New Computer

Nice with the 7 year warranty but I would look for a modular power supply if it were me. It helps decrease the air resistance when only the needed wires are connected plus makes it look much cleaner inside. Just a personal preference if I were looking to build a machine right now.

 

Great option for people who have an average system. No offense.

The benefit of modular is outweighed by performance and reliability. Most people don`t seem to mind. But me personally if I`m dropping cash on high performance parts, I`m gonna feed them properly

An average modular psu can lose 10-15% power due to resistance. It depends on ones needs I reckon.

 

If your looking to pick up some ram newegg has a good deal I noticed on the front page of slickdeals.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ction-_-cables-_-na-_-na&Item=N82E16820145345

8GB(2X4GB) for $60 free shipping you can buy 2 sets and have 16GB of ram for $120 a good start to a nice system. Has great reviews on newegg for them too.

 

Good memory at a good price, but sold out already. But that's no big deal because they have great deals there pretty much every day.

A word of caution is to determine whether you are going to use a dual channel or a triple channel motherboard/processor combo.

If you are going to build for triple channel then buy the memory in matched sets of 3, and the same concept for dual-channel like in the link in the last post, get a matched set of 2 then.

 

Yes with deal from slickdeals they tend to go quickly but its a great site to find incredible deals on anything and everything.

We bought 3 28' and 2 32' fiberglass ladders from home depot for $29 each. normally 299.99 and 329.99 respectively. They were on clearance due to a new style coming in. Ever since that I've been sold on it and let everyone know about it.

 

I like Dell. The downside is that for their home products, if you need support - it's off-shored.

I would find a pre-built PC that has as much RAM, HDD, and processor as you can afford. Something with multiple expansion slots (more than likely a tower or min-tower). Then spend your money on a good gaming video card/monitor(s).

You certainly have many options if you roll your own - but truth be told- from a cost perspective you can't really beat the big players like Dell/HP/Lenovo on a price per component basis. I would take advantage of their cost efficiencies for a base system then add in your own components to trick out a gaming system

 

There is a reason you get a great price from the big players. They use components they buy in large bulk that are generally not the best.

Power supply is definitely going to be skimped on, can't argue that they have the best prices due to agreements with software companies. Hardware wise you can build about an equivalent system its the software that will kill you in costs.

Its obviously a personal preference but building it yourself you will be able to do upgrades and know your system better then buying a cookie cutter machine.

 

Depends largely on the manufacturer in terms of component quality.

I've bought hundred of workstations at a time and rarely seen a power supply failure. The number one failure item that I've seen in any PC is the hard drive.

You could build your own system with the finest "high-end" (many will be the exact same as those used by the "big guys") components - but why? Your machine will be obsolete in 4-5 years.

 

If you're a gamer then it'll be obsolete in 3 years if you want to play the newest stuff with all of the eye candy turned on. Often you can eek out more life by just upgrading the video card and/or processor though as long as the form factor hasn't changed dramatically.

The subject of this thread revolved around building your own though, and I have done that for 20 years, as well as bought dozens of pre-built systems. So in keeping with that theme, we've been sharing our experiences with building them.

I concur with smarttowers though that there are very OFTEN component differences that are not "exact same" as a prebuilt unit. And there is no way you can buy a pre-built system with the best guts for what you can build it for yourself.

 

Avoid using Internet Explorer, use an alternate such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.

Look at Kaspersky and F-Secure for anti-virus; Avira and Avast are also good options.

If you are licensed for Microsoft Office than by all means install it - but if you are looking to maximize your hardware spend Open Office (free) will do the bulk of what Microsoft Office will do and the price is right.