Thanks for reply Yaffle, in fact I ws pondering a kit car in the new year for the same reason! I am also an engineer and so I get the self-fulfillment aspect. I also must confess that having scoured the "Rig to run Elite" from end to end my "perfect rig" (hovering in my mind) isn't actually the Chillibast offering - so maybe self-build gives me the optimum path.
Hardware & Technical Computer Build to run Elite Dangerous
- Thread starter Pazmeister
- Start date
Robert Maynard
Volunteer Moderator
I got my new 3XS system from Scan in the UK. I worked out what I wanted and then priced up all the components etc. The difference between buying the components and self-building it vs them doing it for me and having it delivered was about £7.95 extra for the built version. Plus as the pre-built one is tested before shipping and has a 3 year warranty etc. it was a bit of a no-brainer.
However if you really like building your own kit, problem solving etc. you can only really do it yourself. I used to do that in the past.. now I just wanted a machine that met the specs that I wanted, no fuss.
However if you really like building your own kit, problem solving etc. you can only really do it yourself. I used to do that in the past.. now I just wanted a machine that met the specs that I wanted, no fuss.
I prefer self build. I use my old PC components (computer casing, optical drive, hard disks, fans, ...). I buy a new motherboard, processor, power supply, memory, graphics card and ssd). I want to have all the boxes because I like watching the boxes. I like to discover the content. The satisfaction of the assembly. I can add and remove what I want, when I want. It is freedom
Squicker
S
You do not save a worthwhile amount of money by self-building, but you do open the door to warranty\sale of goods issues if you get problems. The burden of proof will be on you to locate a defective component, plus if you do not take anti-static precautions you could damage something yourself in the build process.
For me, I'd no sooner build my own PC (although I do perform my own component upgrades on my gaming rig) than I would service my own car. I simply can't be bothered. But I see on this forum a lot of people find it rewarding to do so. If you think you are one of those people and you are happy with the warranty type risks, it's not particularly onerous to do and you might learn a bit about what makes your own PC tick.
But I think for the money the Chillblast kit is very good and it's a simple turnkey solution rather than a day of piddling about with bits and bobs. I have a couple of friends who bought Chillblast, very good kit with good customer service was the report back to me.
For me, I'd no sooner build my own PC (although I do perform my own component upgrades on my gaming rig) than I would service my own car. I simply can't be bothered. But I see on this forum a lot of people find it rewarding to do so. If you think you are one of those people and you are happy with the warranty type risks, it's not particularly onerous to do and you might learn a bit about what makes your own PC tick.
But I think for the money the Chillblast kit is very good and it's a simple turnkey solution rather than a day of piddling about with bits and bobs. I have a couple of friends who bought Chillblast, very good kit with good customer service was the report back to me.
I am just finishing my first ever self build. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. For me the best bit was that it can work out cheaper, especially if you are willing to buy second hand and multiple places. I used Ebay & Gumtree as well as buying new. This allowed me a much higher spec than my budget would have normally allowed.
I'm a bit of a tinker so was willing to forgo the warranty just to improve my knowledge and allow me to change stuff in the future. As others have said, if the thought of spending ages trying to fix an issue would bore you to tears then buy pre-built.
I'm a bit of a tinker so was willing to forgo the warranty just to improve my knowledge and allow me to change stuff in the future. As others have said, if the thought of spending ages trying to fix an issue would bore you to tears then buy pre-built.
Been self building for a while.
The last fully assembled PC that I bought was from Gateway 2000. It cost me £2,500 and was a Intel Pentium 133 had a 2.5GB hard drive (two partitions due to FAT only handling 2GB), Matrox Millenium Graphics Card (later added a Voodoo 3dfx!) and 17" Monitor!! It was awesome.
Since then they have all been self builds. Pentium 2, 3 & 4 , Q6600 and currently SandBridge. Next will be either Haswell Enthusiast or Broadwell at end of Next year. Always used to use ABIT motherboards until they jacked it all in, currently using ASUS; Used both NVIDIA and AMD GPU's.
I am a PC enthusiast with an engineering background and like putting the things together myself. A benefit of building yourself a rig is that you literally have the choice of any component on the market. When you buy a custom build that is not always the case. The range of components on offer may not include a specific item that you would like.
That being said custom builds are generally soak tested which avoids DOA components and have a single point of contact for warranty issues (which is not the case if you are buying components from many suppliers).
A friend of mine recently bought a 3XS Haswell System from Scan, it was very good value and the build quality was superb. They were a little slow getting started as they are incredibly busy but once the process had started they provided good communication. The rig was incredibly well packaged for shipping, including (anti-static) packing inside the case and includes a three year warranty.
If you are contemplating a self build but are a little unsure, some companies such as Scan & Novatech do preassembled bundles of the Motherboard, CPU, Heatsink & RAM. All you then have to do is mount it in a case, connect up the case headers (make sure you get the Power Switch Header the correct way round) and power supply, Slot in a GPU and connect a Hard Drive/SSD and you are reading to install an OS.
What is right for one person is not always right for another, so ultimately you will need to make the decision on the way you want go.
The last fully assembled PC that I bought was from Gateway 2000. It cost me £2,500 and was a Intel Pentium 133 had a 2.5GB hard drive (two partitions due to FAT only handling 2GB), Matrox Millenium Graphics Card (later added a Voodoo 3dfx!) and 17" Monitor!! It was awesome.
Since then they have all been self builds. Pentium 2, 3 & 4 , Q6600 and currently SandBridge. Next will be either Haswell Enthusiast or Broadwell at end of Next year. Always used to use ABIT motherboards until they jacked it all in, currently using ASUS; Used both NVIDIA and AMD GPU's.
I am a PC enthusiast with an engineering background and like putting the things together myself. A benefit of building yourself a rig is that you literally have the choice of any component on the market. When you buy a custom build that is not always the case. The range of components on offer may not include a specific item that you would like.
That being said custom builds are generally soak tested which avoids DOA components and have a single point of contact for warranty issues (which is not the case if you are buying components from many suppliers).
A friend of mine recently bought a 3XS Haswell System from Scan, it was very good value and the build quality was superb. They were a little slow getting started as they are incredibly busy but once the process had started they provided good communication. The rig was incredibly well packaged for shipping, including (anti-static) packing inside the case and includes a three year warranty.
If you are contemplating a self build but are a little unsure, some companies such as Scan & Novatech do preassembled bundles of the Motherboard, CPU, Heatsink & RAM. All you then have to do is mount it in a case, connect up the case headers (make sure you get the Power Switch Header the correct way round) and power supply, Slot in a GPU and connect a Hard Drive/SSD and you are reading to install an OS.
What is right for one person is not always right for another, so ultimately you will need to make the decision on the way you want go.
If you are at all unsure about self building a rig just don't go near it and buy of the shelf with warranty.
Self Building is more expensive nowadays anyway, although the satisfaction of putting together the exact rig you want is very compelling.
My current on paper next build;
Case;
Cooler Master HAF-XB
MB;
Gigabyte G1.Sniper A88X
CPU;
AMD A10 6800K 4.1Ghz
1st Drive;
Crucial CT240 M500 SSD
2nd Drive;
Seagate Barracuda 2Tb 7200spin
PSU;
Corsair CX750M
Memory
Kingston XMP Beast 16Gb
Gfx;
Radeon 7970 3Gb DDR5
Water cooling;
not decided possible Phobya CPU/GPU solution
Optical Drive;
not decided
Self Building is more expensive nowadays anyway, although the satisfaction of putting together the exact rig you want is very compelling.
My current on paper next build;
Case;
Cooler Master HAF-XB
MB;
Gigabyte G1.Sniper A88X
CPU;
AMD A10 6800K 4.1Ghz
1st Drive;
Crucial CT240 M500 SSD
2nd Drive;
Seagate Barracuda 2Tb 7200spin
PSU;
Corsair CX750M
Memory
Kingston XMP Beast 16Gb
Gfx;
Radeon 7970 3Gb DDR5
Water cooling;
not decided possible Phobya CPU/GPU solution
Optical Drive;
not decided
As the wife is watching christmas films, I just cross checked the UK pricing: Link
I make it about £1,050 + (some additonal postage) if you buy almost exactly the same stuff new from various UK suppliers.
Whatever route you choose, Good Luck
I just bought a premade pc, and am very happy with it. I would recommend it unless you think that building your own would be a fun way of spending your time. Or are absolutely determined to get the best value for money. I was happy to pay a premium to get other people to do the dirty work, but other people in the rig thread seem to think I'm crazy !
!
Build your own!
I've been building for about 15 years. It's the only way to go. If you've never done it before, find someone who can help understand which things to buy to get the most out of your budget. it's also a good idea to have them help you with your first build.
Good luck!
I've been building for about 15 years. It's the only way to go. If you've never done it before, find someone who can help understand which things to buy to get the most out of your budget. it's also a good idea to have them help you with your first build.
Good luck!
Buying a system is one thing. Buying the bits of one and building yourself is another and can be very satisfying once your are down. And remember to wear your scars with pride! The inside of those cases often have bits of metal that I swear are designed for self amputation. The little blanking plates for PCIe connector for instance can be lethal.
I remember one case (literally) years ago where I was helping a friend out. He brought his full tower system to work and I was fitting some stuff for him. I dropped a screw and it fell to the bottom of the case somewhere. I picked it up with both hands and gave it a little shake to release the screw. I found it and then notice some blood pooling at the bottom. I looked at my left thumb and when I shook it the weight of the case had cause it to slip down my thumb, along an inside edge and it had opened me up to the bone!
I remember one case (literally) years ago where I was helping a friend out. He brought his full tower system to work and I was fitting some stuff for him. I dropped a screw and it fell to the bottom of the case somewhere. I picked it up with both hands and gave it a little shake to release the screw. I found it and then notice some blood pooling at the bottom. I looked at my left thumb and when I shook it the weight of the case had cause it to slip down my thumb, along an inside edge and it had opened me up to the bone!
I always self-build because that way I can have exactly the machine I want & any compromises are my own, not those inflicted upon me by the OEM.
There is no cost advantage, as the OEM can always buy components for less than I can, but I can plan the machine's upgrade route(s) & know I can extend the machine's life without any nasty surprises such as lack of expansion slots, non-standard power supplies, or locked down BIOS/UEFI. I can be sure I'm not going to open up the computer & find that the OEM has fitted cheap memory sticks or a noisy/hot/power hungry GFX card that no-one would buy as a stand-alone item.
I can control the quality of the machine by taking time & care over the build, so that the interior is tidy & potential reliability issues are taken care of, & I can bring it home on budget. (Though I overspent by 45 pence on my current machine, lol)
There is no cost advantage, as the OEM can always buy components for less than I can, but I can plan the machine's upgrade route(s) & know I can extend the machine's life without any nasty surprises such as lack of expansion slots, non-standard power supplies, or locked down BIOS/UEFI. I can be sure I'm not going to open up the computer & find that the OEM has fitted cheap memory sticks or a noisy/hot/power hungry GFX card that no-one would buy as a stand-alone item.
I can control the quality of the machine by taking time & care over the build, so that the interior is tidy & potential reliability issues are taken care of, & I can bring it home on budget. (Though I overspent by 45 pence on my current machine, lol)
Fascinating reading guys, thanks for sharing. Like many people I realise that my rig isn't going to be fast enough to run Elite D, for Beta let alone finished Gamma. So I've got the unenviable task of trying to save and or find other means to raise the cash (I'm a minister work part time etc) through my other work - which is as an artist (the other reason for getting a good computer - honest). At one point I had considered building my own (though I've no experience in doing it) just to see if I could bring my ideal system into reach. So this thread has been really interesting.
At present I am thinking that I would go with a pre build. I just can't afford to get it wrong, I would love to know how to put one together and if I knew someone in North Devon who could help would do it. But since I don't, I think this thread has only further convinced me to go down the prebuilt option. At least I know what I am getting.
Anyway thanks for listening and I hope the OP gets what he's looking for.
Thanks
Ab
At present I am thinking that I would go with a pre build. I just can't afford to get it wrong, I would love to know how to put one together and if I knew someone in North Devon who could help would do it. But since I don't, I think this thread has only further convinced me to go down the prebuilt option. At least I know what I am getting.
Anyway thanks for listening and I hope the OP gets what he's looking for.
Thanks
Ab