Maximum PC

Combing the forums i noticed a few things, and it got me thinking.

Just how long do you plan and prep for your mods, and builds.

When we needed to replace a bad PSU in 2 systems here i researched replacements and even pulled the bad psu out of a dead box to inspect it for 2 weeks before making the order.

The family pc rebuild I've been researching for over a year.

The new fans for the server, a couple weeks.

the new hdds to replace the failing ones in the server, a week.

what about everyone else?

For replacement parts about an hour, builds maybe a week sometimes less depending on how fast it needs done. I generally keep up with current technology so I have a pretty good idea of what is good and what isn't.

It really depends. (Informative answer, I know).

On the one hand, doing the research and 'shopping' is most of the fun in preparing a new build. On the other, sometimes you don't have time or don't really need to do the research.

Buying a new PSU would take me 10 minutes. Building a new PC took 6 months .. but that was mostly waiting for the new Clarkdale CPUs to be released so I'd see what direction 1156 was moving in compared to 1366.

For my watercooling, it took about a week of research during down-time at work to come up with a preliminary plan and three back-up plans.

I'm going to watch this discussion because I suspect it belongs in a different folder. None of your examples, nor mine, have anything to do with modding. However, planning a mod takes considerably more effort than planning a build so I'll leave it here for now and see what the community does with your question.

yeah i wasn't sure where this goes but figured this was the best fit.

an entire build for me takes about 8-9 months of planning, but for upgrades a few weeks, probably no more than a month, at least, because there will always be something better, or a really good deal down the line. so i try not to rush things, but take my chances, as well.

builds... I dunno, maybe a month? I'm always looking up white papers and reviews on hardware all the time, so there's not too terribly much to research. Mods? For case mods in particular, a while, to make sure I have all supplies, buy any I don't have, assess costs, and think of ideas.

When I built my wooden case, I planned it for about 2 months.

When I buy parts, I'm usually caught up in current news and events that I can get a build done in a few days. Like Jipstyle, I could buy a new PSU or RAM pretty much the moment the need arises.

To quote Jip it depends.

Personally I generally builds a new system for what I call everyday use about every 2 (sometimes 3) years. That also holds true for building the wife's new systems. I sort of stagger them with a workstation tossed in every 3 to 4 years.

If a new processor looms on the horizon I may wait 3 to 6 months. Once I have a handle on what I want generally within a week I am ready to build the thing.

I don't game so I do my builds accordingly on that note. I build for my intended applications. This is especially true if I build for a friend or family member. Overall, generally once I know what I want to get done within a week or so I have it built.

Note: I also agree this thread would fare better in maybe Build/Buy rather than modding. Section mod or admin thoughts?

Ron