Do you build your own PC's?

[cock-a-leekie]

I was surprised to read that some of you actually buy your PC's rather than build them. I can understand buying a laptop, but those proprietary motherboards & components the big guys like Dell use, are a bit crappy dontcha think?

I've been building my own boxes for about 10 years & I built this dedicated online games machine the other day to help free up the load on my workstation.

I love playing online games like counter strike, doom3, far cry, unreal etc. There's no better way to unwind than to be shooting fuck out of someone, knowing that it's a real guy at the other end, not just some A.I. bot. :comp:

[-HF]

i actually ran a biz building boxes and selling them, no point anymore though, the market is dead, only service makes you some money.

just one example:

Design of your choice Bidi-Tower, 4x 5,25" & 3x 3,5" slots
AMD Athlon 64 3200+, Socket 754, 512 KB, Newcastle
Zalman CNPS7000 copper cooler
Gigabyte K8VT800, ATX, 800 MHz FSB, dual DDR 400, AGP8x, 10/100 LAN, 5.1 Audio, 5x PCI, 3x184 Pin DDR
512 MB DDR PC3200
Samsung HDD 80GB, 7200RPM, 3 year warranty
DVD-ReWriter LG 4163 BB, dual layer, supports DVD RAM
ATI Radeon 9250, 256 MB DDR RAM, AGP 8x, TV-out, DVI, 128 Bit, 4 Pipe-Lines
PSU Codegen 400W, ATX, PFC, low noise

2 year full warranty (unless stated differently), free hotline

for EUR 499.00 / GBP 336.00 incl VAT

for THAT price i won't build anything myself anymore. no work, someone to shit on when stuff doesn't work. the last 2 years with peddling hardware i actually traded only, had boxes built and sold them on with a 20% plus for me.

[Guest]

I've been using the same Dell for 6 years now. Only had to replace the fan and the video card :)

[cock-a-leekie]

i actually ran a biz building boxes and selling them, no point anymore though, the market is dead, only service makes you some money.

just one example:

Design of your choice Bidi-Tower, 4x 5,25" & 3x 3,5" slots
AMD Athlon 64 3200+, Socket 754, 512 KB, Newcastle
Zalman CNPS7000 copper cooler
Gigabyte K8VT800, ATX, 800 MHz FSB, dual DDR 400, AGP8x, 10/100 LAN, 5.1 Audio, 5x PCI, 3x184 Pin DDR
512 MB DDR PC3200
Samsung HDD 80GB, 7200RPM, 3 year warranty
DVD-ReWriter LG 4163 BB, dual layer, supports DVD RAM
ATI Radeon 9250, 256 MB DDR RAM, AGP 8x, TV-out, DVI, 128 Bit, 4 Pipe-Lines
PSU Codegen 400W, ATX, PFC, low noise

2 year full warranty (unless stated differently), free hotline

for EUR 499.00 / GBP 336.00 incl VAT

for THAT price i won't build anything myself anymore. no work, someone to shit on when stuff doesn't work. the last 2 years with peddling hardware i actually traded only, had boxes built and sold them on with a 20% plus for me.

Yeah I agree on price, what with mass buying power it's impossible to compete with the big names, which is a good thing for your "Joe average" consumer I suppose. But many of those boxes are build to a price. They cut corners that I wouldn't be prepared to live with. That's just me though, I spend all my time on the PC and I enjoy having my own custom build boxes that are designed to perfectly suit my needs -and then some.

I just wondered if anyone else actually enjoyed putting their own boxes together for the fun of it? I personally like to choose every single component right down to the screw, cable, pcb colour, sound card etc. This gives me a unique design that I'm prepared to spend perhaps 3 times more for, and by building my own I can be sure of getting a box that is built using only the highest quality components that I've soured to match not only technically, but also aesthetically. I guess this must make me a bit of a saddo, but I don't see any difference in spending £150 on an empty case with a top notch paint job to spending £150 on a designer sweater or shirt. Again I'd be willing to spend £100 on a PSU if it was a really stiff unit finished in chrome or anodised in a particular colour that I wanted, something you just can't do with a consumer box, but cheap - no :cry:

[-HF]

fucking geek :D

i see the box as a tool to do my job, nothing more (now anyway, it was a different thing when it was cool to have the 387 math CPU on your 386 board and before). i'd prolly still run my Athlon 900, if i hadn't upgraded to do some video editting. it was fine and did everything i needed done in a timely manner.
when i sold the first 1 Ghz CPUs, i still used a 300 MHz one myself, and i loved it really.

obviously you with your gaming will need more graphic and CPU power most of the time. only games i have installed are Dynomite and an Arkanoid clone.

you are totally right about the mass prodcution ones often being made of low quality parts - usually shocks people when they get them boxes and try to upgrade later. had a customer who wanted his supermarket PC upgraded. a 2nd HDD was too much for the PSU.
however the price i quoted is from a really cool little shop, using quality parts, all systems custom built, if it's available, they can do it. and they know me long enough not to mess around.

[NumptyNuts]

walk into shop, pick up machine, set it up - bang it works....

buy lots of bits, fuck around for hours botching things cause you dont have the required tools & knowledge boot up and ......

PC World costs me a fortune though if anything happens and I go in and see them its gets sorted out right away. But fair play if you build you own :-)

[cock-a-leekie]

fucking geek :D

Yup that's me! :)

I guess for most folks their PC is a means to an end. Ultimately it's the same for me, but I like to play games and once you go down the road of overclocking, and high end 3d acceleration building your own is just the best way. I don't think a warranty would last me more than a day, I'd be in the bios overclocking that baby! :p

I used to sell & service PC's from 95-99, not in a big way, just a couple a week for extra cash. Was a nice little earner back then.

[SGS]

I call out a technician to fix a fuse.

Used to enjoy the screwdrivers and swearing bit but life is just too short now.

[Shandy McAndy]

walk into shop, pick up machine, set it up - bang it works....

Thats the one

[Shandy McAndy]

I call out a technician to fix a fuse.

Used to enjoy the screwdrivers and swearing bit but life is just too short now.

I have someone else call the technician to change the fuse, in case I fuck it up

[-HF]

Yup that's me! :)

I guess for most folks their PC is a means to an end. Ultimately it's the same for me, but I like to play games and once you go down the road of overclocking, and high end 3d acceleration building your own is just the best way. I don't think a warranty would last me more than a day, I'd be in the bios overclocking that baby! :p

I used to sell & service PC's from 95-99, not in a big way, just a couple a week for extra cash. Was a nice little earner back then.


i have to correct myself, installed a 3rd game. Command & Conquer Generals - and i'll be damned if it isn't as entertaining as it would have been in 2003 for 7x the price i picked it up for yesterday. :D

[cock-a-leekie]

i have to correct myself, installed a 3rd game. Command & Conquer Generals - and i'll be damned if it isn't as entertaining as it would have been in 2003 for 7x the price i picked it up for yesterday. :D

A class game indeed! One of the few games worth paying full price for if you can't wait (like me).

[Elisha Jade]

We always build ours works out a lot better spec for the price

Although my blue neon light in my see through case is no longer working waaaah

[cock-a-leekie]

I have someone else call the technician to change the fuse, in case I fuck it up

:takethat:

[cock-a-leekie]

We always build ours works out a lot better spec for the price

Although my blue neon light in my see through case is no longer working waaaah

Yeah I've had a couple of neons go kaput on me, I don't think they last very long :mad: Just sticking with LED fans from now on me thinks.

[-HF]

A class game indeed! One of the few games worth paying full price for if you can't wait (like me).
it's the same reason i don't go to the cinema. for the price of a couple of tickets i get it all delivered on Pay TV a year later, safely and comfy at home. i lost counts on how often we watched LOTR or Pirates of the Carribean or Wrong Turn, to name just 3 examples.
noone to scratch my car on a parking lot, noone i would have to rip the fucking throat out for crackling with their munchies right behind me or not having switched their mobile off 2 rows away.

stingy? me? oh yes, when it comes to deciding on spending money on something that'll be just as good a little later. :)

now you wouldn't have any cheats for C&C? :D

[RicardoB]

Yup I build my own. Break em myself too :D