PC rebates for do-it-yourselfers at i live in science land

PC rebates for do-it-yourselfers

Eros asked me to keep him posted of this PC build that i have undertaken and i have done some blogging on it so why not continue?

as i mentioned in an earlier post, i did not feel confident in building my own machine until i did a little searching and found lots of good sources and learned how easy it should be to build your own. really big emphasis on the “should”

i don’t have any qualms about installing an operating system because i have done that before and i also have a HUGE dollar advantage because i have an MSDN license that allows me to get an OS for free. that’s an easy savings of $100 to $200 by itself. the overall savings in doing it yourself is decent but if you are also buying an OS, then the difference becomes less. i’m doing this to learn more about hardware, to make the most out of every dollar, and for bragging rights

i’m not in a huge hurry so that helps also (but as mentioned yesterday, my main box is acting up a little). i’m also getting some family help on the budget as a thank you for building Enclave Harbour and i do have a back up plan if i can’t get the new box running (a nice local pc shop with great people whom i have used in the past)

a huge confidence booster, for me, is the PCPartPicker website. it let’s you pull together components and will warn you of incompatibilities. for example, i selected an “Ivy Bridge” Intel processor and PCPartPicker gave me a warning for the motherboard i had saying that the BIOS might need to be flashed. if flashing the BIOS is more involved than me opening up my bathrobe, then it’s way over my head! i then selected a “Sandy Bridge” processor and all was right with the world (and i learned what the diff was in the process)

i also read reviews, mainly on Newegg and Amazon, for each part i was considering and tried to keep to a few brands thinking they may go together more smoothly

one of the perks of PCPartPicker is that you can track the pricing history of each component and set email alerts if they fall to a level you set. by doing that and ordering the parts over a three week period, i was able to save decent money with free shipping, temporary promos, and mail-in rebates. the image below shows my OCD nature and what my savings are via just the rebates! a total of $140! =)

add to that never paying for any shipping, paying no taxes, and some promo pricing and the savings really add up. here’s a confession – i’m not a coupon shopper and typically am so impulsive that rebates seem painful but i embraced the beauty of doing-it-yourself and staying on top of the rebates has been easy so far. i’ve only done three of them so far (the other parts are not here yet) and some rebates are done with mail only or a combo of mail and online or fully online. the $11 four pack of fans will only have cost $6 after the rebate – making each fan only $1.50! and they are well reviewed (377 reviews) and quiet!

if you have been pondering the idea of making your own PC – maybe this will help – i’ve been thinking about it for two years! o_O

i have to be organised or i would be overwhelmed – printing out the receipt and rebate info at order time help me get it done (plus having a pen, envelopes, scissors, and tape) OCD? who me? =p

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article series – Ener builds a PC:

taking the PC building plunge (using PCPartPicker to spec it out)
Ener’s VW computer project update (preliminary components selected)
PC rebates for do-it-yourselfers (saving money!)
PC build project – nite 01 (all the parts are in!)
PC build project – day 02 (learn to love the mobo manual)
PC build project – moment of truth (will it roar to life or spark and die)
PC build project – odds and ends (sound foam and wifi card)
PC build project – retrospect (stacking the odds for success)
Ener Hax’s 2012 OpenSim Computer (final part list, prices, rebates)

written by Ener Hax

August 10th, 2012 at 3:00 pm

posted in Uncategorized

tagged with pcpartpicker

I’m a person that has been known to use hardware until it literally just stops working. So I REALLY get my moneys worth. Flashing the BIOS really isn’t that scary. The first time I knew I had to upgrade my BIOS on my original 386 PC, I was able to find a BIOS ISA card. That was back when I was upgrading a 10 MB hard drive to a 30 MB hard drive. (Yes, megabyte hard drives. A 2 GB drive back then was pricey!)

Afterwards, with the next PC, I took on the challenge of replacing the BIOS chip entirely. Even though the “tool” that came with the chip was flimsy and of questionable use, following the instructions got the job done. And the following two PCs after that were simple flash jobs. What made it straightforward, was being able to use a 3.5 floppy disk. This was about 8 years ago.

The newest “old” hardware I have currently is an emachines W3609 PC with an Intel Celeron 3.33 GHz chip. Originally a Vista machine, it now runs my Windows Home Server. It has the original 120 GB SATA C: drive, and a 500 GB IDE D: drive that I added.

Anyway, what I’m trying to say, I guess, is don’t be too afraid to mix and match hardware. Windows does a pretty darn good job of loading drivers for anything you might have, and if you don’t have the driver, well, there is this great little place I know called the internet, where you can find it. Good luck on that new PC. :-)

Joey1058

12 Aug 12 at 6:46 am

thanks Joey – you have no idea how much that inspires me. it really boosts my confidence to hear stories like that (after my first reaction of “OMG, you did a real hardware thing with a chip!!!”)

i think subQuark has a soldering iron i can borrow . . .

thanks for the insight, i hope to use it this week since most of the PC parts should arrive =)

Ener Hax

13 Aug 12 at 8:48 am

[...] goal was simply unpacking and unwrapping everything (lol, you saw my post earlier about my OCD organisation of rebate paperwork – well forget that, it looks like a yard sale now!) [...]