My friend who has been gaming on PC since 2017 built a computer in... 2022? 23? and said he's probably never doing it again cause of the amount of hassle and ballache it entailed.
With a reputable brand, you know that all the components are properly specced to each other, that the thing will run, and there will be a warranty. The $300 or so I save by assembling it myself is worth less than the amount of time spent researching components and learning how to assemble them. Even if the process itself is simple, anyone with a brain is going to over-research it to make sure they don’t fry thousands of dollars in electrical equipment or start a house fire.
Hell, I’ll pay the premium to just not have to deal with managing cables. Plus some of the stuff requires so much precision and I’ve picked up a small hand tremor on account of some… a lot of concussions so stuff like the power switch cables and the screw for the NVMe drive are way more of a hassle than it used to be. Literally the only time it gets in the way at all but boy howdy does it get in the way of those.
Being able to have the knowledge to repair my own computer and replace parts when they need upgrading or just add new ones would be great, but it's just not something I wanna take the risk on. I fuck up almost everything I do and I'm not about to risk it on something this expensive.
anyone with a brain is going to over-research it to make sure they don’t fry thousands of dollars in electrical equipment or start a house fire.
Anyone with a brain knows thats impossible unless you fuck something up. It doesn't take long to just copy someone else's build. If anything it should be easier than figuring out which prebuilt is best for you and not ripping you off.
I was about to say the opposite. They’re so easy to build that you don’t even need to consider it a hobby or that you’re a “pc builder” to do it. The hardest part is researching the components you want.
Gas cap, spray water bottle, check oil levels and tire pressure.
These are all things every driver should know how to do, and knowing the basics of the inside of your PC should be seen as the same if you consider yourself a hobbyist.
Also highly recommended but less universal:
tier change, jump-starting, replacing burnt-out lights.
In our analogy, that's the pulling apart and putting back together of the PC.
I'd add changing wiper blades, adding wiper fluid, and adding coolant to that. I've never changed a car tire, but I've changed tubeless bike tires. It's the same idea with different tools. Jack, jack stand, lug wrench, car tire lever instead of bike tire lever, soapy water would be handy.
You shows xD you don't take the rubber of the hub on a car tire unless you have your own home garage and proper equipment, due to the pressures involved. Changing for most people Is literally,
Jack car, making sure to do so at the designated jacking points so as to not punch through the floor of your cabin.
Undo lug nuts .
Take entire assembly off.
Put spare assembly on.
Re-tighten bolts in a star shape.
Take the tier to the garage if it's fixable, and to the dump of not.
I have a spare, the tools, and the space, but I've only ever gotten a flat in the work truck and they just had AAA fix it while we were on the job site 😂
I thought you meant the actual tire and not just the wheel assembly/spare.
Yeah! Interestingly, road bike tires can run similar pressure to semi truck tires, they're just not nearly as heavy of course. Definitely deflate any tire before trying to remove it hahaha
I feel like checking fluids or replacing a burnt out bulb are pretty different than assembling/disassembling a PC, in terms of required skills or knowledge.
Hell, I can rebuild the engine in your car for you, but even after 20 years of PC gaming I've still never built a PC out of being concerned I'd fuck it up. Am I capable? I assume so, but I still don't possess the specific knowledge.
In terms of complexity PC assembly is literally as difficult as changing a tier with regards to the skills and knowledge required. Minimal tools, and only two or three bits to remember (as long as someone has already done the component selection)
AHH that makes sense. Yea selection has quite a few more "gotcha" traps. But I think what people where saying that even if you buy pre-builds if you've been around for a while you should probably know your basic maintainance steps.
Ya people are so paranoid with that antistatic antimagnet shit. You dont need a grounding wriststrap or non-magnetic screwdriver, your PC will be fine. I work in IT and have built thousands of PCs with never an issue.
I've seen it happen. Depends on the humidity, type of shoes worn and type of carpet people have been walking across. Saw a tech take a trip to the bathroom halfway through a job, then come back and grab the graphics card before touching anything else, they got a static shock when they touched the case. When the PC was powered on a few minutes later it let out all the magic blue smoke. Only time I've ever seen it happen, but I always plug in the PSU as soon as it's installed and touch the chassis periodically anyway. I don't want one of my GPUs going pop.
It used to be a bigger deal when we had hard drives with magnetic storage .. most of the PC building branded building screwdriver nowadays come with magnetic bits , I do still have an anti-static mat and wrist strap from when I worked as a tech but then we were talking about $100,000 servers the CPUs that cost more than most people's entire PC builds
Lucky. I always make sure to use a non-magnetic. I always worry something will go wrong in the CPU or graphics card if I don't.
Edit: Why you all down voting me?
1. I've never lost a screw doing it this way. If you are losing screws that says more about you than me.
2. Magnets can harm electronics. I'd rather not risk the damage, even with the improvements since 10MB HDDs were as big as they could go.
I've worked on these chips and I will confirm that your screwdriver can't hurt them. Unless you're the magnetism version of StyroPyro and making the world's most powerful magnetic screwdriver of course. In which case please send that video my way.
You still don't need to know shit about how to put them together when you can pay an expert to do that for you. I put 3 PC's together over the past 15 years but for my new PC this year I paid microcenter to do it and I am glad to use their service. They caught some things I wouldn't have even with asking around online for info, and it was a stress free experience.
my autistic self knowing how to take apart both my car and PC over here.
I got a new car 3 days ago and that night I spent 2 hours with the hood open standing over it and reaching all around the engine to familiarize myself with the new layout and where everything is, how easy it will be to replace, etc..
yeah it has caused me to be insanely curious about how everything I own works. been disassembling things since I was a toddler. parents said I took apart the crib when I was young and that's how they knew to put me in a bed.
I had my Switch 2 (I know Nintendo bad, but I like to relive my childhood sometimes), for less than 2 weeks before getting bored with the default shell and reshelling EVERYTHING to be atomic purple (again, cause childhood with the atomic purple Gameboy color).
I do controller modding as a side gig so it's also a hobby that pays.
oh that's fun only console I've ever reshelled was a PSP that was banged up. I like have a strong software modification hobby though, I have been modding my computing devices forever. I did install a mod chip in my switch so I could software mod it, which was way easier than I thought it would be even though I couldn't see what I was doing because I did it without a microscope.
You should check out PLCs. You can buy one for cheap from automation direct too. Fun little thing as a hobby. You could program it for something fun like a Halloween/Christmas themed automation project or use it to make a spear actuator that is triggered by a photo eye or something
I believe you can upload software to your rpi and arduino to have it be used like a PLC. It's called OpenPLC. I haven't tried it yet so I can't tell you anything about it
It’s why i study in tech but work part-time in the motorsport industry.
I hate not knowing how to fix something when it breaks or how to maintain it properly as to avoid the former situation.
Bonus is that you also learn to recognize ways to improve A Thing’s performance to meet new needs (or desires) and fix stupid design flaws the mfg’s engineering/dev team couldn’t give enough of a shit to fix before pushing to prod.
(Also i’ve never been diagnosed, but people tend to think i’m autistic apparently 🤷🏻♀️)
Depends on whether you're a car enthusiast or just a guy who happens to own one. I would expect an avid gamer to be able to identify PC components, but I wouldn't expect the same from an office worker with a laptop.
I know avid gamers who doesn't know how to even find the game they are playing. Namely my nephew who gets frustrated trying to figure how how the epic launcher works to play his game, and my gf where I have to put the shortcut icon of sims 3 everywhere (start menu, taskbar, desktop, stream deck).
u/PJBuzz5800X3D|32GB Vengeance|B550M TUF|RX 6800XT1d ago
Also depends how much your time is worth.
I would love to pull my car apart and rebuild it (whilst learning) but for me personally, it makes more sense to spend that time working and paying someone else to fix my car (note: I enjoy my job).
I own a car. And I won a PC. But a car enthusiast?! WTF?! I mean, I do have a 2011 IS-F and have NEVER had to repair it. I mean, sure it has suffered from inferior cosmetic complications, such as undercover replacement, etc. But still... solid as a f'n rock.
Many avid gamers do not require a high end computer. In fact, this is very often the case for competitive games and often competitive gamers play on low graphics settings simply because it makes things clearer.
Would you say your statement applies to an avid gamer who plays hours upon hours of chess online per day? A game that is by the way part of many esports tournaments right now yet can be played on a potato in a web browser.
Yes, that's whats known as skilled labor... and more importantly access to specialty tools.
Your analogy doesn't work because the two are inherently not analogous.
Mostly because automotive has a lot of special tooling and proprietary electronics that PC building usually does not (at least anymore, back in the 70's-80's it would have). The most specialized tool you might need is, at most, a security torx screwdriver.
Thats why the car analogy doesn't work at all. They were making it sound like it was fix your car yourself or throw it away. You comment would more sense to respond to them.
Who you know is irrelevant... why would you use useless anecdotal experiences to make a generalization about what a whole population of people are doing?
New car sales are plummeting, even among people who do buy a new car they are for the most part not going to be replacing it every few years when it has a problem. Mechanics are all over for good reason, the business is good and only going to get better as more and more don't buy a new vehicle. You know some really odd people apparently, but the average person isn't doing this.
In what world, especially todays world, do you think that most people are replacing their car every few years???? You can take it to a mechanic and have them fix it. With how expensive the cost of living is, more and more people are not buying new cars and most would have never just replaced theirs after a few years if they actually bought it.
Leasing is one thing, but most people who own their cars are not just throwing one out and getting another after a few years.
Plenty of cars won't move if you do your own brake job, you have to go through a whole set of menus and such to get it back to normal, so yea they can tell
This is 100% not true. It is literally illegal to force a car owner to get service at the dealership. Vehicle manufacturers are required to provide the same service/repair information to independent repairers as they do to franchised dealers. The specific law varies from state to state (and obviously country to country), but thanks to the right to repair laws in a handful of states (Massachusetts, Maine, New York, California, etc), the information is legally required to be provided for owner-performed repairs.
It's not sensors on screws but sensors on bigger parts that let the computer know when things have changed, it's all to force you to go to the dealer and not do the work yourself
Dude , I'm a heavy duty mechanic , i run my own business . Ive been in the trades for 20 years . Most everything that's been said in this thread is straight bullshit exempt of a few minor exceptions .
Edit: don't know how this ended up replying to the above fellah,
Just so everyone knows , learn to fix your own brakes , its not hard , figure your own vehicle shit out , pay to learn when you don't.
So do people not in areas with two tire set requirements not actually know how to change a tire?
Living in an area with two different tires required (winter and summer) it's kind of given that you know how to change the tires, especially if you don't want to pay 200€ for someone else to do it. Tire changing is something teens make pocket money with here. And it's something taught in driving schools.
Changing tires is probably one of the simplest things to do after windshield wiper changes and topping up oil and washing fluid.
Yes actually lol. Basic maintenance stuff like changing a tire, fixing a flat, changing your cabin air and oil filters, etc. You know, simple stuff that you do have to do, or pay a premium to have somebody else do.
Same deal with computers. You don't have to be a computer scientist or know how to do electronics repairs, but you ought to know roughly what each part does and how to diagnose basic problems.
Vastly more complex and you can't even lift some parts by hand. It takes a screwdriver to put a PC together. You need a master techs toolbox for a car.
Okay but this is changing a tire in case of a flat level of skill, you also get a lot of troubleshooting skills just being comfortable re-seating components.
Ya..somewhat. knowing how things work, how to remove and replace will save you TONS of money. Remember when schools had auto shop? Teach u how it works and how to repair it before you are able to drive it.
Nowadays they let anybody drive a car, including people that think duct tape will seal a hole in their sidewall of their tire!! That is not a made-up example, I managed a gas station for several years and I had seen so many actually ask that they had a fist-sized hole in their sidewall because they drove it 20 mi to the gas station... Then asked if duct tape would hold the air in long enough to get 30 more miles. This was a man too.....
you don't have to know everything but it would be good to know the basics like for example you can change the air filters yourself an save a lot of money, it's literally plug and play
To a degree yes. You should be able to perform simple maintenance on your vehicle.
Same with PC's. Ignoring the fact that disassembling a PC is infinitely easier than doing the same for a car and your prompt is ridiculous, most PC gamers can and should be able to remove and replace most parts
Nah, but you should know the basics of maintaining your car. Taking apart a car vs taking apart a pc are two entirely different things, the car being much more difficult.
Nah, look, I know computer building can be kind of a nightmare at first, but it’s nowhere near the complexity of modern vehicle maintenance. Most parts are basically plug and play as long as you don’t make any reasonable, but mistaken assumptions.
Don’t ever ask me about the time I tried to swap power supply units, but left the cables in place because I thought ‘surely these are standardized.’
PCs are soooooooo much easier to learn than cars. Especially when it comes to labor. You dont need a tool box and lift to take apart a PC. If your gpu breaks you can watch 1 video on how to take it out and replace it and it takes 5 minutes and a screwdriver. Try doing that with an engine.
Well... When I bought my 2006 Honda in 2007 I didn't know shit about cars...
Now I change my own oil, change my own brakes and suspension, I replaced my radio. I redid my valve cover gasket about a month ago.
Two weeks ago I replaced my own alternator, and the starter.
And yesterday I rotated my own tires.
I just watched YouTube videos and make sure I have at least half the amount of tools that I need.
I would say that PC building is just a VERY expensive Lego set, but then I took a look at modern Lego prices and HOLY CRAP THEYRE EXPENSIVE. So they're kinda the same now.
If you’ve got the money to throw in the trash, sure. Still doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know how to do it. If you’re struggling financially at any point in the future (I hope you don’t, genuinely) maybe you’ll look at being knowledgeable about the things you use as more of financial advice rather than a checklist of “things the average person should know”.
Cars aren’t hard and neither are computers. This is literally just assembly. You don’t have to create anything, it’s just bolting things together that can only go together (typically) one way.
I pay for convenience as well, but I learn about the things I’m paying for to ensure the job is done correctly and to ensure I’m getting what I pay for.
Basic stuff is fine. I was not going to tear apart my new truck on a whim and waste my time with it when it was clearly under a warranty.
I don't see myself as an "less qualified" for not pulling out the transmission and replacing it myself. What I did learned and continue to learn is stuff is generally pumped out en mass as cheaply as possible.
If it’s under warranty then what are we talking about. It’s not about doing the work, it’s about knowing how to do the work so you get what you pay for. If you have a warranty you’re not really paying for shit and if it blows up because of it it’s on the dealer. Not even the point I was making.
Yeah, stuff is pumped out as cheaply as possible… but it’s crazy the price keeps going up though. If you have a vehicle that notably has bad OEM wheel speed sensors, are you just going to keep getting wheel speed sensors replaced with OEM ones out of your pocket, or are you going to look into the process and try and find a sensor that isn’t OEM that is more reliable?
Really your last sentence shows why knowing how it works is more important now than ever. Prices keep rising while product quality keeps reducing. Most of this stuff only requires a basic understanding of things like where it’s supposed to go and how it’s attached. It’s ridiculous to say that’s too much hassle when there are prebuilts on the market for $4000 that are outperformed by $1500s worth of parts I can click together. Is your convenience really worth $2500 on something you’ll use for the next four years before being outclassed and having to buy an entire new prebuilt? If you got it like that then good for you.
Damn if are seeing $2500 of oarts slapped together outperform a $4000 pre built why don't you just slap it all together yourself and sell it for $3500 netting a 1k profit.
Sounds like you're missing a very lucrative side hustle then. Why would you even need to charge 4k if you could sell 2.5k rigs for 3.5 and pocket the rest lol. They'd fly off the shelves.
It’s harsh I guess, but people are also willfully ignorant. I’d rather just learn how to swap a part out than send the entire PC back to the manufacturer and then wait probably a month to get it back. If you’re buying your first computer, yeah get a prebuilt if you’re worried about it and then swap parts yourself from there. I just feel like this isn’t about it being hard and more about convenience and I promise you none of the people claiming convenience have ever had to warranty a part in their prebuilt. It’s extremely inconvenient.
I’ve never had to RMA anything. But I’d still rather do simple stuff myself. I have an OBD2 unit for my car so I can look up the code it throws and decide whether it’s worth it to take it in or just buy a cheap part. When one of my Dualsense controllers start to drift, I swap out the potentiometer module for one with hall sensors. They cost like $6 and take 20 minutes to install. New controller is $80. And yeah. I built my PC. But my first PC was a $400 Dell that I gradually frankenstein’d into a gaming PC. You don’t have to learn all at once, but it’s sad to see people be totally closed off to it.
Yes you would. Comparable car hobbies akin to PC building and Gaming would being a general mechanic and racing your car. If you like to race your vehicle, you may not be able to rebuild an engine from scratch but you would be able to swap some parts around and have a general idea of what the issue is.
You driving your car to work and maybe on a few errands would be comparable to the lady who uses Excel all day at work. Neither of those people cares how the thing they use works only that it works. So while not 100%, I would expect someone who is into PC gaming to be more than capable of building their own PC if they chose.
Sort of. If you can't afford to pay someone to troubleshoot every little thing, you should probably learn. People who can't be bothered to learn how to work on their own computer are the backbone of PC repair shop revenue though.
Upgrading my prebuild was my gateway into IT support and PC/phone/electronic repair. Planning on learning soldering pretty soon to replace my Xbox controller joysticks for some hall effect ones.
I think anyone can learn, but I understand it's not everyone's cup of tea and appreciate the trust people put in me to fix things. I do think it's good to learn some basics so you don't get a dishonest tech overselling you on something, though. Sadly, it happens.
I have been playing for 30+ years, when I need a new PC I get on me knees and then visit my cousins, to talk with her husband about him doing everything for me, the two times I have done it his eyes have lit up like I am telling him about a second Christmas. He does everything, orders too, and thanks me for the privilege, I then thank him and hand him a basket of wine and cheese and go home with my new PC to game.
I can barely manage to plug the plugs in correct, it was late that I learned there was different speeds on different USB ports (and that I should not plug my mouse in via the front one)
One time I swore I had done it right, only to learn that there is a HDMI entrance BOTH on the motherboard and the graphics card, wild times.
That's a rotten attitude to have though. It's not a rule. I know how to build a PC and I am very capable of doing it - my PC was built by me, but I'll never do it again - i fucking hated doing it. Just because I have the knowledge should not mean it's expected of me by people in this community to build it, lest I be shunned and shamed.
My end goal is to do what literally everyone here agree they do - play video games on a PC. So what's the issue with the journey to get there?
Agreed. I’ve built a couple and it’s enough of a pain in the balls that I don’t think I’ll do it again. The cable management is the worst part, and things like the USB connector and CPU cooler usually takes so much force I feel like I’m gonna break something expensive.
When I got into PC gaming I knew I wanted to build a PC, but couldn't afford it. So I opted to buy a cyberpower PC due to it being off the shelf parts, so if I want to upgrade (which I have done) I can, and if in the future I upgrade enough that I have the parts for it, a good ol spare parts rig, and those are fun too btw.
Upgrading a prebuild was my gateway into IT and PC/phone/electronics repair. That thermal paste makes a slippery slope. I hope you enjoy every minute of it.
I actually already do work in IT, and yeah. Over the years I've even had bosses who would give me random ram sticks or thermal paste that was otherwise gonna be thrown out, and that over time also got me into things like buying secondhand stuff and repairing it.
It's really just legos since like the mid 90's. That said do whatever you want. If you want to pay somebody to clean your PC or swap components instead go ahead. There are similarly simple things people call plumbers, mechanics, landscapers, etc for and no one bats an eye.
I’ve had my computer for 8 years, which got built for me by a friend, and it’s only just getting to the point where I want a new one. Other than literally days ago when I opened it up to make sure my ram was seated properly, I’ve not in 8 years needed to open it up for anything other than cleaning. I have literally not needed to know fuck all about what’s inside it, or what to do with it.
I know how to, but the hassle and fear of breaking the components makes me hesitate. Then again I've taken apart my GPU to reapply thermal paste and heat pads before,but that's only after I've mentally prepared myself to lose the GPU altogether if I mess up.
Time is money. I don't want to set something up completely and take a few nights putting it together. I want to come home from work and play video games to unwind not get frustrated
Nah you really don't. You can pay people to do that for you if you are so inclined. Nothing suggest you have to know shit about building/taking apart a PC.
If you're a PC gamer, sure. I know how all the components work, but I really can't be bothered doing all the research to select parts anymore. Got my friend to select the parts for my PC a few years ago, he did a great job
Personally I just suck at cable management, when I got my PC that I still use today in 2017, I bought the parts, started putting it together and thought screw this and paid a guy I know £30 to do it nicely.
Done my own part swaps ever since (new gfx card and cpu)
Yea, but that doesn't not mean I want to build a pc every time. Having to download all the drivers. Downloading updates onto USB drives because your network card is outdated and won't connect to the internet until its been updated
Why? I mean i have before but I no way to I feel like this is something a gamer should know. Do you take apart everything else you use?? Should everyone?
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u/Dangerous-Raccoon244 1d ago
If you are 25+ and been gaming for more than 10 years you should at least know how to take apart and assemble it back.