To build a desktop, or not to build a desktop?

[Origin Saint]

Not that it matters, and I realize the thread is pretty much done at this point haha, but I wanted to let everyone know that after doing some math to see where I'll be at financially in May just before I return to university courses, I think I just may go ahead and do this build in a month or so.

 

[strollin]

I voted in the poll to build a desktop before reading your first post. After reading your post, I would vote "Don't buy anything". If you're already in debt $10,000 in student loans (regardless of whether your classmates are $50,000 in debt) I would put any extra money you have toward paying down that debt and doing as much to keep that debt down as possible. You're on track to have $25,000 in student loan debt by the time you graduate which is a lot of debt to be carrying for someone that just graduated college.

My son just graduated from college in December and has $3,700 in outstanding student loan debt. I offered to help him pay that off but he has refused and wants to pay it himself.

I worked full-time during the day and went to school full-time at night and managed to graduate with no student loan debt. I got zero help from my parents (I was married and also supporting a wife at the time). My son worked part-time and lived at home while he went to school. It is possible to go to school without amassing debt.

 

[martinhersey]

Desktop or No?

On the conservative end, I will go along with Strollin. It's your call: Want vs Need. You said so yourself to begin this thread. Computer parts are fun, but will building a Desktop make you happy? You seem hesitant. Maybe you should listen to the voice of hesitancy. It's your call. You have to decide one way or the other. You want to have a Desktop, but you don't need a Desktop. Money is just money. Once it's spent it isn't there anymore. You don't want to get in a hole with money. You decide. Make a list of Pros and Cons and judge from that.