Build or Buy a Gaming PC?

Discussion in 'Gamers Hangout' started by Haroon Mustafa, Dec 27, 2014.

  1. Haroon Mustafa

    Haroon Mustafa Byte Poster

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    Hello all,

    Just a quickie,
    I am wondering wether I should build my Gaming Pc or buy one as a whole.

    I want the monitor with it.

    So should I spend my £1000 budget on building a PC or buy one as a whole.

    I want too play games like GTA and racing games.

    I want a PC that has the capacity to play top games.

    I am hoping no one tells me i need a bigger budget.

    Cannot. Wait too hear from you!!


    Regards,
    Haroon.
     
    Certifications: Cisco IT Essens - Various College Btech Certs
    WIP: Study CCNA 1 / apprentice at Level 2 Stage
  2. shadowwebs

    shadowwebs Megabyte Poster

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    your budget will be fine for what your looking to do, there is no perfect answer for your question on whether to buy or build... look around at what spec you ideally want your PC to be, including all components and monitor... then look at how much it would be if you buy the components and build yourself or how much it'll be to just buy the PC ready built and shipped to you. You could even just buy the base unit ready built and buy yourself a monitor separate. for me, I always build my own PCs for when it comes time to build a new one, but they're never built for gaming and therefore tend to come in under the £500 mark if I move hardware from an old PC to a new. Don't forget that some graphics card deals are out there to be had where they ship with a voucher to buy games, or come with games.
     
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  3. ade1982

    ade1982 Megabyte Poster

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    Also, it's worth noting that you should cost in every component - every bracket, screw, cable, as they can easy mount up.

    I found last time I bought, it was cheaper to buy it with a no-fuss warranty from the shop I bought it (PSU went bang, and they sent a new one out before I even sent the blown one back), than the hassle of building it myself. Infortunately, they have now gone out of business. Building it yourself, however, does mean you can build it to your own spec.
     
  4. SimonV
    Honorary Member

    SimonV Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    There used to be a time when self building a machine was much cheaper than buying a pre-buit, but that time has gone. It's now sometimes cheaper to just buy a pre-built one, the only real advantage to building your own is you can put together your own configuration.

    If you've never build a machine yourself before I would recommend learning about all the precautions first as spending a few hundred pounds on a board and killing it before you even turn on the power is gonna be a tough lesson to learn.
     
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  5. sheepluv

    sheepluv Byte Poster

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  6. aushus

    aushus Kilobyte Poster

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    I would personally go with building your own,

    omg in my teenage years 16 - 17 I used to buy parts and put them together it was so much cheaper, and I learned a lot it was a bit of my passion back in the days,

    brings back so much memories, when I was building home labs for studying Microsoft certs at age 16 to 17 so I can run many vms in my virtual pc and virtual box when studying for certs and labbing more ram the more better so I need a mother board that can support more ram ohh so much fun

    but now I buy it pre-made I have money now, but when I do labs I just launch a server on aws or azure, times changed man, times changed, who knows whats next.

    omg man memories back in the days :)
     
  7. SimonD
    Honorary Member

    SimonD Terabyte Poster

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    I am a big advocate for self build but that said your budget will be a limiting factor if you want top end components.

    To give you an idea on what you can spend if you want cutting edge graphics and screens for example I purchased a couple of Nvidia 780ti cards back in the summer, they cost me £440 each, then the 27inch monitor (2650 x 1440) was a further £450.

    I am still running my old 3770K CPU and Motherboard otherwise that could have been a further £400+ for those upgrades, throw in 16 or 32gb of ram and you're looking at another £200, add a case, psu, hdd (or ssd), keyboard, mouse, OS and you start adding up.

    If no cost limit was placed on me I know for a fact I could spend over £3000 on a gaming rig (have done so in the past), doing it on a budget these days will get you so far and that's great for someone on a budget because £1000 can get you a decent entry level gaming rig, will it play the big AAA games smoothly?, unlikely, will it be future proof? possibly (I am looking at you Dell, where you made upgrading rigs difficult in the past), will it have big name components in there with the warranty to back them up? probably not but if you are stuck with a budget then it's the right way to go because sometimes spending £170 on a 1kw PSU isn't the right choice if you're only actually using 450w of power and an AMD or Nvidia entry level card will play games at 30fps, sure it will flicker but you're on a budget.

    My honest opinion at this stage would be to ask the following questions.

    1. Do I want something right now and have it just work
    2. Do I want to save for something that will be future proofed and able to run any up and coming AAA releases?
    3. If I am a racing sim fan can I live with a small screen and slower graphics card or am I better off waiting?
    4. If I am a racing sim fan do I actually want \ need a wheel and peddles pack?

    I guess what I am really saying is that buying a pc over building one can be a hit and miss thing, you may well end up having to spend more than a £1000 on a pre-built machine because actually the spec's were just not good enough for the sub £1000 machine or you could start up small with a self build and allow yourself time to buy upgrades for it, use places like ebay and Amazon to get some cheap deals and upgrade over time (it doesn't all have to happen at once).
     
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  8. Coupe2T

    Coupe2T Megabyte Poster

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    Last PC I built cost me just under 1k, ran most of the games at the time pretty damn well, alright maybe not graphics cranked fully up and at 60fps etc but really good enough to happily play. The thing that limited me was a single graphics card, but could of added a second one later if needed.

    Just make sure you do proper research and get the right components to work together, but also to allow any future expansion you may be considering. 1k in my opinion is a decent enough budget, but you do have to be savvy and really decide where you want to spend the bulk up front.

    I also had some success phoning round and getting price matches, think I used Aria in the end, as they had 2 or 3 items cheaper and they matched the stuff I found cheaper on other sites like mesh and so on.
     
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  9. Haroon Mustafa

    Haroon Mustafa Byte Poster

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    Cheers guys, thank you for all the replies. Do not worry i am taking everybodys great information on board. I appreciate all the help!!
     
    Certifications: Cisco IT Essens - Various College Btech Certs
    WIP: Study CCNA 1 / apprentice at Level 2 Stage
  10. SimonV
    Honorary Member

    SimonV Petabyte Poster Gold Member

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    What did you deicide to do in the end? Buy of build? It would be great for others considering the same thing to hear what you decided to do and what process you went through to make the decision.
     
    Certifications: MOS Master 2003, CompTIA A+, MCSA:M, MCSE
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  11. Haroon Mustafa

    Haroon Mustafa Byte Poster

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    The ideal computer I want, will be built by myself and the expertise of my colleagues and the www. Right now the pic is in various parts of the world in shops and factories.

    I am going to start building once I understand the processer, motherboard I want. I did not realise it would be so hard to choose as there are so many factors too consider. (buy a motherboard that can expand in hardware. A processer that I can use that won't die on me after expanding or generally over time)

    As you all know, I have a £1000 budget to spend on a quality gaming PC.
    I'm really worried though, even though I have the Internet (you guys) and my friends I don't want too create a PC that does not work in the making.

    Conclusion is a £1000 budget for playing today's games on PC is great. Wether you buy or build one is entirely up to you. However, the risks of building one could be worth it than buying a ready made branded one.

    Around 2 months time I will build one, with hopefully a comfortable prospective on it.

    Cheers,
    Haroon
     
    Certifications: Cisco IT Essens - Various College Btech Certs
    WIP: Study CCNA 1 / apprentice at Level 2 Stage
  12. Haroon Mustafa

    Haroon Mustafa Byte Poster

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    I will reply on this post about the updates on what I choose and would everybodys advice.
    I will tell you what parts I bought and the final product.
    All sounds good, but have a lot to do on top of my CCNA. Pictures of the PC included.
     
    Certifications: Cisco IT Essens - Various College Btech Certs
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  13. Martay

    Martay Bit Poster

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    Good luck, Haroon.

    I built mine in June last year and went a bit nuts. It's an i7 4770k, GTX 780Ti, 16GB RipjawX RAM build with an SSD and RAID array of HDDs. Parts came to £1,700 I believe.
     
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  14. Haroon Mustafa

    Haroon Mustafa Byte Poster

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    Wow, that sounds good. I Wonder what its like. I ended up spending £1000 on mine. Most parts from ScanPC.


    Regards
     
    Certifications: Cisco IT Essens - Various College Btech Certs
    WIP: Study CCNA 1 / apprentice at Level 2 Stage
  15. Haroon Mustafa

    Haroon Mustafa Byte Poster

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    Hello All,

    Here it is.. My long awaited and costly gaming rig. After a budget of £1000 i bought every part with great research.

    COSAIR 750W PSU

    1TB Toshiba HDD

    2x 8GB Crucia 12800

    GigaByte Z97X - Gaming 3

    Intel Core i5 4960k 3.5ghz

    4GB Palt GT970x Crossfire/SLI (so i have the choice if i need to extend GC)

    256GB SSD

    NZXT Phantom 240 Gaming Case

    All Purchased from Scan PC. I had taken weeks for me to make my mind up on which part i wanted most. Within my budget.

    Overall, i am pleased with the Rig i have made. With help from friend and forums.

    Please tell me what you think!!

    Regards,
    HM
     

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  16. SimonD
    Honorary Member

    SimonD Terabyte Poster

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    Just so you're aware there have been issues with the 970 cards addressing ram greater than 3.5gb, turns out the cards aren't actually 4gb cards but are 3.5gb cards with a .5gb cache on them. Games trying to address over 3.5gb have caused issues but it's to be expected.

    What screen did you go for?
     
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  17. Haroon Mustafa

    Haroon Mustafa Byte Poster

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    I was not aware of that. First I have heard about it, however no problems have occurred at the moment. I hope nothing doeS

    I had not bought an extra screen as I have plugged in to my 52" 1080p TV. Playing on ultra settings works amazing. Really happy with it!
     
    Certifications: Cisco IT Essens - Various College Btech Certs
    WIP: Study CCNA 1 / apprentice at Level 2 Stage
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