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What Computer would be better to buy?

Who thinks which would be better, A Brand Name Computer like HP, Acer, etc, or an empty box and make up your own by choosing your own motherboard, hard dirve etc etc? I mainly use it only for Internet and a few games, storing photos, burning. I want large mem, and fast processor. So who thinks brand name and who thinks build ur own? If build ur own what would be the best parts to buy, I dont want to launch the space shuttle but I do want it to be quick, Cheers.

Public Comments

1. The best way to get the quickest computer possible is to build it yourself. I cant give you true prices on products, but I have built 9 computers and can give you some suggestions: NVIDIA (graphics card), Creative (sound cards), Intel (processor), Kingston (RAM), and so on. Good luck.
2. If you are confident to build your own, then it would be worth doing it, it isn't as easy as just store buying one, the easiest way to judge which is best it to take a branded computer, find out what is in it (on the web) and price up a list of equivalent parts, then compare the two prices, whichever is lower go for that. Alternatively buy a branded tower, then add your own screen keyboard etc. (this is sometimes a value option as brands get Windows a lot cheaper than you can, and it is reflected in the price you pay)
3. check out new egg for parts read up on how to make your own its a lot cheaper that buying a hp with all the garbeg softwhere on it
4. It would be better to build your own because you can put in what you want and not be limited by the name brands, of course, you will have to pay more. The name brands can sell theirs cheap because they buy their parts in bulk. I did both and I wouldn't mind building another one but this time around, I am buying name brand just because of the cost.
5. It depends on your level of knowledge. If you have experience working on computers and enjoy it than building your own would be better. Not just the quality and being able to choose your own parts, but knowing everything about it from the time you get it and what can be upgraded and how to replace everything on it. If you don't like doing things like that and don't even care what's inside your computer, then going with a brand name would be better. If I was going to build my own now, I'd go with an Asus brand motherboard and one of the higher speed Core 2 Duo Intel processors. I wouldn't go with a quad core just yet. The Core 2 Duo processors are pretty cheap now and the performance with games is most likely better than the quad cores because of their higher clock speeds, even though they only have two cores. I'd look for a motherboard with a PCI-express slot for a video card if you're planning on playing games. AGP is outdated and you definitely don't want onboard video. Besides those two things, the rest of the parts are basically personal preference on which brand you want. At this point, it's not much cheaper to build your own computer. If you're looking for the best deal, I'd go with one of Dell's specials and don't customize it from Dell, then just add more ram yourself since it's a lot cheaper. Building your own computer might save you a little money, but the biggest advantage is being able to choose every specification of it.
6. Realistically, it's tough to beat the big guys these days. Unless you have very peculiar needs, most of them offer a custom config option on the website or just have tons of different models to choose from. Personally, I think Dells are pretty neat for the price, just pray you never need their tech support. :)) Branded machines have already been tested too. I can't count the number of times I've built something that *should* work, but for some inexplicable reason there's a conflict. Branded machines do have shorter life expectancies and typically fewer upgrade options, so if if longevity is a concern I'd hafta swing away from branded. But really, most computers (even home built) obsolete way too fast anyway. Disposable is the wave of the future. :(( If you want to do extreme gaming, overclocking, or anything like that then you have to built it yourself.