New PC: homebuild or off the shelf?

[Cohaagen]

In the next couple of months, after saving dole money and selling shit on Ebay, I'll finally have enough money to get a new desktop PC and I was wondering whether I should bother with a homebuild or just get a ready-made one. Building my own interests me as a way of saving money and optimising components. I'm not a complete dummy when it comes to PCs: I've been using them since DOS 5.1 and I've changed or upgraded CPUs, RAM, graphics cards, optical drives, but I am rather behind the curve regards the latest technology. It'll mainly be used for games but I also do a lot in Photoshop and Illustrator. I don't have a great deal of money to play with - about £450 - and that is ex-VAT as _{I'm doing a tax scam}. So about 550 inc. VAT. That's not a great deal for a gaming PC, but bear in mind that the last big release I got which went above 15fps was Half Life 2: Episode 2, so anything above a Pentium 4 is going to be like Milhouse playing Bonestorm to me. Already got a keyboard, mouse, good set of speakers, and a shit old monitor so I'll get by on them for the time being. I've had a look through Overclockers but are there other recommended places to shop?

Bella Thorne has a big chin.

[Puffin Chunks]

I'd recommend building. I'm going to be building one myself soon.

It's worth looking at this vid from Youtuber Jackfrags, who looked to build a gaming PC for less than £300. It's 5 months old now, so some of the info may be a little out of date, but it should still be relevant. Also, with your extra £250 you should be able to significantly upgrade a few bits and pieces.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh455l3348s

[Cohaagen]

Thanks for that.

One of the things I'm well behind on is who's in the lead in the processor game, ie. whether to go for Intel or AMD, that sort of thing. I've always used Nvidia cards so I'll stick with them. I've also been looking at the ready-built systems on Overclockers - are they worth going for, folks? This:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=FS-210-OK&groupid=43&catid=2475

Is £402 ex. VAT, so I can spend the rest on a new monitor, but it seems I'm paying a mark-up for some twat to assemble it for me. It also doesn't come with an OS as standard, so does anyone know where I can get a cheap OEM copy of Windows 7?

EDIT: I should also add that I'm going for 8 gig RAM (preferably) and a 1TB hard drive (definitely).

EDIT AGAIN: Also, I am totally clueless regarding Nvidia cards these days. The technology has moved on so much since I was last clued-up (hint: the badass card in those days was the 8800GTX) so I'm in need of guidance here too.

[Cohaagen]

pleas hep mi

[Big Jack McBastard]

Can't speak for Overclockers but that build aint half bad.

I can say very little good about nVidia cards and I used them right up until this latest build when I switched to ATI and I've never looked back, not having a graphics card with hideous driver problems and befuddling BSODs is something of a novelty now. Not to mention it runs everything I throw at it without complaint. (I'm currently using a Radeon HD 5670 which is a couple of years old and out of date when I got it but then any sanely priced one will be).

If you've not been here yet it's worth a look.

[hedgehog90]

Self build.
Case, motherboard, power supply, ram, cpu, cpufan, graphics card, harddrive. That sounds like a lot but it really isn't price wise. You could build a very decent rig for about 400.
Maybe buy a cheap custom built base unit with a good processor from a specialist eBay seller and buy the extra ram and graphics card separately.
The price would not be much more and it saves you the worry of putting it all together and buying the right parts.
This is what I've done in the past.

[jutl]

Self build.
Case, motherboard, power supply, ram, cpu, cpufan, graphics card, harddrive. That sounds like a lot but it really isn't price wise. You could build a very decent rig for about 400.
Maybe buy a cheap custom built base unit with a good processor from a specialist eBay seller and buy the extra ram and graphics card separately.
The price would not be much more and it saves you the worry of putting it all together and buying the right parts.
This is what I've done in the past.

If you do that make sure that the PSU is adequate for the new graphics card. You need a good margin of comfort.

[hedgehog90]

Also, Jack's right, don't get nvidia. Very similar story. I've owned 3 and every one was disappointment. They underperformed and never lasted more than a couple years despite minimal use, and they tend to be bulky bastards that take up too much room.
ATI is more reliable and get better performance for the price.

[hedgehog90]

If you do that make sure that the PSU is adequate for the new graphics card. You need a good margin of comfort.

Yes. I've had about 4 PSU failures since venturing into PC building/improvent. If you get a cheap one (20 quid) there's a good chance it'll pop when you have erythema connected. Likely you'll want a >=500w one, around 40 quid. I recommend Corsair, and not some cheap unknown brand PSU.

[jutl]

Yes. I've had about 4 PSU failures since venturing into PC building/improvent. If you get a cheap one (20 quid) there's a good chance it'll pop when you have erythema connected. Likely you'll want a >=500w one, around 40 quid. I recommend Corsair, and not some cheap unknown brand PSU.

Yup - and don't rely on the fact that the machine boots and runs games as an indication that the PSU is up to the job. Crappy PSUs can lead to subtle effects like additional latency or intermittent frame rate crashes.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I wouldn't home build, unless you know exactly what you're doing. A much better option is to use ebay to get one custom built. That way you can easily select what you want and don't want and let them worry about putting it all together. I did it with my last desktop PC and was very happy with the price and computer.

[Ignatius_S]

....Building my own interests me as a way of saving money and optimising components...

I don't think the cost advantage is anything as it was and friends, who used to recommend building your own, don't anymore. All of these friends work in IT - I was chatting to one recently about set-ups in general and he mentioned that when he put his last gaming rig together, he paid Novatech £60 to put it together as he thinks it's too much of a hassle and chore.

[Mr_Simnock]

I will be building one soon but I have a bigger budget of around £1000. I'll be getting one of the Haswell i5 processors (Intel so far ahead of AMD it's a bit bonkers). As for PSU for me that's the most important component after the CPU. I always gor for really good ones and I have my eye on a fanless one from Seasonic that'l give me upto 92% efficiency (in the reviews it gives at the very minium 89%) which is very important to me. The biggest problem for me with cheap PSU's is their inneficiency with most barely giving 80+ at the best of times. I beleive a more efficient PSU will pay for itself over time as well. The reason I always build over prebought is for lots of reasons -
1. I have control over what goes into my PC so it is tailored to exactly what I need (my new PC will be sound centric to a degree)
2. I know no corners have been cut in areas like power supply units or storage
3. Each of the components are guaranteed and under warranty so if anything fails then that component can be popped out, sent back and replaced without a fee from a store to fix it.
4. Its so easy the idea of paying someone to do it is mental, absolutely anyone can do it, its piss to do
5. I can save money in some areas by reusing certain parts from my old PC (so in a way I can use my budget to get better parts than I would if buying a complete system)
6. You aren't tied to useing one company for RAM or graphics cards and upgrading is no problem unlike for those who choose to buy something from the likes of DELL etc

I'll put a sudgested list of stuff for you to buy if you want and it would be good to compare it premades, what do you intend to use it for Coohagen?

[Consignia]

I don't think the cost advantage is anything as it was and friends, who used to recommend building your own, don't anymore. All of these friends work in IT - I was chatting to one recently about set-ups in general and he mentioned that when he put his last gaming rig together, he paid Novatech £60 to put it together as he thinks it's too much of a hassle and chore.

It's not a difficult job to put together a PC by any stretch, but the cost advantage I've found in the last few years is almost nothing. The only reason I would, is when I need a specific set up that no one else can offer, i.e. when I built my media centre PC a couple of years back, and get the right case and parts were from different places.

It's fun to do, though.

[Ignatius_S]

It's not a difficult job to put together a PC by any stretch, but the cost advantage I've found in the last few years is almost nothing. The only reason I would, is when I need a specific set up that no one else can offer, i.e. when I built my media centre PC a couple of years back, and get the right case and parts were from different places.

It's fun to do, though.

Yeah, it was primarily the economic factor that I was commenting upon – there used to be a real saving building (even if building from scratch) but that's no longer there. As you say, if you're looking for something very specific (and/or get various parts from different suppliers) which isn't being offered elsewhere, then that's a great reason.

As you say, it is fun to do – but it won't be everybody's idea of fun! With the friend I mentioned, he spends all the time working with computers and was far happier to have the components already assembled to avoid doing something he often has to do - the cost of labour was practically nothing compared to the components and felt it was money worth spent. Personally, I'm very sympathetic to that approach – these days, I'm willing to spend a little bit more in order to spend the time on stuff I'd rather be doing.

[Big Jack McBastard]

There is definitely sense of accomplishment in building your first couple of homebuild machines, even more-so when they don't scream bloody murder at you or do 'fuck all' when you first press the power button.

I had poignant moment of creeping dread with my current machine when I first attempted booting it and nothing happened, I was certain everything was fitted correctly and couldn't fathom what I might have done wrong, I kept suspecting the power supply was shafted or I'd picked up a faulty board. 5 minutes of 'Oh for fucks sake' and opening up the side to investigate came to a close when I noticed the power switch on the back of the PSU was off.

'D'oh' then 'Phew' and all was well.

[Cohaagen]

Thanks for all the advice, folks. After thinking about it I'll probably just by an off-the-shelf model, reasons being:

1) after years of coping with an obsolete and sluggish PC I'm unlikely to notice the difference between a £450 homebuilt and a £450 retail computer, especially as I work my way through four or five years of PC gaming I've missed out on

2) Despite being computer savvy I'm exactly the kind of person who loses the rag and thumps mechanical/electrical objects when they don't work

3) My family have spent the last 15 years telling people that I'm "the PC man", meaning I've spent countless hours fixing their, and other people's, fucking computers for no reward and thinking about it I don't really want to see the inside of a tower case again.

I'll probably go for this, having had a look around:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/novatechblacknta12.html

Don't really like the twatty case and I'd prefer an FX-8320 CPU as it's only about £30 more, but I need the money for a new monitor.

[Jamesieab]

Try http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3525843&pagenumber=1 for a no nonsense guide to PC building, these people know what they're talking about and you won't end up with something ridiculously overspecced. Don't forget to read the OP!

Newegg http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=newegg+how+to+build+a+computer+part+1&oq=newegg&gs_l=youtube.3.2.0l10.1986.3388.0.7237.6.5.0.1.1.0.136.492.4j1.5.0...0.0...1ac.1.11.youtube.Gcp2YuFvAKM have some videos on how to build a pc.

I agree with Wilbur, around £600/£700 should get you a very good machine (sans monitor).

I posted this in another thread, someone might find the links useful.
Also http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/ is good for suggesting compatible parts, you can change country in the dropdown at top right.

[Cohaagen]

Thanks to everyone who offered advice. In the end I bought this:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/pc/range/novatechblacknta12.html

for £433 (ex. vat). I also grabbed a free 17" flatscreen monitor that was being thrown out by the cousin of my sister's boyfriend. £180 of the total was raised via eBay sales, the rest through a week spent literally shovelling shit, cow shit, on my sister's farm. I was covered in the stuff in spite of waterproof overalls and wellies, and at night my snot came out brown when I blew my nose. For a mere £30 more the PC was a much better spec than the Overclockers number earlier (FX-6300 vs FX-4100, HD 7770 vs HD 6670, 2Tb hard drive vs 1Tb, all in a huge gaming case with plenty of ventilation and room). I bought Windows 7 seperately. Novatech customer service was very good and I got 24hr delivery, which unfortunately became 48hr delivery due to the incompetence of Parcelforce/Royal Mail and their fuckwitted postman who turned up with a face beamer and red eyes after 2hrs parked up at the end of the street visiting some piece of shit pothead's flat.

It was amazing to play Far Cry 3 in DX11, on Ultra settings with 2xAA, albeit at 1280x1024 (the most the monitor can handle) and Fallout: New Vegas maxed-out (plus overridden settings thru FOMM). STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl is well maxed-out too and has 60+ FPS without a stutter or glitch. Great to have a half-decent PC for the first time since 1995, and even then that one was full of non-brand or cheap components (Cyrix 486DX2-66 CPU, no-make 16bit sound card, Lidl RAM, Kwiksave motherboard...only the HD was Toshiba and it died after seven years). All components here are branded, good-quality parts. I still have a few things selling on eBay[nb]if you're in the market for a Vietnam flak jacket, grab the chance! This piece of 'Nam memorabilia could be yours for only £79.99![/nb] so my next purchase will be either more games or an HD 7870 or 7950, depending on what they bring in, with another AM3+ processor like the 8320 or 8350 in the wings as a future upgrade. I'm very impressed with the 6300 so far though, particularly for a "mid-range" processor, it's eaten up everything I've thrown at it. Even better is the fact that it turned out to be the "Black Edition" overclocking version which wasn't even specified in the original website description.