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Ask HN: Is it still significantly cheaper to build your own CPU?
In college, I would buy parts off NewEgg and assemble my own gaming rig. $500 in parts got me the specs of a computer that would go for >$1000.
3 video cards, 2 CPUs, and a bunch of hard drives later, that rig is still my primary computer for coding, which speaks volumes about the future-proofing of rolling your own.
But I'm curious about the initial cost savings: For a mid-level CPU (SSD, decent video card and processor, good looking case, and a generous supply of RAM) is it still cheaper-by-far to build your own using parts available online, or has the commoditization of non-Mac computers made it so a college kid nowadays looking to save money might buy a refurbished Dell rather than slogging through youtube tutorials on cable management?
- cjbprime 8y agoThe latter, usually cheaper to buy prebuilt. Especially since you have to add a Windows license that costs around $100 to do legally. I still did self-build for my last PC, because I was very picky about exact parts.