name vs. home made

[jptech2000]

Performance wise, what would have higher bench marks, and name brand computer, or a homemade computer.

 

[bacillus]

that's a loaded question! it depends on what hardware each contains!

 

[SonOfZeuz]

With a "homemade" system you can pick and chose the components you want, that way you get stuck with some of the crap a name saystem uses. If you build a good homemade system you can blow away a coparably priced name system.

 

[AncientPC]

If you spent the same money, home made would perform better if you know what you're doing. The only reasons I can think of buying a store made is:
1) You don't know how to build your computer
2) Free technical support and setup (ties in with 1)
3) You need to buy 100 computers for a company and you don't have the time to put it together.

 

[Wingznut]

Well put, AncientPC.

 

[piku]

Plus you have to look at "brand name" and "not so brand name".

You can get some awesome and cheap not so brand name computers. Those would be the best bet IMHO if you don't want to buy a proprietary hell compaq or similar, yet dont want to build one yourself.

 

[paruhd0x]

I totally agree with Ancient PC. But my vote is home made if it was me.

 

[AncientPC]

However, if you must buy a computer instead of building one I would have to suggest a Dell or Gateway. Partial because of their prices, maybe because of certain options (Gateway has trade-in option, Dell has the build-your-pc option), but the main reason is because both companies are well known for the customer support so you won't always feel like you're screwed.

I dunno about MicronPC.com, they seem like a good company for cheap computers but I don't know too much about them. *shrugs*

 

[XRdirtHead]

Home made for sure...pick only what you want...no BS

 

[MichaelD]

What I'm going to say has been very well-put already, but I'm feeling verbose!

This topic "touches me personally" (woo-woo...hubba-hubba!) because I just recently built my first, home-made system. Darn proud of it too!

It all hinges on your skill level, familiarity with computers, experience with software, and confidence level.

I had (still have, not using ) a Dell. It worked great, no probs. I bought it because of the warranty. I didn't want to have to worry that if something broke, I'd be screwed. 18 months ago, I didn't know much except how to install a soundcard and add more memory. Even THINKING about touching the motherboard was an absolute no-no. I'd installed OSess plenty of times at work and had done some "help desk" (i.e. "my printer won't print..whine...&quot type stuff, but no "nuts and bolts" pc work.

I finally got the um...globes to put together my own system. With the help of this forum and the great folks that peruse it, I got my system up and running. Guess what? I did it for about 2/3 the cost of a comparable "name brand" system. I know every single nut, bolt, and cable that went into it's construction, because I was it's Daddy. (This is getting sickening, I know, but I'll continue!!!) I could take it apart with my eyes closed. Literally. I think that's a cool thing, man.

There's just no comparison. I'd encourage anyone with basic mechanical skills and a willingness to learn to build their own computer. Once you do it, it's like "holy crap, why was I so scared?" Yes, I had a few hurdles. When I first built this monster, it worked for two days, then it wouldn't boot at all. I panicked. Being that IT WAS WORKING BEFORE, I reasoned that I had a bad mobo. Not the case. I didn't seat the memory properly to begin with. Possibly the bumping from me carrying the case from my "computer station" (corner of my bedroom ) to the kitchen table to install the PCI cards one by one loosened it, that's why the system wouldn't even boot to BIOS. If this happened again, the DIMMs would be the first thing I check. But back then , I lost my freakin' mind. Others calmly suggested things to check. Guess what? They were right. Know how they knew? Because the same darn thing happened to them, at some point in time. They were nice enough to help out a newbie. I try and do the same thing now.

This has been a Mr. Mike Testimonial. Tune in same time next week for more Pointless Ravings.

 

[AncientPC]

I was lucky enough to get some free computers when I was a kid (given that they were obsolete by then, getting 386's when Pentium's were out) but they were still mine.

Given a few tips from an older friend of mine, I was one of those 10-year-old kids who just enjoyed taking things apart and putting it back together to see how they worked. I never had a problem with touching the motherboard, changing around hdd's, messing with BIOS, etc.