want to build your own PC?

i’ve been daydreaming about a new computer for over a year and last week my XP box didn’t load up the graphic card and i freaked out. well, unplugging the power supply and letting the CMOS reset (or whatever happens) took care of the issue and it’s been starting up fine

i have been looking at sales and also using CyberPower PC‘s online configurator to see what i can build for $700 USD. i don’t really have a budget figured out but settled on that number for some reason (my existing XP, which runs quite well for OpenSim, cost about $600 through an online build site 5 years ago)

however, DreamWalker (our scripter) recommended Velocity Raptor as a higher quality builder but their prices are significantly higher. then i read a few poor reviews for CyberPower PC that made me look deeper into alternatives for a new PC (to be fair, CyberPower has many great reviews and it seems that it’s worth the extra $40 USD to get better shipping packaging and better wiring management)

i started looking up how to build a PC myself. the thought of this is very (VERY) intimidating to me because i’m scared my components won’t work together or that i won’t have the right cabling and a host of other paranoid thoughts. funilly, i’m not worried about installing an operating system on a new hard drive because i have done that before (and i have an MSDN license to get an OS)

after reading some articles, particularly this lifehacker page complete with printable PDF, i started feeling brave (that will probably change if i actually start ordering parts!) =p

in the lifehacker article, they mentioned a very cool resource – PCPartPicker!

first off, the story of the site is cool – a dad of two kids started it two years ago as a hobby to help people build computers and find good prices on components and now he does the site as a full-time gig! =)

you can set up an account and build your own PCs online and it will display several vendors and their prices for each component plus provide a running total. people can comment on your build and you can look at what other people put together

when you build a system, it also displays approximate benchmarks for your complete build! that’s a really nice feature which allows you to see what changing one component or adding more RAM does to your expected performance *big thumbs up*

it also let’s you select to only show compatible components (so i don’t need to worry about mismatching stuff) and also information such as noise level for coolers and power supplies. there’s also filtering by user ratings and sorting by price and other factors (mail-in rebates too!)

to try it out and see if it’s cheaper to build it yourself, i built an identical machine* to one i had configured at CyberPower PC and here are the final costs for comparison

CyberPower PC – $905 USD | PCPartPicker DIY – $748 USD

that’s a decent difference of $157 but maybe not so big as to rule out a system assembled by professionals

i don’t know when i’ll be getting a new machine, but the thought of possibly building my own is a little exciting in a geeky way. building it yourself can also mean more options such as using some of your existing parts if they are decent. my power supply, optical drive, case, and two hard drives are good quality and would save $252 from this sample build. hmm . . .

maybe you are in a similar quandary, so give it a try and see what you think  =)

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* sample machine specs

• CPU: Intel i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
• CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Water 2.0 Performer Liquid ($59.99 @ Newegg)
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H ATX LGA1155 ($144.99 @ Amazon)
• Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 ($49.99 @ Newegg)
• Hard Drive: Kingston SSDNow V+200 120GB 2.5″ Solid State ($119.99 @ Newegg)
• Video Card: Asus GeForce GT 610 1GB ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
• Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower ($75.84 @ Amazon)
• Power Supply: Corsair 650W ATX12V ($44.99 @ Newegg)
• Optical Drive: Sony DDU1681S-0B DVD/CD ($17.00 @ Amazon)

Total: $747.77 (includes mail-in rebates)

for sake of complete systems, compare the prices of Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit)

CyberPower PC – $209 USD | PCPartPicker DIY – $174 USD

you can even set daily/weekly email alerts for price drops on your system components