Your gaming PC ... did you build it or purchase it pre-built?

[exar333]

So you make more money and then you pay people to do what you can do...Is it me or does that seem incredibly stupid? I hope I never get rich enough to think like that. I don't wanna go broke from paying people to do shit I can do. LOL!

I get both sides of this argument. On one hand, it sounds like the poster doesn't enjoy building their computers anymore, so outsourcing it makes total sense. Just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you want to...

On the other hand, for hobbyists, building a computer is enjoyable and allows you to build exactly what you want.

Another example is woodworking. I know plenty of very well-off people who still build (some) of their own furniture. It is fun for them...For others, they build because it is cheaper than buying the equivalent.

My standpoint is I don't really trust 'professionals' to build my computer. I don't know if someone truly great at what they do is building it, or just another laborer. I already have to hunt around for informed mechanics for my car, when I need work done I cannot do, so I will stick to computer stuff done by me.

 

[z1ggy]

Built mine in 2011. Might slap in a new GPU this summer/fall. Really want to build a whole new machine, but I can't afford it.

 

[KeithTalent]

Built mine several years ago and while all of the internals have changed over quite a few times, I am still rolling with the same Lian-Li case and my Dell 2407wfp. See no reason to change them anytime soon.

KT

 

[Morbus]

So you make more money and then you pay people to do what you can do...Is it me or does that seem incredibly stupid? I hope I never get rich enough to think like that. I don't wanna go broke from paying people to do shit I can do. LOL!

You're just not seeing it from the right angle.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

You're just not seeing it from the right angle.

I really kinda want to hire a housekeeper...

 

[Renob]

Have never purchased a pre built PC, was given one my first ever PC in the 90s have built all my others..

 

[TheVrolok]

My own computers have always been custom.

 

[Midwayman]

Always custom. Seems prebuilt places always cheap out somewhere it really matters and then shovel on adware/trials. I like knowing I have exactly what I want and no crapware weighing down my system.

 

[shortylickens]

Always custom. Seems prebuilt places always cheap out somewhere it really matters and then shovel on adware/trials. I like knowing I have exactly what I want and no crapware weighing down my system.

Good gaming systems from places like Falcon Northwest dont do that.
I have no idea about Alienware. I heard that since they got nabbed by Dell they went to shit.

 

[Morbus]

I really kinda want to hire a housekeeper...

Why don't you? Why are you earning money anyway? Isn't it, among other things, to do stuff you like?

Also, if the time you spend housekeeping is better spent doing something else, and by "better" I mean "earns you more money", won't it be financially for profitable to hire a housekeeper?

 

[Harrod]

I've always built them, I think it's fun doing the research and reading the reviews and other stuff.

 

[lord_emperor]

Built of course. I've built each of my gaming machines, usually on an incredibly restrictive budget.

This year's upgrade:

FX-8310 @ 4.0/4.8GHz
Hyper 212 EVO
GA-970-DS3P
16GB DDR3 1600 9-9-9-24
ASUS Radeon R9 290 DirectCuII
Kingston SSDNow! 120GB
Optical and mechanical HDDs, case, PSU, monitor and accessories carried over.
______
$750 Canadian (inc tax & shipping)

 

[cmdrdredd]

So you make more money and then you pay people to do what you can do...Is it me or does that seem incredibly stupid? I hope I never get rich enough to think like that. I don't wanna go broke from paying people to do shit I can do. LOL!

The whole point of being wealthy and wanting to be wealthy is to have nice things and to be able to pay someone to work for you. For people who are extremely wealthy the cost savings of doing it themselves (and this applies to home improvement too) isn't an issue. They just want to sit back and let someone else do it because the money isn't a concern. Believe me, if I was rich I would never do my own oil changes, brake jobs, replace head gasket etc on my car. That would be something I'd just pay someone else for.

 

[Eric1987]

The whole point of being wealthy and wanting to be wealthy is to have nice things and to be able to pay someone to work for you. For people who are extremely wealthy the cost savings of doing it themselves (and this applies to home improvement too) isn't an issue. They just want to sit back and let someone else do it because the money isn't a concern. Believe me, if I was rich I would never do my own oil changes, brake jobs, replace head gasket etc on my car. That would be something I'd just pay someone else for.

Not me. I'd rather do damn near everything myself. Especially if I was rich how fun would that be?

 

[nightspydk]

The last time I payed someone to do it for me was a p4 that had everything wrong with it. It did get a custom cooler, but once I took it apart I had thermal paste all over my hands, it was terrible.

That was the last pre-build I got.

The thing about putting it together yourself is that you know it is properly done and if there is a problem, you will probably know why, having done it yourself.

The last one i did the atx board didn't go in proper so a case screw was missing. It didn't run to well so I got the board out again later and had it inserted proper..all done.

 

[SPBHM]

for me the last one was around 2003, after that I started upgrading parts, I never build an entire new PC, just change the parts I need... my PC is kind of outdated as a whole, newest parts are from 2011-2012 (CPU-MB) and the oldest stuff... well, the case is from 05 or 06, mouse and keyboard are older...

the process of finding the right parts and putting it together is good fun for me... it's the reason I'm here I guess...

but nothing wrong with going with pre-built, there is some great stuff available today, 15 years ago, not so much.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I've been building my own PC's since 1999. Why stop now? I upgrade portions at a time. Ever few years I'll do a CPU/Mobo/RAM upgrade. In the last few years, getting an SSD can lengthen the time I've held onto CPU/Mobo/RAM combo's.

 

[OCNewbie]

My current "gaming PC" is a laptop, so it was pre-built. Since after my P2-233 machine, I've built all my desktops myself.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

i always build my own, and never again for anyone else

my current system is showing unprecedented longevity - the i3 2100 (don't laugh) has been more than enough and is still capable of crunching all my 1's and 0's in speedy fashion, although the even older gtx 275 is due for replacement this christmas. i just checked and holy crap! i've never gone 4 years on 1 windows install before :awe:

 

[ToySoldier]

i always build my own, and never again for anyone else

my current system is showing unprecedented longevity - the i3 2100 (don't laugh) has been more than enough and is still capable of crunching all my 1's and 0's in speedy fashion, although the even older gtx 275 is due for replacement this christmas. i just checked and holy crap! i've never gone 4 years on 1 windows install before :awe:

I would avoid being an Alpha/Beta tester for Star Citizen *evil grin* concerning the 'unprecedented longevity'.

 

[Fire&Blood]

Somewhere in between I guess. For my current PC, I tried custom boutique, bought the sig PC on a custom PC build site. I couldn't find the case and the mobo as cheap or at all (long story short, I had to have optical SPDIF which really hurt my mobo options) anywhere.

The shop aimed low on the configs but they charged more for "fancier" parts and GPU's that I got elsewhere of course. Fact that they didn't force me to buy windows from them was a plus.


For my next build, I'm going back to DIY. A custom boutique build may make sense on cheaper builds, if you go over $600-700, pre built and custom builds lose value a lot vs. DIY. Most boutique shops start ripping off with SSD's and higher end GPU's but appear reasonable if you don't pick top shelf parts.

I've never been able to find the best deals from a single parts retailer, at least 3 in my experience but I know that sites like ncix will assemble the components you buy from them for $50. Combined with shipping fees that amounts to ~$100 pricier than DIY route. Still a lot better than prebuilts and alienware junk. Ultimate value is in the DIY route of course but I can see the reasoning to justify the builder fee. I was surprised to learn that quite a few people want a water cooled PC but are afraid to get hands on.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

I don't consider iBuyPower a boutique retailer.

Nor do I consider Alienware one anymore.

I have no issues with boutique vendors, as they usually sell something that can't be built, like the Falcon Northwest Tiki.

not that it can't be built, but you or i can't build to that level. all the components are available, except the case which is sourced from silverstone. i certainly couldn't do a pro paint job like them

for cases that are as far ahead of the tiki as the tiki is ahead of an off-the-shelf silverstone / lian li, i present these to drool over:

http://slipperyskip.com/index.html

 

[The Boston Dangler]

I would avoid being an Alpha/Beta tester for Star Citizen *evil grin* concerning the 'unprecedented longevity'.

yes, it's helped that i don't like most new games . if i get serious again, new guts will certainly be required.

I was surprised to learn that quite a few people want a water cooled PC but are afraid to get hands on.

watercooling is high maintenance, typically the territory of people that can't get hands on enough

 

[ToySoldier]

yes, it's helped that i don't like most new games . if i get serious again, new guts will certainly be required.

I was perfectly happy with my last build using an old AMD dual core build playing Baldur's Gate Enhanced 1&2.... and some GoG games until I signed up for Star Citizen. I will probably have to add another GTX 980 when I switch to triple 27" PG278Q (1440p - Gsync) monitors

Build this recently to Alpha test... keep in mind Star Citizen is far from optimized with its coding:

CASE: Cooler Master Cosmos SE
MOTHERBOARD : ASRock Z97 Extreme4 ATX
CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-4690K 3.5Ghz (overclocked to 4.2Ghz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H60 Liquid System
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 980 - 4GB
MEMORY: 16GB (8GBx2) DDR3 F3-12800CL10D-16GBXL G.SKILL Ripjaws X
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer
HD : 120 GB Kingston HyperX 3K SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD - (120GB x 2) **240GB Capacity** Raid 0
USB: Internal USB 3.0 (4-Port Hub)
POWER SUPPLY: Corsair AX860 — 860 Watt 80 PLUS Platinum Certified -Modular
Microsoft® Windows 7 Ultimate edition (64-bit) *** Cant wait for 'retail' Windows 10! ***


.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

So you make more money and then you pay people to do what you can do...Is it me or does that seem incredibly stupid? I hope I never get rich enough to think like that. I don't wanna go broke from paying people to do shit I can do. LOL!

It's you. Your time is valuable and people never seem to grasp that. Let's take painting for example. I can paint and I'm pretty good at it, but it takes me forever to do and I hate the mess. You can hire someone to paint your entire house for a reasonable price and they'll have it done in 2 or 3 days without the mess and it will look pretty nice.

Now for people here, PCs are a hobby and people build them for fun. I can definitely see why most people would buy though -- they just want a machine that works and don't want to mess with building their own because 1) they don't know how or 2) they have no interest. They just want something that does the job and their time is too valuable to them to do it themselves.

I'd never build a PC for anyone other than myself or brothers. That's just asking for headaches.

The whole point of being wealthy and wanting to be wealthy is to have nice things and to be able to pay someone to work for you. For people who are extremely wealthy the cost savings of doing it themselves (and this applies to home improvement too) isn't an issue. They just want to sit back and let someone else do it because the money isn't a concern. Believe me, if I was rich I would never do my own oil changes, brake jobs, replace head gasket etc on my car. That would be something I'd just pay someone else for.

This. I pay others to do most major home improvements. Why? 1) I don't have many of the tools to do them 2) In many cases, I lack the expertise 3) Most importantly, I lack patience, I am pretty slow when I do something repair related, and I just don't enjoy doing it. I wish this weren't the case, but this is my home and I want it to look nice so I'd rather someone knowledgeable do it than me. Same with car stuff -- repairs are so infrequent I'll just pay someone to do them (unless it is something like headlights, wiper blades, etc).