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senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2017
2,626
5,482
- I don't have a fixed job but about ~ $4-$5
- I love to read about hardware, so to me research is like reading newspapers (probably hundreds or hours).
- One day to build the machine, a few more days to move my data from my old to my new build.
- I almost haven't need to RMA, I try to buy parts that doesn't fail, if they do, they probably I'll buy another part in the time that I don't have the item due to RMA.
Ok, this makes sense.

DIY is only worth it if you enjoy building PCs as a hobby or if your funds are very limited.
 

enb141

macrumors 6502
Sep 17, 2008
395
343
Ok, this makes sense.

DIY is only worth it if you enjoy building PCs as a hobby or if your funds are very limited.

In my case is the culmination of knowledge, if you buy a DELL or MAC, you don't know the power supply specs (platinum, titanium, watts, etc), just as an example, DIY is not just for low budget people, is also for people that wants to fine tune everything according to your needs and likes.

Even if I were Floyd Mayweather (Bill Gates, Elon Musk and similars are cheap and won't waste their money on gadgets), I still would get custom PCs.
 

unrigestered

Suspended
Jun 17, 2022
879
840
DIY is only worth it if you enjoy building PCs as a hobby or if your funds are very limited.

... or:
- if you want something with exactly the (premium or non-standard) components you like or require
- have great expandabilities inside your computer, without having to resort to external "dongles" everywhere, because your PC is either build too small, has too few PCIe slots to your likings, or is non expandable at all internally.
- don't want to deal with cleaning up systems that come pre-installed with garbage gallores of bloat-, mal-, or nagware

i personally don't build my PCs anymore since i'm basically notebook only for the last 20 years, but i don't get the notion that building your PC is something negative to avoid. you only have to do it once for maybe half an hour or so, but you're getting getting everything exactly as you like.

i'm still building my bikes though (from pre-build components), so i'm not welding my own frames. i'm paying more this way, but in exchange i'm actually getting exactly the components and the frame geometry that i want.
not something compromised because someone thought that that certain set of parts will fit everyone, or that most people won't care anyway.
 

senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2017
2,626
5,482
... or:
- if you want something with exactly the (premium or non-standard) components you like or require
- have great expandabilities inside your computer, without having to resort to external "dongles" everywhere, because your PC is either build too small, has too few PCIe slots to your likings, or is non expandable at all internally.
- don't want to deal with cleaning up systems that come pre-installed with garbage gallores of bloat-, mal-, or nagware

i personally don't build my PCs anymore since i'm basically notebook only for the last 20 years, but i don't get the notion that building your PC is something negative to avoid. you only have to do it once for maybe half an hour or so, but you're getting getting everything exactly as you like.

i'm still building my bikes though (from pre-build components), so i'm not welding my own frames. i'm paying more this way, but in exchange i'm actually getting exactly the components and the frame geometry that i want.
not something compromised because someone thought that that certain set of parts will fit everyone, or that most people won't care anyway.
There's a reason why you stopped building PCs 20 years ago and I stopped 12 years ago.
 

MrGunny94

macrumors 65816
Dec 3, 2016
1,148
675
Malaga, Spain
Ok, this makes sense.

DIY is only worth it if you enjoy building PCs as a hobby or if your funds are very limited.
Or if you are into gaming.. used to be a bang for buck, not anymore. Especially with games coming with pre shader compilation problems lol

I only have a PC to play World of Warcraft and another exclusive PC games these days.
 

unrigestered

Suspended
Jun 17, 2022
879
840
There's a reason why you stopped building PCs 20 years ago and I stopped 12 years ago.

yes, because i'm using laptops now and those aren't readily available for custom build for everyone, at least as far as i'm aware of.
if i was still into desktops, i'd surely still build my own, as pre-build configs are never 100% what i want and putting them together actually not a big deal at all, even for people who don't like to spend time doing this, as you only need to do it once. and half an hour is only if you are taking your time, it can be done much quicker too.
 

senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2017
2,626
5,482
yes, because i'm using laptops now and those aren't readily available for custom build for everyone, at least as far as i'm aware of.
if i was still into desktops, i'd surely still build my own, as pre-build configs are never 100% what i want and putting them together actually not a big deal at all, even for people who don't like to spend time doing this, as you only need to do it once. and half an hour is only if you are taking your time, it can be done much quicker too.
Check out Framework.
 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,521
19,674
Check out Framework.

Sadly, the modular nature of the laptop means bad battery life. I think it's cool that they are making it, but it's not a good laptop. Unless you need the particular ports, the MacBook Air is a much superior alternative for the same money.
 

senttoschool

macrumors 68030
Nov 2, 2017
2,626
5,482
Sadly, the modular nature of the laptop means bad battery life. I think it's cool that they are making it, but it's not a good laptop. Unless you need the particular ports, the MacBook Air is a much superior alternative for the same money.
That's right. I'd never build my own laptop.

While Framework claims its approach helps the environment, I don't think it does in practice. To me, it's just worse in every way possible. If I want to upgrade, I can just sell my Macbook, and use that money to buy a new Macbook. Someone else will use my old Mac. I highly doubt that you can get much money, if anything, for your 3-4 year old Framework part - if the company is still alive then. So you'll end up just throwing it away as e-waste.
 

MrGunny94

macrumors 65816
Dec 3, 2016
1,148
675
Malaga, Spain
Sadly, the modular nature of the laptop means bad battery life. I think it's cool that they are making it, but it's not a good laptop. Unless you need the particular ports, the MacBook Air is a much superior alternative for the same money.
Quite true, I have used a Framework with Arch Linux and battery couldn't last more than 4-5h even with TLP installed and running a stable low clock at 10w.
 

dmccloud

macrumors 68040
Sep 7, 2009
3,142
1,899
Anchorage, AK
More value will depend on your needs, in my case 1 boot drive PCIe 5 gen (intel optane smokes any other SSD on the market, the PRO ones), 64 GB in ram, that amount of ram with a mac would cost me a fortune, secondary SSD, HDD for non fast files (music), a decent video card, 4070 which smokes pretty much what apple offers.

Yet Intel killed Optane in its entirety because nobody cared enough to add it to their existing systems or buy systems with it already included.
 

bobcomer

macrumors 601
May 18, 2015
4,949
3,699
Yet Intel killed Optane in its entirety because nobody cared enough to add it to their existing systems or buy systems with it already included.
Intel never really got the word out on Optane to convince people to use it, or even what it does.
 

mi7chy

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2014
10,620
11,294
Quite true, I have used a Framework with Arch Linux and battery couldn't last more than 4-5h even with TLP installed and running a stable low clock at 10w.

It depends on CPU selection and battery size. You probably had the Intel option but that's the benefit of modularity since you can swap out Intel CPU module for AMD 7040 series module without replacing the whole laptop. Something Apple could benefit from to be able to swap from ARM to x64 for software compatibility. Modularity will make even more sense with the Framework Laptop 16 and upgradable dGPU module.
 

dmccloud

macrumors 68040
Sep 7, 2009
3,142
1,899
Anchorage, AK
Intel never really got the word out on Optane to convince people to use it, or even what it does.
They were too busy trying to convince Best Buy employees why it was the "bestest", most awesome innovation since the original Pentium to actually explain what the hell it was to customers. The other issue was that the users who would most benefit from that actually wanted to use SSDs in those M.2 slots instead of Optane.
 
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bobcomer

macrumors 601
May 18, 2015
4,949
3,699
I use Intel's Optane on server side for the HANA Databases... It's a huge success over here but for consumer I don't think it makes a lot of sense
Cool, that's a great use for something like optane. Not consumer like you say, at least for now. I might have to think a bit on how I may take advantage of something like that.
 

leman

macrumors Core
Oct 14, 2008
19,521
19,674
In my case is the culmination of knowledge, if you buy a DELL or MAC, you don't know the power supply specs (platinum, titanium, watts, etc), just as an example, DIY is not just for low budget people, is also for people that wants to fine tune everything according to your needs and likes.

Even if I were Floyd Mayweather (Bill Gates, Elon Musk and similars are cheap and won't waste their money on gadgets), I still would get custom PCs.

If I ever find myself in the unfortunate situation of needing a desktop PC, I would also build one myself. That's the only way to avoid the awful ugly cases PC builders force on you and still get the hardware you want. Not to mention that you can avoid all that pre-installed crap and often get better warranty deals on individual components. And it's fun, even if I haven't done it in almost 15 years since I moved to Macintosh.

BTW, talking about Macs, the quality of hardware is top notch and everything from power supply to power delivery and cooling is optimised to extreme. You will never be able to match the efficiency of a Mac power supply for example because these are designed for the specific hardware, taking into account its particularities and needs.
 

enb141

macrumors 6502
Sep 17, 2008
395
343
If I ever find myself in the unfortunate situation of needing a desktop PC, I would also build one myself. That's the only way to avoid the awful ugly cases PC builders force on you and still get the hardware you want. Not to mention that you can avoid all that pre-installed crap and often get better warranty deals on individual components. And it's fun, even if I haven't done it in almost 15 years since I moved to Macintosh.

BTW, talking about Macs, the quality of hardware is top notch and everything from power supply to power delivery and cooling is optimised to extreme. You will never be able to match the efficiency of a Mac power supply for example because these are designed for the specific hardware, taking into account its particularities and needs.

Yes, about PC warranties, if something fails, then just RMA your failed part not the whole PC, and if the part if known to have issues, then buy another one that doesn't have those issues.

The problem with macs is that you love what they give you or you hate it, for example, if you want to use PCIe cards, then the only way was to get a Mac Pro, which is prohibitively expensive. Also upgrades are prohibitive expensive, paying $200 for upgrading to 16 GB ram is nuts, even worse for SSD, $200 for 512 GB (up from $256).
 

dmccloud

macrumors 68040
Sep 7, 2009
3,142
1,899
Anchorage, AK
If I ever find myself in the unfortunate situation of needing a desktop PC, I would also build one myself. That's the only way to avoid the awful ugly cases PC builders force on you and still get the hardware you want. Not to mention that you can avoid all that pre-installed crap and often get better warranty deals on individual components. And it's fun, even if I haven't done it in almost 15 years since I moved to Macintosh.

When I built my gaming PC last fall, I took advantage of the price cuts across the board for the AMD 5xxx series (the 7xxx was just beginning to hit the market). Saved around $400 on the CPU and motherboard (Ryzen 9 5900x and an ASUS TUF Gaming x570 PLUS WIFI board) and used those funds to add additional SSD storage to the rig, a liquid cooler, and a higher end videocard. Also, since the AM4 platform uses DDR4 instead of the more expensive DDR5, I got 32GB of that for $105. It is nice to have a PC without all of the vendor specific garbageware they add to their prebuilt rigs, especially when you're trying to maximize performance at every step of the way.
 
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mi7chy

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2014
10,620
11,294
You will never be able to match the efficiency of a Mac power supply for example because these are designed for the specific hardware, taking into account its particularities and needs.

Never? Good thing this isn't a PSU enthusiast forum otherwise that would get a lot of lols.

1681407602863.png

1681407737294.png

1681407773328.png
 

mi7chy

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2014
10,620
11,294
Thank you illustrating my point about Mac PSUs being among the best in the industry.

Mac Studio has two different PSU suppliers, Delta and Lite-On, that are also used in the PC industry. Between the two, Delta is upper middle tier while Lite-On is associated with low budget and you don't get to choose like with DIY. Apple was close to using YMTC which is probably the Lite-On of NAND.

 

bobcomer

macrumors 601
May 18, 2015
4,949
3,699
If I ever find myself in the unfortunate situation of needing a desktop PC,
Not me, it wouldn't help me enjoy PC's more or make more money and I'd really rather sleep, eat, or watch anime, than to price out a build and then build a PC. It's probably been 10 years since I even thought of doing that. My last build was an AMD 6 core Athlon. I still have the bones, the motherboard had capacitor problems.

As for those ugly cases (I'm talking to you Dell), Lenovo has much better looking prebuilts, especially in the tiny and SFF form factors. I prefer desktops because of the expandability.. (PC's of course)
 

mi7chy

macrumors G4
Oct 24, 2014
10,620
11,294
Getting back on topic from propaganda about DIY being for poor while complaining that Nvidia A100 or even 4090 is too expensive. For the price, it should come with >8GB of 'special' LPDDR5 considering phones from 2021 come with 12GB/16GB LPDDR5. That way you can play with things like hyped up localized LLMs.

Here's it running on phone without hitting swap.
Screenshot_20230412_111357_Termux.jpg
 
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