• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 04:59
CEST 10:59
KST 17:59
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL21] Ro4 Preview: On Course12Code S Season 1 - RO8 Preview7[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt2: Progenitors8Code S Season 1 - RO12 Group A: Rogue, Percival, Solar, Zoun13[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Inheritors16
Community News
Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO8 Results1Weekly Cups (May 4-10): Clem, MaxPax, herO win1Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule !11Weekly Cups (April 27-May 4): Clem takes triple0RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event12
StarCraft 2
General
Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO8 Results MaNa leaves Team Liquid Weekly Cups (May 4-10): Clem, MaxPax, herO win Code S Season 1 - RO8 Preview
Tourneys
2026 GSL Season 2 Qualifiers Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! $5,000 WardiTV Spring Championship 2026 SC2 INu's Battles#16 <BO.9> Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2)
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players
External Content
Mutation # 525 Wheel of Misfortune The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 524 Death and Taxes Mutation # 523 Firewall
Brood War
General
Pros React to: TvT Masterclass in FlaSh vs Light vespene.gg — BW replays in browser ASL21 Strategy, Pimpest Plays Discussions Flashes ASL S21 Ro8 Review BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/
Tourneys
[ASL21] Semifinals B [ASL21] Semifinals A [BSL22] RO8 Bracket Stage + Another TieBreaker Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Hydra ZvZ: An Introduction Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition
Other Games
General Games
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Starcraft Tabletop Miniature Game PC Games Sales Thread
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread UK Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
streaming software Strange computer issues (software) [G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
How EEG Data Can Predict Gam…
TrAiDoS
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1499 users

Buying vs Building new computer? - Page 2

Forum Index > Tech Support
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 All
NaYeBo
Profile Joined August 2010
Canada282 Posts
April 10 2011 17:49 GMT
#21
Well, skyr mentioned I can choose the parts and get it built for 50$, so I'd probably go with that route.
NaYeBo
Profile Joined August 2010
Canada282 Posts
April 10 2011 17:50 GMT
#22
My next question is would an i7 be warranted over an i5 in skyrs build?
novabossa
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States350 Posts
April 10 2011 18:04 GMT
#23
The Sandy Bridge i7 is phenomenal, and you'd have no problems streaming on that kind of processor. The i5, however, should be sufficient (provided you get an appropriate graphics card). Personally, I consider the extra $100 not to be worth it (then again I'm a poor college student strapped for cash), but it will do a great job in future-proofing your system.
Rachel: First game. oGsMC: Yea. Rachel: Dark Templar. oGsMC: Yea. Rachel: Countered. oGsMC: Yea. Rachel: Were you worried? oGsMC: What?
FiWiFaKi
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
Canada9859 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-10 18:08:10
April 10 2011 18:04 GMT
#24
On April 11 2011 02:50 NaYeBo wrote:
My next question is would an i7 be warranted over an i5 in skyrs build?


The i7 2600(k) you'll see probably a 25-35% performence increase.

For the extra 120+ dollars it's not worth it, especially considering the current mobo doesn't support OC.

My recommendation would be, if you want a better CPU... The i5 2500k is great, it's performence OCed is that of the i7 2600k, and it's $240 ish I think? The problem is, if you want to OC, you'll need a P67 motherboard, and those go for approximatly the $200 mark.

Edit: Overall it's a very solid build much better than the one on the site. And I think you'll be very pleased with the build there. The i5 2500k if you choose to get it will last you years, but I think for your needs it is slight overkill.
In life, the journey is more satisfying than the destination. || .::Entrepreneurship::. Living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't || Mechanical Engineering & Economics Major
Myrmidon
Profile Blog Joined December 2004
United States9452 Posts
April 10 2011 18:38 GMT
#25
i7-2600 over i5-2500 is a very small difference in most applications including games and is definitely not worth the $100 price premium unless your budget is large or you're a professional user. All you get is 100 MHz higher, 2 MB more L3 cache, and hyperthreading. And hyperthreading is only good if you're running workloads that actually can have more than 4 threads running in parallel (and if the first 4 threads get stuck waiting on RAM/HDD access or something).

Only in the most favorable well-threaded conditions do you get anything like 25% more performance with a i7-2600. Usually the difference is more like 0-3%.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/288?vs=287
Warillions
Profile Joined November 2010
United States215 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-10 18:41:17
April 10 2011 18:39 GMT
#26
honestly man stick with the custom built pc, the mobo is amazing(i have it), thats the most ideal ram to get, the vid card well its optional, theres a lot of good vid cards out there that will stream/sc2 just fine. the processor is good too, u could even get away with the quad core phenom2 965 and save about 40 bucks that could be used on 8gigs of ram instead of 4. the i7 is strong, but the price increase i think is not worth it. yet another amd vs intel thread? i hope not.
Gak2
Profile Joined September 2010
Canada418 Posts
April 10 2011 19:46 GMT
#27
5770 is much better than 5450, which can barely run on low. so get the custom-built.
An alternative is to get the best buy comp, then buy a separate 5770 and install that. you'd probably need to get a better power supply too though... so this is a lot more expensive. just get your friend to help you make the custom built lol
mutantmagnet
Profile Joined June 2009
United States3803 Posts
April 10 2011 20:08 GMT
#28
Something is really wrong here. 17% savings on custom building for parts after rebates? *checks op's link* The Dell is refurbished. That explains a lot.

If you can get a brand new pc for that cost you are better off with that; but the warranty for refurbished items usually blows compared to brand new items.
It's not hard to build a new pc but there are frustrations you might have to stomach since this would be a first time for you. On top of that your parts are of higher quality than what the prebuilt is offering.
NaYeBo
Profile Joined August 2010
Canada282 Posts
April 10 2011 20:16 GMT
#29
On April 11 2011 05:08 mutantmagnet wrote:
Something is really wrong here. 17% savings on custom building for parts after rebates? *checks op's link* The Dell is refurbished. That explains a lot.

If you can get a brand new pc for that cost you are better off with that; but the warranty for refurbished items usually blows compared to brand new items.
It's not hard to build a new pc but there are frustrations you might have to stomach since this would be a first time for you. On top of that your parts are of higher quality than what the prebuilt is offering.


Yeah, the stores are offering it brand new here, but a lot of people said it won't run on ultra graphics?
FiWiFaKi
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
Canada9859 Posts
April 10 2011 21:13 GMT
#30
On April 11 2011 05:16 NaYeBo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 11 2011 05:08 mutantmagnet wrote:
Something is really wrong here. 17% savings on custom building for parts after rebates? *checks op's link* The Dell is refurbished. That explains a lot.

If you can get a brand new pc for that cost you are better off with that; but the warranty for refurbished items usually blows compared to brand new items.
It's not hard to build a new pc but there are frustrations you might have to stomach since this would be a first time for you. On top of that your parts are of higher quality than what the prebuilt is offering.


Yeah, the stores are offering it brand new here, but a lot of people said it won't run on ultra graphics?


If you buy off ncix and they build it for you there is practically no hassle. I think at this point it should he a no brainer for you. I think you should evaluate that build that was suggested, see how it fits your budget - If there's any upgrades you want etc, but again it's solid if they do all those price matches.
In life, the journey is more satisfying than the destination. || .::Entrepreneurship::. Living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't || Mechanical Engineering & Economics Major
NaYeBo
Profile Joined August 2010
Canada282 Posts
April 10 2011 21:16 GMT
#31
Sorry I'm unsure what the concept of price matches are? I'm guessing if I show them those prices... They'll match them?
mutantmagnet
Profile Joined June 2009
United States3803 Posts
April 10 2011 21:19 GMT
#32
It can't run the graphics at ultra settings.

This review is slightly outdated because some optimizations have been made. Yet you can see the lowest end card listed here (which is going to better than 5450) has no chance of being improved enough to playable levels on a low resolution.

Your custom build is a lot more cost effective.
FiWiFaKi
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
Canada9859 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-04-10 21:28:04
April 10 2011 21:26 GMT
#33
On April 11 2011 06:16 NaYeBo wrote:
Sorry I'm unsure what the concept of price matches are? I'm guessing if I show them those prices... They'll match them?


Pretty much. Usually though when you price match you puck items that are on sale from another site, and therefore the same price may not apply anymore. Also Ive had some trouble with other price matching on other sites so maybe Im just paranoid xP.

I mean your other alternative - is buy that computer, I never realized how good that CPU actually is (equivalent of i5 2500 - got my modems mixed up. I'm just not am AMD fan so not sure what to think)... And then sell the 5450 and buy a 460gtx, which would be expensive... Nvm scratch that.

But I do recommend doing some research on that GPU... Its a 60 dollar one, and practically the worst on the market.

In life, the journey is more satisfying than the destination. || .::Entrepreneurship::. Living a few years of your life like most people won't, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can't || Mechanical Engineering & Economics Major
RaiZ
Profile Blog Joined April 2003
2813 Posts
April 10 2011 21:34 GMT
#34
On April 11 2011 05:16 NaYeBo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 11 2011 05:08 mutantmagnet wrote:
Something is really wrong here. 17% savings on custom building for parts after rebates? *checks op's link* The Dell is refurbished. That explains a lot.

If you can get a brand new pc for that cost you are better off with that; but the warranty for refurbished items usually blows compared to brand new items.
It's not hard to build a new pc but there are frustrations you might have to stomach since this would be a first time for you. On top of that your parts are of higher quality than what the prebuilt is offering.


Yeah, the stores are offering it brand new here, but a lot of people said it won't run on ultra graphics?

It may be brand new, but the whole computer is just sooo old it's not even funny.
If you build your pc, you can almost have double performance.
I mean look at the 5450 graphic card : 5770 is like what ? $40 more, but it outperforms in everyway the 5450.
I'm already having troubles streaming at medium setting with a 5750 with 50 fps (let's be honest : 40 fps is the true average imo). I can't imagine how you'd stream with ultra with such a low graphic card that 5450 is.
Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth. Oscar Wilde
scudst0rm
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada1149 Posts
April 10 2011 21:39 GMT
#35
Another point against pre-built machines:

Pre-builts from the big brands (acer, gateway, hp, dell) always come with the cheapest possible no-name power supplies and motherboards. This leaves you with a higher chance of failure and little room to upgrade (if you want to upgrade the gpu you need to replace the power supply as well).

Pre-builts from the high-end/enthusiast brands like cyberpower will have better parts but are way more expensive.
You're like a one ranger army comin' at me...
Genome852
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States979 Posts
April 10 2011 22:16 GMT
#36
The biggest reason I prefer building a computer is because it's just easier to fix if something breaks.

If you buy a prebuilt computer and it has an issue, you can't open it and fix it yourself... unless you want to void the warranty. On the other hand, you CAN do that with a built computer, and most of the time you can still use the computer after taking out whatever is damaged while waiting for the replacement.
mutantmagnet
Profile Joined June 2009
United States3803 Posts
April 10 2011 23:24 GMT
#37
Warranty voiding is dependent on the company. Lenovo and HP (which is the brand the OP was looking at) provide manuals on how to take apart their machines to make upgrades. They are less concerned about machines being opened up unlike Apple or Emachines.
SigmaoctanusIV
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States3313 Posts
April 10 2011 23:27 GMT
#38
Building a computer is always 100% a better choice. You get to pick your components and get quality ones at that. When you buy a prebuild PC you will most likely get a Cheap PSU or a bad Video Card. When you build you can pick good manufacturers and select everything you want. The only upside of getting a prebuilt is you get Windows with it most of the time... Build the Comp Always the better choice.
I am Godzilla You are Japan
Prev 1 2 All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 1m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft: Brood War
Bisu 1005
Hyuk 537
firebathero 397
Killer 390
BeSt 174
EffOrt 105
Pusan 98
910 75
Sexy 70
Dewaltoss 69
[ Show more ]
scan(afreeca) 47
Mong 46
Backho 44
ToSsGirL 41
Sacsri 24
sorry 20
Movie 17
soO 17
yabsab 16
JulyZerg 16
Bale 12
ZergMaN 5
Last 0
Dota 2
XcaliburYe97
League of Legends
JimRising 577
Counter-Strike
olofmeister2414
shoxiejesuss469
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King107
Other Games
ceh9530
Sick322
monkeys_forever210
Happy143
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL40742
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 40
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH267
• LUISG 33
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 14
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos788
• Lourlo741
• Stunt382
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
1h 1m
Classic vs Solar
herO vs SHIN
OSC
4h 1m
Big Brain Bouts
7h 1m
sebesdes vs Iba
Percival vs YoungYakov
Reynor vs GgMaChine
Korean StarCraft League
18h 1m
RSL Revival
1d 1h
Clem vs Rogue
Bunny vs Lambo
IPSL
1d 7h
Dewalt vs nOmaD
Ret vs Cross
BSL
1d 10h
Bonyth vs Doodle
Dewalt vs TerrOr
GSL
1d 23h
Cure vs herO
SHIN vs Maru
IPSL
2 days
Bonyth vs Napoleon
G5 vs JDConan
BSL
2 days
OyAji vs JDConan
DragOn vs TBD
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
3 days
Monday Night Weeklies
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
The PondCast
4 days
GSL
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
GSL
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-05-13
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
KK 2v2 League Season 1
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
Escore Tournament S2: W7
SCTL 2026 Spring
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
Heroes Pulsing #1
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2

Upcoming

YSL S3
Escore Tournament S2: W8
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
WardiTV Spring 2026
2026 GSL S2
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.