Pros and Cons of making a PC

Pros? You learn so much! You know exactly what is in it, and what the machine is capable of! You can get parts OEMs do not offer together, and assemble them in your own customized machine. Want a i7-980X, 8GB DDR3, 3-Way SLI GTX 480's, (3) 1.5TB HDD's in RAID5, a X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty, and USB 3.0? BUILD IT!

Cons? Maybe you'll buy parts that don't fit together. Maybe it seems daunting if you're a little green at computing. Maybe you don't want to spend $5,000 and then have to build the computer, also. Seriously, a good rig can cost around $1,000, and be more than ample to do the job.

Most builders today, do it for the joy of building, are gamers, or do it for a living, which is fading fast. Most people do it on a personal level, because building them for people is a dying profession, like small repair shops. It's sad, but all the cheap OEM's, using nameless, generic parts have made this skill harder and harder to come by. Most people, even hardcore gamers, would rather buy a "gaming rig."

In my own opinion, you'll never be truly happy until you purchase the parts yourself, and build it with your own hands. You'll have all the books, know the "in's and out's" of it, have pride in it, and (MOST IMPORTANTLY) have a machine that NO ONE ELSE will have. Brag about something that you can't get from Dell, Acer, HP, or Apple.

Did I miss something? :-)

By building it yourself, you ensure the build quality and the quality of experience without letting OEMs cut corners on your machine. You personally pick the quality of parts and put it together the right way to make the best possible experience that you can. You will also feel pride in the machine and have an emotional investment in it since it is your creation, a feeling you won't get with a disposable off-the-shelf rig.

by building your own computer, you get much more performance for your money, especially if you're into things like gaming.

the only real disadvantage to building your own computer is if you are trying to build an incredibly cheap system. With extremely cheap systems, the cost is heavily subsidized, to a point where a $300 system might cost you around $400 if you were to build it your self.

But with high-performance systems such as gaming PCs, by going with a prebuilt system, you may and being ripped off by up to $700+.

if you want to test this, try picking the high-end system from a site such as ibuypower or alienware or falcon northwest

then using sites like newegg and amazon, pick out parts for a system with the same specs, generally the system that you can build your self may be in some cases over $700 cheaper

The Pro's is you could choose what computer you want to build ex. a gaming pc or a regular one, you could build the computer the way you want and what parts you want in your computer. You could put ATI with Intel Chip. When you build your own computer you also have to do a little research on which combination works. The disadvantages is that it will cost more to build a computer than buying that is made and put together already.

Pros: Is cheaper to build a high spec system than buy it. Also the knowledge you get from building it :)

Cons: Not knowing a lot can cost you damaging something, creating a short circuit, etc.

Pros: You can build a mean badass mother f#ck$r of a system that exceeds anything else out there.

Cons: Occasionally having hardware conflicts.

As well as all the pros + Cons above, a few practical thingfs to look out for:

1} - Get a decent PSU - More PC's are fritzed when a PSU dies and spits out a high-power surge than most other faults.

2} - Get a decent quality case to put it all in. A removable 'mobo-tray' allows you to neatly tuck and route the excess cables behind it, allowing a smooth air-flow through the case. Overheating WILL damage components. Also, the metal edges are smoothed off, so you won't rip your hands etc. when doing fiddly stuff

3} - Make certain all the bits will fit inside the case. It's surprising the number of folks I've heard of who've bought a new CPU-cooler or graphics-card that's physically too big to fit inside the case.

No1 pro: target the machine for YOUR environment (eg, quieter fans) No2 pro: select components known to work well with either the OS or variant thereof of your choice No3 pro: know just what is going on down there under the OS and applications

No1 Con: having to use your head to research exactly what you need and want

A home-built machine is always, always a better machine. You do the research, choose the best components for you, and have the opportunity to build- knowing that every single bit of it has been hand-chosen & carefully installed. I have built many, many systems and have not had one failure (beyond the occasional goof on my part which I rectified)- and I compare this with untold OEM boxes I've been called to repair. Yes, you have to invest time & effort- but as they say, it is very much worth it in the end.

Your foundation, the motherboard, is head & shoulders above the usual mass-market, low-end board. It only gets better from there. You load the OS of your choice- w/o the bloatware that comes, pre-installed, on the OEM boxes. Every part has been chosen to work best with all of the other parts- you end up with a computer that the big-boys just can't give you...because it is one-of-a-kind.

Definitely build!

I have always built my own... and the left overs from the previous version, I slap together to get some poor kid going that could never afford even a mouse! Now, some of them know more than I do about computers and that makes it all worthwhile. (But I do still have my Timex-Sinclair, my Commodore 128 and my TRS-80 Model 100... the only laptop that is ready to go when you flip the switch!) My goal in building is "Balance" meaning that I FIRST determine what I am going to use the machine for and then select the parts accordingly, trying not to over-build (costly) or cheap-out on something that would cause a bottle-neck or early failure. My builds usually last me a couple of years until some OS doesn't like my peripherals... scanners, printers, etc. that "user-unfriendly" manufacturers make sure that no drivers exist for the next-gen OS so you are forced to buy new... but there are ways around that too when you have built a few... my 1995 ($300!) Okidata Okipage mono-laser 4W printer is still running like new and daily on XP, Vista and Win7! So why not start early and small... upgrade and change out a video card, add a wireless card, bump up the memory... once you get to know the inside of the box it gets easier. After you have made your plan, take a couple of months to acquire the parts and methodically put the box together until that Great Day when you plug it in! Don't wait until your present machine fails as you will need a working one to research your building project, acquire drivers and proggys and ask for help when you get stuck. The satisfaction of resolving mysteries and making something with your own hands can change your life.... even if its just a computer. But then you can go on to carpentry and home repairs and intellectual pursuits with the confidence that you did not have before building your own computer. Go for it!