As many of you, I am planning on upgrading my 3 year old PC system within the next few months. I am really just waiting for FSX to get patched to DirectX10, and for some of the finer quality "Add-On" Developers (Level-D 767, PMDG 747, PIC 737, and Dreamfleet 727) to upgrade their realistic planes to FSX. When they do, I will upgrade. I will be starting with a completely new system, so I am starting to sniff around now to see what is available. I am also torn between building my own system to save money, or buying a system from a PC Builder. My current system was built by ABS Computers out of California, and I have been completely pleased with it over the last three years. When I bought it, it was a high performance machine at the time, and it ran my current games great. I have no complaints with their system at all.I guess I assumed that I would save a bunch of money building my own machine rather than buying another one from ABS. So, I looked at what I would buy if I were to build my own machine today using list prices found at NewEgg.com for each component. I then configured the same system on ABS Computer's website so I could see how much money I would really save if I were to build my own system. The results were shocking.Here is the system I configured:1000W Power SupplyEVGA 122-ck-nf68-AR nforce 680i motherboardIntel Core 2 Extreme X6800 (2.93 Ghz) Processor4GB Corsair XMS2 DDR2 (PC2 8500) MemoryGforce 8800GTX Video Card (only 1, not in SLI, maybe in a year)Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer Sound Card2 74GB 10000RPM WD Raptor Hard Drives (Raid 0)320GB 7200RPM Seagate Barracuda Storage Hard DriveBasic Optic DrivesThe cost of all these components at NewEgg.com would be approximately $3,250 (give or take a little either way) plus shipping costs. I would then have to pay an additional $239 for MS Vista Home Premium edition. This would boost the cost of this system to approximately $3,490, and then I would have to put everything together when I got it.This same system configured on ABS Computer's website would cost me $3,574 + $50 Shipping ($134 more). And that is not all. Here is the real kicker. This $3,574 price from ABS Computers includes the following additional items not included in the system above:MS Vista Ultimate Version (a $399 value, or $160 more than Home Prem)GigaByte 3D Galaxy II Liquid Cooling system (a $170 value)If I were to add these two items onto my NewEgg.com build, it would raise the cost of that machine to $3,819+Shipping. Furthermore, I do not consider these two add-ons to be worthless add-ons that I really don't need anyway. I find them both to be very desirable for obvious reasons. The way I see it, I can't afford to build my own computer. I would actually save money to have ABS Computers build it for me. It would cost me over $200 more to build my own system than if I were to buy it from ABS Computers when taking the MS Vista Ultimate and Liquid Cooling into account. Furthermore, ABS Computers does not load a bunch of unwanted software on your computer, and their systems are simply built to your specifications from regular non-OEM components. The only OEM item on the ABS system would be the operating system, but I guess I can deal with that for now. I am certain that overclocking anything on an ABS machine would be just as easy as doing it on my own build.Am I missing something here? Is there some other advantage to building my own machine other than price that I have overlooked here? This is not at all what I expected to find out when I started this little price comparison. I thought for sure I would save money building my own system. Any suggestions, or educational advice that you can give me, would be greatly appreciated.

Welcome to the forums.Seems like ABS is someone you've had good luck with and are confident in dealing with. That's a rare thing in the computer biz.I build my own and am quite happy doing so. While I don't believe I save alot of money, the biggest advantage of BYO is managing the system. I get to decide what software goes on the computer (something you'll enjoy too with ABS) and I do all the maintenance/upgrades. The latter is imporatnt to me. I don't have to call anybody for support... I am the support. Recently my wife wanted to upgrade her CD burner to a DVD burner, so a quick order to Newegg and 30 minute install (I also did some other minor maintenance tasks to her computer while I had it opened) and she was good to go. For alot of folks this ability to upgrade/maintain is not important (and even a hassle) but to me it is.The systems (3) in our home are mine. I built them all, I maintain them all, and I plan the upgrade paths for all. We get to decide where the money will be spent and how. We can reject software if we don't like it. This is not the case for folks who buy systems with software bundles pre-loaded... they get what the seller wants to install. You won't have to deal with that if you buy from your (trusted) vendor. Good for you.Finally, a big bonus for me is that I siimply enjoy playing with computers. Managing this stuff is fun for me. Some folks don't see it that way, and that's cool. To each his own.So it would seem you can do quite well with ABS (again). The value you receive for the money you spend clearly pleases you, and that's what it's all about.Good luck,

I too investigated and priced building my own system about a year and a half ago and also found that the prices were so close that I opted to order one that I could configure the way I wanted. I looked at numerous sites and ended up purchasing my system from Cyberpower, Inc and have been completley satisfied. I figured that at the worst it was a break even between building and buying. Craig

I am in the final few stages of specking out a system which I will begin building in the next couple of weeks.Why build it some might ask? Certainly it has to do with rejecting the software that I will never use but that's just the tip of the ice berg.I want to plan for expansion well out into the coming months and hopefully next two years. I want to spend my money on my time line and not a dealers time line which is all at once.By building my own machine I can pick the mobo I want, the one most likely to meet todays demands and have enough expansion left to meet tomorrows and next years demands as well. I will build the machine over 6 months or greater by using a few leftover parts I already own. Those parts will be slowly replaced when I am ready with the best of what I can use and what is available in the future. So in my case the minimum required parts for my new machine are, case, mobo, GPU, and memory for now.I don't burn many DVD's so I don't need a dual layer, light scribe DVD burner, for that I can get buy with a pull from another machine. I want the fastest disk drives but for time being I can use a couple of 7200's which I already have until I upgrade to those nice 10k drives which might drop in cost 4 months down the road. I only need one GPU but having an extra PCIe-16 slot for another to run SLI is a good thing as is an additional PCIe-8 slot in case the grand kids need it later. I can run my begining configuration with a power supply I presently own and upgrade to a larger power supply with 1100 watts in 3 months.To me it just makes a lot of since to build. That's just me and I sure dont fault anyone who opts to buy pre assembled unless they are just lazy and wasteful.My experience is it only takes a few hours to assemble a complete PC from scratch and if you never have I urge you to try it. It is not anywhere as difficult as it used to be. These days most hardware is plug N play so that hardware finds its own drivers and if a piece of hardware is not plug N play reading the installation section of one or two manuals is not all that bad. Finding the right cables is a snap with todays manuals.One of the best parts of building it yourself is when you do need to add something later you should already know your way around. It really makes upgrades easy. Especially when it comes to knowing the use of all those little tucked away wires neatly tied down so air flow is not restricted. One personal big bonus is with the new mobo I am buying, I get a ton of cables which will be right there when the extra SATA drives go in and so on.The best advice I could offer is not to skimp on the mother board and case with plenty of fans ahead of time. Be sure to pick the ones you use wisely. Mother boards with extra fast FSB speeds and extra memory slots will add functionality when new items come available. Be sure that the case has room for all that the mobo offers even if you might not use it, cases are inexpensive but having to replace one later is a pain. Those two single pieces of equipment will make your future with the machine you build enjoyable when it's time to upgrade or add onto what you have built.Something else to consider is having all the manuals for your machine components and being in real control when software is added. In nearly every instance of adding software there are options I never want enabled and many times those decisions must be made when software is first applied. Pre-loaded software models take away much of this flexability resulting in increased overhead eating into the FPS and precious CPU cycles.This is also a great father - son / grand father - grand child project as well. Even hubby and wife can get involved as long as the weaker of the two does not get all the blame if something is missed and you dont use it for an excuse to not help around the house gentlemen. LOL.Enjoy and have fun, I know I will!Monty

I appreciate everyones comments, and welcome any other comments from whomever wants to add to this post.I guess the only reason why I would want to build my own system would be to save money. Most of the things that have been mentioned already I can have even if I order a PC from ABS Computers. I can upgrade an ABS Computer with new components just as quickly as I could upgrade my own build, all of the components that I have chosen to be put into an ABS built PC would be the exact same components that I would have ordered to build my own PC with(and I do mean the exact everything, mobo, HD's, CPU, GPU, ect...). Another nice thing that ABS does when they built your computer is put all of the manuals and installation disks that came with all of your chosen hardware into a little binder for you so you can always go back and read through any of the manuals when you need to. I guess the only thing ABS really does is assemble the parts for you.Like I said, it would actually cost me a couple hundred dollars more to build my own computer than it would to just order one from ABS when you take into account the MS Vista Ultimate OS, and the water cooling. I thought I would save $500 to $1000 building my own, but I was just simply mistaken. I think I could save that much money when considering other builders, but not ABS.

Hi all,Today I went to get a PC customised with the sole purpose of running FSX. This is the system that I was advised to get by the PC builder.Before I throw over my hard earned cash I told him I knew a few people that would advise on what I should be looking for. And those few people hopefully are in this forum.Intel p4 3.8ghz LGA 775 CPU & Cooler1gb PC2 3200 DDR2 Memory250GB SATA Hard driveVista ultimate 32-bit OEMPNY Verto GEFORCE 7 7900GTX 512MC PCI-EXAny thoughts guys, will this do the trick for FSX, wheree should I improve.many thankstim

>wheree should I improve.For FSX, definatly get more RAM, and think twice about that GPU since you are using Vista. Remember that Vista in the long term will nicely support DX10 as does FSX eventually.. the card you specified is the older generation DX9, are you willing to invest evenmore down the line upgrading that to a DX10 GPU? Maybe better to start of with a DX10 8800 or hold on until ATI releases its DX10 competetor..

>Any thoughts guys, will this do the trick for FSX, wheree>should I improve.What you are asking is similiar to what I was asking.My conclusion is to go with the latest technology and the combination of the EVGA 680i motherboard with one EVGA 8800 GPU, min 2 gig of ram and a Core 2 Duo CPU (no need to go quad core). Add lots of fans and overclock the system if you can. It is more costly than a simple upgrade however and upgrade without good results is money wasted.Right now the EVGA mobo and GPU are top rated components. This is from here and at least two sites I have researched which are well known authorities on PC components and gaming.See this thread.http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho..._id=13943&page=The thread above will give you a good solid start for a system running FSX. I chose to take this path instead of locking myself into putting more cash into an already older system. This way I am prepared for what ever comes along for the next few years which is equally important to me.There are those posting on the thread I mentioned who have built their systems and have posted the results for running FSX.I am wishing you well on your project whatever you decide to do and I strongly believe this is the best advice I can offer you!Monty

Well, after spending the last several weeks since making this post, I have decided against purchasing a PC from a builder and going ahead and building my own. I think it will be a fun project to build my own machine, and you all did make some very good points on this thread about what you get when building your own. I will give it a shot.I have decided to do nothing for the time being though. I don't want to sink a bunch of money in today's components in an effort to build a PC designed to run Vista and DX10 games when we won't have any DX10 games until 2008 more than likely (don't trust those early DX10 game release dates that are floating around right now for the middle of this year, those games will be delayed for sure). It doesn't even look like we are going to see a DX10 capable FSX until very late this year at the earliest and that was supposed to be the big DX10 showcase game. Whoops, what happened there. I will take that egg over-easy. Instead of sinking a bunch of money in today's PC components that are not really needed today, I decided to delay my build for about 8 to 12 months to let this Vista/DX10 stuff settle out in the marketplace. Game developers will not look to DX10 as the 3D game development standard for at least another year or two because the migration to Vista/DX10 capable PC's is going to take a long time by the looks of things so far. It is also going to take some time to work out some of Vista's bugs, but this should only be expected with a new Operating System. Having a fast DX9 capable PC running Windows XP is all you are going to need for the rest of 2007, and I already have that. By waiting, I will either be able to build my new Vista/DX10 PC for about $1,000 to $1,500 less in about 8 to 12 months. Or, I will be able to build my new Vista/DX10 PC for about the same price as what it would cost me to build it today, but with much better components that are currently not available today (at least at an affordable price). I was very disappointed to delay my new build, but it only makes sense to me.