Self Build or Off The Shelf?

izzop

izzop

izzop

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Hi,

I've been thinking of getting a new PC, but wondered if it's worth buying the components myself and builiding it or buying one from a 'Well' know on-line retailer.

I'd want to use it for both work (Databases, C# Development & Report Writting) and for Gaming (CoD)

Also, would like to be able to run two monitors off it.

I'd appreciate your thoughts/Pro's & Con's ....

Thank You & Regards
 
Self build if you have the know how, or know someone that does..

Or if not buy an overclocked custom pre-built pc from OCuK which will tear through what ever that "well know" retailer is offering.

What budget?
 
Hi,

Thanks for the reply.

Was thinking of in the region of £1000, obviously the cheaper for the best buck the better :-)

Happy then to add in the future or following months, especially the 2nd monitor.

Regards
 
If your worried about building your self there are many people on here would help you and you could start your own thread and get walked through it example
 
I'm not too worried about the build, as I'm sure there's plenty of advice and guides available through the forum.

The budget I'm sure could stretch to £1200, and as previously said, I'd be happy to add other nice to haves over the following months.

Surely with a self build you can ensure that the PC is more future proof and that you can upgrade it easier than an off the shelf one?

Regards
 
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Surely with a self build you can ensure that the PC is more future proof and that you can upgrade it easier than an off the shelf one?
Click to expand...

That's one of the main benefits of self-building. The other being able to choose components that actually meet your requirements vs. components that are over / under-specced.

£1000 (including monitor etc) buys you some serious hardware; I certainly wouldn't want to spend that much at "the online place"...
 
Theres a coupla guides at top of this section, one by me for choosing your components and one by greywollf for putting it all together, really quite simple really, imo its only worth buying a prebuilt (mainstream) if youre looking at real budget end systems and you need an OS where often the manufacturers can throw the OS in for next to nothing, for decent quality builds then OcUK do some good prebuilts and their ones on This Week Only Offers tend to be similarly priced to speccing it yourself, however Id still only recomend these if youre really unconfident and/or lacking time, theres nothing like building one yourself, you get exactly what you want plus satisfaction
 
Self build. The main sticky part for me is not the assembly, but the troubleshooting, and installing the OS.You'll probably waste around a weekend getting everything up to speed (drivers, installing OS, updates, software....). The assembly itself would take between 2 to 4 hours if you take your time. Getting a pre-build will save you some grief, but then you don't get to pick and choose your components. I would never consider a pre-build retailer brand though, but go with an OCuk system of some kind.
 
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I've been self building since 2000, once you start self building, you can never go back I've found.

Altho the pre built/overclocked systems from overclockers are really nice, and do take some of the worry out of building it yourself. With a nice warranty on the overclock also.
 
i've been self building since 05, i'm quite new but i've built 6 systems for myself and several for other people. at first it annoyed me and i struggled, by my second build i was pretty much proficient and now, i probably wouldn't know how to buy a Hell or a Packed-In Bell.

i only ever bought one prebuild but it was second hand and i only spent a hundred quid on it.

building yourself is cool, for me it's the best part of getting an upgrade. from the moment i get all my little boxes stacked up and take the side panel off my case to the moment i say "wish me luck" to the missus and do the grand switch on - brilliant few hours.

do it, go on, be a devil, blow the whole 1200 on some stonking bits and enjoy yourself.
 
Thanks for all the replies, advice & thoughts.

Best I get shopping then :-)

Shame you can't save baskets on the site.

Regards
 
I think if you also ring OCuk with your specs they can throw it together for you for a small price i believe like your own custom setup, might even install the OS if you send them bourbon biscuits lol
 
Self Build! So much fun...

Not to mention, you never know what you are going to get with a pre-built. For the same price as a supposedly equivalent spec pre-built, you can get far superior components if you stick it together yourself.
 
Yup, my last was prebuilt and had a 300w PSu, no brand, nothing. Least I know the quality of my components :)
 
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