Building a PC on a budget

‘Does a budget computer mean budget performance?

By TK Kwon

any friends and family
have often asked me,
which purchase choice

has better benefits, buying a retail
computer or building your own from
scratch. To be completely honest, both
choices have their pros and cons and
all it really comes down to is how

the consumer assesses their personal
preferences and values.

The pros of buying a retail system
are as follows: one does not have to go
through the tedious task of ordering
each component and assembling it,
which may prove difficult for the
technologically illiterate; having the
choice of choosing a desired system
from numerous retail markets and the
luxury of having a retail location to
go to in case of computer problems
(unless the system was purchased
online).

On the other hand, the pros of
building a computer from barebones
components are as follows: the
consumer has complete control
over component customization to fit
their personalized needs (this ranges
anywhere from the computer case
right down to the processor) and
whereas the retail machines are almost
always locked down by a limited
1-year manufacturer’s warranty, a
custom built computer would have
separate warranties for each
component from their respective
manufacturers (keep in mind that
these can range anywhere from
1-year to a whopping double-
lifetime warranty).

In terms of prices, having
worked in retail selling computers, I
can confidently say that for systems
under the $1000 price point, the
cost of building a computer and
buying one from a retail chain are
going to be comparable. Since
most retail chains sell many of
their systems at close to cost, the
consumer is essentially just paying
for the hardware components

and software, albeit pre-assembled
and installed. So for those of you
who have no qualms about buying a
retail machine, you can stop reading,
because from here on out I’m going to
be discussing the question at hand.
With our generation quickly
becoming tech-savvy, and to an extent
technologically addicted (seriously
guys, don’t Facebook for help when
you’re stuck in the sewers), many
young consumers (mostly gamers or
aspiring movie editors) are interested
in building their own computer
systems as opposed to buying one
from a local retailer. Keep in mind
that building on a budget means you
have to be price and time conscious
because when you have to build on
a budget, you’re going to have to
wait for sales in order to get the best
deal on components. Let’s be honest,
no one wants to pay $50 on a power
supply they could potentially get for
$20 next week. Be careful though,
if you wait too long, the next thing
you know the component you bought
might have already become dated.
Another tip is keeping your eyes
peeled. Manufacturers understand
many people are on a budget so
they often release decently feature-
laden components at a cheap price.
These can make the
difference

between good and great performance.
Another tip is when in doubt, choose
the mid-range model. For instance, if
you were looking to purchase a video
card from Nvidia, the GTX 460 is
priced at $235 where as the GTX 470
is priced at $355 (that a huge $120
difference!). So, the best option would
be to go for the GTX 465 priced at
only $245, which is only a meager $10
up from the GTX 460, but performs
much better.

Overall, will a budget computer
give you budget performance? Yes and
no. If you are willing to put time and
effort into researching the components
you desire and proactively looking for
sales for said parts, you will probably
have a performance computer for
around a $600-800. However, if you
are the type to impulse

Bivens

buy all your components, you will
most likely end up with a subpar
performing system that you have paid
too much for. To those who are willing
to embark on this journey, I wish you
good luck and hope you get more than
what you pay for.

Here are some sites that you may find
helpful:

www.ncix.com (they have weekly
sales on computer components and
electronics)

www.shopbot.ca (a search engine that
finds the cheapest prices online)

www .tigerdirect.ca (often have lower
prices on electronics among other
things)