It depends mainly on you. If you like working with your hands, and reading or researching into the ins and outs of various hardware designs and issues, building your own PC is very satisfying. I like to know how things work and how to repair them or tweak them to make them better. But it does consume time and money. You usually do not build them much more cheaply than you can buy them.
If you buy a PC, or have one custom built, you still need to know a great deal about what you want and why one choice is better than another.
If you buy a manufactured PC from Dell, HP, Compaq, Gateway, Sony or others, do not get an inexpensive or "value" unit. It is very difficult to build an inexpensive PC that will last very long. If you just do email, word processing and online surfing, a low priced one is ok. But if you are into creative design, photography, games, and other such stuff, get the best computer you can afford.
But if you are a gamer, build it yourself after reading a lot so you know which cpu, motherboard, memory, and video graphics card is the best choice within your budget. Or get a custom built one from somebody who really knows their business and offers a good warranty with backup service.
Perfection is unattainable either way.
