building computers vs. pre-built machines(compaq/hp/etc)

[WilliamW]

You can also keep an eye open for other pre-built machines from friends or from local computer stores (not junk stores). I got my system for 500 dollars and a lot of the parts in it come with a life time warranty.

The 9800GX2 EVGA video card has a life time warranty.
The 4 GB of ram I have come with a life time warranty.
Hard drives have I think a 5 year warranty.
The motherboard had like a 3 year warranty.
The power supply also had like a 3 year warranty.

So getting something pre-built with quality parts shouldn't really have any edge over a manufacturers system I think. Plus it's MUCH harder to upgrade an HP or Dell than it is with something you build yourself.

[mj213]

You can also keep an eye open for other pre-built machines from friends or from local computer stores (not junk stores). I got my system for 500 dollars and a lot of the parts in it come with a life time warranty.

The 9800GX2 EVGA video card has a life time warranty.
The 4 GB of ram I have come with a life time warranty.
Hard drives have I think a 5 year warranty.
The motherboard had like a 3 year warranty.
The power supply also had like a 3 year warranty.

So getting something pre-built with quality parts shouldn't really have any edge over a manufacturers system I think. Plus it's MUCH harder to upgrade an HP or Dell than it is with something you build yourself.

Dells are easy to upgrade. Unless you buy one of these:



Then you can still upgrade the hard drive, even add a drive, switch out the optical disc drive, and add RAM.

With the exception of the All-In-One machines, and the Studio Hybrids (similar to the Mac Minis) Dells are relatively standardized. If you're adding a drive, the tower even includes the mounting hardware.

When did you buy your 500 dollar computer? Those video cards are a few years old.

[cloudasc]

For the budget minded there really is no competing with the deals walmart, bestbuy, etc offer for their budget systems. Its really about what you need it to do or plan for it do due in the future.

If you want a cheap and fast computer, buy one off the budget shelf (thats upgradable [make sure it has a pci-x slot and not a blank spot on the motherboard]), then upgrade the ram, & add a video card, and possibly upgrade the hard drive. Those 3 things will make the most noticable speed improvements in any computer.

If you want a midrange to dream machine, its better to build it yourself, as you'll save alot of money that would normally be the markup.

Name brand parts also have a higher out of the box compatiblity with operating systems, which means less drivers to have to track down.

If you build it yourself, keep your upc's, owners manual, and the reciepts, so if an individual component fails, you can get a replacement via the manufacturers warranty. Also no matter what the component, there is a possiblity to purchase something new that is dead in box, or will fail shortly after its put in use (thats the reason for warranties). The cheaper the parts the higher the odds.

Hard Drives also have an average MTBF (Mean time between Failure) of 3-5 years. So if your hard drive is 3 years old or longer, make sure you have any important information saved.

Out of 50 New HP DC5800 Desktop computers for work, we've had one with a power supply blow up a week after use. One hard drive that died a month after use. One Keyboard & Mouse after two weeks.

Out of 30 New HP EliteBook 8530w computers for work, I've had one computer where the backlight/screen inverter failed within a week.

These are out of their business line.

Sheit happens.

[gloryaccordy]

I'm really torn. I need a computer for music production, and I'm debating building something. The last computer I built (back in 98 or so) failed catastrophically, and took a lot of good music with it. I have a Dell now that is not upgradeable (512MB RAM limit lol) that has been trucking with me since 2001. So I don't know. I think I will just get the Dell. I don't know if their quality has gone down, but I've had Dell laptops for work and my dad uses Dell exclusively for his office, and in both cases I've seen no problems. Plus their computers aren't super expensive...

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/deskt...deals_anav_2~~

Decent.... dual core, 4GB RAM, 640GB HD, Windows Vista, Dell quality + support + warranty, $400. Plus I'm sure I can get a discount thru my dad. I think I'm gonna go with this.

[Masamune]

ive been building my own towers, minus my first computer ever.


a couple co-workers of mine are looking to get a new tower, but they just want one for everyday use, for the most part. was it just an assumption of mine, or do prebuilt budget computers use lower grade parts?

they were only looking to spend between $3-400. but i could easily build them a decent tower, since neither of them need anything beyond onboard video. is it worth the time or are they all the same at that price point?

Are you prepared to be tech support though? However crappy some of those companies are with tech support (*cough*HP*cough*) they still provide at least some menial form of basic tech support and trouble shooting.

[WilliamW]

Dells are easy to upgrade.

When did you buy your 500 dollar computer? Those video cards are a few years old.

I guess I just remember all the dells i see having some special power connection on the motherboard so you have to use their power supply and their mother board (it was a long time ago too so things may be different now) but swapping out major hardware such as a motherboard and processor was just nearly impossibly.

I got the computer last year. I owed my sister 200 dollars or a computer and so I gave her my old one which was a AMD athlon 3200XP. My current machine isn't bad by any means, It will play most games decently with all the eye candy set up to maximum. I think the only other thing I'd eventually like to do is run another Nvidia 9800GX2 in quad SLI mode. But even that's over kill for what I'm doing right now (Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, and Borderlands mainly).

I'm really torn. I need a computer for music production, and I'm debating building something. The last computer I built (back in 98 or so) failed catastrophically, and took a lot of good music with it. I have a Dell now that is not upgradeable (512MB RAM limit lol) that has been trucking with me since 2001. So I don't know. I think I will just get the Dell. I don't know if their quality has gone down, but I've had Dell laptops for work and my dad uses Dell exclusively for his office, and in both cases I've seen no problems. Plus their computers aren't super expensive...

I believe computer back up measures are quite advanced now compared to 1998. There are so many different RAID configurations that if your willing to trade some hard drive space for security you'll be fine. I'm not a SUPER techie type of guy, but I try and pay attention when my room mate tells me about this type of thing. He is a SUPER techie kind of guy.

[mj213]

I'm really torn. I need a computer for music production, and I'm debating building something. The last computer I built (back in 98 or so) failed catastrophically, and took a lot of good music with it. I have a Dell now that is not upgradeable (512MB RAM limit lol) that has been trucking with me since 2001. So I don't know. I think I will just get the Dell. I don't know if their quality has gone down, but I've had Dell laptops for work and my dad uses Dell exclusively for his office, and in both cases I've seen no problems. Plus their computers aren't super expensive...

http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/deskt...deals_anav_2~~

Decent.... dual core, 4GB RAM, 640GB HD, Windows Vista, Dell quality + support + warranty, $400. Plus I'm sure I can get a discount thru my dad. I think I'm gonna go with this.

They're pretty decent computers. Definitely get an external hard drive for your backups in case you have to reinstall or anything like that. Try to get Windows 7 instead of Vista, as I personally think Vista sucks.

Are you prepared to be tech support though? However crappy some of those companies are with tech support (*cough*HP*cough*) they still provide at least some menial form of basic tech support and trouble shooting.

Yeah I mentioned that, too. He said he wasn't going to provide any support whatsoever.

[mj213]

I guess I just remember all the dells i see having some special power connection on the motherboard so you have to use their power supply and their mother board (it was a long time ago too so things may be different now) but swapping out major hardware such as a motherboard and processor was just nearly impossibly.

I got the computer last year. I owed my sister 200 dollars or a computer and so I gave her my old one which was a AMD athlon 3200XP. My current machine isn't bad by any means, It will play most games decently with all the eye candy set up to maximum. I think the only other thing I'd eventually like to do is run another Nvidia 9800GX2 in quad SLI mode. But even that's over kill for what I'm doing right now (Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, and Borderlands mainly).

I believe computer back up measures are quite advanced now compared to 1998. There are so many different RAID configurations that if your willing to trade some hard drive space for security you'll be fine. I'm not a SUPER techie type of guy, but I try and pay attention when my room mate tells me about this type of thing. He is a SUPER techie kind of guy.

Those RAID configs have been around for a LONG time. RAID was invented in 1987. It was mostly used for servers, though it was available for home use. It just wasn't cost effective for home users. With the implementation of SATA controllers and large jumps in data storage capacity in hard drives, it has finally come around to home PCs.

By the way - Borderlands is pretty cool. Just started playing it a few weeks ago.

[DrLove'sKuDang]

They're pretty decent computers. Definitely get an external hard drive for your backups in case you have to reinstall or anything like that. Try to get Windows 7 instead of Vista, as I personally think Vista sucks.



Yeah I mentioned that, too. He said he wasn't going to provide any support whatsoever.

that is correct. if i did this, it was a favor to them. they asked me. i wasnt looking for clients.

[DrLove'sKuDang]

and compared to that dell link...



of course, thats not including an OS. but i already have that.

and yes i know, through newegg i would have to pay shipping. i was just using them for a comparison. its seems newegg has gone up on some prices, theyre the same as frys in-store. so i will be buying everything local from now on.

[WilliamW]

Those RAID configs have been around for a LONG time. RAID was invented in 1987. It was mostly used for servers, though it was available for home use. It just wasn't cost effective for home users. With the implementation of SATA controllers and large jumps in data storage capacity in hard drives, it has finally come around to home PCs.

By the way - Borderlands is pretty cool. Just started playing it a few weeks ago.

Yeah, things have gotten much easier and cheaper in that regard.

Say if you've been playing borderlands, how does it run on your system? When I enable dynamic shadows it KILLS my computer. It dose Ok with it off but still floats around 30-45 fps and occasional drops into the teens. With Dynamic shadows off every other setting doesn't really make any difference with it up all they way or just turned off, like with AA set to 0 or X16 it makes no difference. Supposedly the game has a major flaw when it comes to SLI boards.

*Sorry don't mean to thread jack I was just curious.*

[DrLove'sKuDang]

way ot, but you quoted yourself in your own sig???

[mj213]

and compared to that dell link...



of course, thats not including an OS. but i already have that.

and yes i know, through newegg i would have to pay shipping. i was just using them for a comparison. its seems newegg has gone up on some prices, theyre the same as frys in-store. so i will be buying everything local from now on.

What would you be doing for the OS? Legit or pirated? I guess what I'm looking at is how much of a can of worms you are opening by building a PC for someone and then putting an OS on there that isn't legit. You also went with an AMD board/cpu which usually is cheaper than Intel. Still not a bad deal - might have to pick that dvdrw up for myself. Mine's giving me fits!

Yeah, things have gotten much easier and cheaper in that regard.

Say if you've been playing borderlands, how does it run on your system? When I enable dynamic shadows it KILLS my computer. It dose Ok with it off but still floats around 30-45 fps and occasional drops into the teens. With Dynamic shadows off every other setting doesn't really make any difference with it up all they way or just turned off, like with AA set to 0 or X16 it makes no difference. Supposedly the game has a major flaw when it comes to SLI boards.

*Sorry don't mean to thread jack I was just curious.*

I have all of my settings max'd out with no problems whatsoever. I don't know what my framerates are, but they have to be hovering around 100fps or so. I never get any lag or choppy video whatsoever. I'm running an ATI (PNY) 4870 1gb.