I've
dreamt of building my own super-fast high end personal computer ever
since I was introduced to the concept in college. And 7 years later,
here I am beginning the process for the first time.

I didn't literally mean 'here I am'. That's not me in the picture above. Really... Credit: Korn's Arcade
All
you techies out there are probably all too familiar with the concept of
building a desktop (or even a laptop) computer yourself. But for me,
it's a completely new and exciting arena, and I'm looking forward to
sharing my progress and insights with the CR4 community.
First,
a little background. My first desktop was a Dell Dimension E200 series
that I purchased for use in college. It ran an AMD 2.1 Ghz dual core
processor with a GeForce 8600 GT graphics card and 500MB RAM. It was
blazing fast and very smooth when compared to my parents' hunk-a-junk
machine. But I remember the first time I walked into my classmate's dorm
room and saw his custom-built gaming rig, a monstrous yet sleek black
tower with water-cooling, shiny lights, and everything nice… I saw it
perform, and I was drooling.
vs. 
Suddenly my Dell seemed so small... (note: not actual scale) Credit: 800HighTec
But
being the broke college kid and cheapskate I was, I couldn't condone
the fantasy of investing in a custom rig when I already owned a
perfectly good and working computer. I decided to hold off building my
own PC until until my Dell kicked the bucket. Well, 7 long years and two
upgrades (a new graphics card and better memory) later, it is still
running, and running fine. But based on the age of the machine, and with
Windows XP losing support on April 8th, I decided now was as good a
time as any to make the jump.

<---My Dell as it stands today, complete with dust layer and upgraded parts that don't fit the case - She's a beauty...
The
first question I had to answer in my quest for a new machine was
simple: build or buy? Could I really save money over a package deal?
Years ago, it was a no-brainer that for high end machines, building was
the way to go. But with laptops, tablets, and portable media driving
down desktop prices, package PCs have become more competitive. Was
building still a worthy endeavor?
The answer to the build or buy dilemma I found comes from the answer to a few underlying questions:
1. What do you want your computer to do?
If
all you want to do with your computer is word processing, surfing the
web, managing photos, you really don't need to build your own, and will
be hard pressed to save any money. If you want a high performance
computer for gaming, modeling, or video editing, building becomes more
viable. Generally the more high-end you go, the more money you could
potentially save building over buying.
2. Do you have the time to invest to make building worthwhile?
To
really save money building over buying requires time to research parts
and patience to wait for deals and low prices. If you need your computer
right now and/or don't have any time to research and buy individual
parts, then maybe building isn't for you.
3. Would you get satisfaction out of the process and out of the end result?
If
you're a do-it-yourselfer like me and many here on CR4, the process of
learning, customizing, and creating your own product will likely be very
satisfying. If a build project seems like no fun to you, then likely
the only thing you'll be building is frustration.
For
me, the decision to build ended up being a no brainer. I want a
relatively high performance PC, I have the time
to make building a valuable endeavor, and I'm looking forward to the
process and the finished product. And now that I've decided to build,
I'm diving
into the project headfirst, with a budget of around $850.
To be continued…
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