy, but it's there. I charge my clients $80 an hour for tech support if they are down...and many people can't afford that, but that's how much my time is worth cause of my schedule. Why I say that is because if they have a small problem, they call Dell. If they have a big problem (Server migrations, so on) they call me. Small problems are easy to solve, and those 24/7 desk are there to solve it. You guys don't know how many times I had to explain to people that your common tech can't tell you how to initialize the center channel with a pcm stream. They can't tell you how to set up 5 profiles in outlook so you can get email from different providers, so on so forth. But they can tell you if your cd rom is broken, and send a replacement out, and they are free.

Poda, call me stupid if you want...but I don't see you helping people on this forum that much by making fun of me. I can respect that you are human, and I'm not going to call you stupid or an ass or anything like that...but in my eyes...you are still a rookie. Also...my p4c 2.4c overclocks too 3.8....that's a little higher then the 2500+...interesting.

Wyodiver, I do alienware onsite work also. Great company, but overpriced. They do you third party parts, like I had a recent machine with an Asus P4t-533 in it, but still they charged the guy like $189 for a board that's $119.

Abit for me, I have an IC7, and IS7, and IT7max2 right now.
AMD wise I have the nf7 and it's great.

I built my own. The only thing I regret is that I built it too cheap and have a junk motherboard and video card, and cheap memory. Everything else that I skimped on I've upgraded with quality pieces. I learned my lesson though that it costs less to do it right the first time.

I've built my own. I prefer knowing exactly whats in my PC.

Sometimes when you buy from a big company you discover they have done something to force you to buy components from them as well. For these components they oftend charge heaps more than the market value. With my own machine I can go out and buy whatever brands i like. I can shop around for the best deal.

You missed nearly everyone of my points, and I'm not going to re-iterate becuase dinner just arrived.

I'll get back to this later.

I built my own and apparently screwed something up royally. It boots up, runs great for 4 minutes, then the screen goes black and there's no recovery.

Thank God I've got three others! :)

Check for your BIOS. I used to have that problem with PC mobos.

I didn't build my current computer, because I no longer use PC's. I survive with my little iBook and am much happier with my computing experience.

I built my own. There are a few reasons for this, when I originally built my system (Athlon 1.2 GHZ), there were almost no companies building a computer with the specs that I wanted. The other reason is that there is a certain satisfaction in knowing exactly what parts you put into the machine.
I do have to say that for the average person, a prebuilt machine should be fine, but most computer geeks, just prefer to know every detail about their PC and thus build it themselves.

I always build my own, religously, always.

i notice a few people talking about it being more expensive then prebuilts.

in my expierence, if you look for bargains (and by bargains I don't mean off-brand parts) you can generally get a computer built for a decent amount cheaper, or at worst the same prize, but knowing that you have good parts in your system..

i have built several systems, and the biggest problem I have had with any of them is with modems.. some modems are just shitty.

kyp, wherther or not you beg , borrow or steal the software or don't need support doesn't mean everyone will, but its hardly the point, the point is comparing them correctly.

plus its not support building it, its support when something goes wrong, or blows up and to most people, time is money. A fair comparison would include everything offered by dell, yours fell quite short of that, of course you can make one system look better by leaving stuff out.

Lol Evilpoda, if you ever start a computer business I would be scared to do business with you.

"And yahoo! Dell's come with all the software you'd ever need, making them an even better deal, right? No, for the love of God no, just download whatever software you need and you're set. Plus, you can avoid all of that crap that Dell adds on themselves.

FCKGW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8TG6W-2B7Q8 biznatch

EDIT: And you should count yourself lucky that Kyp is sleeping, he'd tear you a new one after that post. (And why can't you?....I'm not going to bring my online buddies here to try to make you look foolish. If you think making fun of me will make your athlon faster...then by all means.)

EDIT 2: And Crucial is some of the best RAM out there www.crucial.com" (interesting...I noted before Crucial is MICRON...DELL USES MICRON. "

I warez myself, but if I give anyone a computer with illegal software I would be fined to all hell. Also why the hell would you use the FCKGW key, there's a better version of leaked XP out that let's you use sp1. FCKGW is like...so 2001 :)

If that's what you want to do go ahead, but I'm not risking my job and career for a measly $200.

Anyone can download warez, but not everyone can try to prove a point without calling someone else stupid.

CharlieX thank you, that's all I was trying to note.

LOL!! i dunno bout you but i'd waaaayy much rather drink the vodka, but reading that sure made my night complete.:lol:

i build em. it makes me feel happier bout the money i spend. i guess.

I build all my desktops but purchase my laptops. I prefer to build my own because I can set it up with the parts I want not what someone else tells me I want. That and the cost of it. each time I build a computer I look at what the same thing would have cost me to have built by someone else. The least I have saved has been $1000.

Once again I'm astounded by your purposely shitty interpretation of my meanings. No one makes a system for someone else with pirated software, you keep talking about the customer, I'm talking about for myself. And, hell with it, I'm not going to waste my time trying to break through your shell of ignorance. If you want to continue being self righteous then so be it. Who am I to try and find fault with your logic.

Okay, thinking about it maybe it's more of a user preference thing. To me, the warranty, the software, the tech support, all of that doesn't mean a thing to me. I don't look at that when looking for a computer. It makes no difference to me. I look the quality of the components, and if it suits to what I need. That's why I left that stuff out, because it doesn't matter to me at all. In my eyes, they were compared correctly, and the machine I posted was the winner. Why you think I was refering to support building it is beyond me, of course it's support for when something goes wrong.

And on the subject of tech support, from what I understand it's free tech support, or $80/hour to talk to someone who actually has half a brain. Doesn't sound like much of a deal to me. When I've built computers for friends, I tell them right then and there, if there is ever a problem tell me and I'll do whatever I can to fix it.

Kyp, including ordering parts and handling rma's out of pocket? even it means replacing the monitor?

If my $1100 2000fp goes out tommorow, Dell will have another one here in 2 days. If you can can support that, I honestly would buy from builders like you.


Poda, My first post here on 07-07-03 says that I build my own computer, while I bought dells for clients.

Poda call me self righteous, but called me confused also because if you read what I initially wrote you would of saw that I built my own computer. If you knew that, and take into the equation that you are obviously smarter than me because of how you treat me, then you would of realize your arguements with me were moot from the beginning. Also because you mentioned warez and dells in the same statement a few post ago, you would of relieze with your enhanced intelligence (once again ten fold greater then mine) that when I say Dell I mean client machine, and you wouldn't of been offended by my responses to you. Clearly it's obvious to both me and you that we can easily stop this by just agreeing to disagree. Once again you can mock me all you want, but I've been proud to offer my knowledge and assistance to the TFP computer board and I don't care if people like you don't agree with me.

All in all this has been interesting, but I see a clear line between people who build for friends and people who build for businesses and work places. Dells(OEMS) for work places/professional clients, pre-built for friends and family.


No way is the wrong way, and as of right now I just finish building my 3rd computer. Here's the specs, tell me what you guys think

P4 2.6C
2x256 Crucial pc3200LL
Abit IS7 with Speed BIOS
Ati 9800 Pro 128meg
Western Digital Raptor Drive
Western Digital 1200JB
TDK IndiDVD 4x DVD+R/RW
Dell 1700FP 17" LCD
Antec Solution Series Case

not bad, I hope it's going to overclock well. Going to be my game machine.

Yes, even including ordering parts and handling RMAs. Very rarely I have to do an RMA, and it's usually just fine. I've never had to replace a monitor, and I usually look for free shipping on the parts that I'm ordering, so it's not a big deal, though I can't always find that. I may have to wait more than 2 days, but I don't mind, because I'm getting exactly what I want.

When I talk to a friend, I urge them not to buy a Dell, or Compaq, and especially not an E-Machine. So far everyone I have done work for has been more than satisfied, and they have previously bought prebuilt machines and have not been happy with the product or service on them. In some cases I've saved them money because the store would tell them they needed a new part, and in reality all it needed was to be formatted...

The machine does look good, though currently I wouldn't go with an LCD for gaming. I honestly haven't used one extensivly, so I may be talking out of my ass here, I'll admit it if I need to, but from what I've read unless you spend tons of money on the thing, it really sucks for gaming, and I would much rather spend $200 on a good monitor than $1000 on an LCD and save a lot of money. Also, just a personal preference, I prefer AMD over Intel for gaming, but that's just me.

I'll admit I got the 2000fp out of curiousity at first. It was the only lcd reasonable priced that does 1600x1200.

But Kyp, it's amazing for games. Stunning. 1942 at 1600x1200 is astounding on it, and the only other monitor I like more is the Iyaami(sp?) series. The 2000fp is one of the best things I've bought in a while. Logically your are right though, why have a monitor that is 5x the price, when you have sometimes cheaper that looks as good if not better? That I can't argue against.


Game machines, I go intel. low level machines that do basic office stuff...and clients who just need pure beige boxes with no software...I always go amd. Amd owns the low end (1.4 and lower). Their performance to price ratio is beautiful also, I just don't like how bulky the socket a chips are compared to socket 428.

Those goddamn things are as big as tree frogs, never fails to amuse me that they're so small and still so uber.

I bought my first computer. It was a 286/16 with a floppy drive and keyboard. No memory, hard drive etc.

From that point on I've rolled my own. In the long run (particularly now) it's more expensive to evolve your computer, or to build one from scratch BUT you get exactly what you want, not a bunch of software and hardware that you don't want or need but had to pay for anyway.

You have the added benefit of knowing what's inside the case, and what to do if something goes wrong. I hate people who buy a computer as a turnkey package and expect not to have to learn anything. It just isn't going to happen, no matter what Apple says. :D

this should be a poll =P

I built my last few. Ive come in to a few "quirks" like switching around PCI slots and buying bad RAM. Buy ram from respectable vendors and read up on the hardware you buy

true satisfaction can only come from one that you do on your own.

Just be mindful of the costs involved and you can come out even with a decent prebuilt deal.

If only you could give yourself a $400 rebate or something.

I DO know where to get my parts.....and all of my systems are overclocked. (blame that first 300A Celeron for that.... )

I like to build my own systems for the customization, and so that I get quality components. I get to 'save' on the softwarez as well.

It's hard to beat one of those couponned/rebate DELL deals though. Konichiwaneko.... i was REALLY tempted by that deal.... (hmmm.... though the one i saw was for a 2.8C)

Also a system builder, and a case modder to boot. I never seem to finish a project though...

The only Dell I own is my laptop, and I'm happy with it so props to Dell for that.

nice page Yaki, you can check mine at www.coldelysium.com

I like your art section.

I always built my own, and for friends a few times also. I've had many systems in the past, but my current system is as follows:

Soltek 75FRV KT400 motherboard, AMD Athlon XP 1800+, Thermalright SLK-800(A) all-copper heatsink with Panaflo 80mm 24cfm fan, 300watt Enermax power supply, Samsung 512MB DDR333 RAM, 3Dfx Voodoo 5 5500 PCI 64MB, Viewsonice PF775 17inch .25 aperture grille monitor, 2 x 3Com 3C905C-TX-M 10/100, Creative Sound Blaster Live X-Gamer, Logitech Z-560 4.1 THX-certified speakers, 2 x 100GB Western Digital Special Edition 7200rpm 8MB, 1 x 30GB Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 8, LG 8400B 40x12x40 CD writer, and generic 18inch case.

Like the previous guy said, timing is everything. You can score yourself awesome rebates, or just get a nice jump on lowered priced. Most of the stuff in the above system was sold at my purchase price from my mainstream sources many months after I had purchased them, so I knew I was paying a reasonable price at the time of purchase.

Built my first one this winter, worked out fine and I plan on building all my future computers:)

2500 xp barton, radeon 9500 pro, 512 crucial pc3200, epox 8rda+ mobo and a nice antec full tower:) not a single problem, highly recommended you have someone experienced guide you through your first time though!

This is my first computer build. Its everything I dreamed of and more. It took me 6 months to build and a good worth of loot but it kicks the crap out of anything pre-built for the $$$. I bought pretty much the best I could at the time which is why it took me so damn long to build. The hard part was saving the money. Now that it is finished...I'm happy.

built the ones i use with parts from newegg.com
got a new 19" philips monitor off ebay for $130 shipped
:D

This is my second box i have built for myself. Have made a couple others for other people as well.

I buit my current one.

Shuld build the next one. But just can't be bothered this time. So I am going to order all the bits, and get the shop to put it all together. Mainly lazy, I guess.

Philip

i've built 2. goin' to build a 3rd once i get a HD and case or something....Gotta figure out what to use my computers for.

I like building them, but i don't really have a need for them.

I've built about 3 computers, and also maintain them.

I think it's better to build them yourself if you know how, because you can customize it however you want. you can pick your own parts and not accept whetever parts an oem installs. you know more about your computer and installing hardware, upgrading, fixing, etc is easier.

I bought my first PC and have built the last 2.

Whenever I or one of my friends builds a machine we make a party out of it. Going over to the others house, building the system and having a little lan action to test it out.

I built mine and it roxxorz the hizzouse

but seriously, the only time that is a wise financial decision is when you can get high quality oem parts a lot cheaper than retail, and you're using top of the line components.

I have built all but one of my four systems, and several others for family and friends. I am extremely picky and accept nothing less than Asus mainboards and Antc cases, so I avoid the OEM systems like the plague (damn, just remembered I wanted to try to use "Captain_Tripps" for a username here if it was available)

i'm currently building my own right now:)

specs:
asus a7n8x mobo
athlonxp 2700+
80 gb west dig 7200rpm
512mb ddr400
geforce4 ti 4200
52x cd read

i need to get it up and running, then im going to get cd-rw, dvd-rw, etc

I've built about 5 or 6 now for myself and friends, once you do it you'll never go back to buying those prefab crap computers :)

bought my first couple pc's. have been building my own the last few years.

it is nice because you know exactly what you are getting. you can get exactly what components you want.

i just finished upgrading mine (again)

2.4ghz p4 (533mhz)
512 meg ram. once i can afford another ram chip ill be dual channel. but untill then.
albatron 865pe pro II mboard (its loaded with shit, got it because of overclockers.com review. like 2 firewire, 8 usb, 7.1 channel sound built in, optical in/out etc. raid controller, serial ata controller, blah blah. its pretty cool :)
60gig 7200 hd / my old 10gig (lol)
dvd burner
cd burner
geforce ti4200 (64meg ddr)
ati radeon dual head pci (64meg)
wintv card :)

it works for me, no issues yet. (knocks on wood)


i got a prebuilt one for my parents, you dont need much to search the internet and hook up a digicam. no issues either. ;)