Building Your Own Computer... Any reason?

[ckuehner 0]

I know a lot of people who build their own computers, and most people on forums have custom PCs too. Are there any benefits to doing this?

 

I know that if your a gamer, a custom computer is the way to go because you get better performance or whatever... but I'm not a gamer. So don't tell me about that.

 

I want to get into music producing, so what would do for that? Like would there be certain parts that would be needed that aren't as necessary in others?

 

I'm thinking about buying a turntable to so I can cut up and scratch records like a real DJ, but since I'm a loser I want to be able to edit on the computer too. Are there any PC turntables that I can use with actual records and have the results on the computer? That'd be awesome, but I dont know if its possible...

 

If you could post a recipe for the computer I'm looking to build that would be awesome. Just a basic computer that is strong enough to handle a music player (WinAMP), microsoft word, AIM, and an Internet Explorer, plus being able to use Acid/Fruity Loops/Reason, or one of those PC beat producers, all at the same time.

 

And if that can all be done with a store bought computer, let me know about that too...

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For what you are looking to do with a computer, you could honestly simply go down to your local Best Buy or whatever stores you have in your area, and buy the cheapest computer that they offer... and it will easily be able to do the things you listed.

 

Advantages of building your own computer.... UPGRADES.

 

As everyone knows, a computer is only new technology on the day that you buy it. Tomorrow, something bigger, faster, better will come out and you will have old equipment. To a point, this doesn't matter, because if what you have will do what you need it to do, then who cares if it is old equipment. Sooner or later you will be forced to upgrade though. You will need more memory, maybe more hard drive space, a better video card, faster processor...

 

If you build your own computer, these upgrades are far easier to add later. Many Store Bought PC's are impossible to upgrade. Memory and Hard Drive space are never a problem... But quite often video cards are built in to the Motherboard, and the processor is not upgradable. Which means that once you need those upgrades... you have to start all over again and buy a new PC. If you build it yourself... you can simply buy a couple of parts and keep yourself up to date.

 

While actually building the PC is extremely simple... you should first do your research and learn the basics of what each component does so that you can make a better decision on what parts to buy.

 

Another option... hire someone who already knows these things and have them Custom Build your PC for you... you still have the Upgrade Advantage.

[tuddy 0]

Building your own PC is a great experience, and when it don't work, you know you can take it apart and start again.Also you don't get that annoying sticker that says warrenty void if case cover removed! Mod the case out too...ie. Ford stickers on it. even a ford symbol!

[Inspiron 0]

For what you are looking to do with a computer, you could honestly simply go down to your local Best Buy or whatever stores you have in your area, and buy the cheapest computer that they offer... and it will easily be able to do the things you listed.

 

Advantages of building your own computer.... UPGRADES.

 

As everyone knows, a computer is only new technology on the day that you buy it. Tomorrow, something bigger, faster, better will come out and you will have old equipment. To a point, this doesn't matter, because if what you have will do what you need it to do, then who cares if it is old equipment. Sooner or later you will be forced to upgrade though. You will need more memory, maybe more hard drive space, a better video card, faster processor...

 

If you build your own computer, these upgrades are far easier to add later. Many Store Bought PC's are impossible to upgrade. Memory and Hard Drive space are never a problem... But quite often video cards are built in to the Motherboard, and the processor is not upgradable. Which means that once you need those upgrades... you have to start all over again and buy a new PC. If you build it yourself... you can simply buy a couple of parts and keep yourself up to date.

 

While actually building the PC is extremely simple... you should first do your research and learn the basics of what each component does so that you can make a better decision on what parts to buy.

 

Another option... hire someone who already knows these things and have them Custom Build your PC for you... you still have the Upgrade Advantage.

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One major disadvantage... You won't have a guarantee on the workability..

[guangdian 0]

it really sounds hard i think if you build your computer as that way,sometime i just using the icafe computer,i just have my own,but i just play game or watch movie by dvd on it.i just don't get it do nothing else

[MysticWaters 0]

I like to custom build my own because I know exactly whats in it and how the performance is. . . You just can't trust those store pplz :PBut yeah, if you wanted a new CPU or something for better performance, you wouldn't need to buy a whole new other RAM and all the other stuff that comes with it... it saves money too..It's not that hard either... wires all easily fit into place and theres a manual and all that... or you could just ask someone~

[PhoenixGFX 1]

It's not that hard to assemble a computer. The problem is that you'll need to be patient. Not just throwing each part into a case.Assembling a computer from scratch is always a good way to save money. The other plus is that you have the choice of which component best suits your need.Newegg, as mentioned before, is a good place to start. But you have to remember which operating system you will be using. It'll be pointless to use the maximum ram that a mainboard can support and run it under a 32bit operating system. The limit is around 3gb. Best to go 64bit and utilize all of the memory slots.Also, it's better to get a good high end video card. You may change your mind later and want to go into gaming and video editing.

[Iniyila 2]

The first thing i want to say is that just think about the person who is assembling the PC for you in a company, is he doing it for free ? no he will get paid for doing this so if you do that yourself, you will save the money he gets and the other type of monies which i will describe. the company itself provides some type of PC and they name them something like office 01 or gaming 01 or many other names, they should make money by doing this they have to get money from you more than what you will have to pay if but the parts yourself because other wise they will not have an income. but in exchange they give you a warranty for the whole system, if you buy parts yourself you will get a warranty for each of them so here they will not give you a real advantage. so till now you have paid more for nothing, another thing these companies provide is some support or something like that but if you can access a place like here, or google you will not need any support until a hardware fault comes around which you don't need a company for these situations too, because the thing they do is that you will take the case to them, they will send the faulty part to its warranty and they will get it back when it fixed and replace for you and will tell you to come and get it.So i think if you don't want to spend your time on learning some hardware and software things, then go for a company assembled PC, an example of this type person is who can make money with each second of his life, like those who are very active in Forex and other Online tradings, so they have no time for learning things about pc and they only want their PC maid ready for them to make money with it. but if you are a person who is not that much busy and a little interested in PC stuffs then just do it yourself, by doing this you will save your money and train your brain at the same time which is nice. i can say this is not a hardwork and most peoples can do it just follow a tutorial to installing CPU and other things on mother board (this tutorial comes with the motherboard itself), i should say if you want to buy a custom company assembled PC then you have to pay so much so this is why most of peoples who want a custom specification, assemble it themselves. sometimes you can get a package which comes with huge discounts, so we should not loose these special offers and saying that assembling my self will save my money, but these things only happens sometime when a company is in trouble so if you saw any of these special offers go for them without any doubt. And in the end i say if you want a not so much powerful PC then there is some mother boards created by intel based on atom cpu, they come with cpu installed on mother board by factory so assembling them is even easier, they will use just a little power and will give you enough power even for playing full hd movies, so don't forget them.

[VickyMilza 0]

Hello friends,There are many advantages of building your own computer. Just visit the market to get all the parts you need for your computer. Imagine the loads of information you get related to different parts, how they function and the price variation between two shops you visit for the same hardware. Yes, that's true. There is a lot of variation in the price of the same hardware between two nearby shops. You learn all about different parts that make your computer. You can install the software of your choice on your computer.ThanksVicky Milza

[VickyMilza 0]

Hello friends,A custom computer only runs as well as the components you put in them, so what did we use? The beauty of building a custom computer is that you can focus on whatever you plan on doing with the computer and buying the components to accommodate that goal. This computer was built for a person who needed a lot of storage for their music and pictures, a fast hard drive, good DVD burners, and nice fast RAM. This was a computer that was going to be used for a family in the main room, so high performance and a good video card weren't a must. We therefore threw our spare cash into getting a large hard drive, solid RAM, and a good processor.Best advanceVickylocklizard

Edited November 24, 2011 by VickyMilza (see edit history)

[k_nitin_r 8]

theconman,By building your own computer, you have the ability to decide what components go into the making of your computer system. Some people prefer an assembled computer because it is cheaper, as they can cut back on the features that they do not require, whereas other people use assembled computers because they have components that would not otherwise be available in a mainstream computer sold of retailer shelves.To start with, an assembled computer system consists of a case. The case can be anything from a wooden box that you make from a slab of wood, a saw, and some nails, to a crafted aluminium case with LEDs. It does not really matter which way you go as long as you have the mounts for the motherboard of your choice and can fit a power supply unit and, optionally one or more cooling fans for the case. Considering that hot air rises and air with a lower temperature would be situated toward the bottom of the case, you can look for a case that either has fans that draws in cold air from the bottom of the case and lets out hot air from the top rear of the case, or you can look for a case that lets you fit the additional cooling fans yourself. Proper airflow is essential for high performance computer workstations that are used for gaming or high end graphics and video editing. The horizontal cases have an advantage over the tower cases in heat dissipation because when the components are located at the bottom of the case, the components can be cooled with the air at a lower temperature from the bottom of the case while the air at a higher temperature rises to the top of the case and is extracted by the case fan or, in some cases, by the fan of the power supply unit. In mainstream computers, only two cooling fans are present within the computer system - one is used to draw air from the heat sink of the processor while the other fan is located within the power supply and serves the dual functions of cooling the parts of the power supply unit and extracting hot air out of the computer case. This minimizes power consumption and reduces noise considerably because cooling fans are the primary source of noise from a computer system.Then, comes the heart of the computer, the processor. You can get processors that are built cheap by reducing the amount of cache on the processor, such as the Intel Celeron processor. While these are cheap, they are also limited in their processing power by the limited cache because instructions are often executed in the processor faster than they can be fetched or sent back from the bus, which carries data to and from the processor as well as to and from the other components and peripheral devices of the computer system. There are processors built for low power consumption from Via/Cyrix (Cyrix was a popular manufacturer for desktop processors back in the day and it was later acquired by Via. Via continues to manufacturer low-priced processors for desktop and notebook computer systems) and Transmeta (Transmeta was popular for building low-power processors, especially those for mobile computer systems. Novafora itself winded up its business operations). Intel's Xeon line of computer processors are built for server application and feature a large amount of cache. They are also used in high end workstations such as those used for computer graphics and video editing. They reduce the rendering time for conversion of video formats and improve the computer's responsiveness when altering large graphics files. Among mainstream processors offered by Intel today, the Intel Core i7 is the flagship desktop processor and is also used in high end workstations. The Intel Core i3 is the entry level processor and the Intel Core i5 offers a higher performance for those on a budget. The price difference between an Intel Core i3 and an Intel Core i5 is roughly sixty dollars so you might as well shell out the extra cash to invest in an Intel Core i5 processor to take advantage of the turbo boost, which automatically increases the clock speed of the processor when certain conditions are met. AMD processors offer better value at the expense of performance.The memory of the computer system is largely standardized across all mainstream computers, with servers incorporating memory with error checking and control. In other words, you can get a memory stick for any modern desktop and can expect it to work with a modern motherboard for building your computer system. If you are building a computer system with an old motherboard, you have to ensure that the memory types match but for the most part it is not really worth the effort to build a computer system out of old components because of the rather low prices of computer components today. As a general rule of thumb, get at least 2GB of memory for your computer unless you plan on using it as a router or a web server with a text-based console for administration. You can use a portion of your memory for your graphics adapter if your motherboard and the integrated video graphics adapter supports it but ideally you are better off getting a video graphics adapter that has its own dedicated memory because it takes longer for the video graphics adapter to access the main system memory of your computer system than for it to access its on-board memory.The motherboard of your system is like a platform upon which you build everything. You have to pick a motherboard that can work with the processor you choose and for the amount of memory that you want to include so, in essence, it is central to the design of your computer system. Look for a motherboard with as many memory slots and USB ports as you can afford because it makes the computer system easier to upgrade. Also, getting multiple memory sticks of a lower capacity is cheaper than getting a single memory stick of the capacity of all of the memory sticks combined. For example, you can get four memory sticks of one gigabyte each instead of a single memory stick of four gigabytes because of a lower price but this does mean that when you do decide to upgrade the memory, you will have to take off the old memory sticks and will not be able to use them because of a shortage of memory slots. Some motherboards support dual channel memory access and would either require you to install memory sticks in pairs, with some motherboards even requiring you to install three memory sticks of a kind for triple-channel access, and other motherboards providing you with the option of running in dual-channel memory access mode if the memory sticks are identical and falling over to single-channel memory access when a single memory stick is present or the two memory sticks are not identical, and other low end built-for-economy motherboards offering only single-channel memory access. Depending on your needs and budget, you can decide to get a motherboard that just meets the requirements for your computer system and can be replaced whenever your needs exceed the capabilities of the computer system or meets your future requirements and can be easily upgraded when you have the budget and the need for more components or higher end components. Some motherboards feature on-board audio and graphic support but if you want a computer system purpose-built for graphics and video editing or for audio production, you can get a motherboard without those features or can get a motherboard with the features on-board but disable them if you do not need them.My description above is for a computer system on which you plan to run Windows. You can also build a computer exclusively for running a Linux or Unix based operating system or perhaps even a specialy operating system by using a processor that does not use the x86/x86-64 instruction set. For example, the ARM processor, which is used by most smart phone devices, personal digital assistants, and high end calculators, can be used to run a Linux based desktop or notebook system, with some cheaper low-end notebook computers employing the ARM processor and powering a Linux based distribution. You may be able to find one of these computers at a store near you. The ARM processors are much more energy efficient than mainstream x86 computer processors owing to the research and development focused on reducing the power consumption and heat envelope because of their application in embedded and mobile computing systems. They are also much cheaper than mainstream computers making them ideal for netbook applications if you do not need to run Windows (or can run Windows application through WINE emulation or through computer virtualization software that can emulate an x86 processor on a Linux or Unix based operating system).If you do decide to buy a computer off the retailer shelves, you may want to consider an all-in-one design because of the space savings. These computers are either integrated into a monitor or within the keyboard. Although they offer limited upgradeability, they are more economical because of the cost savings for the manufacturers to reduce casings and through a shared use of power supply units and chassis, and a reduced need for cabling. Some all-in-one computer systems also include a touch screen and they often have a large computer screen for display. Often the primary reason for people to choose an all-in-one computer over a laptop/notebook or a netbook system is the large screen or the touch-screen.You do not really have to know how to put together the components of your computer when deciding to get an assembled computer system. Most computer stores will do it for you if you buy the parts for them without charging you for the assembly service and can even offer you discounts if you buy all of the parts for your computer system from them. They would have the advantage of bulk orders and receiving discounts from manufacturers as well as having the shipping costs spread over a larger number of units when compared to having to order the components of your choice from eBay.While you are looking for computers, I do suggest that you take a look at factory outlets from Dell and Lenovo because they offer huge discounts on some of their merchandise either because of cosmetic defects such as scratches that occured during handling or because of selling store-returns and computers that were returned under warranty and repaired.