Don't flame me, just wondering.

F

FiveSeven

Member
I was just wondering if there's a solid reason why everyone prefers to build there own desktop when store bought ones can sometimes be cheaper and have better specs. I honestly want to know because I'm about to buy one.
 
oh no no no five seven, usually the opposite factory made are usually overpriced and under speced.

The main reason i would say people prefer to build themselves or have one custom built is you can hand pick every last component so you can pick the items you want, and end up with your perfect pc
 
Well, on paper those store bought computer can be "better". However, if you're looking to do gaming or something that's more intensive there are a lot of other features and factors of computers that affect the performance than the amount of RAM, type of processor, etc. The speed and latency of RAM that I buy for the ones I build are MUCH better and can really help when gaming. The graphics card is probably the biggest difference to me, and the front speed bus (connection of the processor to the motherboard) can be much better on home built versus store bought computers. That's to just name a few things. One other big difference is that most store bought computer only have a 300 or 350 watt power supply which is just enough to power the stuff that comes in the computer, if you add a graphics card to most any of those computers, you need to upgrade that.

I could go on quite a bit longer, but hopefully this gives you an idea of what the differences are...
 
Common Requirements
OS: Windows XP, Vista, 7
DirectX: DirectX 9.0b

Minimum Requirement
CPU: Pentium III 833Mhz
Graphics Card: GeForce3 64MB
RAM: 256MB

Recommended Requirement
CPU: Pentium III 1.2Ghz
Graphics Card: GeForce4 128MB
RAM: 512MB


Those are the requirements for the only game I play. In your opinion will that HP Pavilion be enough?
 
Building computers for a specific purpose will benefit from having all of the parts individually chosen to fit that purpose. You may not need a high powered GPU but most prebuilt that have high performance parts have a GPU that would be over what you need for data crunching.

You get better parts with a custom built system. Even though it may cost more (a lot of times it doesn't) you get parts that have a much higher quality with an individual warranty to that specific part. Where in most cases OEM PCs have a warranty for the whole system. Most of the saved money that you see in OEM systems are money that they saved by skimping quality on some of the parts. Generally the PSUs that come in those machines are junk. Sure I could save a few bucks and get this 650 watt for $15 on sale but it is not going to hold up like another PSU from a more reputable company.

Overclocking OEM PCs in most cases can not be overclocked nor do they have the proper hardware for it (like cooling).

It's a project. I enjoy building them. So why not why not?
 
You'll need to buy a separate graphics card, and like I was saying before, those "slimline" computers can only take the "Low Profile" cards. They MUST say "Low Profile". This also looks like a pretty old game, which one is it? Because I have a sneaking suspicion that it won't work with Windows 7, and if that's the case then you need to upgrade the OS to Windows 7 Business to get the XP Compatibility Mode...
 
Tiger Direct isn't bad, either. I tend to like Newegg better because Tiger includes a lot of mail-in rebates for their pricing. Newegg does a little but not nearly as much.
 
Single core proc and integrated GPU on that system you showed us, leaving 2GB of the RAM really worthless. You probably wont even get a video card in that system because of the size of the case, and the PSU

When you buy a prebuilt system you also have boatloads of bloatware, slowing down your computer. I can build a computer with the exact same base specs as a prebuilt and it will run better. Not to mention that I can buy higher clocked ram with better timing than a prebuilt. Buy a prebuilt, you have crap manufactures, whereas you can choose your parts on a prebuilt.
 
FiveSeven said:
The game is Ijji's soldier front. Nearly identical to counterstrike. Is new egg the best website for building your own?
Click to expand...
seems newegg is the USA standard on the site here. They are generally pretty good at getting your equipment to you (just watch next day fee on friday after 12, it wont be there till tuesday!:() and its generally what you ordered. Only had to RMA once, and it was accepted and processed quickly.

for the computer that you are looking at, is that game the hardest thing that you wish to do with it? Start a build thread in the desktop subforum and we can help you build what you need.
 
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