Monarch Computers vs. Build your own

[shadykidd]

I am looking into building my first PC. I think I have the knowledge and ability to build my own, but of course I am worried about it not working in the end, and then being stuck with lots of expensive pieces

Anyways, I was doing some pricing, and I checked out Monarch Computers barebones systems. I made a spreadsheet of their prices vs. NewEgg, and surprisingly, Monarch came out ahead.

Piece for piece, Monarch was anywhere from $10-20 cheaper. Sure I have to pay about $100 for shipping/building, but I would have to pay NewEgg shipping too. I can throw in a 1 year warranty on all my parts for another $60, so they will give me some piece of mind.

In the end, it looks like I would spend about $100 - $150 more (maybe less, depends on NewEgg's shipping) by going through Monarch, and that is with a 1 year warranty. Isn't this worth it? I am a busy guy so this will also save me a ton of time. I don't have to worry about installation problems, I am getting the exact same parts, and I get peace of mind for an entire year. I will still be adding my own hardrive and optical drives, but those are simple to install.

Anyone see anything wrong with my logic? Besides saving myself a $100, any reason to build my own?

 

[Blain]

If you have any doubts, peace of mind is well worth $100-$150.

 

[Tsuwamono]

lol piece of mind from monarch.. if your going to order online for cheap go with www.viciouspc.com

 

[shadykidd]

^ Why do you laugh at Monarch? Their customer reviews seem fairly solid. Should I worry about buying things through them?

I guess the point of this post was that I always thought building your own PC was a LOT cheaper than ordering through a vendor. Saving only a hundred bucks, which many people would pay for the warranty alone, does not seem like a lot.

 

[thecrecarc]

heard bad things about monarch when u order a pc from em

try cyberpowerpc.com

 

[wpshooter]

My guess is that the quality of machine you get from Monarch, would depend, at least somewhat, on the luck of the draw as to which person(s) at Monarch drew the job of putting your computer together !!!

If you build it yourself, you get all of the credit or all of the blame !!!

Good luck.

 

[dcr]

Building a PC is incredibly easy, and you can obviously save money by doing the entire build yourself.

There is nothing to fear, so just build it!

 

[Gondola71]

I have built my PCs for years, but just recently when wanting to upgrade to new systems, I made the choice to have CyberpowerPC build them. Their prices are decent. I made my choice for the same reason the OP stated; warranty and small difference in price versus parts.

 

[jgigz]

If you search the forums there are plenty of guides to educate newcomers to building your own computer. Intel/AMD produce their own picture guides/videos on how to do it. Hell I built my first computer when i was 14 and knew absolutly nothing. Your mobo manual is detailed enough. Thats just my opinion but I hope your balls drop and you decide to DIY.

 

[shadykidd]

Thanks for the advice. I am probably going to get my new PC towards the end of the year when the DirectX10 cards come out. I'll compare prices again around that time.

Its not that I am scared to build my own, but if I am only going to save a $100, it is just not worth it to me.

 

[lamere]

Do it yourself. Use it as a learning experience. If you bought all those parts bulk, I'm sure newegg would drop the shipping charges. Over a certain amount I think they ship free anyway, but I could be wrong

 

[Gondola71]

Originally posted by: jgigz
I hope your balls drop and you decide to DIY.

That's just juvenile and insulting.

Some people would say the same about doing work on their cars, changing the oil or brakes. Or doing your own plumbling. Heck, doesn't everyone know how to weld copper pipes? Doesn't everyone know how to replace roofing tiles? Doesn't everyone use a Flow-Bee to cut their own hair?

 

[KeithTalent]

Originally posted by: Gondola71

Originally posted by: jgigz
I hope your balls drop and you decide to DIY.

That's just juvenile and insulting.

Some people would say the same about doing work on their cars, changing the oil or brakes. Or doing your own plumbling. Heck, doesn't everyone know how to weld copper pipes? Doesn't everyone know how to replace roofing tiles? Doesn't everyone use a Flow-Bee to cut their own hair?

Bad analogy; you run little risk of burning flesh building your own computer, unless you buy a Pentium D

 

[Rike]

If you really want to own your computer, build it yourself. All the help you need is right here on the forums. Start with mechBgon's guide for first-time newbie PC builders.

If that's not appealing, just buy it from someone.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: shadykidd
I am looking into building my first PC. I think I have the knowledge and ability to build my own, but of course I am worried about it not working in the end, and then being stuck with lots of expensive pieces

Anyways, I was doing some pricing, and I checked out Monarch Computers barebones systems. I made a spreadsheet of their prices vs. NewEgg, and surprisingly, Monarch came out ahead.

Piece for piece, Monarch was anywhere from $10-20 cheaper. Sure I have to pay about $100 for shipping/building, but I would have to pay NewEgg shipping too. I can throw in a 1 year warranty on all my parts for another $60, so they will give me some piece of mind.

In the end, it looks like I would spend about $100 - $150 more (maybe less, depends on NewEgg's shipping) by going through Monarch, and that is with a 1 year warranty. Isn't this worth it? I am a busy guy so this will also save me a ton of time. I don't have to worry about installation problems, I am getting the exact same parts, and I get peace of mind for an entire year. I will still be adding my own hardrive and optical drives, but those are simple to install.

Anyone see anything wrong with my logic? Besides saving myself a $100, any reason to build my own?

I'd wait until Dell puts Core2 CPUs into their low-end machines...and then watch as the price nosedives everywhere else... shouldn't be more than a few weeks....

 

[dcr]

Originally posted by: Gondola71

Originally posted by: jgigz
I hope your balls drop and you decide to DIY.

That's just juvenile and insulting.

Some people would say the same about doing work on their cars, changing the oil or brakes. Or doing your own plumbling. Heck, doesn't everyone know how to weld copper pipes? Doesn't everyone know how to replace roofing tiles? Doesn't everyone use a Flow-Bee to cut their own hair?

Actually, I change my own oil and brakes, install and maintain all of my home plumbing (including "welding?" copper pipes), I have done roofing jobs, but I have never touched a Flow-Bee.

 

[bfonnes]

Originally posted by: dcr

Actually, I change my own oil and brakes, install and maintain all of my home plumbing (including "welding?" copper pipes), I have done roofing jobs, but I have never touched a Flow-Bee.

yeah, man. building your own PC is cool... Insults aside, I, too, have heard of twelve year olds doing it, and it's surely not as complicated as all those other things above as long as you have the right info.

BFonnes

 

[iamaelephant]

1 year warranty is crap. Build your own and your individual parts range from 2-year to lifetime warranties.

 

[w00t]

Build your own no doubt

 

[SoundTheSurrender]

Build it yourself, think of it as building legos

 

[jgigz]

Originally posted by: Gondola71

Originally posted by: jgigz
I hope your balls drop and you decide to DIY.

That's just juvenile and insulting.

Some people would say the same about doing work on their cars, changing the oil or brakes. Or doing your own plumbling. Heck, doesn't everyone know how to weld copper pipes? Doesn't everyone know how to replace roofing tiles? Doesn't everyone use a Flow-Bee to cut their own hair?

It wasnt juvenile and insulting, Its called motivation. Theres nothing wrong at all with telling someone to man up and DIY. Its one thing to tell someone to do somethign that takes special training or years of practice to do, but to nudge someone in the direction of doing something as simple as following a motherboard manual and plugging a few pieces in, theres nothing wrong with that. And instalation is more fool proof than ever. Unless he drops something I really dont see how he is a threat to the build. Hell he has enough sense to come to anandtech so he apparently knows enought about computers to build one himself he just needed a little motivation whether its friendly or harsh.

 

[jgigz]

Oh yeah btw everything on newegg unless otherwise marked comes with their standard 1 year replacement waranty. so if anything breaks or is DOA you can send it back in and get a replacement item. Only thing is you have to pay shipping. But in the rare event that it does its better to pay the 6$ for shipping that 60 for a waranty

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

For lower end machines, purchasing from Dell or Monarch or whoever is often cheaper than rolling your own. You can definatley save money on high end machines by doing it yourself.

In the final analysis, those of us who regularly build our own machines don't do it to save money but for the control over quality, choice of parts and , learning more about how different technologies work together.

Only you can decide what your interests, desire to learn and, perspective on technology are. There is no definitive answer on whether to build your own or purchase already built. Myself and the vast majority of folks in this forum would highly reccomend building your own.

 

[Slammy1]

A few things come to mind reading this thread.

You don't see many 12-year olds welding pipes nor roofing (I remember working on a roof at 12, helping remove the old one, but didn't get to sweat weld til I was older). I have changed my own oil any number of times (so long as that number's less than 5), but after eating the oil a couple times I don't mind the $10 extra to let someone else do it.

There's a discrimination between the cheaper computers you'll see and home-made ones, it's the reason many build their own. The cheaper computers are not designed around the idea of upgradability, I call it the disposable lighter philosophy to business. My friend's old Dell could really use a new PSU and more memory, but both require Dell parts (the memory, for example, needs to have the model written into the EEPROM).

It comes down to usage and knowledge. It's best if you know someone who can help show you some basic "what to look for". A good example is how much pressure you can apply to memory when installing. The biggest draw back to home made systems is compatability, which has gotten better. Nothing makes you say I wish I'd spent more than a new PC that BSODs for some indecipherable error, except maybe the requests for help that meet with the response "I have a <component> and have no trouble with it, you must be kinda dumb". That, too, has gotten better but I remember giving the correct advice to someone (not here) where I was flamed for not knowing what the h%^&& I was talking about.

Meh, maybe it is just a hobby. Building a PC is pretty easy in the basic sense of the word, but it assumes a certain knowledge and competence to make a better system.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Slammy1
friend's old Dell could really use a new PSU and more memory, but both require Dell parts (the memory, for example, needs to have the model written into the EEPROM).

<...>

compatability, which has gotten better. Nothing makes you say I wish I'd spent more than a new PC that BSODs for some indecipherable error, except maybe the requests for

Please give me some info on that Dell, because I've never heard of such a model. Dell uses fairly plain Intel motherboards for the most part, so I'm very interested in finding out more about that. Do you know how much work that would require to really lock it down to EEPROM level?

Re: BSODs - they aren't indecipherable at all, but it takes some skill to read them, so I do so on here to try to help people out. It's amazing how many people will blame hardware when the problem is typically just a bad driver...