Try this myself or leave it to shop guys?

[Scrimmage]

I work as a sys admin and DBA. I have, in the past, put together a couple "performance PCs" (this was about 6 years ago), and in my day to day job I often have to swap components and so forth in consumer grade machines.

We have a small shop here that specializes in custom performance pcs and I recently decided I want to get a custom performance pc for playing the latest and greatest games. The specs for it are:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 64bit
Motherboard: ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium/Wifi
RAM: 2GB PC6400 dual channel
Video: Geforce 8800 GTS 640MB
Optical: 18X Dual layer DVD+_RW
Harddrive: 2x320GB SATA RAID
Floppy: 1.44 MB & Front Card Reader
Coolermaster Centurion 534 w/ OCZ 600W Powersupply

The unfortunate part is they can't put it together for atleast another week (their charge is like 25$, well worth it imo), and I was wondering if this would be a huge challenge to rig up myself? They will gladly sell me all of the parts, but I'm worried I might mess something up. Like I said I've put together this kind of stuff in the past, it's just been awhile. As an example, I have opened a server and swapped out a faulty tape backup drive for a fresh one, which involved removing a number of components and other interior junk to get to it, so I'm not a novice, just a newbie in the hardcore gaming hardware scene. Usually when we upgrade a machine here at work, we buy a run of the mill consumer pc ready to go, as most people don't need anything special for their workstation.

My buddy from out of town is coming this weekend and it would be great to play some games with him, but unless I do it myself it won't be finished in time. Advice?

 

[Scrimmage]

Which parts of the build do you think would pose the greatest problems?

I was thinking setting up the RAID, inserting the cpu into the socket, and installing the mobo into the case.

 

[sirrobin4ever]

(almost) anyone can build a pc nowadays. The question is, do you feel comfortable doing so? Also, do they offer any kind of warranty? My third question is have you seen any of the work that they do? Do they do any cable management, etc.? $25 ain't bad to put a pc together considering.

Best of Luck

 

[Thrstbster6]

YOU CAN DO IT.

It will be come a headache but a loved one at that. Its not truely yours unless you make it yourself. People are here to help you just gotta ask like you have. Build it and it will work well maybe not but they have the same chances you have. Time permiting and Warranty I would let them do it buit you wanna frag then you gotta build it. its really easy just read the instructions. I know as men we dont like to do that but this time you should and while your waiting on parts read read read read and read some more on how to do it. I charge $75 for hardware installs and a OS install but i also save all previous data that may be needed. so they are cheap cheap for just installing the Hardware. My fear is that you are getting ripped on the prices, knowing what my local stores charge and what i can get on the interenet from newegg and others I would say that I can save an easy $200 by buying online and with the stuff your buying its closer to $400.

BUILD IT!!!

 

[KTev]

$25 sounds like a good deal but I always tell people to do it them self.

It isn't hard but will take you a few hours to get it from parts to a functional system. Reading all of the manuals before you try to install anything will save you time in the end and force you to know a lot more about your computer.