Build or buy?

[pinksnowmanshandle]

So my budget is $1,250 or less.

I'd like something that can still play an occasional game on steam, But mostly being able to handle general everyday task.

For pre-built systems I'm looking at either a higher end Mac Mini or iMac or for PCs I'm looking at are all in ones as well because they have touch screen displays and well Windows 8 almost needs a touchscreen. Perhaps an Asus M51AD-B08 with a Dell E2014T.

Is there something cheaper and better than some of the computers I mentioned here? 

I could use cheaper parts or get them from cheaper places on this build here.http://pcpartpicker.com/user/wcreek/saved/gNstt6 which exceeds my budget but honestly I was also doing that for the Mac options or well they wouldn't be the greatest I could get at a low budget. 

Any insight on whether I should stick with my build and find cheaper options or go with maybe the Asus M51AD-B08 which at Best Buy is like $999.99 so I could afford to add some things with it. But at the same time the Asus almost seems to be a bit of a better system for less than what I building. 

[bry.yyyy]

little bit update and little bit over your budget

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($199.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 6GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($374.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Raidmax ATX-818WB MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($46.13 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($22.09 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit)  ($105.00)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 201 Headphones  ($24.95 @ Adorama)
Other: AmazonBasics Wired 3-Button Mouse ($6.99)
Other: AmazonBasics Wired Keyboard ($11.49)
Total: $1261.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-18 04:04 EDT-0400

[bry.yyyy]

windows 8 not really need touchscreen after Windows 8.1 Update 1

[Mateyyy]

DON'T BUY APPLE.

 

I can make a quick build for you, so just light gaming, and general use like web browsing and stuff?

 

Do you need peripherals? (mouse, keyboard, headset, monitor)

[dragoon20005]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($224.67 @ Amazon) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($19.99 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97I Gaming AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($139.99 @ Micro Center) 

Memory: GeIL EVO Veloce Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($139.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($57.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($55.98 @ OutletPC) 

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($349.60 @ Newegg) 

Case: BitFenix Prodigy (Black) Mini ITX Tower Case  ($64.99 @ NCIX US) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($86.66 @ Newegg) 

Monitor: LG 24MB35DM-B 60Hz 23.8" Monitor  ($151.65 @ Amazon) 

Total: $1291.51

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-18 04:05 EDT-0400

[Thebman712]

I can make you a build that is a all in one but is not going to be as good as the others.

Please tale it from me, i bought a pre built and regret to all hell

[Geekazoid]

Build or buy?

Well, given that this is a tech community, I think everyone will agree

with me when I recommend that you.......*drum roll*.......BUY!

Haha, no...just joking. We would all recommend that you BUILD!

[pinksnowmanshandle]

One of the Pre-Builts I'm looking at the Asus M51AD-B08 is cheaper and if the slightly slower base clocked i7-4790S but faster turbo boost cpu isn't good enough both chips are on the same socket. 

[pinksnowmanshandle]

Well, given that this is a tech community, I think everyone will agree

with me when I recommend that you.......*drum roll*.......BUY!

Haha, no...just joking. We would all recommend that you BUILD!

Maybe I'll build I don't know, I just like what Asus has to offer.

[Thebman712]

Maybe I'll build I don't know, I just like what Asus has to offer.

please dont buy, i bought a prebuilt and they are all the same, pile as much cpu and ram and hdd size as we can im and prey on the people who dont know things like that a gpu is needed for gaming and that a ssd is faster than a hdd

[Geekazoid]

please dont buy, i bought a prebuilt and they are all the same, pile as much cpu and ram and hdd size as we can im and prey on the people who dont know things like that a gpu is needed for gaming and that a ssd is faster than a hdd

I so wish I'd gone with build option 7 years ago. But still, my pre-built HP system is chugging along alright.......after a couple of upgrades.

[Thebman712]

I so wish I'd gone with build option 7 years ago. But still, my pre-built HP system is chugging along alright.......after a couple of upgrades.

yeah a year ago i got a prebuilt, soon the only parys left in my rig will be a hhd, cpu,ram, cpu cooler, and motherboarf

[DeViLzzz]

wcreek price match parts with NCIX USA and get them to build it for you for $50 if you do not want to build it.  Also Micro Center seems to have so many good deals on hardware these days they definitely are a place to look to buy stuff from or if NCIX will do it price match hardware from Micro Center.  I also will say that if you ask for help on the NCIX message boards you will get decent help from people there.  As for prebuilt computers do not do it.  They always find a way to short change you on a feature or two and then charge you too much for what they give you.

[pinksnowmanshandle]

I so wish I'd gone with build option 7 years ago. But still, my pre-built HP system is chugging along alright.......after a couple of upgrades.

 I do plan on replacing it with a better system some time short of two to three years, as that is about when I want to build something that can actually do something more than everyday use with some occasional gaming if I went the pre-built route (via the PC I've been mentioning) if the 1GB Nvida GTX 750 in it isn't enough I can go for something like a 2GB or 3GB Nvidia or AMD GPU. It's not like I'm going to be playing something like Crysis 3 maybe something like Democracy 3 and things along those lines nothing too demanding. As if there's a game that is also on Xbox 360 I'd just get it for my 360 maybe when I build my PC that can run Autodesk Maya and play games like that. For now I'll rely on console gaming even if it's kind of limited, it still works.

[pinksnowmanshandle]

little bit update and little bit over your budget

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($199.99 @ Micro Center)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($89.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: A-Data XPG V2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($79.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($54.99 @ Amazon)

Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 6GB TWIN FROZR Video Card  ($374.99 @ Amazon)

Case: Raidmax ATX-818WB MicroATX Mid Tower Case  ($69.98 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($46.13 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($22.09 @ Amazon)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit)  ($105.00)

Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($149.99 @ Newegg)

Headphones: Sennheiser HD 201 Headphones  ($24.95 @ Adorama)

Other: AmazonBasics Wired 3-Button Mouse ($6.99)

Other: AmazonBasics Wired Keyboard ($11.49)

Total: $1261.56

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-18 04:04 EDT-0400

Thanks for the updates to a potential future build, I may consider doing that. I'm going to look more into the Asus M51AD-B08. I understand maybe it might be nicer to build my own PC rather than buy one but I just need something better than my Samsung NP365E5C-S02UB. 

[bry.yyyy]

Thanks for the updates to a potential future build, I may consider doing that. I'm going to look more into the Asus M51AD-B08. I understand maybe it might be nicer to build my own PC rather than buy one but I just need something better than my Samsung NP365E5C-S02UB. 

sorry i don't realize that is acer i thought it's ASUS Lol

[Geekazoid]

@wcreek, is it that you find building a PC kind of scary? If you do there are various companies that can build the PC for you. You just pay them a small fee that is usually included in the build price. You're just going to get an incredibly better system if you go for the build option. Something I should've done years ago but didn't know any better.

[pinksnowmanshandle]

@wcreek, is it that you find building a PC kind of scary? If you do there are various companies that can build the PC for you. You just pay them a small fee that is usually included in the build price. You're just going to get an incredibly better system if you go for the build option. Something I should've done years ago but didn't know any better.

Again, I'm looking into it.  Maybe I can work in the higher expense of building my own PC. But the Asus I've been mentioning isn't going to be doing heavy gaming...

[pinksnowmanshandle]

If I do build it my self, What are the main differences between Windows 8.1 (Full) and Windows 8.1 OEM? Besides price?

[pinksnowmanshandle]

I updated my specs on my build, I'd use the Stock CPU fan unless it's advisable to put a water cooler on an AMD FX-8350. Because the smallest board I could get for that socket was Micro ATX fortunately BitFenix has a MicroATX version of the Prodigy.

Instead of the ATI/AMD R9 I went for the R7 as it's clocked faster and I figured it was worth the sacrifice of 1GB vRam...

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vnY88d

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vnY88d/by_merchant/

 

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor  ($169.99 @ Newegg) 

Motherboard: Asus M5A78L-M/USB3 Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard  ($49.79 @ Newegg) 

Memory: Kingston 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($69.99 @ Amazon) 

Memory: Kingston 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($69.99 @ Amazon) 

Memory: Kingston 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($69.99 @ Amazon) 

Memory: Kingston 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($69.99 @ Amazon) 

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($137.63 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 260X 2GB DirectCU II Video Card  ($114.99 @ Micro Center) 

Case: BitFenix Prodigy M Midnight MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($99.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($34.99 @ Micro Center) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit)  ($104.99 @ NCIX US) 

Monitor: Dell E2014T 60Hz 19.5" Monitor  ($191.99 @ Best Buy) 

Headphones: Sennheiser HD 201 Headphones  ($24.95 @ Adorama) 

Other: AmazonBasics Wired 3-Button Mouse ($6.99)

Other: AmazonBasics Wired Keyboard ($11.49)

Total: $1227.75

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-18 15:06 EDT-0400

[gylmir]

@wcreek the 32gb of ram is waste of money he will never utilize that only if you use content above 2K video etc of that stuff.

also windows 8 don't need touchscreen just a few minutes to organize the metro mess windows left behind, and windows 9 almost coming they will remove that crap an give us the normal look back.

 

with this build you would be better of keep your current os for a few months and then get windows 9.

 

This build includes a great i5 watercooled for over clocking

fast memory cl 9

a great ssd for performance and a 1tb hdd for storage

a big GPU for power at 1080p easy max out your games

and saved a couple dollars to make you happy.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($224.67 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H55 57.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($64.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP920 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($51.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($349.59 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: LG 22MP55HQ-P 60Hz 22.0" Monitor  ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1166.17
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-18 17:03 EDT-0400

[pinksnowmanshandle]

@wcreek the 32gb of ram is waste of money he will never utilize that only if you use content above 2K video etc of that stuff.

also windows 8 don't need touchscreen just a few minutes to organize the metro mess windows left behind, and windows 9 almost coming they will remove that crap an give us the normal look back.

 

with this build you would be better of keep your current os for a few months and then get windows 9.

 

This build includes a great i5 watercooled for over clocking

fast memory cl 9

a great ssd for performance and a 1tb hdd for storage

a big GPU for power at 1080p easy max out your games

and saved a couple dollars to make you happy.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($224.67 @ Amazon)

CPU Cooler: Corsair H55 57.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($64.98 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($99.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($74.99 @ NCIX US)

Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP920 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($74.99 @ Amazon)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($51.99 @ NCIX US)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 290 4GB PCS+ Video Card  ($349.59 @ Amazon)

Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($34.99 @ Micro Center)

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Amazon)

Monitor: LG 22MP55HQ-P 60Hz 22.0" Monitor  ($119.99 @ Amazon)

Total: $1166.17

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-18 17:03 EDT-0400

 

Ehh as long as Windows 8 has a touch screen it's fine. I saw a concept of Windows 9 and if it allowed me to have a more hybrid experience of Windows 8 that would be cool. Like If I want the full screen metro ui thing I can do that (That's when I can use the touch screen) I just think it's a feature that might be nice to have even if it might cost a little more. I'm still under budget after I remove the extra 16GB of ram. $1127.13 is the new cost of my build. But thanks for the idea.