Build PC or buy?

[gibsonryan96]

This will be my first gaming PC so I can't decide what to do! Looking at the prices you can pretty much get a built PC for the same price as ordering the parts if not cheaper! Is it really worth building your own?

 

[Jdogz427]

build. definitely. what is your budget. if you order, you will pay for labor, and might get lower quality parts, like a really crappy psu or ram or MOBO

 

[gibsonryan96]

That's one problem too I can't decide on my budget! At first it was £1000/$1600 but then I thoight is it really worth spending that much! I've always played on consoles and I was looking for a PC that would outperform the next gen consoles!

 

[TomThePotato]

$1000 for the tower is a good budget.

 

[Jdogz427]

you could build a fantastic system for $1000, austin evans just posted a gtx 970 build. HOWEVER, DO NOT GET THIS PSU. get the evga supernove g2 750 watt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmuNTpKGOZU&list=UUXGgrKt94gR6lmN4aN3mYTg

 

[Jdogz427]

this system will run games at 1440p at 60fps on high, but it can max almost everything except crysis 3 at 1080p

 

[mrsweet1991]

Someone can detail this better, but outperforming a console is relatively easily and I don't think it will cost as much as you think. £1000 is great and in fact to beat a console you could be looking at even cheaper.also I'm not a fan of buying every component new, you could save a lot of money getting second hand components such as RAM but a CPU Well that could be a different story because if it's an overclockable cpu the life could be dramatically shortened if the voltage was raised etc. Overhaul your making a great choice, build one ask as much questions to get the best performance to cost and you'll save continously on games compared to console game prices.

 

[AnUnusedUsername]

You save a fair amount by building your own, though to be fair it's a lot less than it used to be. Used to be like 50% savings, now it's closer to 10%. The big reason to build your own is that you can control exactly where you are spending your money and tailor your system to what you want to do with it. You can spend it all on graphics and skimp on everything else, skimp on graphics and plan to upgrade or SLI/CF later, spend as little or as much on your case as you like, etc.

Building yourself also has the added benefit of making later upgrades much cheaper. Many (but not all) OEMs use custom components that aren't compatible with off-the-shelf parts, so upgrades are limited to buying from them. If you build yourself, you can reuse your case, PSU, hard drives, disk drives, and maybe some other components down the road when you decide to upgrade. If you buy a prebuilt, you'd have to sell all that stuff at a huge loss.

 

[gibsonryan96]

I used the Austin Evans build and this is what it came too!
[PCPartPicker part list](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/N4zmQ7) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/N4zmQ7/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54670k) | £161.00 @ Amazon UK
**Motherboard** | [MSI H97 Guard-Pro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-h97guardpro) | £72.00 @ Scan.co.uk
**Memory** | [Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-memory-cmz8gx3m2a1600c9b) | £62.39 @ Aria PC
**Storage** | [Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct256mx100ssd1) | £75.54 @ Aria PC
**Storage** | [Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex) | £39.59 @ Amazon UK
**Video Card** | [EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-04gp42974kr) | £274.99 @ Amazon UK
**Case** | [NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-cas340ww1) | £54.95 @ Scan.co.uk
**Power Supply** | [EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-220g20750xr) | £87.44 @ Amazon UK
**Operating System** | [Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)](http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-wn700615) | £72.35 @ Aria PC
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | £900.25
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-25 02:39 GMT+0000 |

Just a few questions!

1. Is this the best I can get for this amount of money?

2. Do you really need a cd drive now a days?

3. Can you recommend a monitor?

4. Why did this not include a CPU cooler? (Probably a noob question)

 

[gibsonryan96]

And lastly is this easily upgrade able in the future?

 

[TomThePotato]

Here's a better build!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£167.50 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£23.54 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£82.80 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£61.25 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£75.54 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.59 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (£274.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case (£88.33 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£62.77 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£72.35 @ Aria PC)
Total: £948.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-25 02:55 GMT+0000

However, if you have any interest in SLI, go with this power supply instead.

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-220g20850xr

 

[TomThePotato]

or...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£130.94 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£65.40 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£61.25 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£75.54 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.59 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (£274.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£43.48 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£62.77 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£72.35 @ Aria PC)
Monitor: Asus VE248H 24.0" Monitor (£142.90 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £969.21
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-25 02:57 GMT+0000

With the monitor.