Build your own computer?

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Originally Posted By: Hokiefyd
To add to what others have said, another way to build (and save some money) is to gut a retail PC and use its case and power supply.

Whoa, hang on. Retail PCs don't lend themselves well to having their cases and power supplies reused. I've been there and done that. Lots of cutting and splicing. The ports on the back don't line up and you have to drill holes for the motherboard standoffs. Plus, their power supplies are hardly 'enthusiast grade'. Cases and power supplies are not the thing to cheap out on. Get a decent power supply and a decent case, and you can use them for several builds down the line. A Lian-Li PC60 aluminum case I bought back in 2001 from CompUSA (remember them?) is still in use 13 years later.
 
Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Whoa, hang on. Retail PCs don't lend themselves well to having their cases and power supplies reused. I've been there and done that. Lots of cutting and splicing. The ports on the back don't line up and you have to drill holes for the motherboard standoffs.


I've never found any of that to be true. As long as you get an ATX-based case, I've never had to do anything but drop new parts in. I've re-used cases from Dell, from HP, and from eMachines. As long as the ports on the back are within the standard ATX "opening", you can pop the old port shield out and pop the new one in that comes with the motherboard.

Originally Posted By: L_Sludger
Plus, their power supplies are hardly 'enthusiast grade'.


This is true. However, and I don't say this to insult the OP's familiarity with building computers, if he's looking for suggestions on where to buy a kit, he's not likely spec'ing out a high-end gaming rig here. 300W power supplies in retail PCs are pretty common, and are more than enough for most DY builds, outside of dedicated gaming rigs obviously. I've found the durability of OEM power supplies to generally be very good.

I would hope that a case that you bought in 2001 to still be serviceable...the case doesn't wear. It just sits there. As long as a case meets all of the requirements in terms of size, HDD capacity, architecture, etc, you should be able to use it for decades.
 
I would highly recommend against using a cheap OEM power supply. That's on thing I definitely do not like to cheap out on. Especially when the stock ones rarely have enough power to use with modern video cards, etc. The last time I used a cheap power supply, it ended up literally frying my RAM and video card.
 
Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
I would highly recommend against using a cheap OEM power supply. That's on thing I definitely do not like to cheap out on. Especially when the stock ones rarely have enough power to use with modern video cards, etc. The last time I used a cheap power supply, it ended up literally frying my RAM and video card.



Agreed. I have had a junk power supply take out the MB. A quality PS is a must.
 
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