Building Your Own PC



houst69 said:
Is it worth it nowadays or is it better just to buy one from a shop?
Click to expand...

this is going to sound unhelpful

but the answer is yes to both...depending on what sort of deals are out there at the mo

my advice, price out what you think you want/need using pcpartpicker

then check on hotukdeals for AWD pc, or CCl pc and see what has been flagged as a decent deal and compare

(but read the comments thoroughly, just to give you the best idea of exactly what the pre-built has...ie are they skimping on cheap ram or mobo)
 
I'd still recommend building your own if you are capable. But even then, there are any amount of YouTube build guides to help you if you are not.

As above PC Part Picker is a great website.

If you insist on a pre-built then buy from a reputable company, Overclockers.co.uk do some good pre-builts for example. (other PC retailers are available). If you buy cheap you can risk getting a ticking bomb, full of bloat ware, cheap crap components.

Saying all that, it is probably the worst time to be building a PC. New hardware due, and there is a lack of stock on a lot of things due to the current global bastard, especially PSU's. Storage and RAM prices are quite high atm as well. If you can hold off and not worried about cutting edge gear I'd hold off until the new stuff is available to get good deals on the current gen.
 
I was tempted to do it but just got PCS to do it for me in the end i.e. built to order so get exactly what you want. Only about £150 more than if I faffed around myself and inevitably turning it on and nothing happening.
 
Last edited:
It is worth it as the builders that let you choose good parts will charge you at least an extra 50 quid builders fee and limit your part selection. If that isn't something that bothers you buy pre built.
 
As as already been said, if you go pre-built then use somewhere like Overclockers. They still allow for some degree of self configuration and are reasonably priced. I would avoid buying pre-built from the likes of Amazon / PC World etc
 
Aye, don't buy off the shelf from a 'leading retailer'. They scrimp on the parts they can get away with where they can use the top end number as a headline instead.

Usually slow memory, poor, proprietary motherboards and sub-standard PSUs.

Still, not as bad as the days of Tidy that used to glue components into IDE and PCI slots.
 
Dave Herbal said:
I knew nothing about PCs and built a decent gaming one just using YouTube and part picker. Piece of piss really isn’t it?
Click to expand...

it is, only thing to make sure is that you're not buying into a dead-end platform

(unless thats what you're after)

I've just swapped old my old phenom II for a ryzen 1600af - which means i now have spare ddr3 kicking around so have bought myself one of those chinese x79 boards to play around with
 
It's normally cheaper to build your own and it's not that hard to do.

I had a mate who talked me through a few post build problems and got some advice from Internet forums too.

I'd say go for it but only if you have someone who can help you if/when you hit a problem.
StiflerPG said:
I'd still recommend building your own if you are capable. But even then, there are any amount of YouTube build guides to help you if you are not.

As above PC Part Picker is a great website.

If you insist on a pre-built then buy from a reputable company, Overclockers.co.uk do some good pre-builts for example. (other PC retailers are available). If you buy cheap you can risk getting a ticking bomb, full of bloat ware, cheap crap components.

Saying all that, it is probably the worst time to be building a PC. New hardware due, and there is a lack of stock on a lot of things due to the current global bastard, especially PSU's. Storage and RAM prices are quite high atm as well. If you can hold off and not worried about cutting edge gear I'd hold off until the new stuff is available to get good deals on the current gen.
Click to expand...
The prices on ram and storage are dropping atm, some decent deals to be had.
 
Last edited:
Pseudonym Number 1 said:
It's normally cheaper to build your own and it's not that hard to do.

I had a mate who talked me through a few post build problems and got some advice from Internet forums too.

I'd say go for it but only if you have someone who can help you if/when you hit a problem.

The prices on ram and storage are dropping atm, some decent deals to be had.
Click to expand...

yep, i got stung £75 for 16gb of ddr4 at the start of May, price now back to £60ish

power supplies however - still too bloody expensive
 

Back
Top