I'm Getting a new PC: Should I Build or Buy?

[African Grey]

I really don't need anything special but I'm trying to spend as little as possible and still get a decent deal. I'd rather not spend more than $700-750, but that includes buying a monitor, speakers, and a keyboard. So I'm really not sure how major the price difference would be between buying some custom or premade PC vs building one on my own, or if it's even worth it for me.

I don't even need anything too spectacular for that price, I don't care so much about having the absolute best performance for my money given that I'm upgrading from this dinky four and a half year old laptop. I'm also not sure I have the time to spend assembling and troubleshooting the thing when I could really just use one sooner than later. That's not a major thing but I just don't feel the motivation to put that much effort into it unless it's really worth it.

I don't need advice on what to buy for building one so much as whether I should or not and what my best options besides building would be. A while back someone once recommended a couple custom gaming pc companies to me that were supposedly better for smaller budgets, but I can't find the bookmarks I had for those and don't remember what they were.

 

[lonesome killer]

You will save money building it yourself. And even more in the long run since you will be able to easily upgrade the parts you need instead of relying on someone else to do it for you.

And if you've never built one before it's extremely easy. My first build took between 4-5 hours. Now with BF4 out I needed a new graphics card and I knew exactly how to replace it.

 

[English]

As lonesome said. Building it will save you some money in the end and allow you to get a better product for the same price because you are not paying another companies payroll to have them construct it for you. Time wise you will be fully up and running with a pre-built computer faster than if you were to build it yourself.

As far as troubleshooting, computer components now are so easy its nearly retard proof. Sockets are clearly labeled, components only go in one way and there is _no real way_ to put components in sockets that they are not meant to go in. Once you get all your parts (assuming you purchase them at the same time and they are all available) will arrive in 2-5 days depending on shipping and then it only takes a couple hours to put in all the components and then install windows.

You can find things like this on NewEgg and Amazon. Decent rigs that are pre-built for under $500 (No monitor included) Figure you will spend about $75-100 on a monitor. $50 on speakers. $20 on keyboard:

http://www.newegg.com/DIY-PC-SuperCombos/PromotionStore/ID-33

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1465673

http://www.amazon.com/CyberpowerPC-...&ie=UTF8&qid=1383763402&sr=1-4#productDetails

http://www.amazon.com/iBuyPower-GAM...B00D467DRK/ref=psdc2_t1_B0089KDCIU_B00D467DRK

 

[African Grey]

Are those links just quick finds or are there any combos or deal like that on newegg you'd recommend? I guess I will just build. Now it's just a matter of figuring out what to get. I'll set my budget to $550 for the rig and see how much I can save on the monitor and keyboard. I hardly use anything but headphones anyway so speakers can wait for now.

 

[English]

Those were just some quick finds. But all are pretty solid for the price. And I think those require you to build it is just a bundled set of components that you get a discount on instead of looking for the components separately

 

[African Grey]

So far this deal is looking good
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1466581
It's just their "black november" special and for $500 I don't think I can get better, including shipping costs. I'll keep looking though.

Any recommendations on cheep but not likely to crap out on me in a month monitors? Same for keyboards.

 

[English]

http://www.amazon.com/VS207D-P-20-I...ref=sr_1_8?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1383766265&sr=1-8

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-S201HL-2...ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1383766308&sr=1-3

I prefer ASUS

 

[VintagePC]

So far this deal is looking good
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1466581
It's just their "black november" special and for $500 I don't think I can get better, including shipping costs. I'll keep looking though.

Any recommendations on cheep but not likely to crap out on me in a month monitors? Same for keyboards.

Can't complain about my samsungs. Own 3, have another 2 at work, and only 1/3 of a dead pixel on one of them. Color is good, easy on the eyes.

For keyboars it might be a bit more difficult. I absolutely can't stand how cheap ones feel when typing on them; there the question becomes "how cheap that actually feels comfortable for you". I don't want anything other than a good mechanical myself, those are incredibly reliable... but you will pay upwards of $50 (cheapest one I see on newegg is $79).

If you're not looking for mechanical, Logitech are generally good for the money.

 

[African Grey]

I think I have it figured out. Getting that combo I linked, along with an LED logitech keyboard that suits the way I type and what I'm used to, and an Asus monitor. The monitor has built in speakers but I mostly use my Koss headphones for everything so I'll hardly need anything more. The monitor is actually one of the ones English linked but from newegg for the same price. Saves me trouble and money with shipping that way.

And someone please tell me I'm not rushing this purchase. It's a good deal and after shipping I'd be spending less than $640 on everything, so I don't know why I'm second guessing it so much.

 

[LavaRed]

I think I have it figured out. Getting that combo I linked, along with an LED logitech keyboard that suits the way I type and what I'm used to, and an Asus monitor. The monitor has built in speakers but I mostly use my Koss headphones for everything so I'll hardly need anything more. The monitor is actually one of the ones English linked but from newegg for the same price. Saves me trouble and money with shipping that way.

And someone please tell me I'm not rushing this purchase. It's a good deal and after shipping I'd be spending less than $640 on everything, so I don't know why I'm second guessing it so much.

The only thing I would suggest, and you can ignore me by all means, is that you take a quick gander into Best Buy or some place similar to see how things look/feel in person. I'm a complete advocate of newegg, but I tested my keyboard and mouse especially in a store before purchasing online.

Good luck!

 

[lonesome killer]

Also check out tom's hardware forums. There are a lot of helpful ppl who will suggest builds for you based on a budget.

 

[English]

Did you end up buying it AG?

 

[lonesome killer]

He did because he was asking for help assembling it in chat box. Tell us what you got!