What is a cheap site to build PCs on?

[dmantech]

Go with Newegg hands down.

 

[DDay629]

Why would be helpful. I mean a bunch of people have already explained why NE isn't as good idea as for instance ZZF.

DDay

 

[AngryClown]

www.dell.com

I want what joe's smoking. Granted, some Dell rigs use quality hardware, you still need to nuke and pave the O/S right out of the box. But those specs, joe. That's a joke, right? I'd give away a pc that crappy.

 

[AngryClown]

I work for H.P., but I wouldn't buy a pc from them, or any other manufacturer. No matter the price you pay, you could do FAR better buying the components yourself, and slapping it together. Why? Every pc manufacturer (except the bleeding edge ones- you know who they are) pawn off obsolete hardware on their preconfigured systems. You might get the latest processor, and maybe a current chipset, but something, somewhere, will be compromised. Guaranteed.

And if I told you what HP pays per unit on that hardware, you would defecate your Dockers.

When you price a custom build, and check the same rig on a big vendor's site, you see a savings of a few hundred dollars. What you don't see is what they paid for said parts. 15% comes to mind. But hey, that's business. Can't knock 'em for that.

So, if you have the knowledge to put it together yourself, and do a LOT of research first, you'll come out way ahead.

Some may argue about warranties. Truth is, if your pc craps out, the manufacturer will undoubtedly refer you to the component provider anyways, and that will be covered under THEIR warranty.

Regardless of brand, if you choose to buy a prebuilt, I would do asone of the above posters mentioned:

FDisk, Format, Reinstall, Do-Dah, Do-Dah...

 

[Jurenic]

I work for H.P., but I wouldn't buy a pc from them, or any other manufacturer. No matter the price you pay, you could do FAR better buying the components yourself, and slapping it together. Why? Every pc manufacturer (except the bleeding edge ones- you know who they are) pawn off obsolete hardware on their preconfigured systems. You might get the latest processor, and maybe a current chipset, but something, somewhere, will be compromised. Guaranteed.

And if I told you what HP pays per unit on that hardware, you would defecate your Dockers.

When you price a custom build, and check the same rig on a big vendor's site, you see a savings of a few hundred dollars. What you don't see is what they paid for said parts. 15% comes to mind. But hey, that's business. Can't knock 'em for that.

So, if you have the knowledge to put it together yourself, and do a LOT of research first, you'll come out way ahead.

Some may argue about warranties. Truth is, if your pc craps out, the manufacturer will undoubtedly refer you to the component provider anyways, and that will be covered under THEIR warranty.

Regardless of brand, if you choose to buy a prebuilt, I would do asone of the above posters mentioned:

FDisk, Format, Reinstall, Do-Dah, Do-Dah...

That's what I was thinking. I think all of us here will agree that when it comes to warrantie, components are usually covered thru the manufacurer and not the company who sold you the computer. Also, most of the problems people have with their PC is software related and could be easily fixed with some knowlage. But most people don't know how to handle that and that's why they go with companies.

 

[singhr3]

I had my pc built at velocitymicro. highly recommended.
i think i could have saved $200 if i had built it myself.

It is definately more satisfying and cheaper to build your own pc,
but i didnt have the experience or the time to build one myself.

 

[the_taker]

I haven't had time to look at the article in detail, but the current month CPU (Computer Power User) magazine had a nie article on the lesser-known system builders that were worth looking at. i don't know if the article is available online...I just bought the print magazine yesterday.

 

[Exterous]

3) This is absolutely true.
A64 3500+ - $201
Motherboard - $70 max (doubt it was that much)
HDD - $83
Memory - $82
Case & PS - $70 max (again doubt it was that much)
Mouse & Keyboard - $30

That totals to $536; did I miss anything, maybe $10 for a FDD or CD. So that puts you a little under $550. Sounds like you may have gotten about what you paid for, but I seriously doubt the mobo or case/ps cost $70. Case in point though, I'm still not sure how you're pricing it higher than $550 on Newegg unless I'm missing something.

OS +$200 😀 I don't mind pre-built ones (don't customize through them though, that will generally cost ALOT more) except for Gateways. I have had more Gateway displays fail out of the box (Not to mention 2 that came w/o ram and one that didn't have the CPU fan power cable connected). They're not bad if you don't want to spend time fiddling with things other than removing all the pre-loaded crap on them.

 

[pkquat]

I like Monarch Computer, but their pricing can fluctuate. Sometimes its less than Newegg, most often is about the same or a little more. I like the "combo's" MB, processor, and RAM. They also pretest this combo, included free 30 day tech support and offer warranties that used to be 🙁 inexpensive. If you plan on OC's skip the warranty. The "combo" page is not all inclusive, you can get items from anywhere on the site, not just from the pull down menu's. You can request a product such as an unlisted MB. Often they will build it and test it for no additional cost.

 

[spooky84]

I have two perspectives:

1. If you are looking to build your rig then go with either Newegg.com or ZipZoomFly.com. They provide competetive prices and quality service. And also with building it you get to know your system very specifically, but also if you experience is limited then you'll probably spending countless hours on forumz looking for a solution.

2. If you are looking to get a cheap system custom/configured and built for you then I would recommend cyberpowerpc.com. Components are priced close to those of newegg and ZZF only adding some labor charges, which is expected. Free shipping too. Also, if there is a part other than a case, mobo or cpu that you can find cheaper then you dont even have to add it and but seperately and install yourself.


Just my thoughts on this.

 

[Chil]

For pre-built systems from Compaq and other places that are cheap ($400-600), they will always hit you with a micro-ATX mobo. This means very little upgradability. However, I speced out a pre-built from ABS, through NewEgg, and then upgraded that. I got a ASUS A8N-VM CSM, which is definatley not a POS motherboard. The only reason I went that way, though, is because it was for someone else and I didn't have time to make one myself.

I believe that Tom's did an article on the $500 gaming machine awhile ago, so even though the information is out-of-date, the basic idea was that it's basically impossible to make anything good out of that kind of money when you have to but an OS and other software for it. At least that's the way I see it. There is just too much hedging on parts and you end up with something not worth it.

For anyone looking to spend more than $800, though, building it yourself is the way to go. The difference between homebuilt and prebuilt only gets higher as you up the budget. The parts I'm buying for my own PC come out to $1450, whereas a similar Dell (with an Intel dual-core) would cost $2300.

 

[JanusDS]

OS +$200 😀

Damn, knew I forgot something. Ah, what the hell, he probably got XP Home and you can get that for $70 OEM. They probably didn't even give him a CD (so I consider that not actually having the OS anyway). Besides, I was probably on the high side on some of the other hardware anyway. Point is, the lower you go, the closer you get to what you paid for because they're just trying to liquidate their old crappy inventory. Good call though.

 

[g-paw]

jncs.com is good. Their pre-built are Asus and they will not try to sell you more than you need. You can also buy bundles, i.e., a motherboard, CPU, and memory, which are assembled. All you have to do is install screw in the mobo. This is what I did with my first build because I was intimidated at the thought of buildin my owng. Later learned that putting in the CPU and memory into the mobo was the easiest part, have built from scratch since.

 

[joefriday]

www.dell.com

I want what joe's smoking. Granted, some Dell rigs use quality hardware, you still need to nuke and pave the O/S right out of the box. But those specs, joe. That's a joke, right? I'd give away a pc that crappy.

Well, its definately not my primary computer, if that's what you mean. It may be satirical, but then again I might be serious....Which one (or both) do you think it is?

I agree with the reformat, but who cares? Anyone who would shy away from a hell of a deal just because they would have to reinstall the OS to get rid of all the added "features" shouldn't be on a computer hardware forum. For a regular computer user, the Dell oem XP install is fine, but I agree with you that anyone who understands performance would find it annoying.

 

[joefriday]

For pre-built systems from Compaq and other places that are cheap ($400-600), they will always hit you with a micro-ATX mobo. This means very little upgradability. However, I speced out a pre-built from ABS, through NewEgg, and then upgraded that. I got a ASUS A8N-VM CSM, which is definatley not a POS motherboard. The only reason I went that way, though, is because it was for someone else and I didn't have time to make one myself.

I believe that Tom's did an article on the $500 gaming machine awhile ago, so even though the information is out-of-date, the basic idea was that it's basically impossible to make anything good out of that kind of money when you have to but an OS and other software for it. At least that's the way I see it. There is just too much hedging on parts and you end up with something not worth it.

For anyone looking to spend more than $800, though, building it yourself is the way to go. The difference between homebuilt and prebuilt only gets higher as you up the budget. The parts I'm buying for my own PC come out to $1450, whereas a similar Dell (with an Intel dual-core) would cost $2300.

I don't think mATX is as much of a limiting factor today as you think it is. Perhaps SLI isn't available, but other than that new mATX boards are similar to their ATX brothers.

I agree with the high-end prices ($800 and up): it's better to build at that point than buy OEM. Somewhere below that point, the OEMs begin to have the upper hand and after a certain price point it suddenly becomes pointless to argue buy vs build, as the OEM wins by as much as $100 and has superior quality at that price point (eg. the $300 Dell).

 

[timberwolf1]

Try http://www.pugetsystems.com/