bobover3 (imported) wrote: Fri Feb 08, 2013 6:35 pm So you guys assemble your own computers from components? I've never thought to try. Is there much to learn? Do you get better performance? Save money? Or it's mainly for fun?

Building a PC used to take some skill and knowledge. Connectors weren't keyed, so there was a distinct chance of putting things in the wrong way. (Anyone out there building them back then remembers 'black to black' for the motherboard power connections, and the joys of releasing the magic blue smoke should you plug the damn things in backwards.) These days, there are plenty of walkthroughs on the net that can help with essentially every part of the process, and a lot of places you can even get suggested parts lists from which will work together.

As for why you'd want to... way back when, you'd save money. Now, you won't. I can just about guarantee you won't get the prices that Dell, HP, etc get for their their components. But at the same time, you have far more options in terms of customization and personalization. You can spend hours tweaking things to your heart's content. And, if one part breaks, you know enough to replace just that one part (sometimes at least) yourself. And yes, you can get better components in your box than Dell, etc will give you.

I dunno. I suppose in the end it can be the techie equivalent of guys who spend every single weekend working on their car, adding chrome headers, aftermarket carbs, etc etc etc. I consider it a point of pride that the last pre-built desktop computer I purchased was a 486. Ever since, I've built my own.