Is it worth building desktops anymore?

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Skitsofrenic

New Member
Hello guys. I'm looking to get myself a new gaming desktop; either build one myself or buy a pre-built one.

Nowadays when pre-built computers are sold so cheap, is it really worth building one yourself anymore?

Please explain in detail. This will be the beginning of my journey to getting a new computer! :D
 
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i think it is definitely well worth building yourself. not only do you save a lot of money but you also have a lot more fun building it yourself ;) what kind of budget are you looking at?
 
I'm confused because I see tons of high end pre-built computers being sold for so cheap. For an example, an Asus desktop with Intel core i7 860, 8Gbytes of Ram, 1 Tbytes of HD and a pretty decent graphics card which I forgot the name of.. is only $999. Are pre-built computers cheap because the parts used are generic?

I'm looking to start off with about $700 and then just keep adding upgrades over time. Is this a good idea for people who can't afford to spend a large amount of money at once? Also, is it possible to start off with a Intel core i7 930 with this low a budget?
 
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Only if you use a cheapo graphics card, and go cheap (within reason) on some other components.

I'd go with AMD on that budget.
 
Drenlin said:
Only if you use a cheapo graphics card, and go cheap (within reason) on some other components.

I'd go with AMD on that budget.
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I'm looking to build this desktop for the main purpose of gaming, but because I play online atm, I don't need high end graphics cards and will only require about 2~4 Gbytes of ram. If I start out with a i7 930 and go low-budget on other parts, will it work?

PS- I read somewhere that i7 930 requires 3 sticks of Ram to be used. I also read that there was a way to use i7 930 with only 1 stick of Ram. Are these rumors?
 
Yes let me tell you exactly why its worth it to build a desktop, because they use cheap brands of memory in all of there computers, brands you could never find on newegg. They include lots of ram which you will never use. They basically put a selling point on the major key items that come with the computer. So what there doing is putting in a decent graphics card and a processor. All the rest they get at whole sale and its all junk plus do you honestly want a chinese brand powersupply powering your 5770? Well anyways thats my two cents however cyberpowerpc does build decent computers but for the same price you could get the same exact computer with a monitor.

Would Recommend for that build
Amd Phenom II X4 955 or higher
SLI motherboard
4gigs of corsair 1600mhz
5830 or gtx460 depending on your choice
windows seven 64 bit

The rest is up to your choosing if you want me to put you together a build just let me know, well good luck and hopefully you decide on custom building plus you get to know the fact you put it together and theres no extra bloatware.
 
Bfg8142 said:
if you want me to put you together a build just let me know, well good luck and hopefully you decide on custom building plus you get to know the fact you put it together and theres no extra bloatware.
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Thanks for the info Bfg8142!

I tried to PM you to request a build but I noticed there wasn't a PM function. Is it because I'm a new member or is this function neglected for all members??
 
100 posts to pm.

you can definitely go with a low end gpu and an i7/i5 and just sli later down the road. but i would just go with amd.

intel motherboards are almost always tri-channel, but you can run any number of ram sticks on them at once (if i remember correctly). you just won't be able to utilize the tri-channe feature unless you have a multiple of 3.
 
Almost everyone recommended AMD to me so I guess I'm just being very stubborn here with wanting to get i7..

Are processors easily switched out? If so, maybe I can start with AMD and move onto i7 once I get more money in my pockets.

Also, when you guys say AMD, which one are you referring to? Amd Phenom ii X4?
 
amd requires a completely different motherboard. you'd have to spend quite a bit of money just to switch. it is best to just get what you want at the start (as far as motherboards and processors).

yes the phenom ii (go with the 955) or you could go with the thubans:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103851&cm_re=amd_x6-_-19-103-851-_-Product
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849&cm_re=amd_x6-_-19-103-849-_-Product

if you want a hex-core, i'd go with the 1055t.
 
amd is a budget build cpu (great performance for money) where intel costs more but will give you better performance (at least in games that are cpu intensive).
 
Hmm. You mentioned that Intel and AMD requires specific motherboards to be used. can you tell me which type they each require?

I also read from somewhere that Nvidia is for Intel whereas ATI is for AMD. Is this also true?
 
amd requires a motherboard with am2/am2+/am3 sockets whereas intel uses sockets like the 1366 socket.

first, ati and nvidia cards will work in any motherboard as single cards. but when you get into multiple cards is where you run into problems. almost all intel boards nowadays support both sli and crossfire (and newegg usually lists them under features if they are supported). but, amd has two "sets" of chipsets, both providing either crossfire or sli support. the ones that support crossfire (7xx and 8xx) are a lot better than the ones that support sli, so much so that it is worth it to just go with ati if doing an amd build.
 
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what they mean is the socket type right not AMD uses the AM3 socket and Intel uses either 1156 or 1366.

Linking AMD with ATI and Intel with Nvidia generally is not a problem. You might hvae problems if you are using on board graphics with a dedicated GPU. There also might be a problem if you plan to run an SLI setup with an AMD cpu. I don't think that works but I am not 100% sure on that. I'm sure someone else knows that for sure.
 
salvage-this said:
what they mean is the socket type right not AMD uses the AM3 socket and Intel uses either 1156 or 1366.

Linking AMD with ATI and Intel with Nvidia generally is not a problem. You might hvae problems if you are using on board graphics with a dedicated GPU. There also might be a problem if you plan to run an SLI setup with an AMD cpu. I don't think that works but I am not 100% sure on that. I'm sure someone else knows that for sure.
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they do have nvidia chipsets that support sli. the ones like 790/890 however don't support sli.
 
Oh I see. I never even heard about using more than one graphic card at once before today but sure, I can cope with that. What is good in using sli/crossfire?

Intel uses Intel motherboards and AMD uses AMD motherboards?

People use ATI for AMD because crossfire is so much better than sli for AMD motherboards?

If then, people use sli for Intel because sli is much better than crossfire for Intel motherboards?

And you're using crossfire since your motherboard is 8xx -> 890FXA-UD5
 
I thought that 790/890 were the best supported chipsets for crossfire. For 8x8 and 16x16. Seems odd that those would not be the ones to make compatible for SLI.
 
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