MarketPantry, what are you afraid of?
Look at us. There's hundreds of regulars on this site. We've all done it. Most of us are knuckleheads (J/K
) and we can pull it off. You're an intelligent person, you can do it. If you can lift a 30-50lb case onto a table and rotate a screwdriver clockwise/counter clockwise you can build a computer! You'll save the money you would have had to pay somebody to build it for you, and you can do it just the way you like. Want to route your cables a certain way? Want to mount your SSD with velcro to the floor of your case so you can see it through the window? Want to mount your powersupply with the fan facing up? Want to use black screws instead of silver screws to install your motherboard? You can do that. Also you'll have the satisfaction of a job well done. You have the support of hundreds of people on this site who know you and will help with any questions you may have, and, through the miracle of youtube, you have 100's of tutorial videos covering everything you need to know.
Here are some videos that I have watched and have been recommending to first time builders. EVERYTHING is covered here. If there's a screw you need to put in, if there's a header you need to connect, it's all in here, from start to finish.
Step 1:
ground yourself to the case
Step 2:
build the computer
Step 3:
Install Windows (just put the disc in the optical drive when you turn the computer on, it will ask you if you want to boot from disc, say yes)
Step 4:
Install drivers. Start with your motherboard drivers either from the CD or (even better) the latest from the manufacturer (ASUS, Gigabyte, etc) website. Motherboard, video card, wifi card if you have one... aaaaaand you're done.
After that it's just a matter of popping into your bios to set your RAM to XMP and your computer is optimized and ready to use.
Sounds more complicated than it is really. A computer really isn't that complicated to put together. It's 8-9 parts. That's all. Things only fit one way and its pretty hard to make a mistake these days. It really isn't difficult.
I'd take the $50-100 you were going to pay to get the thing put together and buy yourself an SSD. Makes a huge difference.