Building your ideal computer for around 2K

[puppetmaster]

I’ve been thinking about building my first computer. Should I build or buy? I’m thinking it would be a good way to learn about the equipment I work with all day. That being said I have no idea where to begin. I looked into building one a few years ago but everything has changed. I'm a PC guy that works as a graphic and web designer.

If you were given 2K what would you build?

[arieng]

I'll recently went through a similar consideration, and decided to build for much the same reason. I am so glad I did.

I am not an IT guy, and had very little experience with hardware. I now have a MUCH better understanding of how my comptuer functions, and if I ever have any problems I would feel confident opening it up and figuring out what was wrong. More, I got the exact computer I wanted for about 1/2 what it would have cost retail.

I say build it!

[rocknbil]

If you were given 2K what would you build?

I built my "first" around 1996 or so. It was a lean, mean 586 with a whole 800MB of RAM and a 2 GB hard drive, 28,800 modem, 21" CRT monitor the size of New Hampshire, fastest video card possible, everyone who played with it drooled over it.

For about a month.

That really makes my point, build the hottest computer possible right now, today, in 6 months techies will be making fun at what a lame machine you have. :-) It's even worse now, technology is advancing at such a fast rate, things are getting outdated even sooner,and costing less.

Then there's the time you invest in collecting components, resolving hardware conflicts, getting it all to play nicely together . . . unless this is what you do for a living or have an inordinate amount of time on your hands, it's just not worth it.

I'd probably go for the fastest off-the-shelf I can find that would meet my needs and put the excess into next year's computer upgrade funds.

[puppetmaster]

I don't have a lot of time but I hate depending on others when my computer has issues. Arigng how long ago did you built it? Do you have a break down of what you used?

[arieng]

I did it about 6 months ago, nothing too fancy. I got all of the components online, splurged on the speed and disk size, skimped on video card. I crunch a lot of data but don't do a lot of graphics, so our needs are quite different. Cost less than $600 for everything (excluding monitor).

[grandpa]

I have built, I have bought. Building my own was a good experience, giving me knowledge about how the different modules work together - the right power supply, the right video card, the right cabinet, etc. However, at the time I built mine there was no cost savings, none at all. And I suspect that you can still buy a very good computer for that 2K - better than one you can build.

but I hate depending on others when my computer has issues

So go buy a clunker, spend a few bucks upgrading it, and you'll know as much as you would by building a higher end unit.

Most of what I've learned about my computers has not come from the building, but from the use of software. There are diagnostic tools that will give you a comprehensive set of facts about your computer.

So what have I learned?

Building my own: I can swap a hard drive, or add a another drive. I can change or add video cards. I can replace a power supply. I can replace a mother board or a processor chip.

Using diagnostic software: I can usually pinpoint a problem before the case ever gets opened.

[SwitchFX]

You can build a nice high end machines for around 1,700 USD now.

You can't wait for newer tech to always come out. It's neverending, you might as well take a risk, or see technology evolve every week in front of you.

[BillyS]

Here is my next build...

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
MSI X58 Pro-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
MSI R4870 Cyclone 1G Radeon HD 4870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card
CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
LG Black 8X Blu-ray Burner - Bulk Model WH08LS20K
Intel X25-E Extreme SSDSA2SH064G1 2.5" 64GB SATA II SLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD)

The SSD is about $800, but you said $2,000. This build should cost you around $1,800 (with an $800 SSD). If you need more storage, I'd suggest adding a Western Digital VelociRaptor 300 gig drive - which would add another $200.

I tend to build computers and replace monitors on different cycles. If you're looking for a monitor too, then I'd suggest downsizing the SSD to something like an OCZ Vertex Series and save yourself $600.

[tangor]

I tend NOT to build my own these days for the following reason: Warranty. Dealing with warranty on PARTS is complicated by the number of parts whereas warranty for a computer is reduced to 1. These days there's little markup in hardware (one reason I quit my "clone" business some years back). A store bought box with installed OS these days is pretty cheap... and monster machines aren't that much more expensive by comparison. Let the hardware wonks deal with hardware. Put your time into software knowledge/use and get on with things.

You don't have to know how to build a car to drive one... but you have to drive one better than 99% of drivers to even place at NASCAR. That's where you put your time and dollars!

[swa66]

I've buit thousands of machines. A friend used to have a computer shop...
Last I did it was 5 years ago.

Now: buy something off the shelf. There's no point in building it yourself anymore.
If you run into the least of problems with incompatibility you'll end with a big problem if you don't have lots of other parts on hand to even find out what's not willign to work with what else.

Personally: I buy apple hardware nowadays: it just works and can run Mac OS X, the OS of my choice on the desktop nowadays.

[BillyS]

The nice thing about building your own machine is that upgrading is pretty easy and you don't have to deal with all the crapware that comes with today's pre-built computers.

I don't think tangor's warranty arguement holds any water. Most times you have one part go wrong at a time so you're still dealing with one company. Besides a component built machine will have better parts than a pre-built.

It's a great learning experience and it takes about two hours from start to finish. You'll spend just as much time comparison shoping than just picking components.

[vordmeister]

I built one a few years ago and I'm not inclined to do it again. I had weird compatibility problems with my build and had to change things. Also it didn't work out cheaper than bought stuff.

These days I'd buy a machine. Especially as I like laptops these days. I like the way you can carry them around and the lack of noise. I plug mine in the same way as my old desktop. Bit more restrictive on performance is the only thing.

[swa66]

upgrading is pretty easy

Only if you do it within the same month or so (and even then).

Last time I had a friend with a "broken" computer. Turns out he had one of those harddisks that over the years developed a spin-up problem. Not hard to temporarily fix and copy the data off, but you know the drive needs replacement as "kick starting" it only goes so far.

So, I need a new harddisk for the guy. Order one of the size he liked, only to find his old motherboard doesn't want to play. In fact motherboard doesn't want to play with *anything* bigger than 40 Gbyte. [I still had enough spare hardware at home to figure it out]. So he wants to persist: go ahead and upgrade the motherboard, CPU and RAM (yes the CPU etc. was all too old to find a modern motherboard for as well).
While at it: could you get me a DVD writer instead of the CD writer ?
Sure, not a big deal. And optical drives costs not that much anyway.

I build it all together only to find out his power supply isn't up to the new requirements either: swap that out too. [At this point I took it to the shop of my friend to make sure I didn't have to try it out at home and had a closet with all spare parts right next to me to find the problems all in one go]. And then you realize he's now got an all new computer except for a floppy drive nobody ever uses anyway and his old case. A case that I had to modify to accept the new internals as well ...

And that he'd be off cheaper buying an off-the-shelf new computer instead of al the components I used as well.

That's where I quit building and repairing all PC hardware (I had quit fixing windows long ago). I don't think I'll ever do it again. And my friend with the computer store: they quit too, no profit in it anymore.

[rocknbil]

I haven't built one after my first required it's first upgrade and I came to the conclusion I posted. :-)

I can swap a hard drive, or add a another drive. I can change or add video cards. I can replace a power supply. I can replace a mother board or a processor chip.

Just a side note, buying an off-the-shelf doesn't preclude this. I do it all the time. In fact, my current is an IBM, extremely proprietary, and it had serous problems on arrival. After wrangling with support and figuring out not only did they not know how to fix it, they didn't care, I reformatted the HD and installed it fresh. To date, best comp I've owned.

It has since received a larger HD, more RAM, a Turtle Beach video input card, a dual head video card, and a supplementary fan - all of which IBM said you can't do (which of course, voided my warranty - but I needed it working.)

[youfoundjake]

I would recommend buying something, you can get a smoking fast machine for $2000.
If you want to feel like you built it, wipe the OS and all the stuff that came with it, (all the add ons that the vendors install) and just install the OS and whatever else you need. It's probably easier to have a warranty on an entire machine than the individual parts.

[puppetmaster]

Grandpa
What diagnostic software do you use?

[puppetmaster]

It looks like I'm going to buy. Does anyone have any suggestions on a good PC. I usually buy Dell's because I'v never had any problems. It needs to be fast, lot of storage and card that I can have dual monitors. I don't play video game.

Thanks everyone for your replies

[wheel]

Then stick to Dell.

I can and have built my own PC. Not worth the time and effort unless it's a hobby or you're looking to save $50. The potential frustration is the tradeoff - if something goes wrong, and it does sometimes, you're going to spend a lot of time and frustration fixing it.

Go to dell. Get lots of ram, a nice video card, and a fast processor. Pay a bit extra, get the job done. If you're looking to waste some time doing something, go add a page of content to your website :).