How much money is saved building your own rig?

LoBlo · 12-13-09, 08:58 PM

As a general question, if I build my own rig, how much cash is save? I've been looking at custom builders like AVA direct, Pudget Systems, Maingear and I can't tell whether or not its worth to get the 'experts' to build it for me verses taking the plunge and doing my very first build myself.

Advice welcome.

Reece · 12-13-09, 10:09 PM

You don't really save money, usually end up spending a bit more, but you get the system you want, getting to pick a good Motherboard with a decent chipset, processor, ram, HDD, a decent case and brand name PSU makes it all worth while!!

Castout · 12-13-09, 11:01 PM

Of course you save money Reecce

If you buy the exact components as those specified in branded PC package.

But most people just buy the components that they WANT because now they could afford them if they build their own rig!

By how much I don't know I live in third world country anyway but it's a lot here about couple hundred of dollars.

oldschoolpcgamer · 12-14-09, 04:54 PM

You can save money initially, but as someone already said you end up taking a lot of time troubleshooting, installing, etc and if anything fails you need to RMA it with yourself. Those companies you mentioned are good, there is also Alienware but they got bought out by Dell. I heard of a new company started by old Alienware guys called ORIGIN PC. Check both of these companies out.

mookiemookie · 12-14-09, 05:02 PM

I just ordered a new system from ibuypower.com. This will be my third from them...always had good experiences with them.

Arclight · 12-14-09, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by oldschoolpcgamer

You can save money initially, but as someone already said you end up taking a lot of time troubleshooting, installing, etc and if anything fails you need to RMA it with yourself. Those companies you mentioned are good, there is also Alienware but they got bought out by Dell. I heard of a new company started by old Alienware guys called ORIGIN PC. Check both of these companies out.

I'd rather spend some time troubleshooting (which I haven't, I just build something that works

) and installing an OS, than have to settle for something pre-build. Putting together a custom rig is better than an off the shelf system, but then I still wouldn't want to pay someone else to put it together; perfectly capable to do that myself. The money you save that way is wel spent on a better graphics card.

Imho any serious gamer should build his own rig.

I don't see the issue with doing an RMA either. Get a box, put the component in and write the adress + code on it, send it on it's way.

At any rate, welcome aboard.

Reece · 12-14-09, 06:28 PM

What I like to do, and I dare say Arclight would do the same, is do some research for a motherboard making sure that it doesn't have onboard video, but does have a good number of slots. Then decide on the CPU & GPU I want & get a board with a good chipset to suit, once I have the list I then do a search for reviews on them to see if any good/bad reports, then after deciding the final board I search for the best price!! much the same with video card, PSU, and even the case requires quite a lot of research, the cooling/filtering and layout is very important, plus it has to look the part!!

The satisfaction of building one yourself, though it takes awhile, makes it all worthwhile!

CaptainHaplo · 12-14-09, 07:41 PM

How much you save depends on the rig you buy or build.

If you go with a cheap, mass produced office desktop - integrated graphics, 350W power supply, 2 Gigs ram, etc - you actually can save money buying a prebuilt like a dell.

However, if you want a game machine, your going to save money multiple ways if you build it yourself.

Say you go with a "customized" machine - your still limited to whatever hardware your customizer company works with. If its your rig and your hands in it - you can choose any combination of parts.

Second - you can pick your parts based off a number of items - not just price. But then - it sure doesn't hurt when you see that vd card you REALLY wanted on tigerdirect's daily special does it? But it does when you really wanted it - went with a custom job from someone - and ended up with a lesser card. You can compare performance - not just across chips, but manufacturers. Say a company offers you a 260 card - cheap. But you spot one 5 bucks more at a local supplier. The brands are different - and you research and find with the extra 5 bucks - you get a lifetime warranty - instead of 1 yr. Etc Etc...

Lets check and see what the costs are shall we?

A prebuilt Alienware with the following....
I7 920
2x gtx260's
6 GB ddr3
640 GB HD
24x cd/dvd burner
SB X-FI Titanitum
Includes a chassis and Win7 64Bit HP.
Cost - $2374 (not counting shipping, handling and insurance)

Now - with that budget - lets see what a homebuilt the same can cost
I7 920 with Asus P6T MB - $505.00
2x gtx260's -$175 each - $350
6GB ddr3 - $316
1kw PSU - $112
24x cd/dvd burner - $33
Win7 64Bit HP (OEM) = $106
SB X-FI Titanium - $125

Total cost of the homebuilt - $1547
But tack on another hundred for shipping the pieces and lets round it to $1650. That still saves you $700+ for an equal system. Sure you get a year of "tech support" - and for a standard user, thats great. But for a hardcore person - the folks the "alienware" and similiar are supposed to cater to - they don't need that - so its a waste.

You can use that for more machine - use these numbers and see...

I7 950 with Asus P6T MB - $815.00
2x GTX 275's - $236 each - $472.00

More machine - and still a few buck left over for a nice looking case to stick it all into with good cooling.
Note that this price list was pulled in about 10 minutes - using a single research website which lists various vendors for the parts.

Arclight · 12-15-09, 08:21 AM

Aye, I looked at one of those ORIGIN systems as well. Base price was something like $1770,- for their cheapest build, Phenom II.

That's about what I spend in total over time on mine, but I have a lot more for the money. My card was almost top of the line at the time, but there you would have an GTX260. I have an X-fi, there it would be onboard. I have 4 drives, 2 of which form a RAID0, there I would have just 1 drive, etc.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reece

What I like to do, and I dare say Arclight would do the same, is do some research for a motherboard making sure that it doesn't have onboard video, but does have a good number of slots. Then decide on the CPU & GPU I want & get a board with a good chipset to suit, once I have the list I then do a search for reviews on them to see if any good/bad reports, then after deciding the final board I search for the best price!! much the same with video card, PSU, and even the case requires quite a lot of research, the cooling/filtering and layout is very important, plus it has to look the part!!

The satisfaction of building one yourself, though it takes awhile, makes it all worthwhile!

Darn straight.

Don't even want to guess how many hours I spend reading reviews and comparing components, ordering something, and then doing it all over and changing the order.

For what it's worth, what I have now just works. Never had any major issues, such as hardware incompatibility or trouble with OS. If I want to switch out the PSU, I order one and put it in. From a recent thread I learned that that's not something you can do with a Dell, for example.

This thing is my pride and joy

hasn't failed me yet.

Reece · 12-15-09, 09:02 AM

Yes the one I have works atreat, for a little while I had trouble but turned out to be the CPU, I took a chance and upgraded to a faster one and all my reset problems were gone 100% and it runs faster, @ LoBlo, the thing to remember is it is not worth having a motherboard with a powerhouse CPU if you have a poor chipset, you end up with a bottleneck and after testing with a good benchmark program find that your computer performs like the CPU speed is halved!!

This is very important, in fact I would say that the chipset is more important for performance than the CPU!!

It's job is to work (handshake) between the BIOS and the hardware such as CPU, CACHE, RAM, HDD, DVD, PCI Slots, GPU, plus many other onboard devices such as Clock, LAN, Sound etc etc, as you can see .... Very important!

AVGWarhawk · 12-15-09, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

I just ordered a new system from ibuypower.com. This will be my third from them...always had good experiences with them.

I used Cyberpower. I selected what I wanted in the box and anything else. I think I got a heck of deal. Ran like a champ right out of the box and still does today. Will be one year after the 25th of this month. Best part of building your own or getting one built, the OS is bloat free. Nothing! No free this or that. Try this or that free for 30 days. Bloatware is ever present on off the shelve deals.

longam · 12-15-09, 05:18 PM

I've never done a cost comparison, but I wonder how much the difference it would really be after you ad the cost of the OS?

I know every time I would build my own that wasn't a factor because XP was around for such a long time, but the last pre-built I purchased the OS cost was a considerable savings compared to purchasing it separate.

Something else to consider.

Arclight · 12-15-09, 05:27 PM

Well, like you say "every time I would build my own that wasn't a factor because XP was around for such a long time". As long as you stick with the OS that you have, you only pay for it once. With of-the-shelf systems, you pay for the OS with every buy.

I guess after 2 or 3 home-builds using your non-OEM copy you've recovered the additional cost (if any), depending on what edition you have.

I must admit I'm not looking forward to buying Win7 though; that RC is gonna expire 1st of March.

Reece · 12-15-09, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arclight

Well, like you say "every time I would build my own that wasn't a factor because XP was around for such a long time". As long as you stick with the OS that you have, you only pay for it once. With of-the-shelf systems, you pay for the OS with every buy.

I guess after 2 or 3 home-builds using your non-OEM copy you've recovered the additional cost (if any), depending on what edition you have.

I must admit I'm not looking forward to buying Win7 though; that RC is gonna expire 1st of March.

Once you have purchased a copy of Win 7 is it possible to key in it's registration/activation number and keep going or just update, or it it a total install?

I have XP Pro and once the first SP is released for 7 then I will purchase, though I am not looking forward to the move, getting all the new drivers and setting up Internet/Network etc will be a pain!!

Arclight · 12-15-09, 07:30 PM

Luckily I always save what I download, but I still always feel compelled to check if everything is up to date and wind up downloading again.

But yeah, it's a pain. Usually only takes 1 evening, but there's a bit of pressure behind the ordeal because you're constantly installing and rebooting. I recently did some maintenance and got that dual-boot working; a friend of mine comes on Skype and asks "what the hell are you doing?!", because he constantly got the pop-up of me logging in after a reboot.

Don't know if you can keep going, but I'd do a fresh install anyway. They probably made some changes going from RC to release. Not sure they can just patch those in.

12-13-09, 08:58 PM	#1
LoBlo Subsim Diehard Join Date: May 2006 Location: Texas! Posts: 971 Downloads: 78 Uploads: 3	How much money is saved building your own rig? As a general question, if I build my own rig, how much cash is save? I've been looking at custom builders like AVA direct, Pudget Systems, Maingear and I can't tell whether or not its worth to get the 'experts' to build it for me verses taking the plunge and doing my very first build myself. Advice welcome. __________________ "Seek not to offend or annoy... only to speak the truth"-a wise man

12-13-09, 10:09 PM	#2
Reece CINC Pacific Fleet Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Down Under Posts: 32,794 Downloads: 171 Uploads: 0	You don't really save money, usually end up spending a bit more, but you get the system you want, getting to pick a good Motherboard with a decent chipset, processor, ram, HDD, a decent case and brand name PSU makes it all worth while!! __________________ *Sub captains go down with their ship!*

12-13-09, 11:01 PM	#3
Castout Silent Hunter Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Jakarta Posts: 4,794 Downloads: 89 Uploads: 6	Of course you save money Reecce If you buy the exact components as those specified in branded PC package. But most people just buy the components that they WANT because now they could afford them if they build their own rig! By how much I don't know I live in third world country anyway but it's a lot here about couple hundred of dollars. __________________ My blog: http://exposingsingapore.wordpress.com/

12-14-09, 05:02 PM	#5
mookiemookie Navy Seal Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: Houston, TX Posts: 9,404 Downloads: 105 Uploads: 1	I just ordered a new system from ibuypower.com. This will be my third from them...always had good experiences with them. __________________ They don’t think it be like it is, but it do. Want more U-boat Kaleun portraits for your SH3 Commander Profiles? Download the SH3 Commander Portrait Pack here.

12-14-09, 06:28 PM	#7
Reece CINC Pacific Fleet Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Down Under Posts: 32,794 Downloads: 171 Uploads: 0	What I like to do, and I dare say Arclight would do the same, is do some research for a motherboard making sure that it doesn't have onboard video, but does have a good number of slots. Then decide on the CPU & GPU I want & get a board with a good chipset to suit, once I have the list I then do a search for reviews on them to see if any good/bad reports, then after deciding the final board I search for the best price!! much the same with video card, PSU, and even the case requires quite a lot of research, the cooling/filtering and layout is very important, plus it has to look the part!! The satisfaction of building one yourself, though it takes awhile, makes it all worthwhile! __________________ *Sub captains go down with their ship!*

12-14-09, 04:54 PM	#4
oldschoolpcgamer Bilge Rat Join Date: Dec 2009 Posts: 1 Downloads: 0 Uploads: 0	You can save money initially, but as someone already said you end up taking a lot of time troubleshooting, installing, etc and if anything fails you need to RMA it with yourself. Those companies you mentioned are good, there is also Alienware but they got bought out by Dell. I heard of a new company started by old Alienware guys called ORIGIN PC. Check both of these companies out.

12-14-09, 07:41 PM	#8
CaptainHaplo Silent Hunter Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 4,404 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 0	How much you save depends on the rig you buy or build. If you go with a cheap, mass produced office desktop - integrated graphics, 350W power supply, 2 Gigs ram, etc - you actually can save money buying a prebuilt like a dell. However, if you want a game machine, your going to save money multiple ways if you build it yourself. Say you go with a "customized" machine - your still limited to whatever hardware your customizer company works with. If its your rig and your hands in it - you can choose any combination of parts. Second - you can pick your parts based off a number of items - not just price. But then - it sure doesn't hurt when you see that vd card you REALLY wanted on tigerdirect's daily special does it? But it does when you really wanted it - went with a custom job from someone - and ended up with a lesser card. You can compare performance - not just across chips, but manufacturers. Say a company offers you a 260 card - cheap. But you spot one 5 bucks more at a local supplier. The brands are different - and you research and find with the extra 5 bucks - you get a lifetime warranty - instead of 1 yr. Etc Etc... Lets check and see what the costs are shall we? A prebuilt Alienware with the following.... I7 920 2x gtx260's 6 GB ddr3 640 GB HD 24x cd/dvd burner SB X-FI Titanitum Includes a chassis and Win7 64Bit HP. Cost - $2374 (not counting shipping, handling and insurance) Now - with that budget - lets see what a homebuilt the same can cost I7 920 with Asus P6T MB - $505.00 2x gtx260's -$175 each - $350 6GB ddr3 - $316 1kw PSU - $112 24x cd/dvd burner - $33 Win7 64Bit HP (OEM) = $106 SB X-FI Titanium - $125 Total cost of the homebuilt - $1547 But tack on another hundred for shipping the pieces and lets round it to $1650. *That still saves you $700+ for an equal system.* Sure you get a year of "tech support" - and for a standard user, thats great. But for a hardcore person - the folks the "alienware" and similiar are supposed to cater to - they don't need that - so its a waste. You can use that for more machine - use these numbers and see... I7 950 with Asus P6T MB - $815.00 2x GTX 275's - $236 each - $472.00 More machine - and still a few buck left over for a nice looking case to stick it all into with good cooling. Note that this price list was pulled in about 10 minutes - using a single research website which lists various vendors for the parts. __________________ Good Hunting! Captain Haplo

12-15-09, 09:02 AM	#10
Reece CINC Pacific Fleet Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Down Under Posts: 32,794 Downloads: 171 Uploads: 0	Yes the one I have works atreat, for a little while I had trouble but turned out to be the CPU, I took a chance and upgraded to a faster one and all my reset problems were gone 100% and it runs faster, @ LoBlo, the thing to remember is it is not worth having a motherboard with a powerhouse CPU if you have a poor chipset, you end up with a bottleneck and after testing with a good benchmark program find that your computer performs like the CPU speed is halved!! This is very important, in fact I would say that the chipset is more important for performance than the CPU!! It's job is to work (handshake) between the BIOS and the hardware such as CPU, CACHE, RAM, HDD, DVD, PCI Slots, GPU, plus many other onboard devices such as Clock, LAN, Sound etc etc, as you can see .... Very important! __________________ *Sub captains go down with their ship!*

12-15-09, 05:18 PM	#12
longam Admiral Join Date: Jun 2005 Posts: 2,014 Downloads: 26 Uploads: 0	I've never done a cost comparison, but I wonder how much the difference it would really be after you ad the cost of the OS? I know every time I would build my own that wasn't a factor because XP was around for such a long time, but the last pre-built I purchased the OS cost was a considerable savings compared to purchasing it separate. Something else to consider.

12-15-09, 05:27 PM	#13
Arclight Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Land of windmills, tulips, wooden shoes and cheese. Lots of cheese. Posts: 8,467 Downloads: 53 Uploads: 10	Well, like you say "every time I would build my own that wasn't a factor because XP was around for such a long time". As long as you stick with the OS that you have, you only pay for it once. With of-the-shelf systems, you pay for the OS with every buy. I guess after 2 or 3 home-builds using your non-OEM copy you've recovered the additional cost (if any), depending on what edition you have. I must admit I'm not looking forward to buying Win7 though; that RC is gonna expire 1st of March. __________________ Contritium praecedit superbia.

12-15-09, 07:30 PM	#15
Arclight Navy Seal Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Land of windmills, tulips, wooden shoes and cheese. Lots of cheese. Posts: 8,467 Downloads: 53 Uploads: 10	Luckily I always save what I download, but I still always feel compelled to check if everything is up to date and wind up downloading again. But yeah, it's a pain. Usually only takes 1 evening, but there's a bit of pressure behind the ordeal because you're constantly installing and rebooting. I recently did some maintenance and got that dual-boot working; a friend of mine comes on Skype and asks "what the hell are you doing?!", because he constantly got the pop-up of me logging in after a reboot. Don't know if you can keep going, but I'd do a fresh install anyway. They probably made some changes going from RC to release. Not sure they can just patch those in. __________________ Contritium praecedit superbia.