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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I did some reading up on coolers/fans. So if I am not going to overclock, I guess I will not need a cooler or fan right? It is my first time building a PC and I don't see why I would need to overclock an i7-4790K processor.
But would I need a fan anyway? I read that the processor 'has its own'.
Thank you.
 
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It will need "a" fan. It comes with one. Which may or may not be quiet enough for your needs. It will adequately cool the CPU.
 
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I was thinking: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, because it is relatively cheap compared to other fans and has good reviews. Would this be appropriate?
 
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Retail boxes come with coolers. OEM do not. Just double check before you order.
Stock coolers tend to be louder and not keep things as cool, so so people replace them even if they do not plan to overclock.

I personally always just buy a cm hyper 212 (30$) even if i don't plan to overclock. Built my sister a machine with an i5-4460 and still went with an aftermarket cooler because it keeps the noise down, and should have less problems down the line.

Sometimes we run into problems people have with stock coolers here, usually replacing the pre-applied thermal paste fixes them. I notice a couple years and the pre-applied paste stops doing such a good job. A good happy medium might be go with the stock cooler, but remove the crappy paste that comes with it and apply your own.
 
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I have the 212 PLUS (previous version to the EVO). It works very well, and is as silent as you can imagine, even under 100% load on an i5-3570k.
Cheap, and works well. There are others in that price range as well.
 
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Cool, I think I'll get the EVO because the plus is unavailable in most places and a newer version of something is usually better.
Thanks
 
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Just be sure it fits in your actual case. They are quite large. You need a minimum of 160mm from the CPU face to the inside of the opposing side panel.
 
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At the moment I'm relying on PCPartPicker to sort the compatibility out. But afterwards, I will definitely look over everything to make sure they all fit.
 
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For cooler/case sizes, PCP may not be accurate. Look at the actual specs at the case manufacturers site.
 
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On PCPartPicker, I am looking for some storage. You recommended me getting an SSD for the boot drive.
Do you mean as an extra storage device, or as the primary storage?
I've been using a 1TB laptop for quite some time now and a lot of the storage has been used up so I wanted to try and have 1TB as a minimum for my storage drive.
I was looking at: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te1t0bw
What do you think?
 
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It is actually worth building a PC. You would be surprised with how much money you could possibly save!
 
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Yeah, I've set my eyes on building a PC now ^^
Do you think you could help me out on my most recent post?
It was a question about what storage I would need and whether the one I linked would be appropriate or not.
Thanks
 
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I would recommend a 250 or 500GB SSD OS and applications), and also a large spinning drive, for other stuff where that speed does not matter.
The 1TB drives are still a little expensive. But the prices from your link aren't too bad.
 
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Sorry for my pure lack in computer knowledge. But would a spinning drive be used as a sort of reliable memory and act as storage for things that I am not using that much like old games. While the SSD will be used for the games I'm using right now because it's faster?
SSD: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te1t0bw
Spinning Drive: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex

Thank you so much for your help, you've been so patient and amazing for me!
 
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Exactly. A lot of things don't really need to live on the SSD. And those things are the ones that take up a lot of space.
In my system, I have ~40GB music. 1.2TB video. A 120GB SSD for the OS and applications.
Obviously, those things don't fit. So they live elsewhere. A movie doesn't play any faster if it lives on a spinning drive...:)

I'd even consider a larger HDD and smaller SSD. 2 or 3GB spinning, and 500GB SSD.
You also have to figure some space in there for backups..😉
 
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Got'cha!
I picked out a 3TB HDD: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st3000dm001
And a 500GB SDD: https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7te500bw

It's funny, a lot of people who had bought the SSD were saying how HDD is now outdated. But, I don't think they would be saying that if all the data was lost.
Great advice yet again and I can't thank you enough!
 
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"SSD only" is still rather expensive.
For instance, my wife's PC is SSD only (250GB), but that is only because she has minimal use (Facebook and email), and the backups can live elsewhere, on spinning drives on a different PC. She doesn't 'create' a lot, or game at all.
 
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I have almost put together a full list of parts for my PC but I have a problem:
The RAM I want for my gaming PC needs to be 8/16GB and I was thinking of having a quite fast RAM (maybe DDR3-2400 or above).
But the operating voltage for my RAM (1.65V) exceeds the Intel i7 CPU recommendation of 1.5V+5% (1.575V).
Does this mean I will just have to settle for a slower RAM? Or is there a way around this?
Thanks
 
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This is a good question and one I've asked myself many times. The previous answers are technically the same I would give however there. Are a few other things to consider.

First to address the difficulty, it's time consuming, brain tiring and prone to analysis paralysis. If, however you set out knowing the price you pay today will be a different price tomorrow and learn to accept it then that'll solve a lot of the problem. Pick. Two or 3 trusted sites to buy from and compare prices on those sites only. Ignore the rest. Don't worry if site 4, 5, or 6 has a lower price. You won't save that much and you certainly won't save more than the time you'll spend comparing the same parts everywhere. In the states I stay between 3 and mostly between Newegg and Amazon. The best way to save is to pick the parts you want, sign up for sales flyers from your chosen 3 sites and then wait for a price that makes you happy. Will it be cheaper tomorrow after you buy it? Who cares quit looking after you buy a part for that part and be happy with the deal you made. The more familiar you are with the prices the better you'll know when to pull the trigger but again if you see a price you are happy with then buy and be happy.

That very basically covers the how here is the should I. You have interest in it which is the first requirement and more important than having know how. If you are interested you can learn. It's fun, challenging and addictive. Once you build one you won't go store bought again. The quality is far better then store because the components are the ones you wanted. You put the money where you need it not where someone else likes it. If however you don't really have interest in building one and you are just looking for the best bang for your buck then go with the one you found on Amazon. It's a decent build and better then you will do on your own if you aren't able to or interested in committing the time. Building your own will take time. Your first will take a lot of time in researching components. Future builds won't take as long but still will take longer than searching for a prebuilt. If you don't have the time or patience you'll get tired and make bad decisions. It usually takes me a couple hours a day over 2 or 3 days to put together a build and could take another 2 - 3 weeks watching the adds for sales if you have the time and patience.

Final piece of advice is do a search on this site to see how other people are building pc's for the same purpose and budget as you. It'll give you ideas and may prevent you from overspending. Just because you have 1300 doesn't mean you need to spend it to get the performance you need. For example if you are only looking to play games then you probably don't need an I7, go I5 and stick the savings in a better video card or gaming mouse.

Hope this helps.



 
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This is what I'd get at around that price range:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£247.14 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£92.52 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£89.99 @ Novatech)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£25.60 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Kingston Fury White Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£26.38 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£79.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£99.98 @ Novatech)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (£289.97 @ Aria PC)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£56.81 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£67.61 @ More Computers)
Total: £1075.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-05 11:06 BST+0100

If you need OS and a disk bay just say! Remember the case I have selected isn't ready for a disk bay, I just really like the look of it. Other than that it's quite similar to i7Baby's posted build, I just kept to a black and white theme because it's quite plane and won't need to 'color match' with the room around it. Hope it helps.

The SSD Should be used as a boot drive with the HDD as a mass storage drive. The cooler suggested means you can overclock the heck out of your CPU and make it faster. The RAM is w/b to go along with the theme and will run fine together. So yeah... I think it's quite fine for you but it's what your wants and needs are.
 
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I am not a serious hardware techie, but two years ago I wanted a serious computer that could play games and run Photoshop & Lightroom. If I bought a custom one from a manufacturer it would have cost between $2500.00 - $3,000.00. I built mine for around $1500.00 and found a local guy who helped me build it for $100.00. That was important to me because it was too expensive to do from scratch on a first attempt and I wanted to see it and do some of the work. Call it tutoring-on-site. Here in the US many computer supply stores like Fry's Electronics let you buy your own parts and then they will build it for $99.00 or less.

So briefly here is what I bought.

Cooler Master case. (I am air cooling)
i7-4770K processor
256 GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD
Western Digital 2 TB Internal HDD
32 GB of RAM
Asus Z-87 Pro motherboard
850 Watt Bronze PS
Thermaltake fan (two bladed monster that just fits the case)
four case fans (Two in the top, one front and one back)
NVidia GeForce 770 video card with 2 GB of RAM
CD Player
Multimedia Card Reader
Windows 7 Professional (I run 32 GB of RAM)
External 4 TB HDD (for backups)

I hate Windows 8 so I went with Windows 7, which has free upgrade rights to Windows 10 for one year after it is released. So depending on your love/hate relationship you may want to consider doing that.

Setting up the UEFI BIOS was unnatural for me and I had to reset it a couple of times. Getting Windows right was also a multiple times effort, so leave yourself time to do it and test it and then tweak it before relying on it.

Also I highly recommend that you at least consider an external HDD for backups and that you get a very good backup program that does image backups. Why, you can completely restore a working computer state in under an hour instead of pulling your hair out and spending much more time trying to fix the problem. If you do this make your first backup as soon as the system is built and operating, which means before you load a lot of programs onboard. This pristine backup can save you from doing a re-install later which means you save hours of time. If you do reinstall windows make a new pristine backup and delete the old one once you know the new one is good.

I would build again. I got much more computer for 40-50% less than I would have spent and, as others have said, I now have a hands-on knowledge of the system. Am I an expert, NO. I do have far more knowledge than I did prior to building this machine.

Best wishes...
 
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These sort of systems are usually cheaper because they bulk buy components. I have similar components in mine but I have used higher end versions. For example, I have 2133MHz spec ram, although not stated, the Lenovo are probably 1600MHz
Fortunately I sourced them at the right price, but figuring out which bits to get takes a fair bit of research, then the tedious task of sourcing them at the cheapest price. For example, My system has good drives (primary drive a msata Samsung 850 Evo 500GB for $140, and a Intel SSD DC3700 800GB enterprise SSD for $200 as my secondary drive, and a Seagate Constellation ES3 enterprise 4TB HDD for $100 for back-up and storage - all in Australian dollars) all new and sourced off ebay. These 3 drives total average retail cost here is about $3000 plus, but the downside was the time taken and the effort involved (and required a lot of good luck). My problem is that I do not know who made most of the components and what versions they are - example - the description does not state the PSU manufacturer or it's specs. Mine is a 1200w platinum as I run 2x 290x's with a lot of cooling fans + water cooling. I would say though that Lenovo would have used reliable parts, sufficient to do the job and no compatibility problems and it would have been fully tested for potential problems such as overheating, et cetera.
What Lenovo have done is made it easy to get a respectable system and a good price, but the biggest plus is the back-up service. I have no-one, but using my own resources, to solve problems, but with theirs you have their customer service to fall back upon for problems and warranty. This can be particularly useful for a lot of people.
There are still easy upgrade options available to you if you so wish, such as adding a SSD (this is the first thing I would spend the difference on as it would allow things to load then run a lot faster) as a primary drive for better speed, especially with games (and still use the 2TB for extra storage) or water cooling the CPU (good for more stable processing and the potential for overclocking). You could probably do both with the difference between the cost of the Lenovo and you budget limit, although the system would still perform well without either upgrade.
Overall, it would be a good buy for those who do not want the extra hassle of sourcing and then building a gaming PC, all at a cheap price, plus like the fact there is a customer service specifically for the whole PC.
 
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Cost is not the only part of the equation.
You also need to factor in...
1. Time
2. Stress (if a novice)
3. Support options
4. Warranty simplification
5. Pride and bragging rights
6. Things you will learn upon building it

If you're not 80% comfortable you can build it without any issues then I would buy the components and build it. If not - it would be worth it to buy pre-built.

Alotanor
 
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