Good Morning,
It was about four years ago that we had this debate raging on PCBUILD
of the price of building a new computer vs. buying a computer. It was at
the time when Intel was moving the market to Pentium processors and
Cyrix/AMD was producing the 486DX4-120 & 133 CPUs to hold the market
for fast, inexpensive systems. I remember the same comments about
it being cheaper to buy these fast 486DX-133 systems from Compaq, Dell
and others.
We are in a similar market at the moment, although the volume of sales
has vastly increased in the last four years. We have Intel moving to the
PentiumII CPUs and chipset motherboards, while once again AMD/Cyrix
are providing very fast Pentium style, socket7 or super socket7 motherboards.
Can you build a computer for less than you can buy one prebuilt with a
warranty, tech support and overhead attached to the sale price? Of course
you can... if you are talking about the same components, oranges vs. oranges.
I do it every day... many of the staff members of The NOSPIN Group who
build custom computers do it every day. If we could not.... we would be
out of business.
Can you buy a cheap computer from some of the OEM manufacturers like
Dell, Compaq and so forth... yes! But, that is what you are getting... a
cheap computer. A year from now we will have a fresh group of subscribers
here on PCBUILD with one of these cheap systems, wanting to upgrade
and seeking advice. They are not going to like the news they will hear from
PCBUILD... (I also should mention that not all systems built by Dell or Compaq
are built with cheap parts. We are talking about systems built to meet the
current demand for a $500 computer or even the $900 computer).
If you are going to build or upgrade a system, make a list of the components
you want and then check with manufacturers that use these same parts to
build a computer, such a Micron or Gateway2000. Price the same computer
from them vs. what you can build a system. It will surprise you the amount of
money you can save.
Can you build a cheap computer to beat the prices of systems you see offered
"On Sale" in your newspaper? Yes! You are forced to look everywhere for these
generic components, shopping hard using Computer Shopper magazine or the
numerous outlets on the Interent. Buy.com or Pricewatch.com are good sources.
But, you then run into huge compatibility issues... most cheap parts are buggy
and problematic in a system. I personally refuse to use such parts or build such
systems... the warranty and tech support issues would drive me crazy.
One of the most important points about building computers or upgrading
computers economically, (not cheaply), is buying the parts OEM and at
the best price... not buying the cheap parts. You often will need to download
drivers from the Internet and you should understand that they do not come with
manuals to explain how to install the components. But, that is why PCBUILD
is here... to help if you have a problem.
You can hardly expect to drive down to your local parts store in your
community and buy components economically, unless you have a major
warehouse in your town and they sell to the public, (this is rare). So, is
buying parts over the phone or by the Internet safe? Of course it is... if
you use a credit card to purchase. If they send you bad merchandise or
there is a problem, you can stop payment by contacting your credit card
company. It takes a few days for things to arrive via Fedex or UPS...
but, you will save a great deal.
I highly recommend these sources for buying computer components:
Computer Shopper Magazine http://www.zdnet.com/computershopper/
or buy the magazine at your local magazine store. It is a bible for finding
component vendors.
Pricewatch http://www.pricewatch.com
Buy.com http://www.buycomp.com
My personal opinion... you understand... from my person experience.
Bob Wright, Pres. - The NOSPIN GROUP, Inc.
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