Virtues of Building Your Own PC

Thursday, December 10th, 2009 at 2:56 am

For a huge percentage users, pre-built PCs deliver enough bang for their buck. However, for people who want to buy a top end machine without breaking the budget, building your own computer can be a cost-effective solution. Although the job may seem daunting, assembling your own computer can be much simpler than it seems.

There are some good reasons why someone might not be satisfied with the usual PCs available on the market. If you play a lot of computer games, for example, you will probably need a high end graphics card. A quality GPU is needed to play the majority of modern video games. These cards are rarely expensive but are simply left out of many manufacturer’s systems.

Gaming optimized hardware are typically included in much more costly machines. To make matters worse, many computers don’t include a power supply strong enough to run a quality video card. For someone who hopes to play video games on a budget, this meanssome serious hardware work for an inexpensive off-the-shelf system.

However, if you are willing to put together a system from scratch, you’ll have a reasonably easy time buying a competitive rig at a low price, and you won’t have to deal with the frustration of a slow computer.

Building your own powerhouse computer is easier than it may seem at first. You only need a couple basic parts. The short list includes a power supply, motherboard, processor, case, hard drive, and DVD drive. Random-access memory is another necessity but adding or swapping RAM chips after construction is much simpler than moving or replacing other parts, and so it’s appropriate to concentrate on the quality of other parts before worrying about the amount of RAM.

If you want high quality graphics, you can include a video card in your shopping list. There are other optional hardware components to consider as well. Buying your own hardware allows you to customize your system to run the software that you prefer. This can save a lot of money.

Manufacturers have to try to please everyone, and so they tend to include hardware that may exceed the requirements you need in one category while failing to meet your hardware needs in another.

The power supply is a particularly underrated piece of hardware. Future upgrades will be made possible by having a good quality power supply. The same is true of the motherboard, a poor or outdated motherboard will not be compatible with high performance processors when it is time to upgrade.

You should choose a motherboard that has good upgrade potential. Your processor and motherboard must be compatible. If you invest most of your budget in those two pieces, you will be able to upgrade very easily in the future.

Once you have purchased your parts, make sure that you have the tools to assemble your computer. You will probably only need a small phillips-head screwdriver, but other tools may be necessary depending on the hardware you’ve selected.

It would be a good idea to purchase an anti-static wrist bracelet, too. Static electricity can damage your valuable computer hardware. Since an anti-static wrist bracelet is so inexpensive, it’s a good investment to make.

Putting together the computer will be a bit of a challenge for the first-timer. Have patience. Carefully read the instructions that come with each component.

Watch a few instructional videos. It may be helpful to have a second person available to help you match up the appropriate connectors or to refer to instructions while you are putting together pieces. You should leave a little room in the budget for unexpected expenses, your first build might involve some accidental damage to parts.

Do not dispose of any of the packaging or receipts for the components until you have and tested your computer. You may find that some parts do not function together, or some parts may suffer from manufacturing problems that prevent them from working at all. Any such parts must be replaced with working, compatible equivalents.

Once you have finished your first PC build, you will have an excellent, personalized computer and a sense of accomplishment. It will also be much easier for you to upgrade in the future. While the vast majority of consumers will be satisfied with pre-built computers, the user with specialized needs will find this strategy much cheaper.

Gregg Housh is the Technician Manager at Geek Choice a Computer Repair company. Geek Choice solves computer problems such as: Slow computer, Virus Removal, and much more.

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