Computer Price Considerations...

When building your computer, besides searching for the lowest prices around, you should also consider the vendor's reputation. I've heard of many experiences where the cheap component turns into a headache, with extra 'service charges', countless phone calls, and an overall unhappy transaction. Just randomly picking any merchant site off of a Google search could very well lead to problems.

All the vendors I link to on my site are very reputable and trustworthy; I've dealt with them numerous times and have ended up satisfied each time. Building my computer, I had no problems whatsoever with receiving the components (even when I bought them off of eBay). It's generally a good idea to use a credit card for every purchase and carefully check the invoice to make sure you received everything.

Broken Monitor

I think that overall, you are going to get a much better computer if you build it yourself versus buying something from Dell or HP. Unless your budget maxes out at $300, you are going to be able to build a much faster, longer-lasting system for your money. Dell et al typically use the low prices to draw you in, then convince you to spend $60 to 'upgrade' the hard drive (when, if you look at my recommended pc parts, you can get an extra drive for less than that). You'll also inevitably learn a lot and be much more proficient at fixing any problems on computers.

Now that we've established some of the basic purchasing ideas, it's time to look at what exactly makes up a computer and in much greater detail. Many of the central problems people have with their computers can be traced to insufficient power supplies (not enough Wattage), low-quality RAM, and other similar deficiencies. In the pages that follow I describe the primary components of a PC in detail. From time to time, I'll also note what computer part you should consider purchasing, due to various technological innovations and price considerations.


Next - Choosing Your Motherboard »

Extra Fact: Numerous articles I have read show that, on the high-end of computers offered by Dell, you can save $500 minimum by building it yourself versus having them do it..