Can I search for a computer by selecting the components that are in it?

March 3, 2013 5:08 PM

I have specific computer parts I'd like in a computer. I'm considering buying the individual parts and having one built, but I wonder if there's some way to select the options I want to have in my computer on a website and have that generate computers for sale with those parts. Does anyone know of anything like this? Thanks.
posted by Fister Roboto to technology (8 answers total)

Have you tried Newegg.com?

I have found that once you drill down into the specific category you want--laptops, for example, they have the most options for specifying certain components. Once you get into the category, just click the "More Options" selection in the left-hand navigation bar to get the full selection.

For example, here is the category for "Laptops & Notebooks" -- just click "More Options" to get a lot more options.
posted by This_Will_Be_Good at 5:33 PM on March 3

Seems like you are doing the hard part. If you are going to research to hold an opinion on what kind of motherboard you want, and which cards, and how much RAM, and drive configurations, and all the rest, then just order that stuff and put it together. I know this doesn't exactly answer your question, but jamming it all into a case is the easier of the two tasks. I have no idea what the best graphics and sound cards for the money out there, but if you can decide on that it's not hard to put these together. Often you don't need anything more than a philips screw driver.
posted by cjorgensen at 5:41 PM on March 3 [2 favorites]

I completely agree with cjorgensen. You get to create a new thing, just as you wish, completely from scratch, you probably learn something, and it's bound to be cheaper. It's easier now than it ever has been.

Good luck.
posted by humboldt32 at 5:51 PM on March 3

As you may have certain pieces in mind, maybe check out Tom's Hardware's System Builder series (in that link, look at the links for the six, eight, and 1k builds). Take the pieces you want and drop them in one of the builds that they are running so that you know other things go well together.

What parts are you wanting custom?
posted by deezil at 5:59 PM on March 3

You might check a few custom PC builders and see if they offer the options you're interested in. I think all of these have custom configuration screens with a variety of parts to choose from:

Falcon Northwest
Doghouse Systems
Xotic PC
IBuyPower
Velocity Micro
Digital Storm
posted by Monsieur Caution at 6:23 PM on March 3

PcPartPicker

If you want help selecting components, consider posting a question on /r/buildapc. Look for good deals on /r/buildapcsales.
posted by Jpfed at 5:44 AM on March 4

When I was researching what parts and costs to put into a new system I was building, I went to a builder's configurator just to get an idea of what parts are compatible and costs i.e:

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Intel_Z77_Core_i5_i7_Configurator

Once I had the parts I picked them out at Newegg.com and that seemed to work very well for me.

I have built two others before this one though, so putting it together wasn't really tricky- YMMV on that aspect.

I definitely saved a bunch by doing it this way.
posted by gregjunior at 9:09 AM on March 4

Thanks for your advice everyone. I had a friend pick out the parts (he builds computers for a living) and he's going to put things together for me.

I looked around and it looks like doing this with the parts I want would cost at least a few hundred dollars more, so that's the route I'm going to take.

Thanks again!
posted by Fister Roboto at 11:17 AM on March 4