I've built all my PCs from new and used parts since 1999. I also partied, but that's another story. IMO, picking out components on a budget is the hardest part. It's a bit amazing how many pc components are mutually incompatible.
Assembling the thing is second hardest.
Almost all of my hard drive problems (not many) have come from brand new, untested (by me) drives, usually within weeks/months after formatting (I don't formally 'burn in' drives, I just bung 'em in and, after a quick SMART test, run 'em).
Used drives are the cheapest, and most easily replaced component inside a pc, unless you're using some whack job custom OS build that takes hours to reinstall and set up, because you failed to keep a config backup. Yeah, I used to do that. Anyhoo, having to reinstall software is a good thing to learn about as something to avoid. YMMV.“I Won Big in Las Vegas by Sitting Through a Timeshare Presentation” |