The cart total feels like the budget — until the monitor, keyboard, headset, and the power bill show up. Builders routinely plan around parts alone and then discover the real cost of owning the machine is meaningfully higher. Total cost of ownership (TCO) is what you actually pay to run the thing, not just to assemble it.
The Build Cost (TCO) Estimator puts the whole picture in one place. Enter your parts, your peripherals, your local electricity rate, and your expected hours of use, and it spreads the true cost across months. A power-hungry flagship can look cheaper up front than a efficient alternative once a few years of kWh are counted — and a "free" monitor you already own changes the math versus buying new.
Power is the sneaky line item. A high-wattage build left on all day costs real money yearly, and that compounds over the life of the machine. Pair the estimator with your actual rate and usage instead of a placeholder, and the monthly number becomes the one you should budget against.
When specs list storage or data rates in mixed units, the Unit Converter keeps the inputs honest — GB to TB, Mbps to MB/s — so you're not comparing apples to oranges while estimating. Run the TCO estimator, convert what you need, and you'll know the real price of the build before checkout.