Building your own Computer?

madnlooney

normally on the sites when you click each thing people sometimes leave reviews. also google the components

phantomteabagger

avfc4life wrote: »

Im looking to get a new computer soon. I havent really got a budget at the moment as i havent looked into it properly.

I know a few people on here do build their own computers (Computerwoman etc) and was just looking for abit of advice really. I have reserved a book about from my local libary and hopefully that will help.

Basically i just want to know a few things:

1) How much cheaper does it work out if any?

2) How hard is it to do? (i know it will require alot of work but if its really hard to do i dont think ill bother)

3) where do you buy the parts from is there like a catalogue (sp) you can get?

4) How long would it take in hours?

and most importantly is it worth doing? I think it will be something interesting to do and hopefully save a few quid and help me get a better understand of how computers work.

Thanks

1. Works out quite a bit cheaper and allows a custom build
2. Not hard once you have practiced a few times.
3. Just make a list of all the parts you want then buy over the internet. Make sure the parts are compatible, e.g. choose your processor then find a motherboard with the correct socket.
4. Would take me 30-45 minutes if I was being careful. For a beginner I would allow 3 hours at least. Once built, OS installation would take around 1.5 hours and driver and app installtion another 30 minutes or so.

Hope that helps.

daveyjp

I use these for anything IT:

http://www.cclonline.com/

You can choose what system you want and they will build it for you. Charge for this service is about £50.

BritBrat

Not worth building your own although I have build every computer here.

The only time it becomes cost effective is when you build the next upgrade as you can then use a lot of the parts from the first one and just buying a new motherboard, ram and CPU.

I would however make sure you buy one that can be upgraded.

One other thing, building your own you learn a lot and can repair/fix any problems you may have in the furture, so if you value the learning then it may be worth doing your own.

Conor_3

avfc4life wrote: »

Basically i just want to know a few things:

1) How much cheaper does it work out if any?

2) How hard is it to do? (i know it will require alot of work but if its really hard to do i dont think ill bother)

3) where do you buy the parts from is there like a catalogue (sp) you can get?

4) How long would it take in hours?

and most importantly is it worth doing? I think it will be something interesting to do and hopefully save a few quid and help me get a better understand of how computers work.

Thanks

1) It's not. If you're wanting bargain basement, it is impossible to build one to the same spec as the box shifters with a legit OS included.

2) Nowadays, not very.

3) https://www.scan.co.uk , https://www.aria.co.uk , https://www.ebuer.com, https://www.cclonline.co.uk

4) I'm down to 15 minutes now. Can get one knocked up with OS and drivers installed in an hour. For a first build, a couple of hours or so.

Is it worth doing? Definitely - but not for monetary reasons. You get a PC you've built to exactly what you want. I reckon everyone should do it at least once if to do nothing else but show them they can do hardware installs themselves without paying a gimp at PC World £30 to undo 3 screws and put a card into a slot.

avfc4life

I dont want a cheap pc. But again i dont have pots of money. I want a PC that will last at least 3/4 years so this is ideal since i would be able to upgrade it myself.

I also want to be able to say that i have built my own pc and to know how they work so i would be able to fix any problems i was having. Also i like the idea of being able to build it to my specifications.

Every comment put up the more appealing the idea of building it myself becomes. I will look it to it seriously as this was just the first step as i dont want to go into anything blind.

Thanks for all your help:D .

I'm_With_Stupid

In my experience, it's easy, until something goes wrong, then if you don't know what you're doing, it's hard to even diagnose what the fault is. I built my first PC last year, and I had a few problems (I was lucky to know a good computer engineer that could test my components individually). My first recommendation would be whatever components you buy, type their name into Google along with "problem." That'll give you an idea as to how reliable it is, and any compatibility issues others have had. If I'd had done this, there's no way I would've bought the motherboard I did originally, because it was a disaster for pretty much everyone that used it.

The most important thing to do though, is to type in the name of the company you're planning on buying from, and type their name into Google along with "customer service." If I'd have done this, I never would've gone near Microdirect, and wouldn't have been out of pocket for over 6 months before they'd actually pick up the phone (they picked up the phone first time when I wanted to send the item back to them of course, but as soon as I wanted to use my store credit, they mysteriously disappeared). Ebuyer on the other hand, are excellent for returns, and you don't have to phone them up to order a new item once you've returned the original. The reason this is important is basically that just because something should be compatible, doesn't mean it will be, especially with RAM. You may have to return something. So check out the returns policies carefully, but like I said, Ebuyer were good for me, Microdirect were appauling for me, and judging by the results on Google, a lot of other people too. Also, you probably won't get everything you want from one supplier, but try and limit it to two or three to save on the delivery.

99% of it is knowing what to buy in the first place. Putting it together is easy. And there are lots of knowledgable people on the internet that you can ask if you get stuck. Good luck.

richyrichuk

yeah.

as others have said. if the pc is just for word and internet. just get ur self a dell.

if u need a PC for gaming then build your own.

best offers for dells are in the newspapers..dont bother online with dell..

Lord_Gardener

Browntoa wrote: »

and here

Bootcamp 441: Build your own Vista-Ready PC, pt 6
Bootcamp 440: Build your own Vista-Ready PC, pt 5
Bootcamp 439: Build your own Vista-Ready PC, pt 4
Bootcamp 438: Build your own Vista-Ready PC, pt 3
Bootcamp 437: Build your own Vista-Ready PC, pt 2
Bootcamp 436: Build your own Vista-Ready PC for around £200

and the older one

Bootcamp 324: build your own PC - pt 4
Bootcamp 323: build your own PC - pt 3
Bootcamp 322: build your own PC - pt 2
Bootcamp 321: build your own PC - pt 1

from the Daily Telegraph

loads of people built these !!

Yes, I did!! Remember to factor in the operating system and 'Office suite@ costs!!

BritBrat

I dont want a cheap pc. But again i dont have pots of money. I want a PC that will last at least 3/4 years so this is ideal since i would be able to upgrade it myself

If your going to build one and you want the latest technology you will pay over the odd's for it, if it was me I would build last years technology as you will get it far cheaper and it will run everything apart from the very latest games.