my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

» Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE   » Community   » Film-Yak   » How much do you save building your own PC? (Page 1)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1  2  3

Author Topic: How much do you save building your own PC? Mike Heenan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1896 From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 10-22-2009 09:44 PM                     I am looking into getting a new PC desktop with a new monitor as well. Costco has some pretty good all in one units middle of the road units available now with Windows 7 installed. These look great because I want something strong enough to handle blu ray, but I don't intend to play games on it. I'm just curious if I would save more than say, $200, if I bought everything separate and built it myself? Anyone done this before?  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-22-2009 09:51 PM                        You save nothing. The only real point to building your own is to use better-quality parts than are typically found in commodity PC hardware. A homebuilt system is generally more expensive, actually, than a commerically available model. If price is an issue, go with the prebuilt systems.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 10-22-2009 10:22 PM                     Another thing to consider is compatibility of all the components. This is a major mine field when it comes to building a PC. There is so much stuff out there that unpredictably won't play nice with other things. If you have a lot of spare time to fiddle around with that, then it may be worth it to build your own no-compromise PC. Some people really enjoy doing that. Most do not. My recommendation to those in the 2nd group (which includes me) is to just buy a Dell, or if you're in the mood to "switch" buy a Mac.  |  IP: Logged Mike Heenan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1896 From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 10-22-2009 10:42 PM                     I was thinking if the savings would be around $200 or so, it'd be worth doing myself, but I think going with a prebuilt system is best considering the time involved. Thanks!  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-22-2009 10:48 PM                     quote: Bobby Henderson Another thing to consider is compatibility of all the components. This is a major mine field when it comes to building a PC. I disagree, this is nonsense. It used to be somewhat of a problem but it's not really any more. Having built several hundred puters over the years I can certainly say I've never had compatability problems especially of lately. Occasionally you will have to load drivers seperately but even thats been greatly simplified and is mostly automatic. Motherboards and video cards all seem to be more universal than ever before and other then a video card there isn't much you need to add onto a computer because most of the stuff is already integrated into most motherboards. There is even tons of hardware already compatable with W-7. I say build but shop wisely. Read Tom's Hardware or similar sites for what's best out there. Prebuilt systems usually offer a very limited upgrade range and many times have integrated video on the motherboard. Sure, you can disable it in some cases and add a better video card but then you should have just built your own puter to begin with. Iuf you were spending $500 on a pre-built puter or $500 on just parts you'd be way ahead with the $500 in parts. Plus there are some really cool cases and other options you can add in that are not available with pre-builts. Mark  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 10-22-2009 10:55 PM                     quote: I disagree, this is nonsense. It used to be somewhat of a problem but it's not really any more. Having built several hundred puters I can certainly say I've never had compatability problems especially of lately. You must be blessed from up high or something because I still see serious issues occurring with kit built PCs. I personally know highly skilled IT people who work in defense contracting companies who run into this crap despite their expertise. Varying speeds and types of memory can cause problems. Video card drivers still cause problems despite everything boiling down to some flavor of ATI or nVidia chip (because many vendors are writing their own drivers, and sometimes doing a bad job at it). Not everything works with everything else. I even see compatibility warnings when selecting certain components to configure a garden-variety Dell.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-22-2009 11:00 PM                     Bobby, I must be blessed because I haven't had a single problem in well over 100 computers built. I can't answer for your friends in the defense industry or what they are building or building it for but had they checked into what they bought they wouldn't be having any problems. The last puter I assembled and had any problems with was an AMD based unit right after I moved to SLC... now that was 12 years ago. The CPU was defective and replaced and that computer is still in use today. Every puter in my home with the exception of my two Dell 2850's were assembled by myself and with the exception of fans going bad have given zero problems. What more can I say... I've had great luck and would be very happy to assist Mike in assembling his. Mark  |  IP: Logged Wayne Keyser Master Film Handler Posts: 272 From: Arlington, Virginia, USA Registered: May 2004 posted 10-22-2009 11:02 PM                     "You save nothing. The only real point to building your own is to use better-quality parts than are typically found in commodity PC hardware." - Scott Norwood Let me add: what he said, absolutely, plus you get to have the parts of your choice (instead of what the manufacturer chooses) in the configuration you prefer. Maybe you don't want to pay for part X, but you can't get part Y without it if you shop for a packaged system. More than that ... I dunno if they do this anymore, but back in Windows 98 days when it was time to replace or upgrade a part of my major-store-brand computer, I opened it up only to find the components hot-glued in place! Insulting as well as annoying.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-22-2009 11:04 PM                     Wayne, The average Joe should definitely buy a factory built computer... however someone looking for a high speed gaming computer or high performance computer for other uses should build their own. Its the only way to get what you want and with much higher performance for the buck. Mark  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 10-22-2009 11:21 PM                        I've never had any issues with building my own PC, though I've only done 2 or so. The biggest issue I had on the first one was trying to get the CA Link card to work and run the projectors in the building. But that was because the CA Link card used an ancient protocol from the year 1297. If I were to get a new PC today, I'd definitely build it. I would want certain dedicated cards that don't come with the Dell stuff and I like installing the OS myself.  |  IP: Logged Monte L Fullmer Film God Posts: 8367 From: Nampa, Idaho, USA Registered: Nov 2004 posted 10-22-2009 11:34 PM                     Outside of monetary value and savings is the plain joy and knowledge that you put something together and know exactly what you got inside and what you can work with afterwards.  |  IP: Logged Dennis Benjamin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1445 From: Denton, MD Registered: Feb 2002 posted 10-23-2009 12:08 AM                        Let's see: Two years ago I built my personal computer and spent about $200 or $300 (total!). This same computer runs great to this day and I haven't had a single problem with it. It does everything I need it to and runs like a champ. I have repaired about 30 or 40 computers for other people. These machines are sometimes newer and definately more expensive than the one I built (one machine I worked on retailed for $1600). Problems galore with these machines. As I had said somewhere in another post - the components in these machines were cheap off-brand hardware. While most of the problems I fixed were user caused problems - I still couldn't get over the amount of money they paid for machines that they were basically surfing the Internet and playing games on. I hand picked all the components that I put in my machine, the motherboard, the CPU, the RAM, the video card, and everything else. I built it from scratch. Hmm. Did I answer the question?  |  IP: Logged Mike Heenan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1896 From: Scottsdale, AZ, USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 10-23-2009 12:35 AM                     Dennis did that price include a monitor and software as well, or just the computer?  |  IP: Logged Rick Raskin Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1100 From: Manassas Virginia Registered: Jan 2003 posted 10-23-2009 07:31 AM                     I've bought and I've also built. In my opinion the better value is to buy a factory built machine. The downside is that in addition to the OS and compatible hardware you'll also get a lot of preloaded crap that you will have to filter through and delete or hide. Another factor is factory built machines tend to have custom cases that often do not have the hardware in place to allow expansion components like an additional hard drive or media reader. Overall, if you are looking at best cost, you'll probably save money by buying a factory built unit. By the time you factor in the hardware and software costs of a do it yourself machine I don't think you'd save any money.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 10-23-2009 09:24 AM                     Yea, Joe made a good point! Installing the OS yourself. Perhaps you don't want Vista or W7 on your puter yet and still want something reliable like good ole XP Pro. On many factory built computers, especially laptops if you format the drive and install your own OS you've also voided the warranty. When it comes to memory, just get high quality beand name memory. All of todays motherboards can automatically sense what type of memory you've plugged into the sockets and then they adjust to it automatically. Mark  |  IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

This topic comprises 3 pages: 1  2  3

Printer-friendly view of this topic

Hop To: Select a Forum: Category: Operations -------------------- Digital Cinema Forum Film Handlers' Forum Large Format Forum Ground Level Feature Info, Trailer Attachments & REAL Credit Offsets Category: Community -------------------- Film-Yak Film Handlers' Movie Reviews The Afterlife Bob Maar's Joke-A-Thon Category: Classified -------------------- Equipment and Supplies Wanted/For Sale Help Wanted/Seeking Employment Category: System -------------------- Software Beta Testing Forum

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.