Why do I build my computers?

I've been asked a few times why I build my own PCs. Aside from it being a hobby, and the sense of accomplishment in knowing that every time I boot up my PC, I built it, there is significant savings in buying your own parts and putting it together yourself.

Pros:

• Price, usually MUCH cheaper than buying a computer with the same specs
• Customization, you can put exactly what you want in (and also future-proof so you are spending less to upgrade parts, usually can't do this with a pre-built PC)
• Learning process and sense of accomplishment

Cons:

• Troubleshooting, if anything goes wrong, you're on your own to contact the manufacturer, figure out warranty, or play around with settings to make it right
• Learning about components in order to make sure you are purchasing the right things that will work together. Examples are socket types of CPU/Mobo, making sure you have sufficient wattage, RAM types supported by the mobo, etc
• Reading the manuals. Yes, I tend to browse through them, but really you should be reading EVERY manual for EVERY component, because sometimes they have a silly way of doing things (plug in your single graphics card in *this* slot, rather than either one)
• Learning how to put it together. While it's tough these days to really screw things up if you handle them correctly, it's very possible to bend pins when inserting the CPU, or crack your motherboard by screwing it in too tightly

In all though, if you have a problem then it's likely someone else has had it as well and you can find the solution in a forum. You have to know your limitations (I don't touch BIOS unless I have to, because it's the easiest way to screw something up majorly). But the physical process of putting things together is a bit like playing legos. A complete novice can definitely build their first computer because of the amount of information at your disposal. There are even sites and youtube videos that lead you through step-by-step.

So, how much can you save? I bought these components within a week, keeping an eye out for sales. I definitely could have saved more if I had waited to buy until a new technology was coming out, or waiting for black friday, but I didn't want to take the chance on them selling out and the deals were pretty good last week.

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz $319.99

ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 GEN3 $194.99 - sale price $184.99

Arctic Silver AA-1.75G Thermal Compound $5.98

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM $99.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 $44.99

Antec DF-85 Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case $189.99 - sale price $149.99 - after MIR $134.99

ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X DVD Burner $20.99 - promo code $17.99

OCZ ZX Series 850W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Gold High Performance Power Supply $199.99 - sale price $169.99 - promo code $152.99 - after MIR $122.99

GIGABYTE GV-N570OC-13I Rev2.0 GeForce GTX 570 $344.99 - sale price $329.99 - after MIR $309.99

(using old hard drives, bought a new 500GB WD Caviar Green for around $90 for the old machine I'm giving to my parents, 500GB are around $150 on newegg due to flooding in asia - not including in price)

Shipping $8.25

Combo Discount (motherboard & CPU) - $20.00

New Preferred Account Promotion - $15.00

Total ibuypower.com price (common build-for-you site): $1812 + $75 shipping = $1887.00

Total newegg regular price: $1421.90 (plus shipping fees)

Total I paid after all discounts: $1215.15