Is it worth building a PC?

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Edwarric

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Mar 31, 2015
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This question may sound soooo silly but here me out.
I am looking into a gaming desktop, this one:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lenovo-Erazer-Tower-Desktop-Black/dp/B00LM9T8EM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1430254741&sr=8-1&keywords=lenovo+x510

I thought that the deal was a very good price for what I am getting, so I put it to the test and tried to figure out which one was more worth it: whether building a PC or buying the Lenovo X510 (£999.99):

Using UKPCpartspicker (http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/) - a website that lets you pick your computer components and finds the best price for all the components - I roughly added the components (because the exact specs. are a bit unclear) used in the Lenovo X510 on Amazon into my basket, and the total came to over £1200! That's more than £200 more than the pre-built desktop on Amazon. I couldn't believe it!

Obviously the parts I picked out on the PC parts picker website were not the exact ones but I wouldn't have expected the price to be that expensive.

I have never built a PC before, so the task seems quite daunting and you could say I am procrastinating this challenge by finding excuses for not building one even though it sounds like an exciting prospect. The main thing I'm worried about is warranty because I just know something will go wrong, and I don't earn that much so I don't want to waste my money!

Anyway, worries aside, my question is: Is it worth building a PC considering that I can get a pretty good one for £999.99 on Amazon? My budget was £1300 and I already have a monitor. It just seems to me that in this case, the pre-built desktop is the best 'bang for the buck'. Or could I get something better out of building one?

Cheers
 
Solution
USAFRet
Is it worth building a PC
Click to expand...

Yes, for a couple of reasons:

1. You personally get to pick out exactly which parts you want. Prebuilts often skimp on pieces that the buyer does not notice. PCU, specific RAM, etc.
"(because the exact specs. are a bit unclear)" That is the rub. 'Unclear' specs and parts are their profit margin.

2. You gain a much deeper understanding of exactly what is inside the box. This helps greatly when something breaks and you have to troubleshoot.

Is it 'cheaper'? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But the above more than outweighs 'cheap'.

There is a crossover point, when it does or does not make sense. In the US, I consider that to be $400-$450.

"Daunting task"? Not really. Christmastime, I taught my 10 year old...
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Is it worth building a PC
Click to expand...

Yes, for a couple of reasons:

1. You personally get to pick out exactly which parts you want. Prebuilts often skimp on pieces that the buyer does not notice. PCU, specific RAM, etc.
"(because the exact specs. are a bit unclear)" That is the rub. 'Unclear' specs and parts are their profit margin.

2. You gain a much deeper understanding of exactly what is inside the box. This helps greatly when something breaks and you have to troubleshoot.

Is it 'cheaper'? Sometimes yes, sometimes no. But the above more than outweighs 'cheap'.

There is a crossover point, when it does or does not make sense. In the US, I consider that to be $400-$450.

"Daunting task"? Not really. Christmastime, I taught my 10 year old grandson how to do it. He did 90% of the work.
 
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Solution
The way this is done is that they normally name the key parts but the rest are cheap, no name material. HDs are typically low rpm, RAM low speed / high CAS, no name MoBo, is it CF capable ?, ...

Note that the offering is last generation CVPU / MoBo, yours has current generation and a better cooler..... better case, amazon one has no SSD....you have quality PSU and quality GFX card.... none of these parts are stipulated in the amazon build.

You are a comparing a surf and turf dinner at a fine restaurant w/ wine selection to a diner that had last week's "unspecified met" "unspecified seafood product", "unspecified vegetable" and beverage of some sort (reportedly alcoholic)" :)
 
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Fix your link to your PartPicker build.

For 1200 quid, you can get

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£267.02 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£92.52 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£112.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£58.73 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£53.42 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£38.34 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£269.96 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 450D ATX Mid Tower Case (£99.18 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£68.99 @ Novatech)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer (£11.95 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£67.95 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1140.82

But I doubt they are giving you a current i7, let alone the top one. Let alone water cooling and a good motherboard. You need to ask for the exact specs to be able to compare.
 
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Match: (ish)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4771 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£256.88 @ More Computers)
Motherboard: MSI Z97M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£76.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£96.47 @ More Computers)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 290 4GB DirectCU II Video Card (£229.99 @ Ebuyer)
Case: BitFenix Aegis Core (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£60.04 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£49.98 @ Novatech)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£76.50 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £900.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-28 22:59 BST+0100

A little bit better:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£267.02 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£61.38 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£111.56 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£96.47 @ More Computers)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Twin Frozr Video Card (£445.42 @ Ebuyer)
Case: BitFenix Aegis Core (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£60.04 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£49.98 @ Novatech)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£76.50 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1222.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-28 23:01 BST+0100

Stuck with MicroATX builds to sort of match what Lenovo managed to cram in there. It is possible to build a slim machine like that as well, but first time builder, maybe not a good idea.
 
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Only one 4th gen i7 matches 3.5Ghz Base Clock the i7-4771, so it really is a fairly recent one.



 
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Thanks for the advice! You've swayed me!
So, any build suggestions for a desktop (primarily for gaming) that costs no more than £1300?($1993.94 according to Google)? This is my first time so forgive me if I come across brain dead. All I know is the faster the processor, more memory and stuff the better.
I'm looking around now for a template PC build for my budget, then I can make some simple adjustments myself.
 
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Teach me, Senpai! Any advice on how I can 'take it up a few notches'?

Thanks
 
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Not sure where you're shopping from but matching what I could, here's the build they're offering at £999.99

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£259.98 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-DGS R2.0 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£33.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Kingston 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£89.97 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£53.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card (£203.99 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£34.92 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£58.57 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£38.39 @ Aria PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£76.50 @ Amazon UK)
Keyboard: Lenovo Preferred Pro Wired Standard Keyboard (£21.49 @ Amazon UK)
Mouse: Lenovo 06P4069 Wired Optical Mouse (£10.10 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £881.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-28 23:06 BST+0100

I still went with name brand components (and a quality power supply), but unless I missed something, this could very well be the system they're selling.

-Wolf sends
 
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I thought you couldn't overclock on h81. Also H81 might need a bios update for haswell right?

 
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That's brilliant! Thanks!
So, I have about £400 of possible improving to make, any advice on which areas?
 
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Thanks for this! Being a beginner, I think I will probably go for a big a case as possible (as long as it will fit under my desk!) so that I can easily fit everything inside.
 
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+1
If you go with the i7, get the 4790k and a z97 board.
You can save some money by going i5-4690k with a z97 board and get pretty much the same fps in games. I7 just has hyper threading which games don't take advantage of because they only use 4 cores mostly.
 
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Cool, Windows 7 fan, heh? Would you recommend water cooling? Or should I just go for standard?
 
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Sorry, but I'm a complete newbie. Does a larger SSD mean more multi-tasking capability, basically? And more game space?
 
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There is a feeling of pride when you build your own system, finally get that last plug connected, stop and try to remember what you forgot, and finally make the decision to turn the power on...

And nothing explodes, turns into smelly black smoke, or pops... Instead, the system quietly powers up, and shortly you get a prompt from the Windows disk asking if you would like to format your hard drive.

When it works, you then know how to replace or add anything you want to that system.
When it doesn't, it can be frustrating. Because you are not sure what to do, and thats when you can come here for help.

The alternative, is to buy the pre-built computer in a box where all of the parts were chosen by someone who was counting the pennies he could save by going with this item or that item on millions of computers. Power supplies often are smaller than we would like. Fans are from companies we will never hear of. Random parts in your computer are from companies whose entire purpose is to make a buck at any costs. While not always a bad thing, they obviously are not going to be using the parts you and I trust.

I used to own a Compaq... Back before they were purchased by HP. One day the video card made a horrible noise, and a nasty smell. When I pulled the cover off of the machine, the video card was still smoking. That made it easy to ID what the problem was. Enough years had gone by that the same model of video card was no longer on sale. So I ordered a newer video card. When it arrived a couple of days later, I plugged it in, did what was required cable-wise, and hit the power switch. The machine booted up, and thrilled, I put the cover back on, and sat down thinking I had solved the problem. An hour or so later I decided to play a game, and after 15 seconds later, I was looking a black screen. My computer had powered down. By the time that this happened for the 3rd time, I pulled the cover off, and took a good look at the power supply. This Compaq had a 430 watt power supply in it.

I have not purchased a pre-made computer since.

If you decide to build your own box today, you have something I did not have back then. YouTube. There are enough how-to videos there to build a computer and have confidence you are doing it correctly. You also have Toms, and the massive number of people here that help others. And like I said earlier, you will have the pride that comes with building your own computer with quality parts you picked. Even if it is on a budget.

I hope you do choose to make your own. But that is a decision you get to make.

I hope I have given you a realistic idea of what you face, either way.

 
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No, not multi-tasking. Its just another drive, but really, really fast.
An SSD significantly speeds up the overall PC experience. Everything that lives on the SSD operates 'faster'.
A lot of things do not need to live on that drive...music, video, most games.

But the entire PC experience is better. I would not build another main use PC without one.
A 250GB drive is currently the sweet spot for price vs size.
128GB for £53.42, or 250GB for £85.
 
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Wow, just wow.

I love the tech community, so friendly and helpful and you have all answered my questions so quickly that I couldn't believe it. I'm not even kidding, listening to my tablet go *ping* *ping* all the time as new answers come in is amazing and sometimes brings a tear to my eye to know that there are some really nice and caring people out there.

I'll be sure to come back here if encounter any problems on my adventure to build a PC.

Thank you all for the amazing help!
 
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Got it!
Thanks for the explanation. Hopefully, tomorrow I'll be picking out the parts for my PC, and if anything goes wrong, I'll have you all to blame! Hahaha, just kidding.

Thank you for the wonderful help.
 
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The point of my post wasn't to suggest a build to purchase, but to show what the OP *could* receive if he purchased the Lenovo and the cost difference between what he could receive and what he'd be paying (£890 vs £1000).

-Wolf sends
 
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Sorry Wolfy, my bad.
 
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