Prebuilt vs Custom PC – Is a Pre Built Gaming PC Worth It?

Are prebuilt gaming PCs good? Should you buy a prebuilt gaming PC? Let's find out.

Shaun Conroy

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14 thoughts on “Prebuilt vs Custom PC – Is a Pre Built Gaming PC Worth It?”

Great Article

Sep 21, 2019 at 10:21 pm

This is a great article and is complete true, even though many pc builders are delusional right now and will say otherwise. But a premade PC is so much cheaper just look at this pc for example- iBUYPOWER AM501 Gaming Desktop
It will cost about 800 dollars if you will build it yourself. Also there are plenty of premade pcs with different specs you can buy one that caters to your need. Unless you got the money and time it really doesnt make sense to build one yourself.
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- Shaun Conroy
  
  Sep 23, 2019 at 8:34 am
  
  Hi, thanks for the comment. I’m not pre-builts will save you much money in the long run but they certainly are worth it for many.
  Reply
  - Jonathan Anderson
    
    Nov 26, 2019 at 2:51 pm
    
    I do agree on the practicality of a prebuilt system. But if you know what you’re doing and with Amazon return it is cheaper to build a much better system. My son wanted a beginner level gaming pc for 700$. I looked up the specs and was able to build him a faster more powerful system with some extra rgb fans which the Azus motherboard was rgb supported for 550$, including the OS. More ram and m.2 nvme drive. Both systems are AMD Ryzen powered but the prebuilt system comes with the older Ryzen gen 1, and I got the gen 2 2600. Only saw 150$ but faster and plus i enjoy building them.
    Reply
    - Alexander
      
      Jan 25, 2021 at 8:07 am
      
      I could use assistance could you send m the parts you used?
      Reply
David George

Aug 31, 2019 at 5:18 pm

There’s prebuilt as in from an established vendor (Dell, HP, others) and there’s prebuilt from a custom builder (Puget, AVADirect, eCollege, others).

A big disadvantage of the first group is that you are very unlike to get components that are high quality: They generally use proprietary motherboards and coolers. And the coolers are generally comparable to stock Intel (insufficient). Also, if you need ODDs, good luck: Dell and HP don’t offer the options they did in the past since they believe no one uses ODDs anymore.

I’ve been pricing out an i7-9700k build on pcpartpicker. With the top-quality components for an audio production desktop (NO gaming), the price comes to about $1800 if I were to build it myself. Using a builder such as eCollege or AVADirect, the price ranges from $2100 (eCollege) to $2300 (AVADirect). Double the price for Puget. I;m leaning toward eCollege because it’ll be ready to go and I get a warranty, which together are worth the additional cost.
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- Shaun Conroy
  
  Sep 23, 2019 at 8:36 am
  
  Makes sense David. Sometimes that bit of security is worth it!
  Reply
Ezad

Feb 8, 2019 at 10:48 am

This article is obsolete now. prices have gone down.
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- Christian Alvarado
  
  Sep 5, 2019 at 7:53 pm
  
  prices may not be as drastically different now that GPU and ram prices have gone down but prebuilt PC prices are still lower than building one yourself. look up a gaming pc and build that exact pc on partpicker then you will see a 50-100 dollar diffrence or maybe even more.
  Reply
  - Shaun Conroy
    
    Sep 23, 2019 at 8:37 am
    
    Hi Christian, there is always a labour cost with pre-builts.
    Reply
dan

Jan 24, 2019 at 12:23 am

Completely Wrong there are so many benefits of custom PC building. Even more so if you count the ones you get from big box stores like Walmart or staples/office depot. Repairs can be a huge hassle in a lot of cases. quote from a pc technition
“CyberPower and iBuyPower are some of the worst. Had one customer bring one in that had the motherboard mounted DIRECTLY to the back plate with no riser screws to keep the board from touching the back plate. Had plenty of them that their built in water cooling failed within the first few months.”.
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- Shaun Conroy
  
  Sep 23, 2019 at 8:41 am
  
  Hi Dan, mistakes do happen but that getting through QC must have cost someone their job I imagine. These companies have daily quotas to hit and sometimes push new employees a little far but no standoffs is hilarious!
  Reply
Case

Jan 21, 2019 at 12:16 pm

Exactly. I just built a new gaming PC for 600 Canadian using pcpartpicker. Runs most newer games at high settings at 1080P. Oh, and a good place to buy PC parts, is at Newegg.ca. and ebay, if you are an experienced buyer and know who to buy from and what to look for.
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- a responder
  
  Apr 16, 2019 at 4:03 pm
  
  what are your specs?
  Reply
Ioan Nicolae

Aug 26, 2018 at 12:28 pm

The prices are going down, and using something like pcpartpicker.com will give you info about the power consumption and if the parts work together.
Reply

Prebuilt vs Custom PC – Is a Pre Built Gaming PC Worth It?

The Author Who Worked On This Article

Shaun Conroy

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14 thoughts on “Prebuilt vs Custom PC – Is a Pre Built Gaming PC Worth It?”

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