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Maximum Performance, Lowest Budget: A Homebuild.

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Dudes! I'm about to build a PC but I'm nervous.

I built a PC when I was 16, and it was a complete disaster. Long story short, my power supply was incompadible with the rest of my build. Oh the trauma! I'm a 24 year old dude now, and it's about time I built a new PC. It's time I overcame this fear I have of the homebuild.

Here is the thing though, I'm frugal. I have OCD when it comes to money. I can't spend it unless I know I'm getting the biggest bang for my buck.

I podcast (which means I use Audacity, which can be a resource hog), do light photo editing, could foreseeably use this new rig as a home media center, and man, do I like to game. I want to play that new Max Payne, I wanna get into diablo. I wanna try out The Witcher 2. I also want this thing to be "futureproof" as all you technology wizards call it. I want to be able to pop in one of those new AMD Trinity processors when it comes out in a few months.

Long story short, I have no spare monitors, speakers, keyboard, anything laying around. I have to build this all from the ground up! I can go up to $1,000!

Here's how crazy I am about saving money, I'm willing to buy stuff refurbished or used on Ebay or Craigslist if it means saving a few bucks. Is that too far? People tend to look at me like I'm insane when I say that.

Let's get this conversation started! Do you have any tips for me? Any place that I should start?

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I would not buy a basic computer part refurbished -- not for motherboard, cpu, memory, or harddrive. Nor would i really buy it used -- you have no idea how it has been (ab) used. Buying from ebay/craigslist is also not something i'd do -- I want stuff to be returnable if it is defective and there is no good way for you to test the part before you buy it given your lack of computer parts.

Now I did buy a refurbished laptop once when i was a poor student -- and made sure to get good warranty which was so extensively used that the company just decided to send me a new laptop. Since they replace reburbished parts with refurbished ones they had to do it again -- the second time around they just gave up and sent me a new one.

Feel free to buy a used/refirbishedkeyboard and mouse or monitor, if you are that desperate to save a buck or you want something special (like those old ibm mechanical keyboards).

You can buy a use case just fine -- it is just a box after all. Do make sure however that the parts you got will fit especially the motherboard and the alignment of the screwholes would work.
 
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