PC - Build or Buy

Robm1955

I've had my pc a few years now, and it's not as fast as it was, so I have thought of getting a new pc with a bigger hard drive, and more ram. My son, who is capable of putting the components together suggested we build one. I don't know what components I need, and he's not sure what to suggest. I don't want if for gaming, but more for editing movies, and audio. Stuff like that. Probably, watching tv as well. Do I go for a SATA drive, or SSD? The next thing is Windows! Is it going to be cheaper to buy a pc with Windows installed? or buy Windows seperately. I looking at a 2TB or more drive, Windows 7, but not sure what ram I would need. We have a desktop at the moment, but we also have a couple of empty cases that would probably suit most motherboards, but ideally, the smaller case the better, if I need to buy one. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

enfield_freddy

https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/


start with an idea of which cpu , or at least a model/brand and work thru the list , it will point out any incompatibilities

Cisco001

What is your budget for new?

And what is the spec for you current PC?

bsod

you'll attract biased answers with a question like that

re-installing windows, or buying a ready made pc from a well known manufacturer is the more sensible route.

nidO

Generally these days, if you have to ask, buy.

Actually putting a PC together is no harder than assembling a bit of lego, but you do need the knowledge to sort out proper mix of components to actually buy and one wrong bit can bottleneck your entire system and turn a £1000 machine into something no better than you could have paid £500 for, and you need to know what you're doing if when you end up plugging everything together you're unfortunate enough for it to not just work as it should.

Similarly, long gone are the days where buying a pre-built PC would cost 2-3x what the components would be for a self-build, the actual cost in having a system built for you isn't generally too much higher than the retail cost of the components nowadays.

If you don't want something entirely off-the-peg plenty of places (such as http://www.scan.co.uk/3xs) offer extensive customisation choices, but as what you're buying is a built machine the choices they give you will at the very least be compatible, and usually decent options, for each part.

Mr_Robot_5

I would say upgrade your existing PC with SSD's maybe RAM and then installing windows!

If you want more performance instead of going with one SSD you can do a RAID 0 setup! Check if your motherboard model if it supports RAID 0 and the type / size of maximum RAM you can install.
RAID 0 works far better with SSDs than it does with hard drives, because mechanical drives aren’t fast enough to take full advantage of the increased bandwidth. In most cases, running SSDs in tandem works really, really well. When we paired two SSD's in RAID 0, you will get a large-file write and read speeds!

If you have the cash and the appropriate motherboard, I highly recommend running SSDs (1 to 7 SSD's depending on how many SATA ports you have!) in RAID 0. You will notice the difference.

One final word of advice: Be sure to have a routine backup plan in place. If any drive in a RAID 0 configuration fails, you could lose all your data!!

enfield_freddy

overkill , to put it bluntly

mart44

Using a small local computer shop is another option. True they will want to make some money but they build to requirements and know what goes with what. I know more or less what their profit will be beforehand because the hardware in written quotes can be researched on the Internet.

For that money though, they have to order the parts, put them together, test the assembled computer's operation for a day or so and then guarantee it for a year. If anything does go wrong, it's somewhere local to take the computer back to and talk to the person who built and supplied it. It's they who would have the trouble of sending any faulty parts back and replacing them.

All that is worth some money in my opinion ..and buying locally supports shops and jobs in the area.

kwikbreaks

I used to build my own when doing so could save a fair bit of money. That was many years ago though. I'd say unless you have some very specific needs it's easier and less risky to just buy tailor made with an overall spec level you judge to suit your needs.

The most cost effective upgrade these days is an SSD. I have put them in all of my machines.

Robm1955

Thanks guys for all the info. Looks as though buying is the best option. At the moment I have an Acer Aspire X3200, Windows Vista, AMD Quadcore 1.80 GHz processor, 4Gb ram, and Xonar sound card (the onboard one packed in on me). With an NVidaa GEforce 9200 graphics card. So basically to watch/edit videos, and multi task, I need a faster processor, more ram, and something to keep it cool.

jbainbridge

Bit late to this ... but when you can buy a perfectly adequate Lenovo pc from Ebuyer for around £200 I'd suggest you won't save money by building one. By all means do it as a project but not to save money.