PC gamer and build your own PC?

Former_MSE_Andrea

Some of the replies on our PC (desktop) gaming to laptop gaming swap poll suggest several of you build your own PCs so we thought we'd find out..

Are you a PC gamer and build your own custom PC?

Sparhawke

Yes

I didn't actually put the parts together myself but sat down with the son of a friend who does it and set up my specs and got him to do it.

I did not have money to burn putting the wrong components in the wrong way and frying my motherboard lol

My PC is custom built and not store bought so I guess you could say I built it myself though

R14ull

Yes

Its the only way!! It helps you understand PC's more if you build custom!

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Yes

i find you could build a pc to the specs you require much more cheaply (because you get the option to shop around) than buying a named production line pc.

theres things in a production pc that i will not use because i dont bother with such things, for e.g card reader, i simply plug in cam or phone and put them in a file with usb cable no need to take appart the phone then to access the sd card. i dont use wifi i use ethernet as its more stable way of connecting so a wifi card is N/A to me.

i dont need bluetooth.

more often than not production pc's are kitted out with entry level gaming spec hardware and a upgrade is required to game without graphical issues or running on absolute min graphic settings.

production level pc's are usually small, not very good for upgrading to larger hardware due to lack of internal space and cooling is usually an issue with just an exhaust fan on the back and maybe an inlet fan in the front so you cpu cooler (stock) blow already warm air onto a CPU that required to be cool at all times for optimum life span.

i once opened up a 1 year old PC and totted up the cost of the parts going by the serial numbers off them.

the whole tower inc case and psu mobo hdd and accessories etc came to £230.00 the monitor 17" came to £59.00 the person paid £599.99 for it.

for that price i could have built a quicker more reliable system with a larger screen.

Weird_Nev

They cut corners with off the shelf PC's too. They'll put the cheapest PSU's and motherboards and RAM in them, knowing that people buy off the headline numbers and don't dig deeper. It's those bits that can limit the performance of the system or make it expensive to upgrade in the future.
They also load them down with bloat ware and freebies that you don't want or need. Far better to start with a clean install and put the freshest drivers on it from scratch.
Two PC's with seemingly identical Spec could have vastly different performance for games:
Intel i5
8Gb ram
Nvidia Geforce 660 Graphics

Could fly, or it could be a total dog!

dibuzz

My son built his last PC a few months ago and saved about £500.
It only took a few hours and if there was anything he wasn't sure of he used youtube or a manufacurer's website to confirm.
Never having done it before he was a bit nervous, especially at the scary moment when he switched it on for the first time but it was fine.

mazza111

I used to do it when I was gaming. But now my hands are knacked, I have to confess, I bought my last pc prebuilt and stuck a gfx card in it. Custom building you get exactly what you want/need and save on the costs too.

As an x gamer though, I feel quite ashamed of buying a prebuild. Would never have even considered it in all my years as a gamer :rotfl:

Tropez

Yes

I've been building my desktop PCs since I was a teenager.

I think it is advantageous for many reasons. Firstly, you get to decide on every single component that goes into it. No pre-built PCs with less-than-dandy motherboards or PSUs, you get to make sure that every component fits whatever specification you have.

It's cheaper as you're cutting out labour costs, not paying over the top for "brand" names and you can shop around to make sure you get the best deal on components.

Because you've had the final say on every component, I find that the necessity to upgrade or replace the PC doesn't crop up as much. I built a PC for a friend 3-4 years ago and they upgraded for the first time this year (RAM and extra HDD), and that PC still runs the latest games without a hitch. In my case, I built myself a new, rather-fancy and excessively specced PC this year. My previous PC was a much more modest build and lasted five years or so with only one upgrade (storage).

And I think you also save money in maintenance. People who build their own PCs are usually comfortable and savvy enough to know when a hardware error occurs, what is likely to be causing it. We get used to the various error messages, so if a Memtest fails due to faulty RAM on-boot, we know the symptoms and can diagnose and make our own repairs/replacements without spending extra on getting a specialist to just look at it.

sirmosh

I've built my own machines for years but haven't put a new one together for a while since my last setup still plays most games on fairly high settings and I don't play games like I used to.

ragecake

Yes

I build my own, because it's cheaper and I can keep everything tidy.

it's also easier than people imagine really.

mazza111

It is a lot easier than people imagine. I would definitely still be building my own if my hands weren't so rubbish!!! I really hated buying this one lol. Couldn't even fit the gfx card myself and had to show my son how to do it :rotfl: