Build vs. Buy: Can We Build It Better?

Back by popular demand, I wanted to look at another "build vs. buy" comparison. I've previously shown that at the very low end, it's hard to beat the price of the Dell. We've also looked at the very upper end, and the Dell can be built for around a grand less with a home build. However, most of us don't have the cheapest, or the most expensive desktop around.

$500 is a good price point to build around, particularly for a student. It's still a reasonable amount of cash that can be parted with after a summer of savings. So, I'm going to compare what Mikie Dell can deliver for that price point, and what I can build it for. Unlike previous builds I've done, there is a twist this time. Rather than blindly just matching parts exactly, I'm going to build a desktop that I would actually want to own. Follow along, and you'll see where we're going with this.

On the Dell side of things, I'm talking about the Dell Dimension E521. For exactly $499 we get the following specs:

• AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Processor
• Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
  
• 512 MB RAM
• 80 GB SATA Hard Drive
• DVD/CDRW Combo Drive
• 15" LCD
• Integrated Graphics & Audio
• Dell USB Keyboard & Mouse
• No Floppy Drive
• No Speakers
• 56K Modem
• 1 Year Warranty

In my opinion, these are decent specs for someone looking to do word processing, internet surfing, and basic audio tasks. In other words, this isn't exactly a computer that most of us would be drooling over. Let's go component by component, and build a box that we would actually want, with an eye towards the budget of about $500. As always, the parts are all from NewEgg so we can all see the prices that are nationally available to all of us.

First stop is the processor. While an Athlon 64 is ok, I'm not sure why Dell didn't go with a budget dual core processor. With quad cores on the horizon, a dual core is the way to go. For a mere $92, we can get a Pentium D 805. This is a wonderful processor, not to mention its overclocking abilities.

Next up is the operating system. It's a little strange to me that Dell went with Windows Media Center Edition, for computer with no TV tuner, or remote. I'd save the money and use Windows XP Home for $87.99. (If you really want MCE, on a computer that relly doesn't need it, it's $110, but I'm not using it in the calculations).

Now we turn our attention to the motherboard. I'm choosing the ASUS P5VDC-MX. It's based on the Via chipset. It is a micro ATX board with both AGP, and PCI Express slots and on board graphics, audio and ethernet. It retails for $54.99. I probably would add a budget video card down the road, but this isn't essential to get this all up and running, and the Dell doesn't come with one either.

The RAM retails for the identical price of $54.99. That gets us a single stick of Kingston ValueRAM, DDR 400, 3200. I'd go with the single stick because we'll probably want to upgrade at some point to a full gig. For a few bucks more, there are a few other choices as well.

The Dell is quite cramped on hard drive space at a mere 80 gigs. I would double that and go with a 160 GB Western Digital SATA drive. This will only run us $54.99, and give us double the storage. This is a no brainer of an upgrade in my mind, and my only temptation would be to go for a 250 gigger drive which is only $25 more.

The next component is the optical drive. Again, the Dell cheaps out on an essential component. When we can get a MadDog 16x DVDRW burner that even supports DVD-RAM, I'm puzzled why Dell would be using a DVD/CDRW combo drive unless they've got them laying around and want to use them up. If we'd like a different brand, there are plenty of other choices at NewEgg in the downright cheap $30 range. The Mad Dog goes for $28.99.

Let's look at the monitor next. Dell is giving us a mere 15". Trust me on this, our eyes deserve better. Unless you live in a cramped Manhattan studio apartment, go for the 17" (or even bigger; I use a 19"). Besides, a decent monitor can outlive the desktop. There are some choices for around $150, but this one for $146.99 is pretty rock bottom priced. Besides, it's only $20 above a 15" LCD!

I'm going to skip over the next few items. Dell doesn't supply speakers, so we won't go there either, although we'll clearly need something to hear the audio. A mouse and keyboard can be recycled from an older system, borrowed from a friendly geek, or picked up on the cheap when on sale for less than $10. Most users won't need a 56k modem on their desktop because they'll use their ethernet port to connect to the campus or office LAN, or the broadband router in their house.

This leaves us with the issue of the case. Again, we should get a semidecent case that will allow us to upgrade the motherboard down the road. I spotted this one that includes a 350W power supply that will help us keep the cost down. It is well rated, and even has a front panel temp display. It sells for a mere $49.99.

Now let's go to the calculator. Remember that because we can choose the components we made a few upgrades. We chose a dual core processor, doubled the size of the hard drive, went with a larger LCD monitor, and upgraded from a combo drive to a DVD rewriter. I will admit that even I was surprised that my total, even with all of these upgrades, and not buying anything on limited time special or rebate, was still only $570.93. To me, just the dual core processor upgrade is worth the extra $70. This is the real value of building our own computer. I'm calling this one a win for the builders, hands down!

--Jonas

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