DudeMan

custom always custom, ofcourse you really have to know what you are doing when building a custom computer, because there is no garantees if you break something..

but i saved £300 when i built my own, and even then anything dell had to offer i beat its specs because everything i put in was the best.

the factories tend to concentrate on something, advertise how great that something is, then give you second rate sound cardsa or second rate memory... there is always something you have to replace in a factory machine anyway... which if you do it yourself voids your guarantee.

__________________


The Queen
"Those who perpetrate these brutal acts against innocent people should know that they will not change our way of life,"
Atrocities such as these simply reinforce our sense of community

TheFeniX
"Guns don't kill people: effeminate men in green tunics do"

SITG

Custom is sweet, if your knowledge of computers and parts purchasing is good, you can buy the parts you need, I recently brought a new system and knowing computers inside and out it still required ALOT of research to get what I wanted, if you knowledge of computers is liimited I recommend a factory machine, but My AMD 3000+ with 2gb of ram, geforce 6600gt on a MSI neo4 platinum board with a raptor main drive and 2 raided seagate 80gbers is sweet and cost me only 1100 and the seagate come with a 5 year warranty the raptor has a 3 year warranty as does the cpu and the ram has a lifetime warranty all of which youd pay a premium for from a factory machine

As far as factory machines dell IMHO is the cream of the crop, for specialized workstation boxes Boxx Technologies is the best

__________________


Remember: Opinions are like A$$holes everybodies got one

TheFeniX

I'll bet most of you consider custom built PCs cheaper because you most likely are not using legal copies of things like your operating system, burning software, and other needed utilities. Legit businesses have to factor those costs in.

__________________

Gremlin

I got 2 custom pcs one laptop and one deskop, but I think I might get a factory made one in like next december get some nice parts around =)

SITG

No .... has nothing to do with the OS or any software-when I buy a new rig I dump the old one, for the average person factory pcs are excellent but for me I enjoy building all my machines and the parts are cheaper and I think the term "custom" built says it all I got EXACTLY what I wanted in my machine for the price I could afford

Its a matter of choice ....
and I choose custom
but there's nothing wrong with factory pcs if thats what you desire

__________________


Remember: Opinions are like A$$holes everybodies got one

jackel

custom.
First you learn so much more when you make it yourself.
and i still believe that all factory made computers are bad, when you make it yourself you know what you put in there, and you know everything you did to it.

And as long as you know what you are doing you shouldnt have a problem building a successfull machine.
although, if you arent a gamer and just want a websurfing/word typing computer cheap dells are the way to go.

TheFeniX

You didn't address my point at all.

Dell will curbstomp any custom PC builder because when you buy 200,000 NICs or motherboards at a time, you get a huge discount. Go through and price two bog standard P4s with operating systems and all. One will be custom built, the other a Dell: 10 to 1 the Dell wins in price. They run deals all the time.

__________________

SITG

Can dell produce this for $1151

AMD 3000+
MSI Neo4 SLI Platinum 4x NVRaid and 2x Silicon Image raid
Geforce 6600gt
2gb Rosewill cas 2.5
WD Raptor 36.7GB
2x Seagate 80gb wiith NCQ
Antec SOHO w 400w True Power PS
and I'll throw in $400 for a 17in flat screen,WINXP Pro and a burner

thats $1551

find me a better factory deal and I'll buy from them from now on

__________________


Remember: Opinions are like A$$holes everybodies got one

=DdogG=

actually, with custom built, you can buy one copy of xp in a retail version and transfer it to every computer from now on.... with factory, you add in the cost of the os with every computer, not just the first one.

when I build custom computers, I have to factor in the cost of office xp and win xp pro. I get discounts, but it is still part of the cost... and it is still better and cheaper to build boxes yourself. if a part breaks, I call the people who build the part, and I rma it with usually no troubleshooting. the warranties are part of the price, are longer than a factories in most cases, and I dont pay 400 extra to extend it.

then there is the whole "exactly the parts I want, no more, no less" part.... dell puts 5 gigs of crap on a computer that akes hours to get rid of completely.

I have started building laptops custom as well, and can get more power out of them for the same money. go look at an asus z81k laptop... I get those with no hd, cpu, mem, cdrom, os, etc. then purchase parts to fit my customers needs. try getting those same specs from dell or hp... never happen. I am about to build myself a 17" 1680x1050 radeon 9700 128meg, 100gig x2 raid 0!!!!!, dvd+/-rw x2!!!!! a64 3400+ 2gig ddr, for only 1900.00 that is if I can sell my emachine m6805 that is........

for those who are lazy....btw...., the z81k is a athlon64, 15.4" wsxga+, 802.11g, r9700 64meg computer, put it with 2 gig ddr, dvd+/-rw, 100gig hdd, and a 3700+ for a total of 1800.00, and you have a computer can play any game on the planet, encode movies, or scale down to a 3000 512 and a dvd/cdrw combo with a 40 gig drive for 1200.00 you will not get hp or dell to give you the same specs......

__________________
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. -Albert Einstein
The two most common elements in the universe are Hydrogen and stupidity. -Harlan Ellison

If all else fails: "rm -rf /"

TheFeniX

You still seem to miss my point. Dell can't match my Custom built PC because they just don't offer the high quality parts I used.

Dell offers a Celeron PC with 256 MBs of RAM, a free printer, and Word Perfect for $400 US. On top of that they routinely offer free memory upgrades, HDD upgrades, CPU upgrades, and flat-panel upgrades.

If you say you can beat that price and offer the tech support they do: you're probably lying. If you would check my original post you would realize that I'm not saying Brand Name > Custom. What I am saying is that for certain people: Brand Name is a better deal for them.

My dad does not need a 6600 GT and 2 gigs of RAM to type up excel documents. To claim that some joe building him a PC in his home is a better deal is bad business. He doesn't need something that will run Doom 3. What he needs is a PC that works and is backed by a company that isn't going out of business anytime soon.

I can not tell you how many sites I've been to wear some guy under-cut our bid by almost half by buying cheap parts, building custom PCs for the customer while only purchasing one legit copy of windows, word, etc, then went out of business thereby leaving the customer with no legal recourse.

In a business enviroment (and many home situations) a custom built PC is just not worth it. At least with Dell, HP, Compaq: you know what you are getting. I've only seen one instance in a business enviroment where it may have been cheaper to go with custom built. It was at a place that did very heavy AutoCAD work and the PCs had insane hardware in them. Even then, Dell offers a not-to-shabby business workstation (note: there is a difference between a workstation and a desktop) that I've installed that runs pretty damn smooth.

THAT is my point. Feel free to nitpick it some more.

__________________

TheFeniX

Are you talking about volume licensing, or buy one copy then install on many PCs. The latter being illegal, which can result in a heavy fine and also screws the customer in the end.

Do you include labor in that cost (both building and installing software)? Shipping costs (which Dell will offer free shipping when they feel like it). Tech support (which you have to provide, not Dell/HP/etc)? Taxes from parts overhead at the end of the year? DOA parts that you most certainly have recieved?

I'll bet it's cheaper for your customer, but not that much cheaper for you. We did a cost analysis back when our boss was thinking along the lines of: Buy parts and software, Install them, $$.

There's a lot more involved than you give credit for. At least for my company, it's just not worth it. We also get the bonus of if the PC screws up, we can blame Dell. If a custom built PC goes bad, all the blame is on you.

__________________

Wyzcrak

The strongest argument I see for custom PCs is saving money. If you have more money than time or in-house resources (personally or professionally) when it comes to getting a broken PC working again, custom simply isn't the smart choice.

__________________
Steam Community? Add me. | Join #tacticalgamer | Search Results Legend | New Posts Forum Filter | Postbox Toggle | Live Thread Review | One Line Results | Free Remote, Encrypted Backup

Darkilla: In short, NS is pretty much really fast chess. With guns. Apophis: I haven't seen anyone say that SM's are better than non-SMs. Nordbomber: This is THE first server I've seen where either side can comeback from out of seemingly nowhere with the right teamwork. en4rcment: I have NEVER experienced the type of gameplay that I have found here. Nightly I am amazed at the personalities and gaming talent. Root: Welcome to TG. Feel free to punctuate your sentences correctly. Monkerz: Its gonna take all my skills to beat those boys off in the future.

Wintermute

After my current custom built PC took up loads of time and effort when I corrupted the BIOS on top of the time and effort I had already put into researching, buying and building including carrying a big, heavy case and power supply home on the bus, I will probably buy pre-built next time. I can earn more money in the time it will take me to build and fix a PC than I could save over getting someone else to do it for me.
Not true. Maybe for a very top of the line machine, but for a machine that meets current game recomended specs you can find deals that are only about 20% more expensive than if you buy it yourself. Also remember that you don't have to buy from a place like PC World that is selling to/ ripping off people who don't know about computers. All the wholesalers that you buy parts for your custom PC from also sell pre-built rigs too.

__________________
Wintermute

Play EVE online. It's like being an accounting addict in space.

www.MakePovertyHistory.com

SITG

In some strange way we are in agreement, a baseline for comparison is needed, most custom builders arent going to build Celeron machines, most custom builders are thinking above and beyond the standard stuff offered by factory makers

__________________


Remember: Opinions are like A$$holes everybodies got one

USN_Squid

How do you build a custom laptop? That's new to me.

__________________