Building My Own PC - Good or Bad?
 

Contemplating building my own PC for video editing - good idea or not?
I have never built a PC before - how complicated can it be?

*Discuss* :thumbsup

You should be fine... I guess you want to grab all the best stuff.

if you have never done it... and have no help.. i wouldn't recommend it..

there are plenty of guides online to help you

Good, couz it is more cheaper and better !

If you were good with legos as a kid, you can do it.

I just picked up a book at Barnes n Noble to use as a reference and they say
in the book that the actual act of building the PC is not hard - it's making sure
that you have components that can work together without conflict.

Should I expect to save any money with doing it myself or are the pluses only
that I can build a custom machine with only the hardware and software that
I want in it?

Great info - thanks for the link :thumbsup

just a note - when installing the fan BE GENTLE. You have to hold it down while you flip the two little arms. Lesson Learned.

What? PC's have fans? Oh brother....this is getting complicated already :1orglaugh

i think he is talking about installing the heat sink fan for the processor...which you have to be very gentle with and USE THE SCREWDRIVER it suggests you use....you can guide it all in with a flat head screwdriver

I have only bought one pc pre-built in my life, the rest I have built myself...once you get the first one out of the way it gets easier and easier

I will never again buy a computer but will always build them myself. Many of the systems you buy had cheapass cut rate parts in them. For the same money you can buy the better, high end stuff and assemble it yourself. It's not too hard. Read the book you got and check out that site and you should be fine. The good thing is that XP ( if that is what you are using ) is typically pretty smart and when you install it unlike the older forms of windows that were a royal pain in the ass to install.

Once you do it, you will never go back to buying a PC.

Have fun

Very good tip, I had to be a good actor to convince the guy at Best Buy that the processor I bought had a big dent on its side prior to me purchasing it.

Where are you guys buying your components from?

Xenigo told me about Newegg.com - sounds like they have their shit together
and offer good prices and service.

Dean. I have built all of my own PCs for the last 5 years or so. Of all of the systems I have built my video editing system has produced the most problems. There are many different hardware conflicts to watch out for when it comes to video editing. For instance, if you are using Adobe Premiere you will want to stay away from any motherboards using a VIA chipset.

Build your own computer. After you get the motherboard, and BIOS type stuff under your belt. Rest's a breeze.

Memory management, and such things are definately a concern when building machines. Make sure you do the research on different things, and (google) searches to see if other's have had conflicts with certain motherboards or set ups. Like if there is a primary program you want to use, "MSI, KTAA-7, Premiere" and se if there are a lot of things you can find out. Some systems, chips, and boards are better for gaming. Some are better for video editing functions.

Do the research before buying equipment and save yourself a lot of headaches once you get going. Oh, and make sure you install XP as the operating system.. that is unless you want premature grey hair.

It's like playing with lego. It's sooo easy. Another way to put it is like connecting the dots.

Exactly! People make it sound soo difficult.

Those are just the cpu clamps, To get the heatsink on tight with the cpu.

Only build your pc if and only if you have spare time, enjoy a challenge and learning about computer hardware. You're not going to save any money building your pc, rather than just buying a new top-of-the-line pc with a discount or coupon from a major manufacturer like Dell. I do video editing and DVD authoring with a Dell desktop and laptop in a docking station and I have had flawless performance at a very good price.

www.pricewatch.com is good. You can look for prices and the sites that sell them are rated by people that have bought stuff from them before. Also, I'm not sure where you live but if they have a computer store see if they have a local computer shopper magazine. Here in portland there are several places that sell stuff below retail price because they are warehouses and don't have to have store fronts.

Building yourself is the only way to go. You can pick the best parts and build a killer machine rather than relying on whatever a manufacturer puts in the box.

Check out the forums at anandtech.com for a lot of cutting edge discussion on parts.

If your box is going to be for video editing I would recommend the P4 660 3.6 gHz and tha Asus P5AD2-E Premium MB.

Bad for me. I spent thousands on building PCs that went tits up (usually from heat in Vegas) but my Sony Vaio and the Dells just keep on chugging away. And they are quiet and cool. Either I suck, the components sucked (tho I didn't buy budget) or I was just unlucky; I don't know.

I've just gotten better results with the Dell and Sony PCs.

Anytime, bro

Yea - I love my Vaio. I bought a Sony Vaio about 4 years ago and have not had one ounce of problems out of it. It's done well for the limited video editing that I've been doing on it but now I need a beefier system for editing as I'm doing more of it now. I need a faster processer, more ram and more storage space. Also, I want another system so I don't have to tie up my main system when I'm encoding and shit. Just not sure if I want to buy a prefab system or build my own.

don't be sorry, choose wisely

http://www.apple.com/powermac
http://www.apple.com/finalcutpro

custom built >>>> brand ones

Seriously if you know what you are doing you will end up speanding much less and get alot more ;)

I recently purchased a complete system for the first time in 15+ years. Everything before that has been donated or built from parts. I had an problem with the P.O.C. WD HD intermittently failing (click, clack, click, clack...), but the store I purchased it from didn't bat an eyelid when I returned it. They handed over a new HD and asked if I knew how to replace it, so I did it right there in store.

This is the local "ultra cheap we can't speak English very well but we sell at good prices" store so I expected some argument along the lines of, we can't return it until we actually see it fail. I was pleasantly surprised.

I don't know if it would have been so easy if it was just the HD by itself. They only charge a small fee to build up a PC (if you select the parts yourself) and that includes a 2 year labour warranty. I'll probably just use them for my next complete build, which considering how cheap parts have become will probably be in a couple of weeks.

i rather to buy it just like that

its a good idea, so you can have all you need

I'll build my own computer !

Very good if you know what your doin

Dean - if you need any help or advice drop me a line m8, will be glad to help you out 85-483-050

:)

No worries... it's very easy

i build all my pc's, i like it better cause i get my hardware at wholesale.

what i did years ago was.. take one of my PC's apart put it back together and set it up about 5 or 6 times, then went and bought the parts and built my own.

I've always built my own.

I go to a place like PC Club - pick out all the parts I want - and then have them build it for me.

Putting the pieces together is not complicated, provided you follow a couple of simple rules:

1) USE A GROUNDING STRAP ON YOUR WRIST

2) BE SURE TO SECURE THE EXPANSION CARDS WITH SCREWS

3) DON'T FORCE ANYTHING INTO IT'S SLOT

4) MAKE GODDAMNED SURE YOU PROPERLY AND FULLY SEAT YOUR MEMORY

5) UNLESS YOU HAVE SOME IDEA WHAT YOU'RE DOING, DON'T FUCK WITH THE CMOS

Most hardware complications arise from not following one of these rules. As for loading the OS, good luck if it's Windblows. I recommend using one of their NT-based versions like 2000 Professional. Actually, I recommend the eradication of Microsoft products, period. But since they're ubiquitous, one has to choose the lesser of many evils. NT-based is that for MS.

take your time in choosing the right parts


compare


i saved about 250hahaha8364; by comparing all parts and watching for cheap products